Confirmations with Radio and School…

27 May 2015

Chris then had lunch with friend and CEO of Hope FM 103.2 in Sydney – a TXA client and fellow Christian.  Chris shared about the Peru chapter opening up for us.  He was so excited and said his station hadn’t supported anything outside of Australia before but he wanted to support Chris with the Diospi Suyana hospital radio project.  Amazingly with the offer of studio equipment and technical support in Peru.   We were so aware of the anointing of God’s hand upon Diospi Suyana.   This was beginning to be like the stories in Klaus’ book for us!

Klaus phoned again to chat and ended with “it looks like you’re the next family to come to Diospi Suyana!”   He indicated at the time that we were to be needed in January 2016. 

So we took the big step of withdrawing Jake from Pacific Hills Christian School (year 10), so he could be at home to learn Spanish and help pack and adjust to distance Ed study.

4 June 2015

We had another amazing appointment – this time with the school principal Dr Edwin Boyce.  We were expecting this to be a goodbye meeting.  However Dr Boyce opened our conversation by saying he was aware of our mission to Peru and it was the best thing we could do as a family and offered to have us present our story at staff devotions.  Furthermore he loved Peru as he had visited there before himself and would put it in his notes to come and visit us next year!

He so encouraged us when he said as we left that this was just the start of our journey together.  God’s anointing on Diospi Suyana continues for us. 

Blessings, Chris

Confirmations…

May 2015 – Chris had been concerned about the mountainous terrain in the Andes and specifically about driving our family around safely.  For the most part there are dangerous cliffs at the road’s edge with hairpin bends at every turn and without the Australian standard of safety railings we were used to!  The Diospi Suyana hospital has received many a patient from buses and other vehicles going over the edge and many deaths are included.

That weekend he went to a church conference night where random bible verse were given out to all entering the centre.  His was Psalm 121:1... 

I lift up my eyes to the mountains — where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip — he who watches over you will not slumber;

We felt like we were ready to commit to this adventure.  Chris and I emailed Klaus together and told him we were still here and interested, and asked what should we do next.  We included the above testimony of Ps 121.  Klaus phoned the next morning to say who wrote the email, we said we had written it together, he said, “It looks like I need to come and meet you then, I will come in October 2015 to Australia”.

Blessings, Sandi

Do we really want to go?

Later in April 2015… Dr John indicated that an initial commitment of three years was needed to complete the proposed transmission project. This was longer than we had thought - but made sense in hindsight as we needed time to learn a new language and culturally adjust to then be useful!  The engineering scope to build a network was big too, and it is hard to know how long it would take. 

It was a searching time – life here suddenly looked different.  God put choices in front of us and we had to choose to trust in the unknown or rest here in short term certainty. 

Chris had unexpected changes at work at his management level.  Were things looking better?  Should we stay now?

We began to complain about our living arrangements (which were a squeeze for us) and were unexpectedly offered a plan to “have” a house!  With all the space we could ever want!  But Peru didn’t fit into the timeframe if we wanted it.  Should we take it?

We believe now God had given us a choice i.e. he was testing us.  We didn’t even have to discuss it though, our hearts said “no”. God had placed Peru in our hearts and we could see how quickly that dream had become bigger than our old dreams.   Soon after without conveying this to anyone else, the offer for the bigger house was withdrawn!

Blessings, Sandi

Now it was time to introduce the concept of moving to Peru with the kids!!

April 2015 – Chris started by reading to the kids as a bedtime story the biography of Klaus Dieter John from the YWAM publication Christian Heroes: Then & Now series. There are 43 books in this series, and I think 40 of them are about missionaries who have long passed on. We have read half of them, and the concept of this faith filled man still being alive was not lost on the kids.

They enjoyed the book and somewhere along the way we introduced the idea that maybe we could go to Peru and help! Keeping it an idea that they could chew over worked well. It helped Chris and I too, as we digested what it would really mean.

It was amazing to see how the older kids all picked out a different Peruvian feature that excited them about moving there. Jake loves an adventure and wants to hike in the Andes and can’t wait to learn Spanish and experience a different culture.

Sam, our keen cyclist, realised the potential of high altitude living some 2.65km above sea level with the training potential of the even higher mountain highways.

Isaac loved the idea of helping Dad with the technical aspects of the project. Then Sarah heard about the perfect Peruvian horses that walk the Inca trails, and Georgia wants to help the poor kids at the afternoon kids clubs the hospital holds each weekday...

