Christmas 09

This is our Christmas dinner.


crazy eyes

Irma, one of the sweet saints in the church, her 90 year old dad is seated on the left.

the kids watching TV

The giant feast.

Sorry it has been so long for those of you who follow us here on the blog. Things are going well here in Ica and the Lord is blessing us abundantly. For Christmas we had a nice dinner on the 20th and about 50-60 people came out to celebrate with us. Free food always draws the crowds. We also had a special service on the 24th to celebrate Christmas Eve. The church was full to overflowing and we had a blessed time celebrating our Saviors birth. Lately the church has been busting at the seams, this past Sunday we had two people standing outside the door. We are desperate for a new space, but still waiting on the Lord. The place that my heart desires that many of you guys have been praying for is still available, but we have yet to hear anything. Now I'm looking into other options. I know that Lord will provide, I just pray He does so quickly.

Christmas eve service

Full house for Christmas Eve.

He heals

I wanted to share a great God story for His glory. We had a lady named Betty visiting the church for about 10 days while she was here in Ica, visiting her sister and seeing the doctor about cancer treatments. She didn't tell me what the sickness was only that she was sick. We had just finished our thursday night study in the book of John and I was ready to start Acts, but the Lord laid it heavy on my heart to teach on prayer and to end with James 5. After studying for the evening the Lord put it on my heart to take oil to annoint one that would come forward and ask for prayer. I taught, it was rough, I didn't feel that it went all that well that night, but when I taught about James 5 and annointing with oil anyone who is sick that they may be healed, I felt lead to ask if anyone felt lead to come forward to be prayed over. We were all preparing our hearts for communion. Betty came forward, we prayed over Betty and annointed her with oil. Many other faithful prayer warriors had been praying for her as well. Friday came and her sister came to bring our family some avacado and tell me that in the morning Betty got her test results and she was clear of cancer. The doctor couldn't find any cancer anymore. She still has to come back to the doctor for routine checkups, just in case. But she has been healed. Praise Him. Christ was glorified. Betty stayed a few extra days to be sure to assist our Sunday service, because she said that she feels at home here. I ask her at the last minute to give her testimony of how Christ had healed her and she went on for about 10 minutes about how great is our God, how mighty is Christ and He is to be praised. Thank you Lord for healing Betty and for glorifying Your Holy name.

Baptism/ church picnic

We had a special service on the picnic grounds in a covered pavillion.

Some of the teenagers did some dramas we have been learning. This one is called the Lolipop drama.

Another drama, this one is the Chair.

Then we prayed for the three that were to be baptized.

Then we baptized Jorge (69) and Lucha (65), they are husband and wife.

This is Jorge.

Then we baptized Manuel (80), due to sickness he couldn't get into the water, so we just poured a handful of water on the back of his head.

Then we ate and had a fun time with all the kids playing in the pool. About 60-70 showed up over the course of the day. Many new people came and some that have recently begin to come to the church came and I think they feel a little more like part of the family. What a blessed time we had. Thank you Lord for your provision and for a beautiful day.

Bibles- God's perfect timing

This past sunday we had a full house, three people were standing during the service. Wow. Prayers are being answered. Two people prayed to receive Christ during the service, one of which we had been fasting and praying for. Wow, wow, wow. We are wowed by the awesome grace and might of our Holy God. With all the people we were in need of Bibles. As the service begin and I saw that there was not enough Bibles for the new people who had come, I thought what do we do and just then a lady who is visiting from the states for a couple of months came to tell me that if we needed more Bibles right now, that she had purchased a box of Bibles to give us. We broke open the box and used 5 Bibles right away, 2 or 3 ended being gifted to some new folks, especially those that had prayed to receive the Lord that day. Wow. Wow. wow.

Happy Birthday Nala!!!

Team, Calvary Chapel In the City, Boston

Calvary Chapel In the City, Boston came to minister with us for a few days. We had a blessed time together. We went into the center of the city to evangelize and pass out invitations, we went to minister to children in Los Pollitos, we did an outreach in a public school and we surfed the sand dunes in La Huacachina.


Tracy preparing goody bags for the kids in the school.


The team performing a puppet show in the public school.


We sang some songs and got the kids to do all the motions, even the bigger kids were participating.


The kids listened intently as the team shared a teaching about the ascension of Christ.


We performed a drama about sharing.


And finally we made a craft with the kids in their classrooms. We had an awesome time ministering in the public school system and we praise the Lord that we were able to share with the kids and plant seeds that the Lord will water in His timing.

Steve and Cassys last days

The church said goodbye to Cassy. Of course they fell in love with Cassy. Her and her dad Steve were here for one last Thursday night Bible study. We had some cake and soda and celebrated with a little saddness. Thanks Cassy for all your love and for being a godly example to all the young girls.

