Chile Bound

New Beginnings

By now, many of you have heard that the Lord is moving our ministry to Valdivia, Chile.  Valdivia is a city located in southern Chile situated at the confluence of three rivers and close to the Pacific Coast.

Valdivia is most known for the 1960 "Great Chilean earthquake", the most powerful earthquake ever recorded at 9.5 magnitude!  

Mercado area along the Calle Calle River

When Ryan shared with us that the time was growing close to turn Refugio over to a local pastor, our hearts fell.  We couldn't imagine leaving Baños del Inca and all the people we have grown to love.  But as we listened and watched, we came to agree that it is time.  The people of Refugio have grown spiritually and will benefit from having a Peruvian pastor.  We have watched them taking ownership of Refugio and stepping up to serve the Lord.  We have Peruvians serving in all areas of ministry now (children's, women's, providing Agape meals, orphanage...).   When Ryan and his family left for the States, Alvaro la Torre, took over as pastor.  It has been almost 2 months now that Avaro has been preaching and the Lord has blessed.  We have been well taught and fed and are so encouraged by his teaching.

We will be spending our last Christmas here and then on January 8, 2017, we are leaving for Valdivia along with the Brower family.  At the least, it has been very challenging to plan a move like this.  We have found that it is much easier to move from the U.S. than to move from Peru!  But we have learned to depend and trust on the Lord's provision and have been so encouraged as just when we were out of ideas, the Lord would provide just the right solution.  He is faithful!!!  Please be in prayer as we will be driving with a local combi (van) from Cajamarca to the border of Chile and then we are renting a vehicle to drive ourselves from Arica, Chile to Valdivia (which is pretty much all the way through Chile).

We are excited to begin this new chapter.  We believe the Lord has good things ahead and we are eager to start.

We also know how hard it will be to drive away.  We have grown to love our church family and our community.  Please pray for Refugio, that the people will continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Pray for Alvaro that the Lord will bless him and his family and continue to raise him up and impart wisdom.  Pray for the orphanage at Aldea Infantil San Antonio.  A missionary couple from the states will continue this ministry along with those who serve regularly from Refugio.

Thank you to all of you who have prayed and supported our ministry in Peru.  And thank you for the prayers, support, and encouragement for our new ministry in Valdivia, Chile.  We couldn't do it without you and are thankful for each of you.

Heading into "Summer"

It seems pretty weird to say that we are heading into "summer".  What is the summer season in Cajamarca?  It's more accurate to say we are heading into the wet season.  The wet season in Cajamarca runs from November thru April with most of the rain traditionally coming in January and February.  We have already had some rainy afternoons with thunder showers.  And like the U.S., Peru is expecting a strong El Niño pattern this year.  In fact, the national government has declared a state of emergency in 14 regions to prepare for possible damage.  We have been told by several locals that it would be wise to prepare. During the El Niño of '97-98, there was flooding,  food shortages and water and power outages.  So taking all that advice, we have stocked up on basic food items and water.  We will be praying for all of you in the states and would appreciate prayer for our community here in Cajamarca.  


On Saturday, September 12, Refugio participated in Sábados en Familia, a local event for Cajamarca families that is also published on local TV.  We did a short presentation of the story of Jonah.  It was a great outreach and we hope to be a part of this program more often! 

Click on the link below for a fun video of Sabados en Familia!

https://www.facebook.com/cajamarcaenfamilia/videos/1705838116313224/


Our mid-week service at Refugio is on Thursday night.  We have a time of prayer from 6:30-7:00 with service starting at 7:30pm.  We encourage our church to write their prayer requests on Sundays and on Thursday nights we pray for each one.  What a blessing to pray and lift up our requests to the Lord!  Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving-Colossians 4:2 
 Stan continues to be on the teaching rotation for Thursday nights as we go through the book of 1 Samuel. 


English Class has resumed and once again we are blessed with a full house!  We are having fun with our students and hopefully they are learning English!  

Adults

Children

As Refugio grows, the vision is to bring locals into ministry and that Refugio becomes their church.  Below are pictures of two local men who are serving the body of believers faithfully

Alvaro giving announcements

Adolfo teaching on a Sunday morning

And lastly, our ministry continues at Aldea Infantil Orphanage. This precious little girl named Sefa was new last Friday. Sefa is 5 years old and was brought in Thursday night with her 3 year old sister and 7 year old brother. It was obvious that these children are malnourished and traumatized. Sefa wouldn't speak but after a while we had her laughing and playing. She was hungry and we fed her what we had with us. Please pray for Sefa and her siblings - that we can give them the love of the Father and show them Jesus.

