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.

Futvoley and Volleyball, May 1st

May 1st is a holiday here in Peru. Our fellowship of churches started a sports day fellowship on this day back in 2000. The sports day on August 30th started before my years here. The May sports day became the volleyball tournament. During the Saturdays of April, the churches have eliminations and the best four teams in each category go to the semi-finals and then the top two teams go to the finals.

There are three female categories and one male category. Our church didn't pass on to the semi-finals game in any category. Bummer! But, it is still fun to watch the other churches play and see so many people.

Since most of you do not know what futvoley is, I have some pictures to help explain. They play on a volleyball court with the net and sidelines. However, they are not allowed to touch the ball with their hands or with their arms (soccer rules). It was fun to watch. It took several minutes for the players to figure out how hard they could kick the ball to get it over the net and into the opposite court. Some had to work on the head butt to get it going in the right direction.

The men playing are mostly pastors. There is one who is not, but he was invited to play to help complete a team.


A picture of the people hanging around.


Marcelo Sangama


Elias Huaman. Notice his facial expression right after he hit the ball.



The ball had to be served with the foot or head. All choose the foot.


The knee bump by Julio Jaramillo.


Even Grandpa Stilwell played and did a good job.


Rene had to jump to get that ball.


David (I just forgot his last name). He pastors a church where one of our fellow missionaries are. They are currently on furlough.


David Martinez, who happens to attend our church, was invited to play to fill the team. He is a member of the relatively new Trujillo soccer team called UCV (named after one of the local universities.


The men's volleyball games were fierce, but fun to watch how easily they could get the balls to go here and there. This shows that Latins can jump!

Church Anniversary, 2009

This is the completed facade of the church building. We purchased the property in Dec. of 2000, started construction in Sep. of 2002. Little by little we constructed. There are still more things to do inside, but for now, we are quite content with what we have.


We had a "common pot" meal for our anniversary this year. This means that we all had the same food. A couple of ladies from the church were designated to plan the menu, buy the food and cook. We had chicken, rice (of course) and a potato salad.
Sarah is here sitting with a couple of friends from church.


The speaker for the day was Dr. Evis Carballosa. He is teaching some courses at the Bible college this year. He preaches at different churches each weekend and for special activities. He normally lives in Spain.


After we ate and did some clean-up, we had a time of games and a power point presentations of pictures from the last year.


Flor and I were given the job of making the cake.








This past Wednesday evening in the kids' class, we started a new series on the Bible. I made these cookies using regular sandwich cookies, covering the top and bottom with chocolate covering and one edge to form a Bible.

Cushion tag and cookies

The boys often invent new games. This game is called cushion tag. When we had our livingroom sofa set cloth replaced over a year ago, we saved the cushions for the dog to use to sleep on. The boys one day invented the cushion tag game. This day, they even got Jon and me to enjoy it with them. The dog joined us too, but he was in the way more than not.





Several years ago, my sister-in-law served adorable pilgrims hats for a Thanksgiving dinner. I remembered that idea, so when I had to make a snack using the hat idea, I knew exactly what I would do. This is how they turned out. It was a good thing I took a picture before I left, because on the way, one of the tupperware containers tipped and the cookies lost most of their designs. Oops. It didn't affect the flavor of the cookies.

Then for another event, I made more of the hats, but put names of some Bible characters for my kids class. The kids liked it.

Easter Play, April 2009

On April 10th, the youth and children of the church put on a play. We do it on Friday because that is when we get the most visitors. It was very well attended.




Hannah had a speaking party, then sang a solo, "El Me Salvó".


The boys acting during their part. Mark sang solo on one stanza of one song. All three boys had a speaking part.


The youth singing their songs.


After the program, the youth always take a picture of everyone involved.

Easter Eggs in Peru, 2009