Regional Ladies Meeting, May 29th

Our fellowship of more than 30 churches has two regional ladies meetings per year. Our church hosted one two years ago. It was a lot of work (with many blessings) so I appreciate so much more the work that goes into one of these. The pastors, who plan where the meetings will be held, try to vary which church has it. This month, it was at Filadelfia Baptist Church. The money to build their church and school building came from funds mostly from the United States. God has blessed this work and it continues to grow.


This is their beautiful church building. It was hard to get a nice picture of the whole thing, but you get an idea of what it looks like. There is still quite a bit of work to do on the inside, but the people work on that as they can.


Their church ladies sang a special.


The current president of the pastors' wives' group asked me to prepare two choir specials using the pastors wives and the theme, which is Faithful Servants. This is not the best picture of me, but of the three that were taken by my friend, this one was the best of the ladies choir. Just ignore me and enjoy seeing the faces of the ladies. You might even recognize some of them.


There were about 210 ladies in attendance. This is great. Two years ago, we had about 180 ladies, so that means that our fellowship continues to grow. The church was comforable, neither too hot nor too cold. There was room to move around. I sat in the front pew so I had plenty of leg room. My mother-in-law drove and we wanted to leave enough time to get there just in case we got lost. We didn't get lost and we got there 30 minutes early. Since we got there early, I was able to pick my spot so I could take pictures, too.


The hosting church always serves some kind of snack. This time is was a tamal with a little bit of shredded cabbage with lemon and salt. This was served with a cup of hot barley coffee. This barley coffee tastes similar to coffee, maybe a little smoother, but it has no caffeine. In the picture are three of our pastors wives (right to left), Flor, Judith, and Liz. They are three ladies full of energy and so fun to be around.

Bible College, May 2009

This semester at the Bible College, they tried something new. Instead of 15 weeks of many classes, they broke it down into one 8 week module, two two-week modules and one three-week module. It is a new system here. Some like it, some don't. Jon is currently teaching a module on missions. He has taught this course many times, but this is his first time as a module.


The first floor of this building is the kitchen and diningroom area. The second floor has four classrooms and a library. The third floor is the chapel area.


The students enjoy a break during the morning of classes.




A view of the campus facing the boys dorm. The soccer slab is in the foreground.


The kitchen. Wilson (on the left) studied to be a chef. He is an excellent cook. With the limited funds that the students can pay, he can't always show off his cooking talent. He has cooked for special occasions, such as banquets, and the food was excellent.

Champions League Soccer Game

Peruvians love soccer, even European soccer. The youth of our church like to get together to watch the game. This time, Hannah invited them over to our house. Since it was starting just after the lunch hour, so we offered a meal, then watch the game. We had 11 youth come.


We ate chicken, rice, mashed potatoes, salad and passionfruit juice. They ate cake during half-time.


My view of the game. I sat in the back so I could get up when needed.


The game. Look at that concentration.


The game.

A Houseful of Boys

A houseful of boys make a lot of noise! But they have fun!

David's Baptism

David was saved almost two years ago while attending one of the youth camps. He then started attending our church.


David is giving him testimony.


Jon and David just before the baptism.


Six of David's family members were present: three sisters, his cousin and his grandparents.


The water level in the baptistry was fine when we arrived at church at 10 a.m. Little did we know that there was a whole in the plug and somewhere else. Jon baptized David in about 16 inches of water.


Jon discovered another problem. The water that was going down the drain was getting the floor next to the baptistry wet.


The plug not only had a hole in it, the part that was needed to pull the plug had come off. That was probably why there was a hole in the plug. Jon had some tools in the pick-up which he used to get the plug up.




David's family invited us to go out to eat with them at El Abuelo.


We had the choice of beef, goat or duck. I chose the goat meal (cabrito). I have eaten this meal a few other times, but this was probably the best one I have had. It is commonly served at weddings.

Florcita's Baby Shower

Last Saturday, the Grandma-to-be had a baby shower for her daughter. I was asked to make the cake and give a short devotional.


The group pose.


Flor and Luis after they opened their gifts. Ultrasound says it is a boy.


The cut cake. Would you like a piece?


The decorated cake.


She is almost 8 months pregnant, but the doctor thinks that her due date is off by several weeks. We shall find out.


The group again.

Rice Round-up

Luke is playing the game, Rice Round-up. This is part of his science unit on magnets. It looked easier than it actually was. It used a file folder, grains of rice, a staple and a magnet.

Mother's Day

Eating Sunday dinner at Roky's for Mother's Day. Many people eat out on this day, so all restaurants are usually really full. We chose an outside table at the restaurant to escape the loud music from inside.


Jon and Hannah sang a song called, "Cherish the Moment." Jon translated the words into Spanish and the two sang it together. A few ladies were close to tears. I videoed it with the camera.


The children also had a special. Since the emphasis was to reach the mothers of the children who attend our church, they sang the Wordless Book Song. I wasn't far enough back to get one picture with all the kids.


Each mother was given a chocolate heart. It looks big in the picture, but the actual size is 3" by 2". It tasted really good.

Professors Activity Day, May 9th

On May 9th, we had a first ever professors and wives activity day. The goal was to have time together in a relaxed setting. Many of them live together on campus, but rarely do we all get together just to be together. The men played soccer, the ladies played volleyball, and there were two games with everyone playing together.


Jon's back worsened last week because of teaching the modules course. For this day, he tried to take it easy. We moved around so much that he really didn't get all that much rest, but at least while he is lying down, he gets relief from the discomfort.


"Almost got it!"


"It's mine!" "No, it's mine!"


One of the group games was a form of ultimate frisby by with a big white ball and soccer goals. The white ball looked like a big bubble floating around. Thankfully, it never popped.




A couple of the ladies playing. The ones of me didn't look too good. Sorry.


Here we are. I am a blond transplanted near the equator. When I am out for long periods of time in the sun, I use sunglasses, a hat and sunscreen. When possible, I stay in the shade.


Luke with a couple of Peruvian boys.

Pastor's Wives and Beautiful flowers

At our monthly pastors' wives' meeting on May 4th, the ladies from one of our churches had a special program for us.


They gave us each a bag with a hand painted flower on it.


My sister-in-law, Molly, is practing a special which we will present on May 29th. The pastors' wives will be singing two songs and these ladies will have one stanza in one of the songs.


For Mother's Day, Jon gave me this beautiful bouquet of flowers. Four days later andt he roses look just as good as the first day.


A rose from the bouquet.


Another flower from the bouquet. I do not know what it is called.