Traveling back to Peru

We traveled from Michigan to Wisconsin to spend a day with Nisha's family. We traveled to Chicago to catch our flight to Panama for a layover before arriving in Lima, Peru late at night.

We praise the Lord for His traveling mercies.

Family Support

Nisha spends a day with her step dad and sister.

Nathan with his church friend, Jonathan.

Our family was able to attend the church activity at a basketball game.

Church family (Labadies) take our family out for lunch.

Another lunch with a friend of the family.

Another church invited us to attend their roller-skating activity.

Our church had an open gym night for fellowship.

Viewing the grave site

Matthew and his cousin Sammy were able to sing special music in church.

Cousins getting together!

Family pictures!

Jon's dad's family

The Funeral of Jackie Harris (Jon's Mom)

Harris, Jacquelyn Elizabeth

Belleville, MI

Age 66, died unexpectedly February 12, 2012 at home. She was born June 14, 1945. She married Raymond E. Harris on April 3, 1965. They have six children (Pepper, Guy, Jody, Jon, Rory, and Renee). They currently have 23 grandchildren.

The funeral service was at 1:30pm, Friday, February 17, 2012 at FaithWay Baptist Church 2020 Packard Rd, Ypsilanti, MI with Pastor Scott Estell officiating. Burial followed the service in St. Joseph Cemetery, Whittaker, MI. The Visitation was held at Stark Funeral Service from 2-4 & 6-9pm the Thursday before the service.

The funeral had about 400 people who came out to show their love and support for Jon's Mom.

Matthew helped before the service as the door greeter.

Nathan oversaw the running of the slideshow of Jackie's life before the service.

Thursday night's dinner with Jon's immediate family.

Our children with their grandpa during the viewing.

We will miss our mom, grandmother, and great encourager very much. We pray that her memory, God, and principles will continue to live on.

Back to the States for the funeral of Jon's mom

We received word on Sunday, February 12th at 8:05 a.m. that Jon's mom had passed away in the night from a sudden heart attack. We immediately made arrangements to get Jon's dad off of the mountain and all of us back to the States for the funeral. Of course that was easier said than done. The mountain regions were in the worst month of rainy season which causes flooding, mud slides, and dangerous conditions. It took three flights, two of which were delayed and cancelled due to the rain. We had Jon's dad take a bus to another airport with less delayed flights but found that the bus trip had its own difficulties with a road closed and the brakes going out and the need for changing into another bus before reaching the other town. The third flight that he was able to get on was not going to be arriving in time for the connecting flight out of the capital city to go back to the States. By God's grace the airline extended their closing time for him to check in and the security and immigration lines were short for him to get through in a timely fashion. We were able to travel back together but Jon and his Dad were the last to get on the plane.

New train in the city of Peru

The train has been completed in the capital regions of Peru and has been made available for free rides for the first month of transportation. Just like other means of public transportation, it becomes so crowded that it is hard to breathe, especially during rush hour and the closer you get to the downtown area.

Fires of Evangelism conference 2012

Efata Bapist Ministries hosts the Fires of Evangelism conference each year. This provides a chance to meet other pastors and missionaries from Peru as well as to hear the Word of God being taught in the work shops and in the preaching sessions.

The refrigerator isn't working again!

Our refrigerator stopped working one day which caused much confusion. We had a repairman come and fix it but within ten minutes of him leaving it stopped working again. He wasn't able to be reached for a couple of days, so we decided to have another repairman take a look at it. The same day that the other repairman came out to price and access the problem, the original repairman showed up to apologize for not fixing it properly. He attempted to repair another part for even more money. You guessed it, shortly after his second fix, the refrigerator stopped working again. Well, I will not be calling him again. We got word that there was someone in the church that could take a look at it and probably fix it for us. The man came, took a different part out of the refrigerator, and said he would take it to someone who would be able to see if that was the problem and if so be able to replace it for the right price. Later that day my wife and I returned from shopping to a refrigerator that was fixed with a note from the man from church that all had been fixed. It has been one month now and the refrigerator is still working from his repair. Praise the Lord for allowing us to have a working refrigerator.

Rainbow's in the desert of Peru

We've been living along the coast of Peru near the capital city of Lima. The coastal area of Peru is desert and doesn't receive much rainfall due to the mountains on the east side and the current of the ocean on the west side. Those who live along the coast, therefore, don't get to see very often the promise of God by the sign of the rainbow but within a week two rainbow's were seen.

The pictures below were taken from our apartment as we enjoyed the views of the rainbows.