The Adventures of Alex and Holly Compton

Was She Ever This Small?

2010-08-26T11:44:00.000-07:00

July 2010 Update

2010-07-08T16:11:00.000-07:00

We now reside in Cumming, Georgia, in our new house. We had our first child, Eden Graciela, on March 15, 2010. We have temporarily stepped down from missions work and await the Lord's leading for our ministry as a family.

Our First Home!

2009-05-23T05:18:00.000-07:00

These pictures are of the model house that we hope to buy this year. We have signed the contract and hope to break ground in June. If all goes well, we should move in sometime in September. So please keep us in prayer this summer!

(Click on the image to enlarge it.)

June 2009 Newsletter

2009-05-22T20:35:00.001-07:00

Click to enlarge the image for easy reading.

January 2009 Newsletter

2009-01-02T06:12:00.000-08:00

Click
to
enlarge
for
easier
reading.

December 2008 Newsletter

2008-12-19T19:16:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone, you can click on these images to make them larger for easier reading. Enjoy!

Medical Clinic at Sector 3 Church

2008-11-13T13:10:00.001-08:00

These are pictures from the medical clinic the team held last week at the Sector 3 church in San Juan de Lurigancho. They had general medicine, dental, and vision clinics. Unfortunately, Alex and I were so busy, we didn't get to take many pictures. The team saw 160 patients the first day and 290 patients on the second day! They worked incredibly efficiently and with great love and care for each person! Well done, faithful servants of the Lord!

Nov-08 Women's Conference

2008-11-13T10:17:00.001-08:00

God inspired the theme in me "A Way to Peace" a month or so before we held this conference, but I really didn't know why. I didn't think I was going to do more than introduce the other speakers because I didn't have anything to say. Then the night before the conference (during the men's conference night), He led me to this scripture in Matthew and told me what the women battle most is their own minds! God tells us not to worry, and if we do, we are in fact sinning! I struggle greatly in the battlefield of my mind, so it's something I had personal experience with and can empathize with these women. I told them there are three things we must do: First, we must repent and confess our sin of worrying to the Lord. Second, we must seek first His kingdom--meaning we must spend time with Him, read the Word, worship Him, and put Him first above all else in our lives. And third, we must trust that He will "give" us all that we need, as the scripture says. We don't have to earn the things we need; we don't have strive for them; we don't have to wonder if we are enough or if we do enough. Jesus says we ARE ENOUGH in Him! And so in front of them all, I got down on my knees, confessed my sin of worrying to the Lord, and told Him I wanted Him to consume my thoughts, my feelings and my life! I told Him I wanted lasting change for myself and for all the women there that night. And when I stood up and invited them to come forward for prayer with the team to do the same, they leapt from their chairs and rushed forward! Nearly every woman came forward. There wasn't a dry eye left! Praise God that He loves us and meets all our needs!

Nov-08 Missions Team Photos

2008-11-13T09:33:00.001-08:00

This is the team in their new hats (I forgot again what they're called in Spanish) just before they flew back to the U.S. They are an awesome and joyful bunch of people whom we love dearly!

These are pictures of the Medical Clinic that the team held last week; they saw about 450 patients in just two days! That's a record!

These are pictures of the Peruvian Home Makeover described in our newsletter below. I'm hoping that some friends of ours will send us a few more than we were able to get of the rest of the house.

November 2008 Newsletter

2008-11-13T09:13:00.000-08:00

Click on the images to enlarge for easy reading.

We're Moving Back to Atlanta! (Oct-08 Newsletter)

2008-10-09T11:50:00.000-07:00

We know it's sooner than expected, but we are, in fact, moving back to Atlanta this December! As you know, we have both had a recent position change within the ministry. Alex now serves as the President, and Holly, as the Director of Public Relations. We have come to realize that our efforts in these roles would accomplish more if we were living in Atlanta.

This was a difficult decision to make, as we have made many friends here in Peru. And in many ways, we still feel like we're just settling in. However, through much prayer and consideration, we believe this change of direction is a necessary step in God's will for New Covenant Ministries (NCM) and all the work that NCM is doing for the Kingdom.

Initially as President, Alex has been traveling back to the States once a month for a week or longer to address ministry needs. Beginning in January, he will do the opposite and return to Peru for an extended weekend every month to address the needs of our projects here. Before we leave in December, we will be completing our current Peruvian Home Makeover and the Phase 1 construction of our Medical/Sports Complex & Church. Next year, Alex will oversee the continual development of the Complex & Church, as well as our abused women's shelter, Pat's Place, and our girls' orphanage, Hope House.

Holly's first year of teaching ESOL is quickly coming to a conclusion. She has really enjoyed being in the classroom and seeing her students improve week by week. She is going to miss them all terribly. However, she is very excited about supporting NCM with her gifts in writing, editing and design back in the U.S. She will be assisting with mission trip planning and recruiting through regular rallies and email communication. She will also assist with general ministry fundraising for the projects and facilities described above.

We will post more updates as our plans progress. We do know we will be traveling most of December, but we hope to move into an apartment at the end of the month. Since we sold all our furniture before moving to Peru, we will have to furnish the whole apartment again! Thankfully, the Lord led us to keep our bedroom suite, so we know at least one room will be ready for us! Please pray that God provides for everything else just as He provided for our move to Peru!

Thank you for your faithful support during our year in Peru. You have been a great blessing to us and to all the people God has touched through us. We welcome your prayers and your questions, should you have any. We love and appreciate you and your families. We look forward to sharing in God's blessings with you in 2009!

In His service,
Alex & Holly

Build NCM Peru Headquarters!

2008-08-16T22:57:00.001-07:00

We currently live in an apartment that is one of three in a former factory in San Juan de Lurigancho, Lima, Peru. The owner of the building has decided to sell it, which falls in line with the vision God gave us for making this building the NCM Peru Headquarters! This very large building can be used for so many things, such as offices, library, computer lab, classrooms, meeting space, prayer rooms, and apartments for long-term missionaries (like us) or women coming out of NCM's abused women's shelter or girl's orphanage.

Check out our cause at: http://apps.new.facebook.com/causes/110080?recruiter_id=17596722
and see what you can do to help us buy this building! God bless!

June-August Newsletter

2008-08-15T12:04:00.000-07:00

Sorry this took so long to write. There was just too much to say! (Click on each page to enlarge them so you can read them more easily.)

God bless you all!

In His service,
Alex & Holly

2008 Home Makeover

2008-08-10T21:19:00.000-07:00

Last week we purchased the house for this year's Peruvian Home Makeover project. This is a picture of Edgar and his family right after we bought their new house. I took them to the only McDonald's in town. The house will be ready in November of this year, and our team will be there to welcome them into their new home. Buying a house here can be much easier than in the U.S. We bought the house in 2 hours, and Edgar has never seen it, nor does he know where it is. That is the best part. There are only 3 people that know where the house is at this point, so it will be a complete surprise.

The reason we purchased them a new house is because they do not have one. They rent a one-room apartment. It is 12 feet by 12 feet, and that's it. They share a bathroom with 16 other people on their floor. They live on the 4th floor, and their daughter is in a wheelchair. Edgar's daughter's name is Betsy, and she is 9 years old. She was born with Cerebral Palsy, and they spend all their money on rehab for her. Because they are not rich, they qualify for special assistance with her rehab. Edgar has been driving our teams around for the past 5 years, and their family has been amazing towards us. Betsy always has a smile on her face, and that's what makes her so awesome. This family is very loving and deserving of this house. Please pray as we work on the house and get it ready in time.

