Latest Newsletter

I just wanted to quickly post a link to our latest newsletter:

May 2010

Check it out if you haven't seen it already.

Also, see the side of our blog for the most up-to-date support levels. It is even higher than it was when we sent out our newsletter! God has been really faithful to speak to the hearts of people to support our ministry.

I hope to post more family and flying updates this week.

2 Week Re-cap

Well, our "non-tech" orientation has come to an end. We had a great 2 weeks full of so many helpful seminars, classes and speakers. It was a FULL 2 weeks, but so much valuable information was given. We are very thankful that MAF has provided us with this training!

On our last day, we had an authentic Indonesian lunch. It was really a feast with some wonderful food! We are going to love the food in Indonesia if it's anything like the meal we had here!

In this picture, you can really only see the fruit (which is what Indonesians have for dessert) but also some cookies that weren't Indonesian, but really good!
I cannot really remember the names of all the different kinds of food, but the rice was called nasi goreng with an egg on top and then the chicken had a really good peanut sauce on it.

They had a "commissioning chapel" for us at MAF where they prayed for us and basically turned us over from the training phase to the "operations" phase. Now all we have to do is raise 25% more of our support, and we're off to Indonesia!! :)

There was cake with BLUE icing at the chapel, and Reece was lovin' it!



Here are the boys of our group right before chapel looking out the window towards the runway to see if they could spot any planes taking off.

I will update more later about some fun times we had these past two weeks. I'm back to being a full-time mom tomorrow and I'm excited about that! Daniel starts ground school tomorrow in the MAF hanger, and then next week he'll start flying.
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I don't really have much to say, but I did want to update everyone on how support raising is going. Our December newsletter should be mailed out this week or next, but the cool thing is that the "support raising" section is already old news! We are currently at 54% for monthly support and 61% for outgoing!! Isn't God amazing!! We have had some very generous gifts this month and it just keeps coming.

It's really un-real for us to thing that we are half way there!!! Soon after that amazing feeling, we get a reality check and realize that we have to repeat everything we just did to get 50 MORE percent! :)

No, but really this is all in God's timing. We know for sure that He has called our family to serve in this role and all we can do is do the prayer and the work and HE is the one that brings in the funds. It is SO great to see our God at work everyday in this way!

We have a lot of key verses that we think about during this time in our lives, and one of those is Ephesians 1:11-12 which is on our desk. It says, "In Him you were also chosen in order that you...might be for the praise of His glory," (that is paraphrased slightly). This whole process is just to reflect His glory to not only people in Indonesia, but people at home, too!

On another note, we have had a really "fruity" week here. Reece is downing the Cutie Clementines-about 3 a day! Why in the world Joe doesn't like them is beyond me...

But, he does love strawberries!! He was picking them up and taking bites of them all by himself and he didn't even eat the leaves...amazing!
Oh, and here is a picture of our Christmas tree. I don't think we've had a full-sized one in a few years because I just hate to spend the money and we've always had little people around that like to steal the ornaments off the bottom! But, this year, they were all a great price so we decided to go for it. We just put the wooden ones on the bottom so the kids can look and touch if they want.

Hope everyone is having a great Christmas season so far!

Latest Newsletter

Check out our latest Newsletter!

Perez October 2009

Trip to Dallas

Yay for road trips!!
We took a week long trip up to Dallas last week to visit with some friends and family and to tell them more about MAF. We stayed in a little cabin the whole week. It was cozy as it was only one room, but it was fun :)
We had such a great time with our friends and family. So many people were excited about what the Lord is doing in Indonesia through MAF and so many people decided to give generously. We are so thankful to God as He is providing for us and also revealing Himself to others through His work in Indonesia!

Best Buds! :) Sure, they look sweet in this picture, but things were not so happy in the middle of the night in the cozy cabin. Not much sleep was had, which makes for an interesting trip :) We really did have fun during the day and at all of our visits, but the nights were rough...The cozy cabin.


