Touring the Mantaro Valley

Ray (Jon's dad) and Judy were taken on a tour to see some of the sights that the "Mantaro Valley" has to offer. We were able to visit some of the villages and experience some of their trades.

 The lake provided some beautiful scenery as well as some interesting historical stories.

Jon offered to do some of the rowing on the boat since motors were prohibited on the lake.
The valley has quite a few fishery's. We were able to visit a big "Trout" fishery and eat some fresh fish at one of the touristic restaurants in the area.

 My dad is always showing how big the fish was with his hands. It brought back some fond memories of how I would always catch the big ones on our trips (lol).

 Each Peruvian village takes pride in their decorative plazas with statues and fountains.

 "Ocopa" is a convent with quite a history. I was impressed with the high volume of historical books in the library as well as a museum explaining the history of the area.

Huancayo hosts this years Independent Baptist Ladies Conference

Every year in Peru there's an Independent Baptist Ladies Conference. A chance for growth and fellowship. This year the conference was held in Huancayo in October and had record attendance of over 900 ladies who came from all over Peru.

The nights before the conference we found ourselves giving advice, directions, and rides to the ladies visiting. 

 The first day was extremely busy with registrations and preliminaries.

 What a blessing to see the ladies from our church participate and get involved in the conference.

 We had the privilege of hosting eight ladies from Los Olives along with Ray and Judy in our house. What a tremendous time of fellowship.

 The ladies who stayed after the conference to worship with us increased our church attendance that much more. Matthew assists with the song leading as Pastor Jon and Pastor Samuel do the preaching.

Matthew's 17th Birthday

Matthew celebrated his 17th birthday in Huancayo, Peru. 

He invited his basketball team and Pastor Samuel Vega's family to join his grandpa (Ray) and Nana (Judy) with us. 

 It was a fun filled day of activities. We thank God for giving us Matthew and for His heart for ministry.

 The Peruvian tradition of putting one's face in the cake was carried out even with a North American.

 Jon is still taller than Matthew but only because he spikes his hair up.

Huancayo sights

Huancayo offers many different parks and activities to enjoy. These pictures were taken at Identity Park just a few blocks from our church.

Judy made it to Peru

Jon and his Dad drove from Huancayo to Lima a day early to meet Judy when she arrived on September 30th. It was a beautiful day while traveling to Lima.

 Jon took the opportunity to visit our previous neighbours and friends from the time we lived in Comas.

 Ray looks to identify our family in the church picture at Horeb Baptist Church in Los Olivos.

 Jon and his Dad decided to relax and have some fun while shopping in Lima and waiting for Judy to arrive.

 Jon was able to meet with our lawyers and receive our renewed carnets (visas).

Judy's plane arrived early and we were stuck in Lima traffic causing us to arrive late. We will not be forgiven for this any time soon. After getting a good night of sleep in Lima, we decided to take a day to show Judy the Pacific Coast.

 Jon couldn't convince them to hang-glide off the cliff and over the coast but they enjoyed watching others do it.

 Peruvian windpipe song dedicated to them while shopping at the Indian Market.

 The next day we drove from Lima to Huancayo (about eight hours) and took in the sites on the way.

 We drove over a mountain with an altitude of almost 16,000 feet. Judy had no trouble with the altitude as some normally would have pressure in the head or dizziness.

 We arrived home to a welcome committee who were excited to see us.

 Of course, we received all kinds of goodies from the States.