Wonderful Day

2008-08-10T21:05:00.000-07:00

Holly had an awesome weekend. We had a great night Saturday with some friends. We made it a date night. We took our good friends Laura and Vico out to Jockey Plaza where we had a nice dinner, and then we went to see the Mummy 3. We had a really good time with them. It was Vico's first time at a Chili's. He really loved the American food. He got a steak, and Laura got the Cajun Chicken Pasta, which she really enjoyed. Anyway, it was a really nice night, and I wish we could do something like that every weekend. It just takes your mind off of work when you get to spend time with friends.

Today was a great day at church. Holly and I went to the 11am service at the sector 3 church this morning. When we first got to the door, we were asked to attend the 2 year anniversary of our sector 10 church. We currently have 12 churches that we work with here in Peru, so it was a real treat to go to the anniversary service. They really do it up here too. We had some praise and worship, a special dance, and some other special music. After that, they had a nice dinner prepared for all of us, and some cake of course.

Jesus has Truly Blessed Us

2008-08-05T19:27:00.000-07:00

For all of you who have been waiting for an update on our blog, here it is... We have been really busy these past couple of months. We had a chance to be in the United States for most of July, which was awesome. We spent July 4th in St. Marys, GA at Alex's family reunion. That weekend was really great because we went to the beach and didn't have to worry about anything, other than getting a sun burn. It was great trip, but as always it went by too fast. After that weekend, we returned to Atlanta to work in the ministry office, as that was our main purpose for being in the U.S. We spent those weeks working with Bruce and really helping the ministry get ready for November, which is our next big mission trip. We were also able to spend time with a lot of our supporters, which we love doing. Holly and I gained a couple pounds from all the eating out we did, but the time with friends is alway worth it.

As a lot of people already know, Alex has been asked to be the President of New Covenant Ministries, but we wanted to let others who do not know to read about it on our blog. As we wish this came with a huge pay benefit, it does not, but this does allow him to have more power to get things done in Peru. Holly has also got a new job title, and that is Director of Public Relations. She is really excited, as this is allowing her to focus a little more on marketing and creative communication, which is her expertise. She is still teaching English at the local church, but we did cut the classes back to allow her to be able to do both jobs. That was July; it came and went like each month seems to. We will be sending out our newsletter soon, so look for that. We will also post it here on the blog.

This month began with a wonderful visit from some new friends in New Jersey. The last Sunday in November, Holly got an email from a man named Dan Baker. He is from New Jersey and goes to Chapel on The Hill (www.chapelonthehill.org). Dan heard about us while surfing the internet looking for another group called Shama. Shama is a boys orphanage that we do work with, but it's not officially a part of NCM. Dan found our blog because the orphanage is here in San Juan de Lurigancho, where we also live and minister. It was truly amazing how God worked things out and allowed us to meet.

Anyway, Dan emailed Holly, and she emailed back. It was history from there. Dan and Johnny arrived last thursday, and we picked them up from the airport. For the next three days we showed them Shama, Pat's Place, Hope House, The Sports and Medical Complex, and toured Lima for a day. Shama actually had a benefit concert on Saturday night, and we were able to attend. Unfortunately, they had to leave on Sunday night, but they blessed us with their presence and allowing us to show them around. It just goes to show how God really works in our lives when we least expect it. I forgot to tell the best part. The church they belong to is only two blocks from Holly's Aunt's house in Cedar Grove. Holly and I were hoping to be in New Jersey for Christmas before we knew anything about them, and now we have more friends to see while we are there.

It is only the 5th day of the month, and already things have been busy. The sports and medical clinic is moving along. The first floor roof has been poured, and I went to buy the materials for the second floor yesterday. There's nothing like a man spending a lot of money at a hardware store! The only issue is that it is not like Home Depot, but I still like it. Today was a great day as well because we purchased the home for this year's Peruvian Home Makeover project. It took most of the year to find a home and then be able to purchase it, but the Lord has really blessed the ministry in being able to get this done. We will start the makeover process of the home by the beginning of September, and the house will be ready to present to the family by the first week of November. This is an amazing dream for this family. They have a wonderful daughter who unfortunately is in a wheelchair and cannot really talk, but she is so lively, you would not know it. She never seems to be in a bad mood or unhappy. Today after purchasing the house, I asked if I could take them to the local McDonald's, and she screamed, which meant; "You Better Believe It!"

June Update

2008-06-23T20:13:00.001-07:00

This month has been amazing. We have seen many people saved through our street dramas, medical clinicis, and conferences. Holly had the opportunity to speak all weekend at the women's conferences. She took Alison Lusted's place as she was not able to come to Peru this June. Last night was the last of the three conferences, and Holly did an awesome job. She was preaching in front of 250 people like she was just talking to me. By the time she was finished, we asked her to stay up and give an altar call for salvation. Then she invited everyone up for prayer, and God just kept moving. The focus for the conference was on Purity, and a lot of these women got their purity back because of the healing that the Lord did in their lives.

We have also seen a lot of amazing things happen on the Drama Teams and in the Medical Clinics. Tody we had our 5th medical clinic, and there were about 200 people seen. It is amazing to see how these things go. We do a full medical clinic for those who are sick and need medicine. We also have an eye clinic for those who need glasses. We are able to give away hundreds of glasses each year during June and November. Alex was out with the Drama Team today, and we stopped at five locations and lead people to the Lord through drama. It is so amazing watching mostly teenagers work together so that people can receive Christ in their lives. These teams go to bed late most nights (12am) and get up early, but they push through all of the tiredness to get the job done. Holly and I welcome them, as it is the only time we really get to hang out with a lot of our friends here in Peru.

Holly and I pray everyone is doing well, and we look forward to seeing you all soon. Please send us an email or give us a call when you can.

Blessings,
Alex and Holly

An Unusual Morning

2008-06-13T18:40:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was not a normal morning by any means. NCM's Director of Medicine, Jan, and I were suppose to start the morning by touring two new churches to decide how the medical clinics were going to be set up for next week. Apparently, we had a more important job before we were to leave the church. At about 9:45am, I heard a loud screaching sound like wheels from a bus locking up and then a loud bang. Jan happened to be close to me but did not know what had happened. I grabbed her and told her what had happened. She asked me if we should go check on the man, and I said yes. When we got over to the man, he was not moving, and there was already a big gathering of people. All of them were arguing with one another about whose fault it was, and not one of them was checking on the man. The police were already on the scene, since they stay on the corner where the accident happened. I had to tell them that we were medical professionals so we could get to the man. Jan is, of course, but I am not. The man was not moving at all, and there was blood all around his head.

I ran the 50 yards back to the church and grabbed what we needed (gloves and gauze). When I got back, other police officers had already showed up, and I had to tell them again that we were medical professionals in order to see the man. Jan and I put on gloves and did what we could to stop the bleeding from his head. The man was barely breathing and was not with it at all. Jan told him that Jesus loved him and prayed over him. We then had a pastor's wife show up next to us, and I asked her to share with him the Lord's Prayer. I saw his head move a tiny bit one time when she talked to him about being saved. After that his eyes had no life, and the ambulance was finally showing up (30 minutes after he had been hit by a bus). Unfortunately, the man died in our hands. There was not a lot we could do but hold him and pray with him. There is much more to the story, but I do not want to put that on the blog. Please pray for me, as it has been a little hard. I am not sure how to take a man dying in my hands, but I have had a lot of friends around me that I can talk to.