It sure was cold in Dallas!! One day it rained all day long! The cozy cabin got even cozier that day!! :) There was a small playground right next to our cabin and a TV/laundry room right next to that.One of the highlights of the trip was that there was a really fun mall right down the street from the cozy cabin with lots of fun things to do for the kids. The most fun thing was a Daddy/daughter ice skating adventure!! We were so proud of Reece for being so brave on the ice. Daddy had to help her a lot with the skating, but she learned how to stand on her own and she skated around several times with the help of her Dad.



Don't fall!



We got home on Saturday and had to prepare for our presentation on Sunday at church. So, after that, we had a relaxing Sunday afternoon/evening. We spent some time outside enjoying the nice weather. Our presentation went really well. Thanks for everyone who came to ABF on Sunday!


Beautiful girl on her tricycle. She's getting so good at riding it!

Good ole Joe in his walker. He actually took his first step last week! But, it was short lived excitement. He has only done it again a few times, so I think it will be awhile before he's running around the house.

I just think it so cute when they're playing outside together. We had a lot more races that evening :)


Random pictures:
Reece helping Mommy mop--in her boots, of course.
So, I'm getting motivated again to unpack the boxes that line our hallway and dining room. Reece and Joe "helped" me unpack the DVD box and then decided to get in it. Actually, Joe was in it before all the DVD's were out. Such a helper... :)

We Have Arrived...

...No, not in Indonesia. Still in Houston, but in a new location. We are moved in (sort of) to our townhouse that is in basically the same area as our old house was in. We have been here about a week and a half, but only had our internet turned on just two days ago. That's why I have been so quiet in the blog world.

We are getting settled into the swing of things in our new jobs. What is our new job, you ask? Well, we are building up our financial and prayer team who will help get us to Indonesia so we can help meet the physical and spiritual needs of the people in Indonesia.

How do you build up your team, you ask? Well, we call and email people to see if they want to meet so that we can share more about Mission Aviation Fellowship and see if they would consider being a part of our team. When we are not meeting with people, we are praying, keeping up with people who are already a part of our team, meeting new people, keeping up with all our MAF paperwork that we have to turn in weekly. It may not seem like much, but we are required to log 50 hours a week, and we have even been going over this for the past few weeks. It also requires us to be on the go quite a bit. We are driving from on event to the next with our two kids in tow. We also hope to meet with churches in the area, small groups and any other group that would want to meet us and hear about MAF!

We have been at it one month now, and we have really been enjoying ourselves. Most missionaries say that this is their least favorite part of the process of going overseas because it's really all about money, which can be uncomfortable and awkward to talk about at times. But it has been fun so far. This past month, we have really been blown away by the Lord's generosity to us. It is so exciting to see the group of people that He has picked to be a part of our team. We are really not in control of this process. We can only share our passion and ministry, but the Lord is the one who moves hearts to give. We have been surprised and humbled by the individuals who have stepped up so far. And, we really have only had one week of meeting with people. Our first two weeks were spent with Daniel's relatives and traveling back to Houston. Our third week was spent getting settled in and re-connecting with family and close friends. This is the end of our first week of making appointments and meeting with people. It's been so fun so far.

How are the kids, you ask? They are doing great! They think our new townhouse is really fun, especially Reece because of the stairs! We are all enjoying our own rooms and more space to spread out!! We are trying to daily get boxes out of our storage unit and sort things out. We have four categories: get rid of, take to Indonesia but store until we go, take to Indo but use in our townhouse until we leave, and things we want to keep but not take to Indo which means have to permanently store here while we’re gone. Whew! Imagine making those kinds of decisions for every single item you have!! How many flash lights do we bring?? How many and what kind of toys?? What about all our pictures?? What about the dart board from the garage????? AHHHHH!!!!

Okay, so I'm not really freaking out. At least not at this moment. :) But, I do have my moments! :) Daniel has been working from home, and it's been so fun having him around. We are all bonding as a family! I love it!

Here are some pics to enjoy!

Here's Daniel "working" from home :)

Joe got a buzz cut!! Daniel really wanted to give him a moehawk, but it is really hard to give this squirmy boy a hair cut, so it ended up being a buzz.

