Fr. Shaw's Prayer Mail

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Peace be with you.

This can be posted as a public prayer letter.

We have enjoyed the comments from people responding to our prayer mails and letters. We enjoy receiving the latest news and prayer updates.

We are adjusting to Lima. There are reminders on occasion of the similarities/differences between hemispheres. This past week the temperature in Lima has been similar to the current temperature in Wynantskill, NY. That is a similarity.

On the other hand, we are about to head into winter in a few days. Perhaps the warmer winter temperature and desert climate in Lima today are closer to the temperature and climate in Bethlehem at the time of Jesus' birth, than to the cold and snow in upper New York State in December at Christmas time. So, I don't think we will be singing hymn 112 (In the Bleak Mid-winter) in December, here... it will be summer and there is no snow, not even in winter. That is a difference.

Praise reports:
1) We have completed the major part of our moving in. The furniture we were expecting came on Saturday evening. Then we took our books out of boxes and bags, and we put the books on bookshelves, to discover that we need about 2 more book cases. Sigh... The need for bookshelves seems to be the life story of seminary professors and homeschooling families. But, praise God! After the books went into the bookcases, Lydia noted that our apartment now seems like ours, and not someone else's. And it appears that our books are in reasonably good shape. So, we are settling in.

2) We are weathering cultural adjustments rather well.

3) We are moving ahead in ministry and ministry planning.

4) We are moving ahead in language learning, day by day. Conversations are becoming easier. Some people have said that Spanish is an easy language to learn, and while it is a category 1 language (such as French or Italian, and not a category II such as Russian, or a category III language such as Mandarin Chinese), Spanish can be as sophisticated and challenging as any other language. All three of us are making good headway with our Spanish.

According to one Spanish teacher, the version of Spanish that one speaks has to do to a great degree with your economic level in the country. It turns out that we have settled on learning a kind of middle-class Spanish as that is the level of language spoken by seminary professors. And, in fact, we are learning two languages: knowledge of every-day Spanish and knowledge of Spanish that one uses when teaching. Some of the variations in spoken Spanish can be particularly noticeable when the Spanish spoken in Lima is compared with elsewhere in the country. Rate of speaking, clarity of pronunciation, and grammar structures can be very different. And it is necessary to understand various versions of Spanish if you are going to answer questions from students.

If you follow the State Department scale of language proficiency, my guess is that we are somewhere between an S-2 and an S-3 level, on a scale of S-1 (beginning) to S-5 (native speaker). My personal goal is to aim for somewhere in the S-3 to S-4 range, the levels that are necessary for teaching, hopefully attaining an S-4 proficiency over time. How to do that? That is where our training in Colorado comes in handy.

5) Julie and I had our 28th wedding anniversary celebration this past week (it happened on the same day as the furniture arrival and Lydia's youth group meeting), so we squeezed in an evening snack at a Starbucks. It was a good half-hour alone together. By the way, there is valet parking for that section of the street. Yes, Starbucks has valet parking available..... But we walk and take taxis. Walking is good exercise, and taxis are relatively inexpensive here.

6) Lydia's hobbies are up and going. She is back to knitting (a poncho), and continues to write her book, and so forth. Aside from youth group on Saturday evenings, which goes into winter break in about a week, she also keeps in touch with friends and family via Skype and Facebook.

Prayer requests:
1) Language learning. Please continue to pray for our language learning. We can tell that you are praying. It is awesome. We have begun weekly private lessons with a Peruvian linguist from church, and these lessons will continue beyond language school. Apparently, language school ends in about 4 weeks for most of us.

2) Communications and keeping in touch with everyone.

3) Ministry in the Diocese and the seminary, including the current Life in the Spirit seminar and preparing for leading classes at the beginning of October. Normally, according to people here, sufficient language proficiency does not really kick in until about 6 months to a year from when a person arrives. That would put us about the end of October at the earliest, because we started at the end of April. So, we are pushing the envelope a bit by what we teach now and by what we teach in early October.

We continue to meet with Bp. Godfrey and Dean Allen Hill of the seminary as part of our planning and getting to know the Diocese and seminary better. The seminary class that we jointly lead with Bp. Godfrey is designed for all the people in the ordination process in this part of the Diocese, so we are getting to know the students, as well, and beginning to contribute to the life of the Diocese, after only 6 weeks.

4) Finances and budgeting.

5) Use of our time. After language school, we have further plans for language study, including attending the other seminary classes and continuing to attend Spanish Sunday services. Continuing with work in the Diocese. Daily living, and preparing for courses in October. It all adds up.

6) Getting out and about to meet people, especially important for Lydia. As a family, we continue to develop various networks of people, and for Lydia, a teen, we are pursuing special avenues.

God bless you. I pray for you daily. Thank you for praying for us.

In Christ,

Shaw, and on behalf of Julie and Lydia.