Blessings,
Alex

May 2008 Newsletter

2008-06-06T17:11:00.000-07:00

Hello wonderful people! Thanks for checking up on us and reading our newsletter. If you click on the images, they will enlarge so you can read them easier. We'd love to hear from you! We hope you are well in body and spirit. Thanks for your prayers. You are in ours too!

Blessings,
Alex & Holly

Another trip to the ER

2008-05-04T16:06:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we tested our new health insurance. Alex has not been feeling well for two days now, but yesterday things got worse. His whole body was hurting, and he started getting a fever. The fever was at 103 when he decided it was time to make a trip to the hospital. The hospitals here are so much better when it comes to the ER. We always get to walk right in, sit on a bed, and they start the questioning. Of course, we have to answer in Spanish, because they do not speak English, but they understood that he had the flu. Alex had the symptoms about 2 weeks ago for the flu, but we thought he had shaken it. Once they saw that he had a high temperature, they decided to give him a shot to take care of the fever. The doctor gave him some medicine to help with the pain, the fever, and to kill the germs in his body. When we went to leave, the bill was about $170 dollars for less than an hour in the ER. Since our full insurance benefits kicked in on May 1st, we are covered at 90%, so we only had to pay $17 dollars. We give thanks to the Lord for allowing us to have this insurance. We are not sure why, but he still had a fever of 101 all night long, but it broke for the first time today. Alex is feeling better now, but his body still hurts all over. Plus, it is hard for both of us to sleep because of his coughing. Please continue to pray for him as he gets over the flu. Please pray that Holly does not get what Alex has. We pray everyone back home is doing well, and we look forward to hearing from you soon.

April 2008 Newsletter

2008-05-02T19:58:00.000-07:00

Click on the images to enlarge them for easier reading. Enjoy!

Construction Conintues...

2008-04-28T10:48:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture of Alex at the beginning of this month digging a hole for one of the support columns. The construction for the church is really moving along. We just finished pouring the foundation for the perimeter. We should be ready to actually pour the foundation for the main floor this week.

Update on Holly's Grandmother

2008-04-14T08:13:00.000-07:00

Thank you so very much for your thoughts and prayers for my grandmother, Domenica! I just wanted to update you quickly that she is at home now recovering. There was a mistake in her ultra sound, so she still has one kidney stone, and actually the other kidney is not functioning at all anymore. Because of that, they were not able to do the angiogram for her heart. Her heart is working at 25% and is out of rhythm. Her doctor has ordered a CAT scan, but she’s not strong enough to get out of the house for that just yet. She lost eight pounds while in the hospital and continues to lose weight.

My mother has been with her throughout this time and will be staying another week as she hopefully regains her strength. We’re not sure if she can be alone in her house anymore, so my mother’s brother and sister will join her in Las Vegas shortly to discuss the options. Please pray for all of them and for wisdom in the situation. Please continue to pray for my grandmother’s strength both physically and emotionally. I know she feels very old and a little hopeless. She underwent quadruple bypass in ’99 but had my grandfather’s support then. Now she is very lonely without him. I am eternally grateful for all your love, encouragement, and continued prayers for her.

I, too, have been very sick these last two weeks. I have had a severe sinus infection that comes with extremely bad headaches. I’m sorry I can’t email you all individually, but I do appreciate your emails greatly. Hopefully, I’ll be back on email in full swing soon. May God bless you all abundantly.

With hope,
Holly

Sharing the Word...

2008-04-14T07:00:00.000-07:00

Last week was not an unusual one for me (Alex). I am pretty much in charge of all the construction we are doing here in Peru. I'm not sure how I got the task, but I like it. Hope House (our girls' orphanage) had a new water pump installed to help pump water from the bottom of the property up to the garden, where they grow their own vegetables. Now the girls do not have to carry it by bucket, which was a pretty hefty task if you saw the bottom of the hill where the water was coming from.

So one day, I was just going around checking on things to make sure everything was working like it was supposed to. I was on my way back from Hope House to the land where we are building the Sports/Medical Clinic & Church, when I saw two Jehovah's witnesses talking to Janett. Janett works for us on the land; she brings tools to all of the workers as they need them and makes sure that each person signs in and out when they get to work each day. I do not know what was said to her, but I know that it got her thinking about the Lord.

The next day I arrived at the land pretty early, and Percy (our contractor) was there with his Bible showing her the Word and teaching her that whatever they were saying was not true to what the Bible says. It was a pretty cool thing. All the guys that work on the land belong to one of our Sector churches, which is how Percy knows them. However, he met Janett through another friend, and she does not go to one of the churches. It was just awesome to see that even in the middle of all the construction going on, he took time out to show her the Word of God. I hope this little story blesses someone.

Alex

Holly's Grandmother

2008-04-03T20:11:00.000-07:00

We found out tonight that Holly's grandmother has had a heart attack and is in congestive heart failure. Please pray that the Lord touches her body and brings healing and touches her mind and brings peace. Thank you all for your loving support.

March 2008 Newsletter

2008-04-01T08:42:00.000-07:00

Click on the images to enlarge them for easier reading. Love you all! ~A&H

I Can't Believe March is Over!

2008-03-29T16:27:00.000-07:00

Hello all, and I just want to say, I can't believe March is over already! We had a great time in the United States this month. We were able to spend some time with all of our family and friends. We also had our ministry's annual banquet which was awesome. Things went well, and the ministry continues to raise money for all the projects we are doing. Holly and I were able to spend a day in Houston, a week and a half in Atlanta, and a weekend in Boston. We were some busy travelers, but we had a great time. We always look forward to our visits. I stayed an extra week because I was given a free ticket to fly back to Peru, which saved us a thousand dollars!

Once Holly returned to Peru, she hired a friend of ours, Pamela, to start working with us in the English classes and translating for me when needed. She has been a great asset, and we are so lucky that she was able to come and work for us. We do not treat her like an employee. The great part is that Pamela was already helping Holly twice a week, so we did not have to show her that much in order for her to come on full time.

The week I got back was Holy Week, so Peruvians didn't work on Thursday and Friday, but they did work on Saturday and Sunday (go figure). That being said, I had a couple of days off when I got back. This week has been really busy, as I have been working with my contractor to buy a bull dozer for the property. That was an experience. We drove 30 minutes by car to the center of Lima, purchased the huge bull dozer in 30 minutes, and then we drove it all the way to the property. When I say drive, I mean drive. There was no transport truck involved. We were driving this thing on the freeway and all. I was laughing the whole time. Yesterday I used the bull dozer to dig the first hole on the property for the medical clinic, and today I dug the hole for the new water tank. I thought I was a kid again playing with my Tonka toys.

Holly has spent the past couple weeks getting back into the groove of teaching. When she returned from the U.S. she took on another class. Holly is now teaching 7 girls from Hope House (our orphanage) on Saturday afternoons. The girls are loving the class and are so grateful that Holly is taking the time to teach them. It also gives the girls a chance to get out of the house on Saturdays and for them to attend Youth Group at the church. The orphanage is an hour away from the church, and if they were not coming for class, they would only go to Youth Group once a month. Now they get to go every week!

We pray all is well with all of you, and we can't wait to see you again.

Love,

Alex and Holly

February Newsletter

2008-03-05T19:10:00.000-08:00

Here is our February newsletter. It's a little late because we have been so busy in the States, where we still are. Click on the newsletter pages to enlarge them for easier reading. Let us know how you are doing too at hollyjcompton@gmail.com!

