Lena's Top Ten of 2012

Every New Year, Lena writes a Top 10 summation of the year we’ve left behind. Here’s her summation (in no particular order) of the best of 2012:

1)      Construction in Catacaos: Another way to say this is--The Shraders get to be a part of making an educational dream come true in Catacaos, Peru. When we came to Peru in 2008, Pastor Walter Carranza showed us his plans to add a high school to the existing Latin America ChildCare (LACC) elementary school. We didn’t laugh at him out loud, but we knew at the time we didn’t have the funds to help him.  Well, our Isaac was born this year as we are completing the third floor of a four story high school. Thanks to the churches and teams from the U.S. who’ve given time, money and sweat to see this dream take form. Thanks to LACC and the Ohio Women’s Ministries for helping us raise the funding. We couldn’t—and didn’t—do it alone. 

2)    Hannah (age 18) prepares to launch into her college career with some kickin’ SAT scores and a ton of intensive scholarly pursuits.  Hannah took an AP History course solo and completed it by sheer grit.  She’s maxed out the number of Spanish credits one can apply toward colllege and got an “A” in Stats.  She is amazingly dogged both in her studies and her pursuit of the Lord. If she could major in “Soaking in the Presence of God through Worship,” she would have picked her major a long time ago.  We know she is ready for college.  The question is, “Is college ready for Hannah?”

3)      Will busts into Bible-reading. Will (age 10) wakes up early—often an hour before the rest of the family. Bill challenged Will to put that time to good use and read the Word.  Since then, Will has read many of the books of the Bible, including Revelations and Song of Songs.  Will had great insight into the latter two books, which is crazy-exciting for Bible geeks like Bill and I.  He called out while reading Song of Songs, “Hey, Dad, is this book just about being in love?”  Good questions, smart boy.

4)      Abi continues to blossom as resident artist and Hannah-in-training.  Abi continues to surprise us with her gift for artistic expression.   She draws things that make you feel something, and we love seeing her latest creations.  Her favorite color is all of the rainbow, and she has a great eye.  She also shows signs of budding vocal talent and imitates Hannah in everything but fashion sense (Abi is much more flowery than Hannah’s sporty style). 

5)      Colton shows promise in developing musical talent and growing facial hair.  Colton has been working on mastering the drums, as well as picking up the bass guitar.  He has come quite far already with starter hints from Dad, video tutorials, and an occasional lesson from a friend.  He continues to be a sweet young man who is known for his character at school.  He also passed up his dad in height this year and, every day, looks more like someone who needs to get a job instead of someone who needs to go to high school. 

 6)      Bill and Lena take on working with young adults in our home church and it feels really good. Twenty plus years in XA left serious grooves in our ministry style, and we have very much enjoyed getting to work with the young adults of our church.  We don’t have the same time to put into it, but we so love those chat times after church with young people, praying for them, and teaching them to find God’s will for their lives.  When they come to our house for a cookout, our old XA selves get all happy. 

7)      Bill hosts 7 missions teams, a bunch of visiting missionaries and assists in hosting a major international educational conference all in one year.  The amount of planning and prep that go into a successful missions trip on this end is equal or surpasses the prep stateside.  For our friends who have led trips, they will remember how much work that was for them.  Now multiply it by 7 and stick a big conference at the end.  It was a HUGE undertaking for Bill, but had great returns.  Hundreds received Christ as savior, thousands received medical care, the school in Catacaos took shape, many received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, the Gospel was preached in the mountains and at University, and we made a lot of really good friends!

Avon Christian Heritage in Cusco (with Colton and Hannah)

Capital Christian Center (Sacramento) medical team

Brown University XA in Ayacucho.

 

8)      In addition to ministering in churches and working with Latin America ChildCare, Lena becomes president of the PTO at our International Christian School -- and loses the capacity to separate Spanish and English in her brain. This school year brought growth and increased diversity to the International Christian School our children attend in Lima. Lena accepted the position of president of the PTO and has enjoyed the challenge of leading—which involves a lot of Spanish and team building.  Participation this year in PTO has grown significantly and she has enjoyed being in the middle of it all.

Lena giving out Christmas gifts to LACC children.

9)      Bill gets serious about seeing Peru moving in the Spirit. Unfortunately, many members of the Peruvian Assemblies of God have never experienced the Baptism of the Holy Spirit or even heard teaching on it. One of our Peruvian pastor friends strongly encouraged Bill at the beginning of this year to preach on the Baptism wherever he goes.  Bill has taken that challenge seriously, and we have seen many people receive this year.  The Peruvian culture considers public embarrassment or exposure of weakness something to be avoided at all costs, so helping people get to the point of receiving and trusting can be a huge challenge. But, many Peruvians are also serious prayer warriors and lovers of God. It is a great pleasure to help people who have yearned for this for so many years to finally receive. 

 

Bill and Hannah help lead worship at Quechua speaking adobe church.

10)   Bill and Lena are honored by having two Peruvian babies named for them. I (Lena) have always wanted someone to name a baby after me.  I just thought it would be fun.  I gave up after leaving lots of little unsuccessful hints to our XA alums.  Pastor Walter Carranza and his wife, Sonia, wanted to name their baby after a missionary and surprised me with this honor. Sonia assures me that little Lina (preserving the pronunciation over the spelling) is a remarkably peaceful baby, always cheerful, and only complains when she is hungry (we definitely have that in common!). Another couple in the church (Gerardo and Maria, who are incredibly humble servants) were pregnant at the same time. What a surprise when, one week later, little Billy was born! Now there’s a Lina and a Billy growing up in the same church.  Maybe they will grow up and fall in love!

The Shraders doing some very serious ministry at the beach