Summer Youth Camp in Huaral, Peru

What a joy to see seven teens at the camp that have been involved in our ministry. It was an eight hour trip to get to the camp from Huancayo. Praising the Lord for safety. I was planning on observing  and being able to do more sermon preparations during the week but due to the abundance of newly registered campers and lack of men counsellors I was asked to counsel 12 campers for the week. The camp was expecting and prepared for 220 campers but 270 showed up at registration. Needless to say that the first night was pretty rough by sleeping in a tent or on a cement floor for our cabin. 

It was good to see our children volunteer for representing their teams during the game competitions and get involved at the camp (although it's more difficult for our son Nathan).

 Becca and Katie love their brother and that is why Becca didn't pop it over his head.

 The night obstacle course had them running over, through, and under all kinds of things.

Katie really enjoyed her cabin mates and counsellors. 

 All the cabins were given names of Missionaries and Heroes in the faith, my cabin name was "Hudson Taylor". We painted our faces with the "T" for Taylor.

 Katie was in the same cabin as her friend "Karen".

 Christian was a counsellor at the camp. It was good to get reacquainted with him.

 The orange team picture has Katie.

The light blue team picture has Nathan, Becca, and myself.

 The counsellors and camp staff together for a picture.

 The camp had a pirate ship activity that included getting dressed up as a pirate and getting wet.

 The banquet on the last night went until after 11:00 with a nice meal, missionary biographies, songs, testimonies, etc...

 Our daughters are growing up fast.

A special thank you to all the workers at the camp for giving of their time and talents for the Lord. The camp theme was "Holiness". We're praying that God will continue to work in the decisions that were made this year at camp.

Enjoying a visit from "Neyder"

We have enjoyed the many visitors that have come to help in our ministry. Neyder's parents serve God in the jungle of Peru. Neyder is currently studying in the Bible Seminary in the coast of Peru and decided to take some of his summer break to come visit us in the mountains of Peru. He was able to assist in our VBS...

 cut our grass...

 get a history of the valley...

 and enjoy some adventures that the valley offers.

Thank you Neyder for visiting us in Huancayo and being an encouragement to us. 

Pray for Neyder as he continues his Bible training and is looking to serve God with his life.

Our first VBS at our church

After much prayers and preparation, our church was able to have its first VBS. Our prayers were to have one-hundred children to minister too. Our first day had 89 children, 25 workers, and 6 parents observing. This was impressive since it was raining until the time of registration and many don't attend due to the difficulty in transportation in the rain. 

 Our second day of VBS consisted of 99 children and even more parents observing. This provided a challenge since our auditorium only holds 65 chairs comfortably.

 Registration was held outside before the entrance. It opened at 2:30pm with the program starting at 3:00pm. We received calls from the school director letting us know that their were children waiting to register before 2:00pm on some days. It's common for Peruvians to be late (something to do with their tradition). We offered 6,000 bonus points for arriving before 3:00pm along with the motivation of winning the VBS prizes offered. It was exciting to see the children getting involved in bringing visitors, saying verses, bringing their Bibles, etc... The two teams (Blue and Red) competed throughout the week.

 Our third day of VBS consisted of 79 children most of which were visitors who did not have a church.

 What a time to teach the Bible Stories to the children and to see them praying and memorising verses.

 This was the last year for our girls to attend VBS as they look forward to being workers next year.

 Matthew helped with registration, class teacher, and more.

 Pastor Samuel and Pastor Jon motivated the children in opening and closing ceremonies.

 The children seemed to enjoy the crafts in the classroom, snacks, and the prizes to take home each day.

 The puppets even had opportunity to teach Bible principles and ask the children about the Bible lessons from their class time.

 What a blessing to see so many of the church members get involved during VBS.

 Pastor Jon organised and ran the game times. He is seen below capturing the children trying to cross Egypt to safety.

 Our last days averaged 90 children as the excitement kept building each day.

 Nathan assisted with the sound equipment and keeping points during game times.

Jon gets dressed up Egyptian style and interacts with the puppets.

 Our last day of VBS was on a Sunday when we announced the grande prize winners and the the winning team. The Red Team won by just 3,000 points which was only the difference of three verses or one person in attendance. The competition was extremely close.
Yashido brought over 15 visitors throughout the week and was one of the main point winners (winning a four-person tent).

 Our daughter Katie said over 60 verses in Spanish and brought visitors to be one of the main point winners.

 The workers even got into the fun of VBS.

 There was a pot-luck dinner for all the workers on Sunday afternoon. It was a good time of fellowship and reflection of the VBS week.

Praise the Lord for good weather, the opportunity to minister to over 100 different children, for a smooth program, and all the great memories of VBS 2016!