A little Drama for our subscribers

2008-02-14T17:08:00.000-08:00

Time for Work & Time for Play

2008-02-05T18:23:00.000-08:00

It's always good to get away and have a little time off. Since Sunday was the Super Bowl, and Holly's from Boston, we had to find a way to watch the game. We have some other missionary friends in Lima, and they invited us to a Super Bowl Party. It was a first to watch the game in Spanish--definitely an interesting time. Holly was unhappy because her team lost, but we had a great time.

Monday was even better for me, as I went hiking in the mountains with Greg and Bridget from our orphanage. They are going to the U.S. next week to spend 9 days on the Appalachian Trail and wanted to get some training. We hiked along four or five different mountain tops. It was a nice hike and took about eight hours. We started at 8am and got back about 5:30pm or so. It was so beautiful at the tops of these mountains. There were no cars honking or dogs barking, and the air was great. We hiked about eight kilometers or so, which wasn't bad considering we hiked up to a height of 1700 meters at the peak of the highest mountain. I am hoping that in March when we all get back from the U.S., Greg and I can go out for a weekend trip to hike some of the higher mountains around. Along the hike, we did find two intact human skeletons. I will send pictures once I get them from Bridget. Apparently, these two skeletons have been there for a while, because they are nothing but bones now. Greg had reported it to the police here a couple of months ago, but they could care less.

While I was out on the mountain, Holly was at home working on this week's classes. The students have now finished one month of classes and have their four-week test this week. She has been busy, but hopefully with some help she is receiving in the classroom, things will get a little easier for her. We have hired two of the older girls from the orphanage to help us out with a couple things. One of the girls, Valeria, really wants to learn English, so she will be helping Holly on Wednesday and Friday mornings with her classes. The other one, Yessenia, will be taking care of our apartment twice a week. It is nice to have someone help us clean and get some things done around the house, and it allows us to bless her for her work as well.

We hope everyone is doing well, and we can't wait to see many of you in a couple weeks. ~Alex

January 2008 Newsletter

2008-02-03T21:05:00.000-08:00

Click on the images to enlarge for reading.

Enjoy!

Blessings,

Holly & Alex

More than a Full Time Job

2008-01-23T20:17:00.000-08:00

As we have have learned over the past couple weeks, ministry is more than a full time job. This is something we were both aware of before we set out on our journey as missionaries, but as the weeks go by, it is reality and not just awareness. We love our jobs and thank the Lord everyday for allowing us to be here.

The past 2 weeks have been extremly busy for us. Holly has been working 7 days a week to plan lessons, teach classes, and grade homework. I have been working on getting the construction of our new Church and Sports/Medical Center started. Things here are always complicated. I was able to work with the contractor last week on the plans and made some small changes. The plans are now in the hands of the architectual engineer, and they are literally drawing them. I should have those soon, along with the total cost for this part of the project, which is huge. There will be a church, medical center, sports complex, and a boys orphanage. I can tell you that when it all is said and done, I am expecting it to cost nearly a million dollars. The Lord is bringing the money in, so I am not worried at all. The first phase of the project is the church and medical center. We want to get that going as soon as possible, so that we can start helping more people with our medical clinics.

Next week we have planned a littl night out for the missionaries that we know here in Lima. I am trying to set this up once a month so that we can all get together, relax, and not have to work our brains so hard speaking Spanish. I never thought that speaking and understanding another language would be so tiresome. ~Alex

I'm officially a teacher!

2008-01-17T10:01:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone! I'm sorry it's been a few weeks since our last update. We have both been extremely busy. I am now officially an English teacher! (Won't my grade school English teachers be proud!) Classes started on January 8th. Tuesdays-Saturdays I teach three groups of students at the Sector 3 church in San Juan de Lurigancho, with a total of 65 students. I am also teaching the women at Pat's Place, an additional 9 students. The rest of my time I am correcting papers or planning lessons. I haven't had a day off in the last two weeks because of my work load. So unfortunately, I've had to postpone teaching the English classes at Hope House, our girls orphanage, for now. I want to be able to manage my time a little better juggling my 74 adults students before I take on 14 young girls!

Overall, I am enjoying teaching. It has been rough administratively because there were so many people who wanted to be in my classes. Some signed up but didn't show up; some didn't sign up but showed up, so they got the empty spots. We're almost through two weeks of classes, yet I'm still getting phone calls about adding more students. It's hard to have to turn people down, but I realize I can't please everyone (duh!) and I have to set limits and stick to them! The larger the classes are, the less time I can spend with each student. Thankfully, God has blessed me with helpers for 2 of my 3 groups of students. I'm just trusting Him that He'll send someone along to help with the other group too--and sometime soon!

Alex has been busy both with his company in Atlanta working via internet and addressing the designs and construction plans for our Sports/Medical Complex & Church. Things are done so differently here in Peru that it has kept us hopping with various legal and financial issues. We hope to begin construction in February, but there are a lot of steps that need to be taken between here and there. Please pray for guidance and protection in all areas of our duties in Peru! We really need it!

Two praise reports: We finally got our bedroom furniture, although we are still missing the closet that is due to arrive this weekend. Secondly, we are looking forward to our next Stateside visit at the end of February as we swing through Houston, Atlanta, & Boston, in that order. In Atlanta we will attend our ministry's annual fundraising banquet on the 29th and then work in our old offices again the following week. We're looking forward to catching up with many of you, so let us know your plans! We miss you and love you so much!

Bendiciones,
Holly

December 2007 Newsletter

2007-12-29T09:27:00.000-08:00

Click on the images to enlarge them for reading. Enjoy!

A New Home for Christmas

2007-12-24T18:42:00.000-08:00

December 24th was a long day, but a great one. For the first time in 7 months, we had a home. We moved into our new apartment and spent our first night there on Christmas Eve. It was such a beautiful day here too. The temperature was a little different than we are used to as it is summer here, but it is only about 75 degrees and sunny outside.

The Peruvians celebrate a little different than we do. They gather on Christmas Eve at midnight and have tons of fireworks and a big feast. We had dinner with our good friend Laura who has helped us get our apartment and everything that goes in it. On Christmas Day we visited with Pat's Place, our abused women's shelter, and Hope House, our girls' orphanage. It was another long day, but a good one.

Last week we were able to have an early Christmas dinner at Hope House. Pastor Bruce was visiting for a week to finish the purchase of the land for the new Sports/Medical Complex & Church. We bussed the women from Pat's Place up to Hope House, and we had quite a wonderful party! After dinner, everyone took a swing at the Santa Clause piñata, and then everyone had a gift to open. The women and girls all got new shoes, and Alex & I got new watches! Hopefully we will have time to post some pictures of that night soon.

Last Friday we finalized the sale of the land mentioned above. Pastor Bruce has charged Alex with the task of overseeing the construction in his absence. Alex will be busy and will visit the land daily for updates. Registration for Holly's English classes is tomorrow night and next Thursday night if necessary. Classes begin on January 8th, and Holly has a LOT of work ahead to get that started. Right now we're just settling into our apartment and awaiting delivery of our bedroom furniture & mattress, our washer, and refrigerator. We also are waiting on the installation of our dryer, cabinets, curtains, and hot water heater for the shower. Please pray that this all happens quickly!

Please write us and tell us about your Christmas & New Year's festivities at hollyjcompton@gmail.com. Love & blessings, A&H

Let the Hard Work Commence!

