Adios, Amigos

I think the team felt good about all they accomplished on this mission trip. They did have to contend with long hours waiting in Lima both coming and going. We pray that NEXT time, the flights will more conveniently spaced! Thank you, friends from St. Matthew´s Cathedral, Dallas, for modeling Christian witness to our Peruvian family here!

Bonnie Helps Out

Bonnie will be helping out with the Casas kids during her two month stay here in Arequipa. She really got her feet wet with all the activities this week! Thanks, Bonnie, for your help and caring about our kids!

Prayer Time

An essential time for any team is its prayer time. A time where the team can refocus and offer up to the Lord all the activities of the day helps keep them on track for the rest of the day. Amen to the power of prayer!

Deacon Noe Helps Out

Deacon Noe was able to help out with the godly play presentations when he wasn't teaching. Here he is explaining the next activity.

Project

The kids at San Jose were really engaged in their "godly play" session. Here Ada Margooth and Diego Armando are intense in painting their sheep for the session.

Do You Think It Needs Paint?

Billy and Allen consult on the lower portion of the wall in the diningroom of San José. The St. Matthew´s Cathedral, Dallas,team was able to get through with repainting all the green area and putting two coats on it. Maybe that will help us get through the rainy season this year.

Santiago Apóstol

Also, we made a trip up to our mission post where the team could check out the pillars that they had helped build last year. They also prayed for the ministry and future of this mission post that would be the only church in the area. Santiago Apóstol is clearly dear to their hearts. The heartier members of the team headed up to the top of the slope behing the property. Bet they got great pictures!

Midweek Eucharist

Our midweek Eucharist had a distinctly more erudite edge to it this week with 2 deacons and 2 clergy up front.

I Didn't Know That!!

It is fun to watch the students growing in their knowledge of God's Word through the Holy Scriptures. Apparently Deacon Noe said something that really surprised Director Pedro! Thank you, St. Matthew´s Cathedral, Dallas, for sharing, teaching, and encouraging us in so many ways!

Deacon Noe

Deacon Noe pitched in and taught two of the classes for Padre Tony. Noe did a great job, too, and it was exciting for the students as Noe was just a seminarian the last time he came to Peru. Now he's ordained!

Then, Back to Painting!

Of course we went back to finish the painting at Sagrada Familia! Great job, team!

School Visit

We took some time on their second morning to visit Colegio San Lucas, our Anglican day school in Zamacola. The school has over 200 students in grades preschool to 10th grade. Several of the team expressed their good wishes for the completion of the the classroom wing that is now underway. Go, San Lucas!

St. Matthew's Focus

This team has always had a two-fold focus: service and teaching. You saw how Padre Tony taught the first session of Biblical Leadership. He alternated with Deacon Noe to cover the classes. It was great and well attended by both seminarians and parishoners!

In addition, the team did painting and repairs at two locations:both Casa Hogar Sagrada Familia where the teens are, and Casa Hogar San José where the little kids are. At Sagrada Familia they had help from Luis, Zoila, Sonia, Carmen, Nestor, Alvaro, and Director Pedro. We had paint damage from the unusual heavy rains in January so several walls looked pretty bad! Not now, though! It was interesting to watch the "Color meister" at the store match the paint color by hand adding a bit of bright blue, a bit of orange, and a splash of lilac. He really did a great job. The team seemed eager to get to work and jumped right in. Here they are with a few of the helpers who showed up-including Padre Marvin and Bonnie from California.

St. Matthew's, Dallas, Team Arrives

The mission team from St. Matthew's Cathedral, Dallas, came in on Monday evening. Flights are becoming more difficult and there are fewer connections. This put the "squeeze" on Padre Tony trying to get to his class in time. God was good to provide a short trip to the San Mateo school in Lima while they awaited there late afternoon flight to Arequipa. The team arrived at 5:30p.m. and Padre had a class to teach at 6:00p.m. We rushed him off to the class and he did really well teaching Biblical Leadership-especially since he hadn't slept in over 24 hours! The students, which included seminarians and parishoners loved it. It was great to have St. Matthew's parishoners with us this past week. What a blessing for Padre Ron to have these visitors to take some of the teaching load off him!

La,La, La,LA!