Awww... cute! Right before the buzz cut.

We stopped in Seattle on our way home and went to the aquarium. Reece got to ride a shark.

Reece the Octapus












This is from our campfire on one of our last days with Daniel's grandparents. Reece throughly enjoyed the s'mores! And so did Daddy.





















10 month old picture!!





















Joe riding on the tractor with Grandpa Dale. Reece was too scared to ride, so her baby brother did it instead :) I think the next day she did ride with her Grandma, but I didn't get to see that.

I know many people are confused and still have questions about our ministry. We are slowly but surely making it through our list to talk with people one on one or in groups. I’m also working on a “Frequently Asked Questions” page for this blog and I’m trying to organize the blog to be more focused on what in the world is going on with us right now.

Thanks for hanging in there with us! Let us know if you have questions, want to meet with us, or just want more info on our ministry. We would LOVE to do any of these things. Email us! BeckyPez@gmail.com or DPerez@maf.org.

What Now???

We are finally finished with our training time at Mission Aviation Fellowship. It was a long five weeks, but God was so faithful to us during that time. He took such great care of our children while we were in class, He helped us work well together as a team, He provided for us financially and He kept us safe and healthy throughout all our travels.

Soooo.... what's next for us?

The last Friday of class, we quickly packed and cleaned our apartment and then headed to Sandpoint, Idaho where some amazing friends of ours had a wonderful lake house ready for us to relax in. We spent two nights there, and then two nights in Spokane, Washington with the Chareltons. Thanks SOOO much to Ross, Piper, Sophia, and baby Simon for taking such great care of us.

Now we are in Bellingham, Washington where we will spend the week with Daniel's grandparents and other relatives. We will also be speaking at a church here at their Sunday evening service. We are very excited about our first official opportunity to speak about MAF to a church!!

From here, the kids and I will fly home thanks to some super cheap tickets. Daniel will drive home making a few stops along the way to visit friends. We will be sad to miss out on these visits, but are glad that we don't have to spend hours in the car anymore! :)

When we get back to Houston, we'll be setting up our home where we'll be working on building up our ministry partnership team. More on that later! :)

For pictures of the Lake house, go here.

For pictures our time in Washington so far, go here.

The infamous MAF Kodiak!!

Life in Idaho

So, we have been here in Idaho for over a month now. We have made some good friends so far! The only other couple with kids here has two boys, 5 and 6 years old. There names are Gabriel and Christopher. Their babysitter is the sister of our babysitter, so they often get together and play or watch movies. Since we had the security seminar this past week, there were several other families here in the apartments for that. Our new neighbors had two little girls, and one is three, just a few months older than Reece. Her name is Kaitlyn and she and Reece became buds right away (it helped that she had a set of "princess barbies" that Reece loved to play with.) This week, the kids have been roaming from apartment to apartment playing with all the different toys and making up games. Here they are in our apartment today while we were at class...




Christopher (I'm pretty sure they were taking pictures of each other!)


Kaitlyn

The gang

Kaitlyn and Christopher

The gang making silly faces

The Pout - It's hard to say no to those beautiful blue eyes! (I think she was pouting here because she wanted to put more of my lip gloss on, which you can see is already all over her face.)

Last weekend we all went to part of a lake called Lucky Peak. We went there last year
but it was fun to go back this year with all the new friends we have made. Our whole class, plus the short-term teacher Erica all came and spent the day there together. The water is ICE COLD and I was determined NOT to get my swim suit on because it did NOT want to be pressured into getting in. But, of course, in order to chase my two kids around, I ended up getting suited up. But, I only went in to my knees! :)

And here's our sweet boy yesterday on his 9 month birthday!! He is crawling, pulling up, making all kinds of new sounds, eating three meals of baby food a day, throwing small balls, kissing, and I've caught him clapping a few times, but he doesn't do it on command yet. I remember at this age with Reece, she was almost completely feeding herself bits of food for every meal. But, with Joe, he is still so gaggy. He can eat bits of Cheerios, bananas and other soft food, but he still gags a lot. So, he's really all on baby food, even though I'm ready to make the switch. I guess every baby really is different! :)

Here you can see Reece at 9 months old eating all kinds of food (avocado, cheese and so kind of orange fruit)

Reece's nine month picture for comparison.