2007-12-18T07:34:00.000-08:00

Last night we arrived back in Peru after a few weeks in the States. We are refreshed and energized for the hard work ahead of establishing the English school set to begin in January and several other projects that our ministry is working on. We will also move into our apartment this week, and we are so looking forward to having our own place again for the first time in over 6 months. The next three weeks will be the most strenuous of all, so please keep us in your prayers.

Also, please consider making a year-end donation towards our efforts here in San Juan de Lurigancho. If you want to see more of what we do here, there are many posts below with photos and stories, as well as links below to the ministry's websites. We hope to hear from you soon!

We made it home!

2007-11-30T19:21:00.000-08:00

We just wanted to let you all know that we made it home to Atlanta safely this morning after a long night in airplanes, long lines, and very little sleep. But we are so grateful that the Lord has made a way for us to be here for a few days with friends and family during this Christmas season. Today was low key, but the rest of our trip will be packed full of visits, shopping for various things for Peru, and lots of driving around!

It was quite the ride to get here, by the way. We had planned to leave Peru on Tuesday night, but when we went through the Immigration line, they told us we couldn't leave the country without our Carnet residency cards. We tried to explain that we were in the process of applying for them, but we were still waiting. They said they could reschedule our flight for Thursday night so that we could go to the Immigration Office in Lima to get a letter of permission to leave the country without the Carnet cards. We were almost sure that would be impossible to get within two days, but we decided to give it a try. By the miraculous hand of God, we did not get that letter the next day but the Carnet cards themselves! And there wasn't a single problem with our trip last night. God is able to do the impossible, even in the slowest country in the world!

Sudo-Thanksgiving and Other Activities

2007-11-24T09:35:00.000-08:00

This past week has been a busy one for both of us. We briefly celebrated Thanksgiving with the women and children at Pat's Place with dinner and ice cream for all, but that came at the end of a long, busy day, which has become the norm. Alex is still looking for land for the new Extreme Home Makeover project. Property is not advertised in papers here, as people cannot afford it. The people basically just post a piece of paper on a pole or on their own house advertising it is for sale. Alex is also involved in many other administrative tasks for NCCM, plus working remotely for his company Client Profiles--not a dull moment!

Holly has also been working hard on her teaching materials and preparing her lessons. Any teacher can tell you that this is a long and tedious process. There is a lot of material she has to read, and then she writes out how she will teach each lesson. Each day is a process. Sometimes it feels like our work is not getting done, but we are working all day long.

On top of all that, we have been trying to get our residency ("Carnet") cards, and that is also a huge process. This week we went back to the Immigration Office to turn in more paperwork. We were then informed that we must go to Interpole to have a full background check done. With that, we must go to 2 different banks and pay money for different taxes. Then we can go to Interpole. Once we finish at Interpole, then we have to go back to the Immigration Office. We will see what happens after that. So far we have paid a totoal of $150 us dollars in fees and taxes, plus taxi fare for those days. It is a complete learning experience and always changing. We are learning about the Lord's patience and being reminded constantly that we are not in control.

On Wednesday Pastor Gino and Carmen took us out for a fellowship dinner. We ate at a Tony Roma's restraunt on the ocean, which reminded Holly of Martha's Vineyard. I had chicken quesadillas, and Holly had a huge steak. It was really nice to have that time with them. After dinner, we went to Starbucks for dessert. There are only 2 or 3 in Lima and all an hour away, so it is a treat to go. While we were there, Holly shared her plans for teaching english and proposed a schedule. They loved it and said that it looks great. They then had us share it with all the pastors last night in a meeting to get their feedback. All the pastors are looking forward to the classes, and Gino wants all of them in it.

Friday was a long day, as we went to the orphanage and cooked a special breakfast for the girls. We had to be up at 5am to leave the house by 5:30am. Once we finished with the breakfast, we had to go to Lima to do more work for our residencey cards, then we had a meeting with the Pastors at 5:30pm. After the pastors' meeting, Alex cooked a nice Italian dinner for Greg, Bridget, and Holly. After we ate dinner, we set up the projector, and watched "The Lake House." We had a good time with them, as it has been great having other missionaries here that we can fellowship with, including Greg, Bridget, and Heather who are all apart of New Covenant Creation Ministries.

We are looking forward to coming home to Atlanta November 28-December 10 and are just so grateful that God has provided the funds for the trip. Although it will be cold there, we hope it will just bring us into the holiday spirit before we come back to Peru for our first 80-degree Christmas! And we hope to see as many of our friends and family while we're in the States. Thank you for your prayers and love. We hope to hear from you soon!!

With the hope of Christmas,

Alex & Holly

Home for the Holidays (minus the holidays)

2007-11-15T15:22:00.000-08:00

We are blessed to be able to come back to Atlanta November 28-December 10, including a quick trip to visit my grandmother in Las Vegas December 3-6. If you are interested in getting together with us during that time, please let us know at hollyjcompton@gmail.com.

It's hard to believe that Thanksgiving is just next week, for which we'll be in Peru, of course, as well as for Christmas and New Year's. Thankfully, Alex's company (for which he still does some contract work via internet) is paying for his plane ticket so he can come to their Christmas party on December 7, so we only have to pay for my ticket, which is what Alex's projects will pay for. Even our breeze through Vegas was an amazing deal. We are truly grateful for the blessings of the Lord and the chance to be with friends and family even just for a few days. Then we will return again at the end of February for the New Covenant annual banquet on the 29th (mark your calendars!).

This week has been very good and productive. Alex has been looking for the next house or plot of land to use for our second Extreme Home Makeover while I've been home working on my English lesson plans. We also are trying to get our Carnet cards (residency registration), which we thought would be easy since we already have our visas, but apparently we need one more letter from the overseeing church here. Carmen is supposed to get the letter for us soon, but we haven't heard for sure yet. We are scheduled to meet her Tuesday at 10am to see if we can get the Carnet cards then. Please pray for that to happen easily! It costs us $10-20 in taxi fare every time we have to go into Lima for a few hours.

We have finally found an apartment that's a short walk from Pat's Place. It has one main bedroom but a huge living room area where we can also put an office, dining room, and possibly a guest bed too. We will sign the lease next Tuesday, but it won't be ready for us to move in until we return on December 10. Then we will furnish it and settle in. We are so looking forward to having our own place and some privacy again. It has been more than 6 months since we had that; we just pray that the Lord will provide the rest of the funds we need to make it home sweet home.

We hope that you and your families have a wonderful Thanksgiving next week! Please write us soon and let us know how you're doing!

Much love in Him,
Holly & Alex

Hope House Medical Clinic

2007-11-12T17:11:00.000-08:00

Last Wednesday Alex and I were also able to work with the NCCM team at the Hope House Medical Clinic. We both assisted in the Vision Clinic testing each person's vision with the chart. We saw a record 144 patients total in less than 4 hours! More than 40 people were saved, and each person had the opportunity to receive prayer after they saw the doctors. Rebecca and Henry were the Peruvian physicians that assisted us, plus Victor, the dentist. It was truly an incredible, although short, day. I am a bit sad that we won't get to do it again until April or June.

NCCM Team's EXTRA Day!