It took our breath away to realise how God was sending us to a place that would hold something special for each of the kids. Interests aside, they were all taken by the idea of Peru - to help the poor, to share God’s love and to help Dad with the project.

Blessings, Sandi

The YWAM book which initially inspired us

Mission in Peru with all of us! And a newborn baby and a dog!

We know it sounds a bit crazy... maybe even a lot, so we wanted to share our journey and let you know how God has confirmed this to us, and constantly encourages us to keep going. We hope it encourages you too.

1995 – Chris and I are dating and in an amazing night of worship at a Black Stump music conference decide/promise each other/declare that we would use the talents God has given us for him. That we would be bold enough to do something...

1996 – Chris receives a prophecy that he would reach millions with the gospel…. We are not sure how this could ever come about...

Life is normal, we work, are promoted, have children (OK maybe 7 is not so normal! ), renovate the house, have a pet dog, homeschool, are involved in church, community, sports etc.

2010 – God tells us to sell the house we have just finished renovating. This was really very hard. We do it, not sure if we have heard right or not, but we rent the “not so renovated” house next door and await God’s next instructions.

2015 – We are still waiting – and we must admit are getting very impatient! We find ourselves losing confidence day by day in our ability to hear anything from God. Did we get it all wrong? We knock on doors of African mission societies, but there are no openings.

March 5th 2015 - A dear friend emails us some YouTube links to a hospital in Peru – I don’t watch them. Chris does and he was impressed with what God was doing there.

March later… The same friend phones me in tears one day telling me I just have to read this book, (Dr Klaus-Dieter John – Then and Now YWAM series), so I buy the book and put it on the bookshelf. I don’t have time to read a book!

My dear friend keeps checking if I have read the book yet! No is my constant answer.

We are frustrated at Chris’ job, hours stress, etc. – I seriously pray for a new start.

March 23rd - I need a toe operation, which is a totally silly chain of events but one that leads to me having to sit on the couch for one week - SO I finally read the book!!! Amazing story but the last page speaks to my heart – Dr Klaus-Dieter John is asked what his next project is after the hospital and school are now established, and he answers to set up a radio and television station to transmit the gospel across the Andes and information about the hospital, medical and education etc. It feels like God is saying that this is for us!

The text which called us to action

I check the publishing date at the front of the book, as surely it is old info by now, but is it was published in 2014 (just last year).

It is March 27th and I excitedly look at the Diospi Suyana website and to my surprise the latest newsletter on the first website page says that Klaus is putting out the call internationally, looking for an engineer to come and set up the radio/television station! Wow! – I pray with Mum, who is visiting us from Perth to help look after the kids (while I read books!!) and can’t wait for Chris to get home from work so I can show him!

Chris agrees! It seems like a perfect fit for our family.

We send an email with Chris’ resume attached to a general Diospi Suyana contact address, and can’t believe it when the next day Klaus himself emails us back! It is a basic email clarifying our interest and suggesting a phone call when he returns to Peru. We respond and say yes we would love to chat when he is able.

Then we wait, and it feels like God is testing us. It is a journey of our hearts. Could we really move to Peru? Do we really want to? – for once all the hard questions seem to have easy answers – “yes” and God cements it in our hearts. And then he gives us a chance to put our decision in to action…

Chris knew about the sale of Commonwealth owned television and radio test equipment on GraysOnline auction from a project that he has worked on for the past 2 ½ years.  This was perfect for our broadcast work in Peru, but the auction ends in only two days. Multiple kits are each worth $250,000 but would sell for significantly less. We wait for Klaus to phone so we can confirm if we need the equipment or not.  Klaus doesn’t call.  The auction ends and we feel disappointed that we missed it.  Then a week later there is a second chance auction for remaining unsold units, but still Klaus does not call!

So we decide that God wants us to step out in faith, in action, in decisively choosing this path for our family, so we bought the test equipment for a bargain price from our savings (God’s money really).

On the 7th of April, Chris brings it home, puts it on the floor, goes and makes a cup of tea to sit on the couch with Sandi and reflect on what we have done – and at that very moment the phone rings… it is Klaus John calling us from Peru to say he is interested in us being involved in this project!

Blessings, Chris & Sandi

Welch family with broadcast test equipment

Our "instruments of faith" viz broadcast test equipment