Daddy's girls and not so little any more

Our twin girls are growing so fast. Nisha reminded Jon that in just a little over one year all four of our children will be teenagers. Praying that God will give us wisdom to see them trained and us brought through it safely. I mean now that we have survived the terrible two's and childish times, it gets better, right!?

 Rebecca still is taller and bigger but both share the same sweet spirits.

 Rebecca and Katie have been practicing soccer at the city academy. They are the only two girls on the club vs all the boys. They don't seem to mind.

The final testing of Matthew's volcanoe science fair project

Matthew has constructed two volcanoes: one using a personal size coke bottle and the second using a 2-liter coke bottle along with mentos to cause an eruption. 

 Nathan tries to drink the lava (coke) coming out of the volcano.

 The 2-liter of coke mixed with seven mentos caused an eruption of over 12 feet. This was witnessed by not only his parents, brother, and sisters but also his grandpa and aunt Jody's family by Skype.

 Who would have guessed that science could be so much fun. Good job on your project Matthew!

Church Conference

Our church conference coincided with our four year anniversary of the church. We praise God for His bountiful blessings on the ministry. The church has exceeded 200 people and we are seeing more decisions of salvation and baptisms each month. Please pray for the church as it seems that as it grows the more attacks come upon the people. What a blessing to celebrate what God has done and is doing in the church. 

 Matthew continues to sing in the choir and has improved with his music.

 Nisha continues to serve in the nursery and is becoming well known for her cooking of pastries. She baked over 500 brownies for the church fellowship on this night.

 What a blessing to see over 15 people respond to the invitation for salvation on this night of the conference. The visiting peruvian pastor is talking to them here in the back of the church to answer questions and show them more direct verses concerning their decisions.

 Pastor Rafael Ramirez from Venezuela was the guest speaker for the conference.

The anniversary day was celebrated with games, skits, banquet, and preaching service.

 Visiting pastors got involved in the skits as well.

 The gum skit was acted out by the single-adults group.

More work on the Sanctuary

All believers realize that the church is not its buildings but rather the saved and baptized part of the body of Christ. It has been a blessing to see the church come out and build the building in which we seek to use to worship God. 

We have been using the space for our church meetings for three months. The flooring, walls, roof, windows, doors, etc... has been added little by little each week. We are still praying for the completion of the rest in God's time. 

Jon gets his wallet stolen

We normally go to the big market on Saturday when there aren't as many people to get our fruit and vegetables. It was Mother's Day and we had a guest staying with us who wanted to see the market. Upon walking through the market, the girls wanted to buy their mom a hat. 

 After buying the hat we had to walk through a crowded area where two older Quechua ladies were pushing Jon from behind to get through. Once they had space to come around Jon noticed that one of the ladies had taken Jon's wallet out of his back pocket. Jon,not knowing which one took it,  decided to just let it go as he was just glad that his girls weren't hurt.  We've heard stories of others who had been robbed and hurt.

 Jon immediately called Nisha at the house and cancelled all cards and later started the process of renewing licenses and getting new cards. It was quite an experience to go through. Jon is praying that somehow the Lord will be able to use it for good as there were gospel tracts in his wallet as well.

Fun times

Matthew's science fair project of paper-mache volcano.

 Matthew poses at the market with some butchered pigs.

 Our children doing a puppet show for the school chapel.

 Our children helping with P.E. in the school.

Mother's Day celebration

Mother's Day is celebrated in Peru. Pictured below is Nisha helping out with the festivities at the school Mother's Day program.

 Our family not only gave real flowers but colorful plastic flowers to brighter the house longer. And yes, we even found a balloon with English letters.

 Matthew gives a testimony of thanks for his mother at the church service.

El Kampin

On the last Saturday of each month, the church has an activity at the "kampin". This month some fundraisers were held to raise money for the construction work at the church. Nisha sold cakes and cookies at the church activity to raise funds for the church roof.

 The children helped make the sign for the bake sale. Nathan is learning to draw on his free time. I think that he did a pretty good job on his Mario.

 Jon jumps in on some volleyball games.