2007-11-11T13:31:00.000-08:00

So Friday night Alex and I saw the NCCM team off at the airport at 10pm and went home and straight to bed. We were so exhausted after a long but rewarding week with the team and looking forward to sleeping in the next morning. At about 8am the next morning, Heather came to our door saying, "Alex, Holly, I need to speak with you guys urgently!" We wondered what could be so urgent, and we soon learned that the team had never left! Their flight was canceled due to a faulty plane part that had to be flown in from the US the next day! So the team was up all night long waiting in lines. American Airlines said the local hotels were full and only gave each person food vouchers (usable only at Papa John's at the airport!). Thankfully, American Airlines did pay for two vans to bring the team back to Pat's Place by about 10am where we offered them beds and a great meal before they were back off to the airport for a 2am flight Sunday morning. We know they have safely reached home now, praise the Lord! And although it was a hard journey for them (including the fact that AA lost ALL their luggage on their way to Peru at the beginning of the week), Alex, Heather & I were so glad to have them here for the day for fellowship and laughter one last time. They were the first missions team to stay on the 4th floor!

November NCCM Team Free Day

2007-11-10T17:26:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Alex and I joined the team again for their free day and got all our Christmas shopping done! We visited some of the same places we have seen before, but the different faces made it just as fun. We joined together at the beginning of the day to pray for Peru at the highest point in Lima at a well known cross. From there we visited the Indian markets to shop, ate lunch at Pizza Hut, and concluded the day at the oceanside mall. There we enjoyed Starbuck's, I got a 10-minute massage, Bruce and Vicki decided to race (and I think they're still deciding who won), and Bruce attempted to drive a bus (oh God, help us!). It was a very busy but enjoyable time of speaking English and laughing at my new pet rat, Remy. (hehehehehheheheheh)

Daughters of the King Conference: Keys to Freedom

2007-11-10T16:25:00.000-08:00

On Thursday night Alex and I joined the NCCM team for a night of ministry at the Daughters of the King conference which focused this year on "Keys to Freedom" in Christ. At this church in Callao, we had several speakers who preached the Word and gave their testimonies. We gave the women the opportunity to receive Jesus as their Savior and to ask the Lord for the filling of the Holy Spirit for the work that God has called them to do. In the center of this collage is the board at the front of their church which focuses their hearts on conquering the world for Christ--"Hacia La Conquista Del Mundo"--which is our mission as well. God used our hands and voices to touch their hearts deeply and encourage them to do the same for others.

Extreme Home Makeover - Project 1

2007-11-10T15:12:00.000-08:00

In November 2006 New Covenant began its first project of Extreme Home Makeovers here in Peru. The project was for a woman named Martha and her two children, Jason & Jessica. Martha is a faithful church member and servant of the Lord, as are her children. Her husband passed away 8 years ago, and she has been working hard to provide for her family ever since. She has tuberculosis and other health problems that have been getting worse because she works so hard. NCCM decided not only to tear down and completely rebuild her home, but also to include a store front for a source of income for this family. On Thursday of this week, we all yelled out "Move that bus!" and Martha, Jason & Jessica saw their new home for the first time. Here are our pictures of the house and store which used to be one room separated and roofed by deteriorating cardboard, where the only walls to the home belonged to neighboring houses. The Lord has blessed her for her faithfulness and had favor on the entire family. It made us all cry to witness her humility and gratitude as she walked into her dream!

The Inevitable Medical Bills

2007-11-06T12:39:00.000-08:00

So Alex's surgery in the U.S. probably would have cost $20,000 or more since we do not have medical insurance, but being that we are in Peru, it only cost $1,500! We are grateful that we only have to raise $1,500 in additional support for this bill. Please pray for God's provision in that area, as we had to put it all on a credit card for the time being. If you feel led to assist us with this, you may make your check payable to New Covenant Creation Ministries and mail it to the address noted at the bottom of this blog page. Thank you so much!

Surgery or No Surgery? That is The Question

2007-11-05T11:54:00.000-08:00

This last weekend was an interesting one. Saturday morning at 3:30am I (Alex) woke up with a sharp pain in my left side. Now, as many of you already know, I had my appendix taken out in Peru in June 2006. This time, the pain was just as bad as it was before, so Holly and I guessed it was kidney stones. At 6am, I arrived at San Juan Bautista Hospital. I was taken right into the emergency room (same bed as last year too!) and then right into the ultra sound room so they could look at my stomach. We got the ultra sound back in about 15 minutes, and I had many kidney stones in the left kidney and also some in the right. So the hospital decided to keep me overnight.

Aabout 12 noon on Saturday, they came into my room, and said that I also had a stone in my gallbladder, and it was a pretty big stone according to them. The surgeon said that surgery was not urgent but necessary soon to remove my gallbladder. The surgeon that gave me the news was the same surgeon that had taken out my appendix the year before, so he remembered me. After that, I was taken for many x-rays and forced to drink the nastiest tasting stuff in my life. I had to drink 2 liters of it, and I mean it made me gag every time I took a sip. Of course, I was not allowed to eat, so I was starving by that time as well.

The hospital finally let me eat at about 8pm. I couldn't eat the next morning, however, since we had decided to go ahead with the surgery if the doctor said it was okay; we figured that since I was already admitted in the hospital etc, it would be better to do it now than wait for the situation to get much worse. On Sunday, the surgeon came into my room and said that I was good to go for the surgery and that we would have it around 11am or so. Well, it was 2pm before they took me down to the operating room. Once I got to the operating room, I was greeted by nurses who had worked on my appendix and knew me as soon as they saw me. I am sure they do not operate on many Americans anyway. The doctor that works with our ministry, Rebecca, was also able to scrub in for this surgery as she did last year, which made both Holly & I feel more comfortable.

After coming out of surgery, I was in a little pain but was doing good. I was able to leave the hospital today, which was good. I am finally back at Pat's Place and working on my recovery. I have been given a strict diet, so let's see how well that goes. Thank you for all your prayers and support. We definitely felt the hand of the Lord with us taking care of all things, including giving Holly a bed in my room to sleep in both nights I had to be in the hospital. Hope to talk to you all soon.

Zoo Holiday

2007-11-02T10:35:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a holiday here in Peru--All Saints' Day--so we took the women and kids at Pat's Place to the zoo! We spent several hours there looking at all the different animals, ate lunch, and then concluded the visit with some acrobatics! It was a nice day to relax with everyone, including Alana Lusted to is here a few days earlier than the Atlanta NCCM Missions team which will arive on Sunday. It was the most beautiful day we have seen here in Lima since we first came to Peru--bright, sunny, and the perfect temperature too. Thank you, Lord, for a wonderful day!

Out and About

2007-10-30T20:21:00.000-07:00

Today Heather and I (Alex) went to Hope House (our orphanage). On the way out, Heather and I were waiting for the bus, and a friend showed up. She had her sister and her nephew along with her. Just to show you what Peru is like, Heather picked up the little boy and said how pretty he was. Right then and there, the mother asked Heather if she wanted the baby. The people here want their children to be with Americans because they think that all Americans have money. Today was a long day. After visiting the Orphanage, Heather, Percy, and I went into Lima to pick out the type of chain linked fence we need to put at the top of Pat's Place. From Pat's Place to Lima, and back, it took us 4 hours, just to do 15 minutes worth of work. Today was a long day, and I am ready for some rest.

Friends in Arequipa

2007-10-30T20:13:00.000-07:00

We just wanted to post a small collage of some friends and classmates we met in Arequipa.

Soup Kitchen Collage

2007-10-27T14:42:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of our soup kitchen in action. As you can see, they are eating spaghetti, eggs, and potatoes, but not soup today. They do some things differently, like putting shredded carrots in the spaghetti, but I assure you, it is pretty good. The soup kitchen is not just about feeding people, but about reaching out to them and finding ways we can help. As you can see from the picture on the bottom right, there is a worker sharing the gospel with a young woman and her children. We hope that you can see what a blessing that this brings to the people of San Juan.

