more pictures of the construction of the church

Pastor Ernesto leading the church service outside till the construction is complete.

Bricks have been laid for two of the walls, one side wall is blocked by another building, and we are using the dividing wall from the Mormon's property as our fourth wall of the building.  We can now start putting up the roof.

 We are so thankful to have the crane of this truck to help with the installation of the roof.

 Matthew has even gotten involved with the workers.

more construction at the church

Brick laying for the walls of the church sanctuary

Our girls at a birthday party

Our children are able to attend quite a few birthday parties from neighbors and those on their soccer team. Anniversaries and birthdays are taken very serious each year with big celebrations. 

Construction on the church grounds

After weeks of having the service on the dirt grounds, we now have cement foundation and steel columns to begin laying bricks for our walls.

 The land-lady bought flowers and small trees to help decorate the grounds better.

 Constructing a walkway from one of the entrances.

 After three months of renting this space for the church right off one of the main streets, the government began road construction right outside our front door. They say the work will take three months to complete.

No Plumbers to be found

Ever since we moved into this rented house, we've had problems with the plumbing. There are no official plumbers in the valley. Even though Jon has now had six guys who called themselves professional plumbers come to fix our bathroom, each one of them has made the problem worse than before. Nisha is now seeing water damage on the floor and walls and has resorted to shutting off the water period. 

Single adult activities at our house

The university aged students come over each Saturday night to have a Bible study and enjoy the food and fellowship with each other.

 Sights from the top of the mountain looking down into our valley.

Meet our guinee pigs

We have three "cuys". Our two female guinea pigs are called "Pugsy and Bugsy". Our male guinea pig is called "Moe" which is the white, bigger guinea.

P.E. and Youth activities

Jon and our children continue to help run P.E. classes in the school and youth activities in the church.

Baptism' and picnic at the lake

There were 13 baptisms at the lake this month. We usually spend time counseling with each before the day of the baptism to be sure of their salvation testimony. On the day of the baptism, we take the time to explain again the significance of baptism and ask for each to share their testimony publicly. 

 After the time of baptisms, the church enjoys fellowshipping with food, games, and relaxing time.

 Soccer and volleyball are by far the favorite games here in Peru. We introduced baseball to them at this picnic in which they seemed to have enjoyed learning. It's normally difficult to find a flat field big enough to play without loosing the ball.

Unexpected trip to the town of Albancay

Other missionaries needed to go to Albancay in a hurry. It was a faster and more comfortable ride in my van. The trip there was in the evening hours and no time for sight-seeing. Our trip back was taken slower but had more memories with breathtaking scenery...

and the breaking down of the van. The curved mountain roads were extremely bad with big trucks driving on them during the rainy season and then hardening during the dry month with big holes and rocks in the road.  Jon hit a pot-hole that punctured a big hole in our oil pan. It was a miracle that we broke down near the only little town around within an hour drive. Even though the town was extremely small without any gas stations or car repair place. We were able to locate a mechanic with only a handful of broken tools. It was a miracle that we were able to get it repaired enough to drive it back to Andahuaylas to have our mechanic repair it properly.