The next two weeks were are focusing on learning how to build our ministry partnership team. Look for our very first official newsletter in the mail coming to you soon!

Our Country Assignment is.....

INDONESIA!!!

We were kinda hoping for this assignment, but didn't really want to admit it so we wouldn't be disappointed or seem like we were unwilling to go someplace. So, we're very excited!! There are four MAF bases in the country of Indonesia and we won't know which one we will be going to for awhile since the needs change so frequently. We have MUCH to learn about this country and its people.

We have a three day weekend this weekend to rest up and soak in all the changes our family will be going through. Then next week is security training and then the next two weeks after that we learn how to raise support!

If you want to know a little bit more about MAF's work in Indonesia, keep reading:

The MAF bases in Indonesia:

1 & 2. Kalimantan

Indonesia's province of Kalimantan occupies the largest portion of the island of Borneo (there are two MAF bases on this island, which is the big on kind of in the middle) and shares its landmass with Malaysia. One of the world's most isolated and remote areas, it remains largely undeveloped. The geographical and logistical barriers are forbidding. Dense rain forests, impenetrable mountains, arduous terrain, and the absence of roads leave villages isolated, limiting access to the Gospel and life-sustaining services such as health clinics and education beyond elementary school.
THE SOLUTION
In 1969, MAF began to serve mission groups and the emerging indigenous churches of Kalimantan.

3. Papua
Note: Papua, Indonesia, should not be confused with Papua New Guinea (PNG), which covers the eastern half of the Island of New Guinea and surrounding islands. MAF-Australia operates in PNG.

In Papua, unreached people groups in the western half of the island live hidden away in rain forests, mountains, and swamps. From six bases of operations, MAF reaches deep into the interior, penetrating some of the world's most remote areas to bring the Gospel and improve the quality of life for isolated Papuans.
As recently as 1997, Stone Age tribes were being discovered in Papua, still untouched and unreached. Today, other primitive tribes still live in the hidden crevices of the island. Yet to hear of Jesus Christ, they are bound by spiritual darkness and live in fear of spirits and the outside world.
Basic services such as schools and health clinics are unavailable in remote areas. As a result, countless Papuans unsuccessfully battle chronic malaria, rampant skin fungi, malnutrition, and intestinal worms.
The need in Papua is so great that MAF pilots report being able to accommodate less than half of the flight requests they receive. Throughout Papua, there are few viable alternatives to Mission Aviation Fellowship air service in the regions served by its planes.

THE SOLUTION
Since 1952, MAF has brought hope and support to this rugged and forbidding place. Today, 38 MAF missionary families, two short-term staff, and more than 80 Indonesian staff members serve from six bases in Papua. Thirteen MAF aircraft, as well as three email hubs and communications networks, multiply the effectiveness of some 65 agencies and hundreds of churches ministering in Papua. MAF services impact more than 250 ethnic groups by maximizing and sustaining evangelism, Church nurture, medical assistance, community development, education, crisis relief, and the training and leadership development of Papuans.

4. Sumatra
Sumatra is the second-largest island in Indonesia, and home to approximately 45 million people. In ancient times Sumatra was known as the "Island of Gold." Despite its deposits of oil and natural gas, as well as other resources, some 27 percent of the people of northern Sumatra live in poverty, compared to 17 percent in Indonesia as a whole.
In December 2004, a 9.2 magnitude earthquake caused a devastating tsunami to crash across the Aceh area of northern Sumatra. More than 170,000 people were killed and 550,000 displaced. Geographical areas were disfigured, and the transportation infrastructure was destroyed.
Though MAF did not have a base in Sumatra at the time, the agency was one of the first to respond to the disaster, initially sending aircraft and personnel from the MAF program in Kalimantan. MAF also provided communications services to support the relief efforts.
Four years later, life is assuming a semblance of normalcy for many people in the tsunami-stricken area. Most of those who were displaced now have homes to live in, and the healthcare system is continually improving.
Many of the humanitarian agencies involved in the rebuilding efforts have departed. MAF is one of only a handful of Christian agencies remaining in the area, providing the predominantly Muslim population with a tangible expression of God’s love.

