Elva's Getting Married!

Tomorrow I'm headed to Peru! I'll do lots with the ladies of Peru Paper, but my primary reason for going is the wedding of one of my best friends, Elva!!! Elva and I have been friends since I first lived in Trujillo in 2004, and she is one of the dearest and truest friends anyone could ask for. She is a living picture of the gospel to me- showing me forgiveness and grace while pointing me to Jesus. She knows me well and still loves me. She is a jewel and her husband-to-be, Lenin (another good friend of mine), will be blessed beyond measure to have her as his wife. I am so excited and could not be happier for the two of them. I cannot wait to see Elva again and celebrate with her this week!

At Elva's birthday this past February, my last visit to Peru.

Ringing in the New Year: 2008. The Batemans celebrated with Elva and her family.

Peru Mission Newsletter

Many thanks go to the folks at Peru Mission for their mention of Peru Paper Co. in the most recent email update. See an online version here.

The Brothers Karamazov Free Audio Download

I travel a lot, and audio books and sermons are a great way to make good use of my time, especially in the car. I saw this on my friend Corrin's blog a few months ago, and I have to share it. Each month, christianaudio.com has a free book download, and they've been awesome books for the few months I've been signed up. October was Just Courage by Gary Haugen of the International Justice Mission (a cool organization- check it out.) Last month was Desiring God by John Piper, and this month is The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky (it's the abridged version, which Jason wasn't too happy about, but it would take about 3 weeks to listen to the unabridged version.)

But, back to the book...as the email they sent says "Sin, forgiveness, grace...not only do these themes abound in Scripture, but also in one of the most important Western novels ever penned. The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky has long been viewed as one of the best novels in world literature and now it's the free download for December, only from christianaudio." Go here to get your free download and enter DEC2009 as your coupon code at checkout to get it free. Then sign up to get the monthly downloads. Happy listening!

Cyber Monday Special

Running a business will teach you a lot...like I recently learned about Cyber Monday specials. So, because we're running a "cyber" business of sorts and in honor of Cyber Monday, all orders at Peru Paper Co. today, Monday, Nov. 30th, will receive 12% off their entire order by using the coupon code CYBERMON at checkout. So if you've been thinking about ordering cards, today's the day to do it!

Email update

With the help of the folks on the Halo Business Team and FoxWebCo, I recent sent out an email newsletter for Peru Paper Co. See it here. Sign up to receive them on our website here.

Making a Card

I'm always amazed at the process to make one of the cards for Peru Paper. It's a fairly involved process, and the women do an incredible job to make these pieces of art. Read more below, then visit the website, www.perupaper.com to learn more and get your own!

Making a Peru Paper Co. Card

The women sort through paper that would otherwise be thrown out, choosing which pieces are best to be turned into handmade paper. This is paper that is collected from offices or from individuals who save their paper for us to recycle.

The paper is then torn it into very small pieces and soaked in water for a few days until it turns into a pulp.

The pulp is put into a tub of water and dye is added. Sometimes other things like flower petals or sugar cane fibers are added to give the paper special texture.

The pulp is sifted through a screen, and fabric is stretched over the screen on top of the pulp.

The screen is turned over and the excess water is absorbed off of the fabric.

The fabric is taken off the screen and hung to dry on a clothesline or laid in the sand with the wet paper attached.

Once the paper dries, it is peeled off the fabric. It can then be used to make designs for the cards.

The women hand-make all of the cards, cutting or tearing out each piece and crafting them into beautiful designs. The designs are then glued to card stock, packaged in a bag, and sent to the US! It takes about two weeks total from start to finish to have a finished card!

It's finally here!!!

I've been talking for a LONG time about a website for the cards, and www.perupaper.com is finally up and running! Check out Peru Paper Co. I love it! A big thanks to Marianna, Andy, and Laura at Halo Business Consulting and FoxWebCo for all their hard work to get this up and running. Also thanks to my family and Jason for tons of encouragement and support. It was a lot of work and I needed all their help!

Mission Market

I'm going to be at the Mission Market at Broadmoor Baptist this Saturday (think Mistletoe, but at a church and to raise money for a missions project). If you're in Jackson, you should come!! I'm going to be one of the vendors, with a booth for Peru Paper Company, selling lots of cards- Christmas, birthday, baby, thank you, general cards....they'll all be there. So come by and see us! Tickets are $5 to get in to shop, and there's a lunch that is $5 for adults and $2 for kids. There will be over 40 vendors, a bake shop, a children's consignment sale, and various workshops throughout the day. All the money raised will go towards a missions project in Togo, West Africa, making it even more worth coming out. It's from 9-3 and should be lots of fun. Stop by and see me!! Check out the website here for more info.

Also, check out the new logo for Peru Paper Company! I love it. We're gearing up for a website launch on October 20th, so be on the lookout for that! Also, there's a facebook fan page for Peru Paper. You can join by clicking on the link to the right of the blog and joining the group!

Chalmers Webinar

There's another webinar tomorrow from noon-1 pm EDST with the Chalmers Center! When Helping Hurts co-author Steve Corbett will be teaching/ taking questions on the topic of "Distinguishing Amongst Relief, Rehabilitation, and Development." We received great feedback on the first Webinar, so sign up and learn more about the role of the church and Christians in poverty alleviation and economic development. There is no cost for the webinar, but you need to register ahead of time. Go here to register.

I know I've said a lot about the book, but to get opinions of others, here are a few blog posts and articles about the book:
-Missions Blog for Churches
-Another here
-And here