Homecoming in Peru!

After several years away, we recently returned to Peru—the place that shaped so much of our family’s life. We weren’t sure how it would feel to walk those familiar streets again, or how we would be received after so much time had passed. What we found was a homecoming filled with warmth: neighbors who greeted us with open arms, old friends whose smiles hadn’t dimmed, and a sense of belonging that wrapped around us the moment we arrived. Peru welcomed us back not as visitors, but as family. It felt like home all over again. Homecoming is more than return; it’s rediscovery. We found thriving ministry. We found not just the place we had missed, but the people who make it feel like home.

“A home is not one place.
A home can be a place where you are born and brought up…
But in the end it is only one thing: the place where your heart is.
And you don't have to be there in your bodily self;
you can carry it with you in spirit wherever you go….
Like love.” 
- Mary Brown

After eighteen years of life lived across cultures and continents—from Costa Rica to Peru to Spain and all places in between—our hearts have become a mosaic of all those homes and people. Each place, each friendship, each neighborhood or village has woven itself into our sense of belonging and community. We’ve learned that home isn’t a fixed dot on a map, but a living network of people and memories carried within us, growing wherever we are together.

We took the 8-hour bus trip from Lima up to Huancayo, crossing over the 16,000 ft pass midway and praying we didn’t feel the effects of the altitude. Grace be to God, we faired well. As we got closer to our destination, nostalgia welled up. We began to see familiar scenes in the land. We could see the snowcapped Huaytapallana mountain and glacier looming in the distance, a scene that always signaled the home was not far now. Almost there. It was surreal to be back.

We rented a vehicle so we could travel out to the communities where we have so many friends and memories. On the first day, we headed across the Mantaro Valley and up the mountain to Tinyari. Years ago, when teachers in this small rural public school noticed the transformative effect that our other school programs were having in two other villages, they invited us to bring our program into their school. We led a school-day version of Kid's Club and bible classes for the entire K-6 school. The director and teachers gave us free reign for several hours of teaching and activities each week.

That work began 15 years ago, and it still continues today!!!!

We were thrilled beyond words to walk back into that little country school and be greeted by those exact same teachers. One of our Peruvian teammates (Rosio) continues to go to Tinyari every week and lead Kid's Club and bible classes. "She is always faithful and shows up for our students. She never leaves us or forgets us. We can always count on her to be here and love the children", said one of the teachers. Rosio has even expanded the work to include a Sunday "Escuela de Padres" (Parent's School) to teach bible lessons and have parenting conversations, bringing the whole family into the picture and helping build bridges of cooperation between families and the school. And she has recruited two other old friends into the ministry to work alongside her, too - Joshua and Rocio.

It was a wonderful start to our visit! We participated in Kid’s Club and being in the classrooms again with the children. We enjoyed talking with the teachers and catching up on time gone by. And we enjoyed a lunch of boiled potatoes, hardboiled eggs, and delicious aji salsa!

The next day sent us the opposite direction to the village of Cochas Chico to visit the Veli Family. This family is one of my all-time favorites! We met Pedro Veli and his wife, Paulina, soon after we moved to Perú in 2008. We wandered into this small village of artisans who specialized in traditional carved gourds. But Pedro was different. Pedro was a believer and he used his art to tell bible stories and share the Gospel.

Over the years, we spent lots of time with the Veli family. If you've ever been to our home, you've seen many, many examples of their artwork. Their gourds are everywhere, still telling bible stories and sharing the Gospel with everyone who sees them.

It was such a joy to be back with the Velis. Unfortunately, Paulina passed away a few months ago - a grief that still hangs heavy in the hearts of all who loved her. She would have loved that the family was all gathered, celebrating being together, making a traditional Pachamanca, sitting at the long table in her family home, laughing, telling stories, looking at photos, and carrying on the age-old traditions of good food and amazing hospitality.

We were humbled and blessed to be "welcomed home" again by Pedro and Wilfredo and Isaias and all of the Veli family. It felt like Thanksgiving. It felt like coming home.

On our final day, we again crossed the river valley and headed up to Patarcocha, the village where we lived and loved for years. This Quechua village high in the Andes was our home. In lots of ways, it still feels like a place where part of our heart is anchored. Life there was slower, more peaceful, more relational. We had the gift of time there. Time to be together while we tended goats or sheep or shucked corn or peeled potatoes. Time to gather around a giant embroidery frame and stitch and tell stories and laugh. Time to raise kids together, grow food together, cook together, and love our neighbors together. Time to sit and watch village life go by and talk for hours.

Going home to Patarcocha for a visit was such a gift.

Elva is still Elva. Still laughing. Still raising kids (and grandkids). Still feeding the village elderly and taking care of others. Still collecting animals and making them pets and then fussing because she has too many animals.

When we started the school program in Patarcocha, her youngest two were in our school. Harry was all boy - into everything, covered in dirt, always running and looking for adventure. He couldn't care less about anything we did at school. Cielo was one of the littlest ones in our school. But feisty! She was a fighter. Always had a lollipop (ChupaChup) in her mouth. A little bit sneaky. A lot of sassy! She wanted things her way and she let you know it. All of the kids in our program in the village had their own unique little personalities and we loved every bit of it.

Today, Harry is in his final two years of vet school. Cielo is starting her studies in nursing school. Some of our other students in town are also now grown and out in the world. One is in the police academy. One is in university studying psychology. Another is in engineering. I never would have dreamed that his sleepy little Quechua village and all of those tiny little kiddos in our program would be where they are today!

While we were in Patarcocha to visit, we got to slow down and spend the day at the pace of village life again. Long talks while sitting in the grass, watching the animals, laughing with the kids, telling stories and laughing till we cried. Of course, Elva and I were right back at it... joking and laughing and dreaming and planning to take over the world... or at least the village.
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Our visit back to Peru was a gift. No single place claims the title of “home.” Instead, home is the love we encountered in Peru, the laughter of old neighbors, the bonds we strengthened and tended while there. That is what we carry forward. Love. Home.