Earthquake Anniversary protests

Today as I was traveling back from Lima to Ica, I encountered a closed interstate in the small town of Pisco. Pisco was the epicenter of the 2007 earthquake (8.0) and the residents feel like the government hasn't done enough. Today is the 2 year anniversary of the earthquake so the people decided to protest by burning tires in the street and by blocking the only road leading to Ica from Lima. Hundreds of protesters gathered on either side of a bridge on the interstate so that no one could pass by. I arrived on the scene just as the blockade began. The police had yet to arrive. I knew from missions training and a little common since never to go into a gathered crowd that is protesting. I immediately turned around and found a safe place to park about 2 miles from all the activity. Soon the national police arrived with their machine guns and gas bombs and of course riot shields. Kinda movie like, unless you live in a country that this happens often. We waited about 2 1/2 hours, myself and several hundred other travelers some in buses and others in cars, as the police patiently allowed the people to protest. When the protesters began to leave and a few stubborn ones stayed behind blocking the road, the police decided to move in and free the interstate to let all the traffic pass. One lady was hurt in the police overtake and only a few cars were damaged in the whole protest, which is pretty good. There are usually a few burnt cars and beaten people when large groups come together to protest. Thankfully the Lord protected me and gave me wisdom to turn around, one truck tried to pass through in the early stages of the protest and it was damaged by the protesters.

Pray for the Peruvians, especially those that are still suffering effects of the earthquake after two long years. Also pray for the national Police that they would continue to handle these situations with the respect and dignity that they showed today.

This is out at the court by my house.


When Triad was here, we did an outreach at Los Pollitos. There were about 80-100 kids that day. They painted faces, shared and did balloon animals.

We went to La Huacachina with Denise, Alan, Cassy and the group from Triad and from Boynton. This is from the top of the big dune by the oasis. It's a challenging climb!!

We went to Las Islas Ballestas with Denise, Alan, and Cassy. Here's Nala the Chola

In Canete. They had a lot of fun painting the kids' faces.

We went out in the park in front of my house and did some outreach to the neighborhood kids. We did the lollipop drama, painted faces, made balloon animals, sidewalk chalk, blew bubbles... it was a lot of fun. Mario, Elisabet, Martin, Carlos and some kids from the church all came out to help and have some fun.

Cassy has been here for 5 weeks. She's been such a blessing to us. She's leaving with her dad on Saturday.

Kilaine is our regular evangelist. She gets really excited to hand out tracts and invitations to the church. She helps us translate when the teams are here. It won't be long before she can start doing some of the dramas.

Here's the regular children's ministry. These are most of the kids I have every time. One is missing this day. We have the kids up to 7 years old. 9 and up sit in the adult Bible study.

Cassy painted a verse on the back of the church wall for us.

We were able to purchase a car about 5 weeks ago. Thank you to everyone who prayed with us about this and to many of you who donated towards it. It truly is a huge blessing living 4 hours from Lima. It's been a huge help. Thank you, Lord!!!

Cassy also painted the children's room. Steve, Robin and the kids helped out, too. It looks awesome!! It's so fun and clean and it looks so much bigger now. Good job, Cassy!

We went to see the Nasca lines with Steve and Cassy. It's about 2 hours to the south. We went up in a prop plane to see them.

Here's the astronaut. The lines are a mystery. There are a lot of drawings in the ground that have been there for a very long time, maybe more than 1000 years. There's drawings of a monkey, spider, whale, hummingbird, tree, hands, lots of lines and trapezoids. It's really amazing. One of the largest trapezoids is over 18 miles long! It makes me wonder why these ancient cultures did these drawings and how. Maybe they were worshipping the stars or something. It makes me very glad to have the Bible and to know the God of the universe. I want to worship the creator, not the creation.

Updates, updates...

Cassy is here visiting... um, can I say HUGE BLESSING!!! She's helping me out with the worship among many other things.

Denise and Alan came from CC Aiken, SC for 10 days. They were a huge blessing too. They fit right in to things. Denise is preparing to teach the kids at church.

Then we had a group from CC Triad, NC visit for 3 days. We all stayed in the house together, one big happy family! Dan, Kathy and Mike from CC Boynton Beach, FL also came for those days. They all did a lot of street witnessing, handing out invitations to the church, playing with the neighborhood kids in the park, a children's ministry at Los Pollitos and we did a youth outreach at the church one Friday night.

Greet everyone!! This is during a church service.

Sunday we went to La Huacachina. The kids loved burying Alan in the sand!

Kathy surfing the dunes

Look at me go!!

The beautiful sun setting over the desert. This is the view from the top of one of the highest dunes we climbed. Whew! That was hard!! But worth it.

Nala the chola! That's slang for a peruvian. She really is, too... peruvian.

Liam on the boat to las Islas Ballestas. That's some islands off the shore of Paracas, Peru where you can see penguins, sea lions, and tons of birds.

If you look closely, you can see the one lone penguin down on the shore there.

Robin had a surprise birthday party. Here's Clara helping to set up.

Everybody praying over Robin. It was such a nice time. Lucha's house was crowded to the maximum!! Thanks, everybody!!


Here you go. Missionary life at it's finest.