Christmas and the new cousin

We had a wonderful Christmas, I hope you did too! On Sunday night we presented the drama/cantada "Born to Die". It was a fun time. Monday afternoon we read the Bible story and opened our gifts, a great time of sharing. We also visited the family in our church that lost their son this year, just to encourage them. Tuesday morning all the Stilwells headed to Chimbote to spend Christmas with Steve and Molly and family. We had a great time together and we all enjoyed cuddling with the newest Stilwell - Caleb Daniel. In the afternoon the dads and children went to the beach. We moms stayed home visiting and lovin' on Caleb a bit more. We spend the night in a local hotel and returned home Wednesday about 1:00 PM. If you would like to see the pictures from Christmas, you can go to this website. http://picasaweb.google.com/perumom/Christmas2007

Christmas Program

Yesterday morning the children's Sunday school classes had their Christmas presentations. Unfortunately our camera batteries died before we got pictuers of all the classes. The little children sang about Jesus' love for all the children on the world. Aren't they adorable? I hope to post more pictures of the day after I get some pictures from Martha.

Goofies in the well

Deep down in the well

The piece of windmill that had to come out to be fixed. It is heavy!

Rebekah going down.

Abigail going down.

Four children down to the first level, there is a shelf there to stand or sit on.

On Tuesday we headed out to camp to work on the windmill, it hasn't been pumping water for a few weeks now. We found the broken piece and had to pull it up out of the well for it to be welded. Benjamin had to go down with his dad to help him with the pipe wrenches. After lunch the children all wanted to go down the well. How to get down you ask, simple put one foot in the bucket, hold onto the rope and be lowered down. They all did fine and were careful. They all loved the experience although Rebekah decided not to do it again. She has a hard time trusting the person letting her up and down with the crank. That person was her daddy. She had the same trouble on furlough with the climbing wall, trusting the person holding her. After working we played baseball and football.

Recital and Christmas picture

On Monday night Abigail took part in her first recital here at the seminary. She was one of only 2 children to play. Her cousin Hannah also played but she isn't a child anymore :) Abigail played a child's version of the Entertainer. She was very nervous but did a good job.

We have never owned a Christmas tree here in Peru. This year Rebekah decided to use some of her birthday money to buy the family a tree for Christmas. It is a great present to all of us. We love seeing it all lite up at night. The Peruvians enjoy seeing it too, through the window or when they come in. Here is a picture of the children in front of the tree.

Anniversary part 2

From the anniversary there are lots of great pictures of the children, both young and old, at Victoria. I wanted to share them with you. Warning, there are several!

Happy Anniversary Iglesia Bautista Victoria part 1

On November 26 our church celebrated its 7th birthday. Church anniversaries are a huge deal down here so we had special services Friday through Sunday. On Friday night it is always dessert night. Each family brings some dessert to share, yum! Saturday night is music night, there were lots of special numbers. In our family Jacob played a piano solo, Benjamin played his guitar and sang in a trio (at the same time), we sang as a family and Benjamin and David played a trumpet, french horn duet. There were about 13 special numbers all together. Sunday morning was the regular morning service followed by a potluck lunch, always well attended :) Sunday night was the main event with the cake and gifts for the church. Most gifts this year were financial gifts towards the additional property next door to us. It was a great weekend!

Big Crash

Today we were involved in a major accident, here is our story...

We were about to arrive at the corner when we saw a big loaded cargo truck coming at us, David tried to get as close the curb as possible but there was really no place to go. The truck hit our back tire area first which caused us to flip around and then his back tire took out the front of the truck. Amazing that no windows were broken and none of us were hurt. We have minor aches but nothing serious. Rebekah, Abigail and Jacob were in the back seat. Needless to say our trip to town to buy shoes for them never happened. David just got home from the police station. The accident happened at 11:50 this morning and it is now 8:30. He is eating his first meal since breakfast. With all the pressure of all the paperwork, etc. he had no appetite anyway. Since Jacob hit his head, my neck is sore and David's elbow hurts we all had to have xrays to rule out problems.Tthe xrays were all fine. David had to have a breathalizer and blood alcohol level done, that was 6 hours after the accident! There was another car also hit but not nearly the damage we had. The red truck in the pictures is the one who hit us, he is very big, especially when he is coming at you fast! He says his brakes went out but some are doubting that, his truck will have to be checked out to see if that was true.

We are praising God that no one was hurt, it could have been deadly. It has been a great teaching moment for the children. We also have many opportunities to speak about God and his care. We are thankful that our lives are in His hands.

We could use your prayers in the next few days as the legal work continues. David will need lots of wisdom and patience.

My teenage daughter

Happy Birthday, Rebekah

David and I now have 2 teenagers. Benjamin and Rebekah. Rebekah turns 13 today. It has been a fun day for her. Her theme was horses. She desires very much to own a horse of her own. As you can see in the pictures there were horses on the table, pictures on the walls and a special gift with horses on it. Rebekah has a sweet spirit and is a big help at home. I am so thankful for her. The green I Hate School shirt is from her sister. While she doesn't hate school she thought it was a fun shirt. She only "hates"math.

Jacob Sleeping

Touchdown Purdue!

