learn and apply it in your life, then what good is it? Having knowledge without the ability to use it is like having a fancy collection… it’s nice to have, but don’t touch it or use it! We know people who can quote the Bible word for word, but when asked what it means or how it applies to them—here is where the room goes silent and the crickets take over. We know people who can quote the exact wording of the laws for driving here, but can’t drive worth a flip and can’t tell you how that law applies to their driving or to road safety. What is valued here is the rote knowledge—the ability to regurgitate the information word-for-word. But what is NOT valued (and actually frowned upon) is creativity, thinking out-of-the-box, non-conformity, or having an answer or idea that is “out of the ordinary” and thought-provoking. And the idea that something might apply to my life in a different way than it applies to my neighbor… well that is just mind-boggling to the Peruvians. Can you see why this would be an issue when teaching the Bible?

I guess the good news is that Jesus is the one perfect an-swer… just how should we apply Him to our lives, that is the question that so many cannot reach… it’s just too far up the ladder of cultural thought. And so we keep teaching… ~Laurie

I’m sitting here looking out the window and being frus-trated… frustrated because my lessons have been plagued by the same problem in literally hundreds of contexts. The problem of going deeper than “just knowledge” has so penetrated every aspect of life here and causes us to re-evaluate and re-examine everything that we do constantly. We now have 5 teachers on the mission field in Huancayo - both Billy and I, both Ash and Audra McEuen, and Mary Alice Ivey are all teachers by trade. ALL of us are involved in education as a mission in one form or another. As teach-ers, we are all familiar with Bloom’s Taxonomy and the pro-gression of the thought process from the stage of Knowl-edge to the stage of Evaluation. As teachers, we work to incorporate questions and activities into our lessons that facilitate the movement from basic knowledge, up the lad-der toward synthesis and evaluation (see image at right). The verbs / actions that define each stage are: 1. Knowledge: arrange, define, duplicate, label, list, memorize,

name, order, recognize, relate, recall, repeat, reproduce, state.

2. Comprehension: classify, describe, discuss, explain, ex-press, identify, indicate, locate, report, restate, review, select, translate,

3. Application: apply, demonstrate, employ, illustrate, interpret, operate, practice, schedule, sketch, solve, use, write.

4. Analysis: analyze, appraise, calculate, categorize, compare, contrast, criticize, differentiate, discriminate, distinguish, ex-amine, experiment, question, test.

5. Synthesis: arrange, assemble, collect, compose, construct, create, design, develop, formulate, manage, organize, plan, prepare, propose, set up, write.

6. Evaluation: appraise, argue, assess, attach, choose com-pare, defend estimate, judge, predict, rate, core, select, sup-port, value, evaluate.

So that gives you the background and brings us to our troubles today in Peru. In working with the Peruvian people in various aspects of education (actual classroom education, bible study, disciple study groups, Sunday school classes, health educa-tion classes, Kid’s Club lessons, etc.) we are hitting the prover-bial wall… it is NOT cultural to go beyond the stage of Knowl-edge here. A select few people can move up the ladder during a lesson and head into the realm of Comprehension. And even fewer can hit the Application stage. And here is where we find our struggle! Because if you cannot take what you

More than Knowledge November 2009 Volume 4, Issue 11

Page 2 La Luz de Cris to para Perú Volume 4, I ssue 11 C

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Walking alongside Peruvians

Which one is a “god” in Peru?

Rocks

The Sun

Viracocha

A Glacier

Answer: All of the above!

Rocks: Rocks are considered gods by many in Peru. Many people believe that the spirits of gods and ancestors are trapped in the rocks, therefore you shouldn’t sit on rocks. You wouldn’t want to sit on grandpa! (I’m personally a little concerned about a god that is “trapped” and doesn’t have the strength to escape from a rock!)

The Sun: The sun is worshipped as a god by many in Peru. His name is “Inti” Inti's image is a golden disk with a human face surrounded by bright rays. Every day Inti soars across the sky to the western horizon, plunges into the sea, and swims under the earth back to the east. The Inti Rami festival is still widely cele-brated today (June – summer solstace).

A Glacier: Huaytapallana is a glacier range very near Huancayo. Huaytapallana is also a tutelary god (animistic god) that is believed to hold all of the stores of water. Sacrifices are still made today to Huay-tapallana in hopes that the god will bless the land with water.

Viracocha: Viracocha is a god of the sun and storms. He is represented as wearing the sun for a crown, with thunderbolts in his hands, and tears descending from his eyes as rain. Viracocha rose from Lake Titicaca during the time of darkness to bring forth light. He made the sun, moon, and the stars. He made mankind by breathing into stones, but his first creations were brainless giants that displeased him. So he destroyed them with a flood and made new, better ones from smaller stones. (Did you catch the stones/rocks reference? Also, did you see the similarities and differences to our beliefs & stories?)