Musicians tuning up for Sunday worship. Nestor is glad to have Vicki back after our lengthy trip. I think, too, that part of Nestor´s grin is that he doesn´t have any seminary homework anymore! Go, Coro, go!

Kids

It's always fun to see the smiles of the kids. Here is little Julio César who used to cry so much the first year he was with us. And, finally I can put on a picture of Waldir- his normal appearance always seems so sad I get few pics of him. For him this is an ear-to-ear grin!

Manualidades or Handicrafts

We have no doubt the Mama June was looking down from Heaven in amazement as Vicki lead the girls in making the ribbon inserts for the seminary prayerbooks. Padre Ron wants the seminarians to see how useful they can be in marking the lessons, collects, intercessions, psalms, etc. for services. Much better than a lot of snips of paper! Thanks, Vicki, for the help! I think everyone enjoyed it!

Seminary

Padre Marvin began teaching three classes Sat. April 19. The three are: Spiritual Discipline, The Gospel of John, and Evangelism. Three classes needed a number of our students. These are the "regular" Sat. courses that Padre Ron usually teaches. This week we will have an intensive course called "Biblical Leadership." The intensive will be each night during the week. The following week Padre Ron will begin a Tues.-Thurs. class for more advanced students on "The History of Mission" in the Bible and contemporary times. We had a total of 27 students attending the classes today! How cool!

Bower's Arrive

Benvenidos, Padre Marvin y Bonnie! We are so glad you made it through the travel maze to get to Arequipa on Friday! Padre Marvin and Bonnie are a recently retired couple from California who are offering their skills to help us out for the next 2 months. Padre will teaches classes in the seminary and Bonnie will help out with art or English. They will stay at Juan's and hit the ground running with Padre teaching three classes the very next day!

Calatos Visit

One of our seminarians, Karola, has been keeping us abreast of the development of her 3 Calato puppies. These are the Peruvian Hairless Dogs. I have seen at least three different sizes. Karola's are the smallest. In England people take hotwater bottles to bed. In Peru people have raised these hairless dogs since the time of the Incas. The truly generate an incredible amount of heat and are great for those suffering arthritis. Needless to say, we had a lot of fun with the three pups who each came in "party clothes."

Whoopie!!!!

I wanted to put a video of our grandaughter Sadie from the Cowgirl Museum in Fort Worth on the blog, but can't seem to get it here. However, I guess the riding enthusiasm is in the genes!!

Music Ministry Getting Stronger

It seems Vicki's time away from Arequipa has made the members of the praise team rely more on one another and "step up to the plate" so to speak. Vicki is finding them more eager and secure in their roles. It was fun, too, to see Karola and Mary A. jump up to help Vicki with the praise songs during our intensive courses. Thank you, Lord, for the gift of music with which to praise you.

One More Picture

We tried to get most of those who attended classes to go up front for a group picture after the service. We were fairly successful-but not very organized!

The Lord's Day

Madre Felicia translated for Padre and then the congregation prayed for the Shaw family. Many people came forward for healing prayers and it was evident that the Spirit was present with us.

Up Front

Father Shaw was asked on Friday to be up front with Padre Juan Carlos on Sunday. THEN he was asked to preach. Father Shaw availed himself of the library for some hurried sermon preparation.

Lydia Mudge Joined In

Lydia joined right in with the "Adolescentes," or youth group. These teens, including our Casas kids, meet Sat. afternoon at the church for teaching and lots of FUN!

Classes Are a Huge Success!

We had great attendance at the classes. The least we had was 17 and the most was 25. In addition, we had several from San Lucas and some parishoners expressed interest in attending "regular" seminary classes. We were so blessed by our visiting professors Madre Felicia, Madre Julie, and Padre Shaw. Thanks, too, Vicki, for starting the classes with a song!

The Mudges Arrive!

Rev. Shaw Mudge, Rev. Julie Mudge, and their daughter Lydia arrived to spend 6 days with us. They arrived on Tuesday and began teaching a course about Christian Education and offering prayers for Inner Healing. It was wonderful to have them and we had super attendance! As their visit overlapped with that of Mother Felicia, I was a bit worried about attendance for back to back intensive classes, but we had between 17 and 25 present every night. And there were between 9 and 11 seminarians, too! Thank you, Lord, for this wonderful opportunity and the visits of our brother and sisters in Christ which so uplifted us!