If you have read any of our blogs you will know that most of our previous travel was related to our Bethel assignment. We loved our Bethel life. We were part of the Australia (now Australasia) Branch since January 1990 (and 1987 for me, Lloyd) and we truly loved our life. However, as part of the organisations adjustments, when Bethel’s around the world were reduced in late 2015, early 2016, we were among the many who were reassigned to the field.
So, what to do? Well, the short answer is we moved to Peru to serve where the need is greater. But I’ll let Alexandra explain WHY PERU?
We often get asked: “Why Peru?” So we thought it was worthy of our first blog since our move. Here is a review of our decision making process.
From the moment we found out we were leaving Bethel our goal was to pioneer in a land with a greater need. On that same day we scoured the yearbook and compiled facts and figures in a spreadsheet. We had a two year plan. It allowed us to fulfil our SKE assignment (which we did straight from Bethel) with our congregation, Penshurst in Sydney. It would also give us time to save money and importantly, time to be with both of our fathers who were terminally ill. (Sadly, Lloyd’s father died a month after we left Bethel and my father 6 months later.)
The main thing we did to come to our decision, was (1) pray, pray and pray every day. We supplicated Jehovah to help us. (2) Along with searching the Yearbook statistics, we (3) read Watchtower articles. (4) We talked to many ‘Need Greater’s’. (5) We did not pursing a ‘lead’ that dried up. In other words, when people promised information but they didn’t get back to us, we took that as a method of elimination. (6) Visa’s were another big consideration. How difficult is it to get in any particular country? How successful were others? How expensive would it be? Next, (7) we considered our own needs. Our place of choice had to be:
A. Relatively cheap.
B. Relatively safe.
C. Not hot and humid all year long. (Climate ruled out a lot of developing lands.)
Six months later, out of the blue, we received a WhatsApp message from friends pioneering in Swaziland, Africa. They asked if we would like to look after their studies (and dog) when they return to work in Australia for two months. How exciting! Swaziland seemed to tick all of the boxes. Was this Jehovah’s answer? For about 2 months we thought so.
However, after taking over a Metro shift from a couple who served in Tanzania, we decided to widen our field again. We were aware that not only is Siswati (language of Swaziland), a difficult language, but it is also only spoken by less than 2 million people. Of course, they need the truth too. We applaud our friends pioneering there. But it got us thinking for us personally, although we want this move to be long term, (that is, as long as circumstances with our family, our health and finances permit), if we ever had to come back to Australia, would we ever use Siswati again? We have never come across anyone from Swaziland. Whereas Swahili spoken in Tanzania, is also spoken in many other countries, by more than 50 million people. Mostly these are hot, humid climates, but some highland areas in Tanzania could be suitable. And there would be opportunity to use it in Australia.
So we opened our minds up to other possibilities again. It would make sense to go to Asia as it is so close to Australia. A lot of places are hot but, but there are possibilities such as Nepal. We were also still considering Swaziland and Arusha in Tanzania. And then we looked more closely to the Andes in South America. Equador and Peru seemed the ’easiest’ places to get visas. (We must say at this point that our contacts in Equador, connected us with a couple in Peru. They were, and still are, an invaluable source of enthusiasm, encouragement and information.)
So we came up with the short list of Peru, Equador, Tanzania, Swaziland, Nepal and another large Asian country.
Next, (8) as the brothers suggest, we wrote to the six Branches via Australia Branch. Well, actually, it ended up being only four as at the last minute we removed the two Asian countries from our list. (For various reasons after much prayer.)
The letter was sent in January and we set a deadline of March 15, 2017 to make a decision as we wanted visit the country in the same service year. The result? Peru Branch wrote back within a week. Great letter, recommending 9 cities or towns as places of need. They also wrote that if none of these were suitable for us they have more options. The second week, we received a beautiful, personal letter from Equador Branch. They listed two relatively isolated congregations.
We kept praying for Africa to write but we never received anything. . . So the decision was made easy. . . Peru! Of course, we could have written back to Equador and asked for more options or we could have written again to Africa, but we decided to take the original letters as Jehovah’s answer.
Finally, (9) we visited Peru to “scout out the land”, as recommended in our publications. We checked out a few places and chose Cusco. There is a need in Cusco, maybe not as great as other areas, but we too have needs and we felt that Cusco would be the best place for us personally to start our new life in Latin American.
It’s interesting how we initially thought we would move to Asia, our hearts were in Africa but we feel that after much prayer, deliberation and research we believe that Jehovah was telling us that South America was better for us
So here we are. Just over two years after leaving Bethel.
There it is. The background to our new life in a new land. But of course, this is just the beginning. Who knows what will happen next?
To be continued. . .