BACK HOME IN PERU!

It's been just a little over a month that we've been back home in Peru!  And a busy time it has been!
We want to thank you all for your hospitality and love during our visit to the States.

When we were in the states, we learned that our living arrangements were changing and we would be moving when we returned.  So on July 1, we were packed and moving.  We moved over to the other side of town to a property owned by a church friend.  Our living area is being completed, so for the time being we are living in the Brower Family's house.  Please pray that our area will be done soon so that we can get in as the Browers are returning from their time in the States in about a week.

Patio Dining Area

Patio Area

Brower's House

As many of you know, we have been praying about our ministry at the Aldea Infantil Orphanage because of a change in administration.  We are praising God because last week when we visited, we were welcomed warmly.  There are many new children and they are eager to hear the Word of God and to be loved.  Please pray that we continue to find favor with this new leadership and that the children will receive the love of Christ and be excited to learn what His Word has to say.

Stan jumping rope!

 We have been on a break from our English Class and are excited to be starting back up in August.  We will be changing the focus of our class from a curriculum based class to a conversation based class.  We have had quite a bit of interest and hope that the response is positive.  We have found that this is a great way to build relationships in our community and introduce people to Refugio.

JUST AROUND THE CORNER!

In just about 2 weeks, we will be heading out to the airport to travel back to the States for about 7 weeks.  As excited as we are to see our church family and friends, it is also bittersweet.  As sweet as it is to look forward to the reunion in the States, it is equally as hard to say goodbye to our church family and friends here in Cajamarca.  

Here's a brief update on what's been happening here the last few months.

We are so very thankful for this time in our lives.  To be able to minister and serve the Lord alongside our children and grandchildren is a gift from the Lord. 

Eva's 6th birthday

Resurrection Sunday

Hannah's 15th birthday

Stan has had several opportunities to share the Word recently.

English Class

Thursday Service

Below are the children at Aldea Infantil San Antonio where we continue to visit twice a month.

In February we were invited to the town of San Marcos, which is about 2 hours out of Baños, to share the Word with a small group of brothers and sisters.  It was a beautiful time of fellowship!

 Refugio has been blessed these past months to have Pastor Bill Holdridge teach  a series on prayer.  

It's been fun running into Bill and Sheri around town.  We'll miss them when they return to the states!

SEE YOU SOON!!

"GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS"

I love the words of this beautiful hymn!  Our Heavenly Father is indeed faithful day in and day out; in the largest and the smallest of all circumstances.  His mercies are new every morning!  

I can't believe it is already the middle of January!  A new year and new opportunities to  experience the unfailing faithfulness of God.  "The Lord is my portion; therefore I will hope in Him".

The last several months were full of blessings and at the same time we turned to the Lord so often for His provision and strength.  They say the a picture says 1000 words, so here are some photos that we hope you will enjoy and will show what has been going on!

Our first Chocolatada at the preschool/kindergarten here in Baños del Inca!

Our second Chocolatada at the Aldea Infantil Orphanage. We crocheted each child a Christmas Stocking!

And our Chocolatada at Refugio!  Many children and their parents heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

Our First Annual Women's Ministry Christmas Fellowship!

Friday morning Pastor Bill Holdridge and his wife Sheri arrive in Cajamarca to be the Interim Director of the Calvary Chapel Bible College in Cajamarca.  We are very excited to welcome them here and look forward to their time in Peru!  Please pray for them as they begin this new challenge.

As we look forward to seeing what the Lord will do here this year in Baños del Inca, we pray for each of you.  That we will all be looking to Jesus the founder and perfecter of our faith.

Just think, with each new day, God gives us the chance to prove His faithfulness.  And throughout history, He’s never once been proven wrong, for His mercies are new every morning, no matter what.

"Tis the Season"

Happy Thanksgiving!

As we approach the Christmas season this year, we look to God's Word and truly consider the One whom we are celebrating to gain a fresh perspective and truly worship the almighty God who humbly came to the world in human flesh to seek and save the lost.

