Baptisms March 2011

The 27^th of March we had our second baptismal ‘service’. The first service we baptised four women, and this time we baptised seven people. We felt that we wanted to be romantic and biblical and so had the baptisms in a river 45 minutes away from our house.

Members of the church watching Peck and I as we prepared the baptismal area in the river.

The youngest of those baptised was Arthur, (pronounced Ahhh two), a ten year old, son of Llilda (pronounced Gill da).

Arthur being baptised.

We also baptised Flor, a creative, intelligent 14 year old.

Flor just before being baptised.

Flor is the younger sister of Pamela, a 16 year old (see previous post for more info about her)who was baptised even though she was freezing when in the water.

Pamela after being dunked!!

Nelson a young adult, who is the sister of Sandra, who is part of our leadership and also teaches Daniel and Joel in their nursery. Nelson is part of our young adult group in our missional community in Los Cedros, where we live.

Nelson before going into the water. He said he had an amazing experience as he entered the water. I was more concerned as he hit his head on the rock on the riverbed!

Luz one of our most faithful members of the church also took the decision to be baptised, even though she is scared stiff of water, and especially in a river as she had a bad experience as a child. Luz lives in Pacifico is not a single mum, although we have never met her husband as he works at least 6 days a week, and at least 12 hours a day. Luz scared to death just before she was baptised.

Laura was also baptised, who was the first person in our Los Cedros missional community to become a Christian. (2 more have since become Christians)

Laura just before she was baptised.

Laura looked like an angel before, during and after her baptism and has seen her life completely changed in the last month and a half. She describes her life as one where there are challenges, problems and trials all around her. (Many of her children are in problems, including with drugs, financially she is struggling, and she is a single mum!!!) Her new found faith is an encouragement to all around her. Many people have seen the difference in her , including her youngest son, who has become a Christian, another young person in our Los Cedros group, and many others are being touched by the power and love of God, through her, and her testimony, as well as the amazing community, which is starting to look like the community we read about in the Bible in Acts 2:32-37.

Last but not least Ines was baptised,

Ines before and after!!

the mother to Flor and Pamela and is one of the columns of our missional community in Pacifico de Villa. Ines has grown gradually in her faith over the last few months and has seen a real challenge but has come to a point where she says that when the problem come she starts firstly with God and doesn’t try to find answers in other places. Ines is wonderful as she is always an encouragement even when life is nearly impossible, whether that be due to her daughter who is a single mum, her son who has a drug problem, or whatever it may be. The great thing is that these people are looking, or starting to look for the answers in the right place. God is good!

Stationary Appeal Photos

We want to say a big thank you to all the people who gave to our stationary appeal this year. I (Mark) had a target in my mind of how much I wanted to raise and we exceeded this, which means we have been able to do more with this money. The initial campaign was to be able to help those disadvantaged families in our church in Pacifico de Villa. We were able to do this. Please see the pictures below….

Marcelo with his dictionary.

Llilida, Jose, Ruth, Veronica, and GustavoNicole with her exercise book and material for art.Jesica y Jhonji with the exercise books for Jesica's brother.Ruth with her exercise books for secondary school

Due to our exceeded budget we were also able to send stationary to our church in the jungle and the school in Ventanilla where we are associated. Also I felt that God wanted us to support Pamela a member of our church in Pacifico who has 4 years left of her schooling, but she is too old to receive it ‘free’ from the state. One option for people like Pamela is that she can do accelerated learning and do her 4 years in 2, but this needs to be paid for. With the money we have received we can now help her to do this. I felt this was the correct thing to do in January.

Will and Liz, Sam and Luke

Well March has nearly been and gone. One of the highlights of our time has been the visit of my (Mark) sister, brother in law and my 2 nephews. Here are some of the photos that were taken.

Well 3 of them were smiling!!!

The Tuftons at the Fountain Park.

Luke the darling of Lima, 'how cute is he' was said at what seemed every 5 minute interval.

The whole Burgess/Tufton Family

I see, I see, pleasssseeeee

The boys

This is the future Will!!!

February has been and gone.

Well after the flurry of posts about our team in January we have been some what absent on the blog front. So here is a quick update on February:
Daniel, Allison's boyfriend came to visit for a month in January and became her fiancé after a trek in the Colca Canyon. They are planning to get married at the beginning of September back in Oklahoma.
Sandra Medina came back from the UK and started to work with Lili in our in-house nursery school and joined our ministry team. It is great to have another person to help out with the discipleship. Here she is with Lili: We finally managed to buy a new (to us) car off some missionary friends, which was a relief to us to not have to travel around by public transport anymore with two little ones and Anna feeling sick due to another pregnancy. Yep, we are expecting another child in August this year! Belly already beginning to bulge.
Unfortunately, 5 days after receiving the car, before we managed to get the car fully insured, we were 'temporarily relieved' of our electrical parts, including the car computer and electric window panels whilst sitting about 20m away. I say temporarily as we got the chance to buy the parts back at a bill of US$2500. Rather frustrating as you can imagine and one of those things which we find difficult to get our heads around as non-Peruvians, used to a justice system that is more effective!
Andrew Peck, known to us as 'Peck' (or Pecky if Daniel's friend Jakob is around!) also arrived in February to stay for just under 6 months. He was a member of the team from Luton we had last July and has come to try out the missionary life for a bit longer. He is learning Spanish and getting involved with the young people in our local area. He is another fun addition to our household and changes his haircut every week!

Alpha started with some teenagers and adults (two separate groups) from our local community mid-February, with a good sized group attending each session. Here was the first week with the teenagers:
Daniel and Joel are both growing up and Joel is speaking more each day. They were both very excited by the ebay parcel from Grandma Jean containing various sets of pjamas amongst other clothing. Here is Buzz and 'Ice Age' strutting their stuff:
Chloe, Anna's sister, was also part of the full house in February, and celebrated the big 20 with us. We went for a buffet italian lunch, followed by a traditional Peruvian birthday party in the evening, which would not have been complete without the obligatory party games, including musical chairs! Who says party games are just for kids?!
We also managed a quick 3 day break to an all-inclusive resort in Lima with Chloe at the beginning of her stay. Here are some photos...





And finally, living so close the beach, we have managed a few trips to the sand. Particularly memorable was the day Mark decided he wanted to dig a hole big enough for him to stand up in. (Why not dig to Australia, I say.) He didn't get that far, but the boys certainly had fun. I'm not sure if Ronald enjoyed his trip as much...!