I love to see my children sleeping so peacefully. I know that every parent enjoys watching their children sleep. Here is a recent picture of Jacob sleeping. Now just why is he sleeping in that position? How can he sleep like that? I would wake up with both arms asleep and with pain!

xyzp2

Algebra!!?? I think I am about to go crazy! Teaching this Algebra is wearing on me. Today had to be the worst day. When the teacher doesn't get it, it is worse for the students. Anyway, step by step we are figuring it out. I didn't like it in Jr. High, now...well...I must admit, I usually find it fun. Today wasn't one of those days. I won't be teaching this again for 3 years, hopefully I can remember how to do it when that time comes again. I don't want to relearn it for the 3rd time in my life.

Best Friends

Abigail and Areli are inseperable. The sad thing is that Areli's dad will graduate from the seminary in December and Areli will be moving away. I am sure tears will be shed.

Church at Home

Today is census day in Peru. Everyone, by law, is to stay at home until they have been counted. We were counted on Friday since we are living inside an institution but still, everything is closed. This will continue until 6PM, but even then public transportation will be difficult. Our church people decided to not even have a late evening service. We had church at home today. Benjamin was our song leader, Rebekah the pianist, Abigail the Sunday school teacher, David gave his testimony, I sang a special, the girls sang a special and Jacob preached the worship service message. It is awesome to see our children developing and using their talents for the Lord. Abigail also played a piano special.

Ladies of Victory

Yesterday we had our very first ladies meeting at Victory Baptist Church. The meeting went well with 16 ladies present. We had games, a testimony, object lesson, Bible study and a craft. All in 2 hours. We are studying Pearls from Proverbs so the theme and craft had to due with pearls. We all had a wonderful time and are anxious for the next meeting. We will be meeting once a month for now. They are excited about doing something special for Christmas.

Praises!!

Yesterday afternoon David went out to the Briceno house (Jack's parents) where he met with Fanny's nephew. Fanny is Jack's wife. Irvin is an 11 year old who was interested in hearing about how to be saved. Praise the Lord he was saved yesterday. We are rejoicing big time in this house, seeing how God is already using Jack's death in the lives of many. At least 100 people heard the salvation message on Friday night at the viewing and Saturday at the burial. Jack and Fanny's family members were in church on Sunday. All of Jack's immediate family is saved but none of Fanny's. David gave a strong salvation message at the end of his message on the Doctrine of Man and how God has marvelously created the human being.

Rejoice with us!

Jack

Rebekah and Abigail( carried the bride's train)
with Jack and Fanny at their wedding

Wednesday morning a young man in our church was killed in a car accident. He worked as a minerals engineer in one of the mines in southern Peru. He and several other company employees were on their way to Lima and then on to see their families. At 8:30 AM, a large truck with rolls of paper crossed the center line killing 9 of the men and injuring 14. Jack was only 26 years old and leaves behind a new wife. They had been married a year in June. His family also faithfully attends our church. David had the privilege of marrying them last year. Their names are Jack and Fanny Briceño.

As of right now his dad and brother are on their way to the city of Ica (where the accident took place) to bring the body back to Trujillo for the viewing and funeral. Since they don't embalm the body here, things have to go quickly. Ica is about 11 hours drive from here. They flew down, hopefully they can fly back with his body.

Here are our prayer requests:1. That God would be glorified through Jack's death. We know he is in the presence of his heavenly Father.
2. That the wife and family would be comforted.
3. That our church would rally around this couple and meet their needs. We are prepared to do that, but we would like this to draw us even closer together.
4. That David would have wisdom through all of this. His schedule, for the first time in months was open this week, the Lord knew he would need a lot of available time . Also this is his first time in a death situation like this. Since he married them, it is going to be harder. 5. That the unsaved world would see our hope, that one day we have the hope of seeing Jack again.

Tarma City

Now for the rest of the story...While in Tarma we were involved in many different activities. David preached every day on the radio covering the 4 rules of communication. He preached every night, taught at the leader's and men's meetings, gave the devotional at the baptismal service and taught 2 Sunday school hours. Kandie taught at the ladies' meeting and gave her testimony on the radio (one radio time was enough for me). We all (including the children) were involved in special music. Since it was so cold we purchased ponchos and 3 of the children also purchased the typical mountain hat called a "chuyo" (chooyo with a long o at the end). I personally wouldn't be caught dead in one. Benjamin was also in charge of the powerpoint for his dad since the church doesn't have a remote control for theirs. We are now wondering where our next adventure will be...the United States in July 2008!

To see more pictures of our Tarma trip, please check out this site:http://www.msnusers.com/StilwellsinPeru

Tarma trip

On Friday the 14th we, as a family, left for the mountain city of Tarma. The city is located at 10,000 feet above sea level. The children thought we were going to Lima on Friday and then on to Tarma, little did they know we had a few surprises planned to break up the trip. On Friday we ate lunch ate a ocean beach area 2 1/2 hours from home. The car speedometer quick working on this stretch of the trip, since our gas gauge was also out of order we used that to know when we needed gas, needless to say we made frequent stops for gas and rarely needed to fill up with more than 1/2 a tank. Anyway, we then headed to the city of Casma where we spent the night. Since it is farther inland it was warm and we were able to swim in their pool. Saturday we headed to Lima but stopped at a forest reserve along the way and hiked. Since it has been very foggy lately the mountains were very green. David said he had never seen it so green before. Sunday was also spent in the Lima area. Monday we headed towards Tarma having McDonalds for lunch. We arrived in the city of the flowers around 5:30. This trip took us over a 16,000 feet pass. We were up at the tops of the mountains, here we saw the snow peaked mountains, beautiful!

Mountains around Chancay, green!

16,000 feet pass. Cold and little oxygen.