Mother's Day, Getse style

Just like in the States, the Peruvians celebrate Mother's Day. Flowers, cards, calls, visits and special meals are all part of the special day to honor the mothers. In our church, Getsemani Baptist, we have a tradition of the men preparing the food for the evening meal and the youth decorating, selecting a gift for the mothers and leading the program.


One of the men, José, helped the pastor prepare the grill for the meat. Luke, Mark and Boris, the pastor's oldest son, watch in anticipation.


The final product. The cream sauce on the boiled potatoes is made from a green herb, oil, evaporated milk, cheese and spices. It was delicious.


Three of the church ladies, Judith, María and María enjoy their meal. María, in the center, is Judith's grandmother. The two Marías have been best friends since the day we arrived in 1996.


The children sang a special song for the mothers.


The special gift that they gave to each mother. It was a clear glass coffee cup with a rose design. I enjoy a new coffee cup now and then!


A bird's eye view of the ladies during the meal. The men and children sit on the benches and eat there.


The group of ladies present for this activity.

A Stilwell Birthday Party

We had the May Stilwell birthday party at McDonald's. It is becoming a popular birthday spot.


The girl cousins enjoying their meal.


Benjamin and Claudia blowing the candles on their cakes.


Sarah and Rebekah finally reunited after two months.

Pastors' wives meeting and Baby Shower 5-5-08

These two ladies are new pastor's wives. They both graduated from our Bible College and they were best friends during their years at college. It is so exciting for them now to be new mothers together. The one on the right, Evelyn, had her baby on April 13th and the one on the left, Ruth, is due in June. The other wives at the meeting gave gifts to the two ladies.


The other ladies in attendance at the May 5th meeting.


Each month during our meeting, we plan ideas which the ladies can use in their churches. This month we shared the recipe for "Dirt Cake" using Oreo cookies and chocolate pudding. Many ladies were surprised the the dirt was cookie crumbs. One lady even thought I had used coffee grounds. I got the flower idea from Sarah when she was making a bouquet for her cousin, Rebekah. I then attached the flowers to green spoons. The "worm" was a piece of taffy formed into a stick, which we twisted to make it look like a worm.


Ysabel de Hurtado enjoying her dirt cake.


Juana de Montero also enjoying her dirt cake.


One of the pastor's kids.


Esteban David, who shares a birthday with Michael.

Family World

Mark playing with Michael's birthday gift.


View from the school room.


Mark´s desk


Luke at his desk.

Church Anniversary April 27th

Our churches in Peru like to celebrate their anniversaries. It is a highlight every year. Our original church anniversary fell on Mother's Day weekend which always caused problems such as whether we should combine the two events, have one on Saturday and the other on Sunday, or postone the anniverary for a week. So, based on that and other details, the leaders opted to move the anniverary date to April. If you would like to see a bigger version of each picture, just click on the picture.


Our church family 2008


Our new members since last year's anniversary.


Every year, the members give gifts to the church. These are usually very practial gifts and within their budget. As Jon pointed to each gift, he had the person who donated the item stand up and say why they chose that gift. We had some good laughs at a few comments made here and there.


Of course, you cannot forget about the cake.


After all was said and done, I couldn't resist taking a picture of some of the youth hanging out outside.