THE SOLUTION
Having served in Indonesia since 1954, the long-term commitment of MAF is recognized and deeply appreciated. Government officials have invited MAF to extend its ministry indefinitely in the province of Aceh. This opens a door of unequaled opportunity to demonstrate practical expressions of God’s love while establishing transformational relationships.

If you want to know even MORE about MAF, you can go to there website (where all of this was taken, but there is a lot more info there) at www.maf.org

If you want to know EVEN MORE about MAF (wow, you must REALLY want to know a lot about MAF!) you can watch this 3.5 minute video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgty36Zo3o8

More Apartment Pictures

By the way, I guess you could tell that I found my camera charger! I remembered in my sleep that it was in the back pack pouch that we put Joe in a the Grand Canyon which was still in the trailer. :)

This is the small playground next to our apartment. The kids love the airplane.
Reece sitting on the big turtle.

The park. They also have lots of outdoor toys for the kids to use. Reece likes to ride on the "razor" with Daddy and get pushed in the big car.

The apartments.

On the left is the apartments and on the right is the MAF headquarters where our classes our. So, it's literally only a few yards away, which is great.

Our apartment.

The back porch of our apartment. There are three building and each have one two bedroom, one one-bedroom, and one studio (only one room)

And a bonus pic of Joe in his dragon towel (or dinosaur or lizard...we aren't sure :)

Joe Update and MAF Update

We had a great first two days of our candidacy this week. We learned about MAF Africa, Asia and Latin America. God is doing so many amazing things that I didn't even know about in these regions through MAF. I wish I could explain all of them to you. We are also doing a neat Bible study called "Unveiled" which teaches about God's purpose for all nations coming to know Him as a theme in the entire Bible.

We continue to pray that God would give us and the MAF staff direction on where He wants us to serve. There are so many exciting things happening!

Things with Julie are going well. Joe sleeps so much, and I come back to nurse him, so he has been pretty content. I think Julie and Reece may be getting a little bored just staying in the apartment all day. I'm trying to think of some more creative things for them to do, but I'm running out of things! Anyone have ideas for thing that a 19-yr old babysitter and a 2 year old can do together at home?

Our house is not "officially" rented out, but we have some renters who are days away from signing a lease!! We have been working out all the details with them and our Realtor, so we hope things will move along with them quickly. They just sold their house and are in the process of building, so they sound like they will be easy to work with and very dependable. Please pray that they would sign a lease quickly.

I forgot to post some really neat pictures of Bryce Canyon. We dove through the national park in Utah on the way to Salt Lake City. It was really amazing and so different from the Grand Canyon. They are not really comparable since they are so different. The GC is so huge and unbelievable, but Bryce Canyon is smaller but so interesting to look at all the details.
It was still chilly there. I think the elevation was about 8-9 thousand feet!

This is a picture of our kitchen in our apartment before my camera battery died!!

This is Joe at 8 1/2 months old. He has been working on crawling for the past week, but today he really started to take off! He also started giving the sweet, open-mouthed baby kisses the other day! I can only get him to do it once and awhile. I'll say, "Joe, give me a kiss!" and I'll pucker up my lips to him and most of the time he makes this squishy face like he's just tasted something yucky... what a stinker!! :)

Here's a short video of him crawling. He's even better at it now!

These are some pictures of Reece when she was 8 months old. She is so much smaller, but much better at moving around. I watched a video of her crawling, and she is so fast and better than Joe! I think it's because she had less weight to get off the ground (At least that's Daniel's theory!)

Oh, my sweet little baby girl. I miss her being that little, but she's so fun and loving now.