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