I’m so glad that I only serve one god… THE GOD of THE UNIVERSE! Aren’t you?

'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' ~ Jesus (Mark 12:29-30—The Greatest Commandment)

all of the people who support us in this mission and make this a reality!

♦ Pray for the Kuyay Talpuy school and the children of Iscos.

♦ Pray for the new bible study group in Iscos as they break traditional bonds and come together to study The Word.

♦ Pray for the town of San Juan de Iscos as we work to share Christ with the community. Although we continue to face persecution from some people, we also have begun to see some change and some light in the dark-ness. Praise God for the light and for the people who are asking for more. Praise Him for the changes in lives and for the hearts that are already reaping the benefits of knowing Him.

♦ Pray for God’s Word and His Light to shine in the darkness in countries all around the world. Praise God for calling and sending missionaries to share His love in every nation.

Prayers: & Praises:

♦ Praise God for doubling our Thursday disciple group this month! We now have 16 members in this group of people who meet each week to study and learn more.

♦ Pray for our boys, Ryan and Miles. Both are working on their college classes (Texas A&M Kingsville & Texas A&M Corpus Christi) and trying to finish this semester well. We look forward to seeing them for Christmas when they travel to Peru.

♦ Praise God for Sarah, who celebrated her 6th birthday on October 26th. She has now officially celebrated three of her birthdays in the USA and three birthdays in Latin America! She is truly a multicultural kid.

♦ Praise God for visitors from home!!! We welcome Thomas and Karen Couch (College Station) to Peru this month as they come to lift our spirits, celebrate their 1st anniversary, help us in ministry, and enjoy time to-gether learning about Peru. We are so excited to see them!!!

♦ Pray for Laurie’s cousin, Kyle (21 years old). He contin-ues to work toward recovery from a severe car acci-dent that has left him with pins and plates and screws and staples and casts and all manner of medical stuff to hold his body together. Pray for his positive attitude and that he continues to make great strides toward recovery.

♦ Pray for our team of missionaries as we learn to work together and build a strong team here in Peru.

♦ Praise God for his daily provision in our lives. Pray for

Page 3 La Luz de Cris to para Perú Volume 4, I ssue 11

Contact information for The Drums

You can email us at: Billy@drumsforchrist.org or Laurie@drumsforchrist.org

Our physical address is:

Laurie and Billy Drum

Jr. San Jose 278

Urb. San Carlos

Huancayo, Peru

We have a USA phone number! You can call us at 979-985-5268 and it will ring our phone in our home office in Peru!

Please check the blog for updates at www.drumsfrochrist.blogspot.com

To see the newsletter in color, get the pdf edition online. Go to the website and click “Newsletters” to download the newsletter in color! www.drumsforchrist.org

To donate to our ministry account, please mail in the form at the right, or visit The Mission Society website and donate on-line to our personal ministry sup-port account #5/321. http://www.themissionsociety.org/people/drum

Regular mail takes 7 days

from USA to o

ur door!

Awesome!!!

Pray

ers &

Pra

ises

DEAR BILLY AND LAURIE, I will pray for you. Please send me your newsletter

by e-mail: _____________________________________ As God provides, I plan to partner with you by giving

$ _________ Per month / quarter / year for _____ years. I would like to donate a one-time gift of $ _________ I would like to sponsor a child’s education for $25/mo. ($300/year).

(Please write Iscos Project—Kuyay Talpuy on your check) Name (PLEASE PRINT) ______________________________________ Address _________________________________________________ City____________________ State__________ Zip _______________ Phone _____________________ Home Church __________________

TAX DEDUCTIBLE GIFTS MAY BE SENT TO: The Mission Society

PO Box 922637 Norcross, GA 30010-2637 USA

DESIGNATE GIFTS: “DRUM SUPPORT 5/321”

Laurie & Billy Drum 3907 Old Oaks Bryan, Texas 77802

Visit us at www.drumsforchrist.org

E-mail: billy@drumsforchrist.org laurie@drumsforchrist.org

Serving Christ in Perú

The Drum Family PRESRT STD US POSTAGE

PAID BRYAN TX

PERMIT #102

Photos from October...

Iscos children pray during bible lessons

Laurie and Sarah in homeschool lessons Billy and Sarah on her birthday

Twenty-nine adults came to the Kid’s Club work-shop to learn about how to start a Club, how to teach bible lessons, how to do dances to children’s praise music, and how to lead puppet stories and lessons.