Soup Kitchen Preparation

2007-10-27T14:10:00.000-07:00

Today Holly and I got the opportunity to work in our soup kitchen. Here is a picture of Holly crushing crackers, which they used to make a Peruvian hot sauce. It looked kind of strange but tasted real good. The food is prepared at the sector 3 church, then shipped out to 3 other sectors. There are 10 sectors, and they rotate each week. This week we were in sector 4, 6, and 8. We fed a minimum of 150 people. For some of these people, it will be the only one they eat today, or even this weekend.

San Juan de Lurigancho - Week 1

2007-10-25T09:29:00.000-07:00

Here we are! Finally, we are back in San Juan de Lurigancho at Pat's Place and ready to move forward in our ministry. We just finished our first weekly ministry conference call with the leadership back home, along with Heather and a few Peruvians here--Laura, who runs our soup kitchen and assists with many projects, and Percy, the contractor who works with our construction projects. We are so thrilled to find out that a huge donation was made to NCCM to pay for the ENTIRE Sports & Medical complex--land and construction! It's such an amazing blessing that just makes you want to cry.

In all seriousness, we are seeing God's blessings on this ministry every day. Pat's Place is getting the final touches on the roof and tiling on the face. The first "Extreme Home Makeover" project is also nearing its conclusion. The next U.S. team arrives at the end of next week for another week of medical clinics and construction projects. A videographer will also be coming to capture it all on film. We won't start the English classes until January, so that gives us time to be involved in other aspects of the ministry right now. Of course, I need to start my lesson planning, and the women at Pat's Place are ready for me to start teaching them as soon as possible! So please pray for wisdom and guidance as I prepare for teaching.

It was bittersweet to say goodbye to our new friends and family in Christ in Arequipa. It was a blessing to spend time with all the students and teachers on our last day of classes for the fieldtrip I mentioned last week. We piled into four vans and toured the outskirts of the city. We visited a volcanic rock quary and watched how blocks were cut, stacked and sold for construction. We visited a restaurant briefly where we toured the kitchen of the woman known as the best cook in Peru, just down the road from a tower where we also stopped to take pictures. We ended with lunch at a typical Peruvian restaurant where we tried some typical Peruvian dishes, including guinea pig! I can only imagine lots more food experiences like that one, such as the following night when we took our host family out for dinner, and I ate cow heart for the first time!

Peru had a nationwide census on Sunday, and no one could leave their homes for most of the day. Church services were rescheduled in Arequipa for Saturday night, so we were able to worship with them one last time and then say goodbye. They became very dear to us in that short a period of time, and we will always remember their patience and kindness and hope to visit again soon.

Our host family brought us to the airport Sunday morning, and once in Lima, we made our way to the Hotel Santa Cruz, where we relaxed and reminded ourselves of what hot hot showers really feel like. We met some fellow students, Todd & Stephanie, for dinner at Pizza Hut; they also had flown into Lima that day after being in Arequipa for several months studying Spanish. On Monday Heather picked us up and brought us here to Pat's Place, where we have settled in a bit and begun our apartment search. Slowly we are also purchasing household items and pricing the appliances & furniture around town. There is an apartment on the same block as Pat's Place that we are going to look at tomorrow, and it can be ready for us for Monday if we decide to take it. Please pray for God's wisdom and discernment over the next few days in that matter.

I apologize for the length of this message, but I just thought this once, you might not mind some detail. :-) I promise we will try to upload more pictures soon too. We sent out our first monthly newsletter by email yesterday; if you did not receive it, please let me know at hollyjcompton@gmail.com. Love & blessings to you all, H&A

Monastario de Santa Catalina

2007-10-22T15:57:00.000-07:00

Arequipa Week 4

2007-10-18T18:39:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, we have just today finished our classes at the ABC Español Institute, and tomorrow for our final day there we are all going on a field trip of sorts. (We'll tell you where it was next week!) We are preparing for our return to Lima this coming Sunday morning, where we will begin our apartment hunt and settling in. We went horseback riding last Saturday morning, which was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, we can't upload pictures of our adventures right now, but hopefully this coming week when we're in Lima again, we will be able to. We are sad to leave beautiful Arequipa and all our new friends here. Luckily, some of them will be missionaries in Lima as well, so we should get to see them again soon. As my final project at the school, I wrote a long story about how Alex and I met (in Spanish, of course); if any of you are interested in trying to learn some Spanish (hint, hint), let me know, and I'll send you my story! :-) We are focusing forward now and eager to greet the November Atlanta NCCM team, as well as begin organizing the English school in preparation for a January start. Please pray that the Spanish we have accumulated thus far will continue to grow with leaps and bounds and that financially we have enough to establish a home in San Juan de Lurigancho.

With gratitude and hope,

A&H

Arequipa Week 3

2007-10-11T20:21:00.000-07:00

A Note from Alex...

This week has been a great week for us in Arequipa. The air quality, temperautre, and weather here is the best that anyone could ask for. This was our third week of classes, and we only have one more to go before we return to Lima. We will update the blog with picutres as soon as we can. Currently our internet connection speed does not really allow us to upload pictures easily. On monday, Holly and I visited a Monastery here that was built in the mid 1500's. There was a lot to learn about what people used to do in the 1500's and the 1600's. Their ways are so different than ours, and I cannot imagine living in one place for 80 years, and never being allowed to go outside of the 4 walls of the Monastery. There is a lot of history here in Arequipa, and we have been able to see some of it.

During the week, we are in class, and then we come home and do our homework. We did get to eat at Burger King the other day, which was nice, because I wanted a hamburger. It was not the same, but did taste okay. One of the things I am going to miss here is the ability to go to some nice places, and get something American to eat. When we return to Lima in 10 days, we do not have some of these nearby. It's all good, because I love the Peruvian Food. Our host, Allen, prepares breakfast, lunch, and dinner for us. The meals are really good. Luckily, I have not gotten sick like everyone else has. Everyone goes through the stomach issue, but the Lord has blessed me so far. Holly has finally started feeling better, which has been good. It has helped her get out of the house a little more and allowed us to see some of the sites in our free time. Our free time is not much, as our homework takes us 4+ hours to do some nights. Learning Spanish is harder than one would think.

We are really missing everyone and would love to hear from you (hollyjcompton@gmail.com). May the Lord bless and keep you. ~A&H

Arequipa Week 2

2007-10-04T19:02:00.000-07:00

Greetings in the merciful name of Jesus. We have now been in Peru for 2 full weeks, and Sunday will mark our second full week in Arequipa at the Spanish school. The Lord has continually confirmed our calling in various ways, which is such a blessing. It has certainly been a challenging time at the school for both of us. The pace for both of us is frustrating since we only have 4 weeks here, whereas most students stay at least 6 months! Please pray for divine favor and wisdom; this is hard work! But alas, as Pastor Bruce says, "If it were easy, everyone would do it!" In addition, Holly continues to have stomach problems and nose bleeds due to the altitude of Arequipa (almost 8,000ft); please pray for complete healing and health. This weekend we will be going white water rafting with 6 other students from the school and taking in a few other sites since Monday is a holiday here. We are looking forward to some time to relax and would love to hear from some of you. We now have a Skype phone number, which is an Atlanta local number; if any of you would like to call us from your home/cell phone, email Holly at hollyjcompton@gmail.com for the phone number. We love and miss you! Bendiciones, A&H

Arequipa Week 1

2007-09-27T14:35:00.000-07:00

It has been an interesting day and week since we left the states last Thursday. It´s also begun to hit us that we haven´t "worked" (a 9-5 job) in 3 weeks. On the other hand, while learning Spanish is going pretty well for me (since I had many years of it in school), it's hard work for Alex because he has never had any schooling in it before. Since we have so little time, they (and we) want to cram in as much information as possible, but it is a bit overwhelming. We also take a 20 minute bus ride each way every day, another interesting experience in Peru in general, but sometimes it can be a little stressful. Everyone is crowded in so close, we rarely get seats, and it´s not always easy to know which stop is ours because everything sort of blends together still. I´m sure it will get easier each day though... Plus, I´ve also had some stomach issues the last 2 days, so hopefully that will go away soon too.

