When it rains

When it rains

Now although nine months of the year are dry here in Arequipa, it does rain a bit in the first three months of the year. It does not rain very much. Typical rainfall is three or four inches in total during those three months.

The pattern is much the same each day, normally a blue sky and sunny morning which becomes increasingly overcast as the morning advances. Then in the afternoon the rain comes around three or so in the afternoon.

One would think that the city would be ready for the rain as it comes each year. However it is not. The roads are not cambered to take into account the flow of water and furthermore there are no drains. Roads become rivers and passing cars give people free cold dirty showers. Worse is many sewers overflow so the river is also contaminated. When it stops raining the sewage keeps flowing. By my house it flowed for a week. This destroys the roads. They are poorly built to start with lacking any proper foundation. Thus the rain just rips them up. In the morning teams go out to repair the worst potholes only for the rain to rip the work up in the afternoon.

The sewerage is a problem as passing cars shower people with it. It smells horrible and worst it carries diseases. Getting splashed is not the only problem as the passing cars throw up an aerosol which is not very healthy either.

Other problems are that the water company has not built anything to

cope with the mud in the river when it rains. Thus when it rains the water company just turns off the water to 80% of the city until the river goes down again. A city with 1 million people without water each time it rains heavily, can you imagine that in England or the USA. We are told to store water for several days as the water maybe off for several days at a time!! I do not know what the water company thinks is service to its customers. That is the problem they do not. They think they are doing us a favour by supplying us with water and we must take what they give us.

Electricity suffers too with power cuts when it rains. That is because very little is done to protect the transformers from rain. Well it was not raining when they installed them!!!!!

Water off roofs of houses are just led out on a pipe and them left to pour down onto the street below. Nobody thinks of piping the water down to ground level. Thus when one walks in the rain, one not only has to dodge the spray from passing traffic but also the water spouts from roofs.

It does make for a different life style. It also leads one to remember we depend on God each day. We look to Him not to get ill walking in the street. We can be patient without water and power. It also reminds us about the power of the gospel to change people’s lives. It is the impact of the gospel that leads water companies to think about their service of their customers. Sadly in many advanced countries as God is denied and ignored so such customer service will decline.

Peruvian Independence Day 2010

July 28th is the day that Peru celebrates its independence from the colonial rule of Spain. Around the day there are a large number of parades. All schools march in a civic parade in their district. It is quite a day with a party air. The sun is shining and one can enjoy food and ice-creams befitting a holiday. As well as the school parades most institutions take part in a parade somewhere. The Police and Armed forces have big parades as well. In Lima there is a very big military parade where all the armaments of the nation are shown off. It is good that there is such civic and national pride. Sadly, however, like the world over the good can be marred by the bad as there are many parties where drinking to excess is the norm. The dead hand of the Roman Catholic Church also hangs over many activities at this time.

It would be good for us all to reflect what the Bible teaches about our responsibilities to those in authority over us. At the same time those authorities need to remember that God holds them responsible and will ask them to give account of how they have discharged their responsibilities He has given them. the Bible speaks of the need for justice and honesty as well as taking care of the poor, the widow, the orphan as well as others in need.

Atempted theft.

We can thank God for His protection while being reminded that we depend on Him daily. Thursday night at 2 in the morning at least two people attempted to break into our house. Rosa who lives on the ground floor heard them and turned on the lights. Whoever they were went away, but came back one hour later. Rosa heard them again and turned on the lights. This time they went away for good. IN the morning we found they had cut around the lock on the door as shown inthe pictures.

Veruska had her house broken into during the night the day before. The thieves took their sound sytem and the CPU of our computer. Again we can thank God that while they did steal some things they left many other things of value. They did not steal a wallet full of money, nor other things like that. The scanner and printer plus the monitor were all left behind. We have copies of all the work on the hard drive so it is not the end of the world. We can thank God that while what was taken was of value to us, in real terms not alot was taken. Furthermore the family were not harmed in anyway. Lastly we can thank God that we were the people robbed and not the thieves.


The Sunday before that Alvaro one of my private students was playing football with his friends in a park near his home. A person came up with a pistol and held them all up to ransom. He stole their money, watches, cell phones and anything else they had of value. Such is the world we now live in. However again nobody was hurt, what was stolen can be replaced one day and we have all be reminded that we are mortal and need to be ready to meet our God when He chooses to call us.

Well I am now teaching at Emanuel School twice a week. It is a small Christian
School. I did not really want to do it, but they have given me a contract and
that is what I need to keep "Migracciones" happy and aid me on my quest for
Peruvian nationality. The classes only have two hours of English each week which
is not much. Their level of English is about zero. The pupils are quite pleasant
to teach even if they are not very hard working. They do not seem to have much
of a culture of thinking! However they are mostly willing. I have started to
teach them some hymns in English and and using that as a way of teaching
doctrine.

I have been looking for hymns that have got simple tunes and words that teach good basic doctrine. I trust that by God's grace this will be a way of not only teaching them English but also teaching truths from God's Word which will lead to their salvation.



I have given some of the older ones a challenge to find out the most important question and have given them Job 9:2 as a clue. We wait and see where that will lead to.

2010

This is the start of the new year and I trust it will be one in which we grow in grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