Although it may be the "Christmas season", the Bible exhorts us to be ready in season and out.  Most of us can probably remember the old Verizon commercial with the man testing the phone service and asking this question: "Can you hear me now?".  We need to remember that often during the Christmas season we can become so busy and distracted that we fail to hear God's voice.  The choice is ours.  We pray that all of us will this year choose to keep our eyes on our Lord and Savior!

Meet Adolfo and Cecelia

Adolfo and Cecilia along with their two young children are part of the Refugio family.  Adolfo is part of the Gideon International Organization in Cajamarca and regularly distributes Bibles throughout the region. We have been blessed to be included when we helped give out Bibles here in Baños at the elementary school.   And Cecelia is a regular at our Women's Bible Study.  Recently Adolfo and Cece began serving in our Children's Ministry as Sunday school teachers.  We are blessed by this family;  please keep them in your prayers.

Chiquitín Jardin

This past weekend we were excited to be invited to the inauguration of Chiquitín Jardin, a new preschool/kindergarten here in Baños del Inca.  A family from Refugio is hoping to bless the community as they open this new chapter in their lives.  They dedicated their new business to the Lord and in prayer asked that it would honor Him and that He would bless it.

Inauguration Day!

Upcoming Events

We are already looking forward to December!  The "Choclotada" is a traditional Peruvian Christmas celebration for children.  This year we are excited to host 3 choclotadas; our 3rd annual Refugio choclotada for the children of Baños del Inca, our 1st at a public kindergarten in Banos, and our 1st at the Aldea Infantil Orphanage in Cajamarca.  Please pray for the children that will come and hear about how God came to earth so that we can have eternal life with Him.

Making stockings for our kids at the orphanage!

Thanks to all of you who pray for our ministry here in Peru.  We hope you have a joyous day of Thanksgiving with family and friends.

"Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!"

Ministry Update

We want to share with you what has been going on here at Refugio.  It was an amazing month with many ministry opportunities and the Lord was faithful in providing everything we needed in order to share the love of Christ with many!

The Global Cane Outreach team arrived here in Cajamarca on September 16.  We were so excited to meet them at the airport and get them settled in their hostal.  In addition to the ministry to the blind, this team joined us in our regularly scheduled ministry and were a huge blessing to us and to the community!  

Team Members' Training

It started off with cane training and walking with a sighted guide.  Bevie taught us how to teach the blind to use canes and how to properly walk with a sighted guide.  

"I once was blind but now I see"     -      John Newton

"By sharing this gift with the blind you also open the door to share the even greater gift of the love of Jesus Christ."           Global Cane Outreach

English Conversation Class

We have changed the focus of our English Class to more of a practical conversation class where the students get the opportunity to practice what they have learned this past year.  We are very proud of our students; they are doing great!  They also were excited to have the Global Cane Outreach team with us for two Wednesdays! 

 They loved having more native speakers to practice with and have fun. 

Sightseeing in Cajamarca!

                             

Of course we had to have time to show our friends some of the amazing sights in our community!  We had a fun day exploring.  
Santa Apolonia -Cajamarca

Preschool/Kindergarten in Baños del Inca

The first time we visited this school was with the Epic Youth Group from Sonora.  A good friend and member of our church is a teacher here and asked if we could come.  We fell in love with these children and will be continuing to visit!!  We had a crazy hail storm while we were there!!

Aldea Orphanage

We continue to visit the Aldea Orphanage in Cajamarca twice a month.  We have developed a good relationship with the staff and the kids.  It's always a joy to arrive and see the kids run out to meet us.  The Global Cane Outreach blessed the children and loved on them!

Ministering to the Blind

Ritch Cureton kept telling us that we would be amazed on the day we actually got to put our training to use and distribute the canes and teach the blind to use them.  Ritch shared that he had seen this time and again in South Africa.  And he was right!!  We were all overwhelmed and moved to tears.  We separated the people into two groups.  One group was hearing the Good News of the Gospel and the other was receiving canes and being trained.  At the end of the sessions, we brought all the people together and Bevie shared her testimony and each person received a solar powered audio Bible.  I wish you could all have been there with us.  The presence of the Lord was amongst us and it was beautiful.

Check out this link.  This is Nancy, a young woman from Cajamarca.  Nancy is a believer and has been blind from birth.  She was so excited to receive her cane and audio Bible.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=572802996153682

Thank you Global Cane Outreach!  Your hearts to serve the people of the Andes was inspiring to us and a blessing to the communities of Baños del Inca and Cajamarca.  May the Lord continue to bless you and your ministry.