Today all the students and teachers at our school gathered and sang happy birthday to me in 4 languages. Then they promptly had me blow out a candle on a cake which was then partially smashed in my face (leaving enough of the cake to serve everyone, of course). That was funny; we wished we had had our camera, especially when I proceeded to give Alex a great big kiss with my cake-covered face! That was a cool birthday present...reminiscent of our wedding day and the groom´s cake!

To celebrate my birthday, we ate at Pizza Hut in a very nice American-style mall where I got a new watch (since I don´t have a cell phone to tell me what time it is anymore). This morning between classes, I also finished reading the first prequel of the "Left Behind" books, called "The Rising." I´m hoping that ...someone... might send along a late birthday present (with the November NCCM team) with the next 2 prequels, the only ones of the entire series that I haven´t read yet. :-) In the meantime, we are enjoying our free time, especially reading the Word, doing devotions together, and simply preparing our spirits for the time and efforts ahead. The home where we live has been a wonderful sanctuary, and we are so blessed and thankful that Allan and her family have opened their arms and embraced as their own. We are affectionately called "Hollycita" and "Alexcita."

Thank you for taking the time to read my ramblings, especially on this, my 29th birthday, my first birthday outside of the US! (I smell 30 right around the corner!) Please keep praying for us! And we´ll do our best to keep you up to date once a week. As soon as we have internet service hooked up in our room, we will be online more often and will upload some pictures too.

For those of you who are ever interested in talking to us for FREE, sign up your computer for Skype (at http://www.skype.com/) for free, get a headset & microphone, and add hollyjcompton@gmail.com to your contacts. We´ll be waiting to hear from you!! We miss you all and hope to hear from you soon too.

Blessings,
Holly (& Alex)

We are in Arequipa

2007-09-22T20:13:00.000-07:00

Hola everyone! We are safely settled into our new home in Arequipa for the next 4 weeks! We had a quick and easy flight this morning, and we were greeted by 3 members of the host family and another student staying with them. Pia is 19 and from Germany; she arrived this past Wednesday and has already learned enough Spanish to help us understand the family, only one of whom speaks English. Pia also speaks English. We have a very nice room and share the bathroom with just Pia. Tonight we will find out what time our classes will be each day. The mother is very kind and a great cook! I understand her Spanish very well (she speaks slowly), so I can translate for Alex. :-) She will show us the bus route tomorrow to the school and show us around town too. We took nice long naps this afternoon, as we have just been so exhausted since we arrived in Peru. It is much needed rest after the busyness of preparation to come to Peru. We are looking forward to starting the Spanish school tomorrow. Please pray that we learn quickly! We love you all and hope to hear from you soon. The family is having the internet connected into our room this week, we hope, so we will have more frequent access soon.

Blessings,
A&H

We are in Peru!

2007-09-21T15:22:00.001-07:00

Hola Todos! Hello Everyone!

We have made it to Peru! The Lord blessed our travels with ease and comfort. We stayed at the Ariosto Hotel last night when we arrived, and Heather Bowen picked us up this morning and brought us to Pat's Place. We took nice long naps this afternoon and feel refreshed. We just plan to relax and enjoy our time at the house today, visit the market tomorrow, and prepare for our Sunday morning flight to Arequipa to begin the 4-week Spanish School on Monday. Please lift us up in prayer as we experience this culture shock and allow the Lord to connect our hearts to our new home.

Love & blessings,

A&H

23 Days and Counting!

2007-08-27T15:28:00.000-07:00

Hello Dear Ones!

August was truly a blessed month for us! God showed up in so many ways as we have been working harder than ever before in our lives to prepare for the journey ahead to Peru. We are weary, but He is strong! He shows us this truth every day that we give over to His hands. We hope that you are able to sense His strength working in and through your life as well.

We have just returned from an amazing visit to Boston (quick but awesome!), where we raised over $1,000 and were able to catch up with a lot of Holly’s old friends and family that live there. It was so refreshing to see them and share about all the glorious things God has done over the last five years since Holly moved to Atlanta. How wonderful to have their support and prayers lifting us up as we embark on this new adventure in our lives.

September is finally here! It’s hard for us to believe that we’ve been planning this for more than a year, and it is finally coming to pass. We finish out our full-time jobs on Thursday, September 6th, which is a bittersweet ending for us both, as we have both been at our current jobs for three years and love what we do and who we work with. We will be traveling to Dallas, TX the first weekend of the month to speak at a church there (and return in time for our Farewell BBQ on Labor Day!). We will be in California the 7th-12th, then tying up loose ends, and finally, holding our Commissioning Dinner/Silent Auction on the 15th. If you are able to make it to that or to our Commissioning Service the next morning at Landmark Church in Norcross, we’d love to see you!

Please continue to pray for us, as we hope to raise an additional $7,000-8,000 dollars more before we fly to Peru on September 20th. We need to find a few more monthly supporters as well. We have put together a DVD, and if you would like a copy to share with your church or friends, please email hollyjcompton@gmail.com so we can send one out to you. We look forward to seeing you at our upcoming events or staying in touch via email! Our next monthly letter will be written from Peru! We love you and are so grateful for each of you.

Bendiciones,
Alex & Holly

Upcoming Events

2007-08-06T08:44:00.000-07:00

¡Hola Todos! Hello Everyone!

We are hard at work preparing for our move to Peru in 45 days! We still have quite a bit of fundraising left to do, and we ask that you would pray about spreading the word of our need in order to begin our ministry. We hope you can attend one or more of our upcoming gatherings so we can see you before our departure on September 20th:

1. Saturday, August 25th: Going Away Party at Christ Church in Fitchburg, MA, 1:30-4:30p.m.

2. Monday, September 3rd: Farewell BBQ at the home of Ellen Diehl in Atlanta, GA, 12-4p.m.

3. Sunday, September 16th: Commissioning Service & Luncheon at Landmark Church in Norcross, GA, 10:30a.m.-3p.m.

Please let us know if you will be able to attend any of these events. We have prepared a detailed letter and brochure about our plans; if you have not already received it, please let us know and we’ll send them out to you right away. We also have a video available upon request.

Thank you again for your prayers and financial support. We look forward to connecting with you again soon! For more information, please feel free to contact Holly at hollyjcompton@gmail.com.

Dios te bendiga (God bless you),
Alex & Holly Compton

Less than 2 months to go!

2007-07-22T12:21:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone!

Thursday, September 20th, 2007, Moving Day to Peru, is less than 2 months away now! Alex and I are so busy preparing physically, spiritually, financially, and every other -ly possible! God has truly shown us great grace, blessing, and favor over the last year as we have submitted ourselves to His calling on our lives. We are so grateful for the many wonderful people He has put in our path to encourage us along the way. Please keep us in prayer as we continue to raise money for all our endeavors to come, and let us know what's happening with you and how we can pray for you too.

Grace & peace,
Alex & Holly