For those of you who are still following our little journey here in Peru I can finally say we do mostly have clarity on how much longer we will be here and what we will be doing in the meantime.

We have decided to come home on November 25th.  That will mean we have been here for a full year which feels like a nice round number.  There are a few reasons for this.  As mentioned in the last blog post Martin will be doing some workshops with local farmers about composting and some other issues to do with sustainable agriculture which go through til the end of the year.  He also got accepted into a masters of sustainable agriculture which he will be doing through Charles Sturt Uni next semester.  We thought if we were to head back and have to find jobs etc etc while he was trying to do that it would be really difficult.

As for me the school was really hoping we would stay through til the end of the year and I am pleased to be able to see the year through.  No to mention my first meeting with the other “promotors of health” was fantastic.  These women are all grass roots leaders in their communities trying to bridge the gap between the people and the health services.  They have decided the best way for me to fit is they will refer pregnant women to me who may want the support of a doula during birth.

It feels good to not be waiting anymore but I think we learned some really important lessons in the time.  And I am grateful for those lessons and think perhaps they will be as important as any lessons we learn while actually “doing”.  As no doubt there will be more times of waiting and trusting in our lives.

We are also very grateful to people who have been able to donate some money to these projects so that we are able to stay.  While we didn’t raise as much as we were hoping we have enough for now and can fully trust that tomorrow will look after itself.  I was reading in Richard Rohr’s commentary on the gospel of Luke yesterday which said this,

“In chapter 5, Luke relates the calling of the first disciples, yet Luke immediately defines discipleship in the story of Peter.  Discipleship is defined in terms of risk and trust.  Jesus said, “Simon, put out into deep water and put your nets out for a catch.”  Simon is the fisherman who should no the sea and understand it.  At this point, there is no reason to trust Jesus but he replies.  “We worked all night long and caught nothing.  But if you say so, I will put out the net.  So this new life, this new church, this new community is going to have to depend on trusting God and risking God’s truth against there own temporary truth.”