Paracas

Even later in the day it was still foggy over the ocean. I love this man!

Unfortunately it was a very cloudy foggy day. David, Ben and Rebekah were disappointed.

Here Rebekah is doing well...as long as the boat was moving she was great. She discovered a bit of motion sickness when the boat was not moving forward! Like mother like daughter! Exactly why mother didn't go out to the island!

Big ol' sea lion out on the rocks.

Family Adventures

Our famiy recently took a month long vacation. We traveled from Trujillo to Lima then to Cuzco, then to Puno and then back to the coast again. It was an awesome trip. We enjoyed seeing some beautiful sites and spending time together. It was also Ben's senior trip. I want to share a portion of the pictures that we took.

Lima's water fountain park. Guiness book of world record for the largest water fountain park. It is totally awesome!

What we have been up to....

There were about 20 families and in all there were 80 of us to cook for.

Water war, dads in the middle, wives and older daughters on one side and the children on the other side. It was fun!

Wives are preparing!

10-12 year olds in their class down in the woods.

Pool time!

Class time for the adults. Our preacher was excellant!

We had a great team of workers. Thanks to Samuel and Fiorella (kids' class helpers), Rosa and Lister (cooks), Ben (kid's game director and lifeguard), Rosarella (class helper and snack shop), Rebekah (4-6 year old's teacher), Abigail (1-3 year old's teacher). Our camp director was David.

I couldn't resist - then and now

Dad and Mom Stilwell with baby Jeff, Jon on the left and that cute redhead is David.

Imagine these 3 little boys on deputation!

I have never seen Dad and Mom's wedding pictures since we are never stateside together. During the years of terrorism here in Peru, they took all their pictures home to the USA with them.

They haven't change a bit :)

Christmas program at church

Aren't they cute!

Jacob gave the introduction to each section of the program presentation for his class.

These two are brother and sister.

Jacob's whole class taught by his Aunt Martha. They did a great job.

I love these costumes. They also did well. Rebekah team teaches in this class.

And the littlest ones, they only said, "Feliz Navidad" but they did that well!

Our lives as of late...part I

Once the school year ends for the Bible college we, as a family, take our annual trek to camp and spend a few days as a family. We need this time to regroup and enjoy each others company. We play lots of games together and do some physical work together too. This year we worked on digging the drainage ditch for the pipe to drain the baby pool. It was hot work and I personally did not last long. We were sad to have to end our few days and come home. I was also sad to think this is our last family getaway at camp with Benjamin.

We enjoyed grilling out for our suppers. Love this new grilling area!

On Thursday Jon and Julie and all the cousins came out to spend the day with us. Here David, Jon, Benjamin are helping David's dad. They needed to get 2 power cables back up on the pole after a dump truck lifted his back end and pulled them down. So, they put 4 scaffolding units together, secured them with wire, climbed up and began pulling the cables.

Here is picture so you can see how high up they were.

When the job was done they had to get the scaffolding down somehow so Grandpa lifted Benjamin up on the bucket of the tractor and little by little he held the scaffolding while Grandpa lowered him. His uncles were on the ground giving support. Then they took the scaffolding apart and stored it away. Yep, mom was doing some praying for safety during the project :)

We helped grandpa mow the new grass on the volleyball court, it is so awesome!

We played games.

We enjoyed just kicking back. We also slept in our tent. Love the tent, airflow and no bugs!

Benjamin shot this critter with a BB gun.

Pretty good size, huh!

Year End Recital at the Bible College

At the end of each academic school year, the Bible college has their recital involving the students who are in the music program and other students who participate in music. Some of the professors are also involved. There are some students who are multi-talented in music. The music majors are required to learn the piano as well as at least one other instrument. They also learn song leading and voice. It is so neat to see the students improve each year. David Alayo is the leader of the music program. He is also a good friend and Benjamin's music mentor. We are thankful for his ministry. He is also studying for his degree in theology.


This is a picture of Benjamin and Samuel, they are part of the traveling choir, they are very good. Ben and Samuel sing tenor. Samuel and his wife will graduate this year and are members of our church. Samuel is our church's choir director and is in charge of our music program. He and been are good friends. I am thankful for his influence in Ben's life.

Ben playing the keyboard in the mini orchestra. His French horn is broken so he played his part using the French horn setting on the keyboard. There were several violing and flutes as well as one clarinet.

These are the beginning flute students with their teacher (on the right).

Another picture of the orchestra

This surprised me. I had no idea Ben was participating in this woodwind group. It was very good.

David and Ben in their duet. Ben is quite a bit taller than his dad.

This guitar ensemble was very good. The flute in the group really added to the song. This one was my favorite.

This is a group of 1st and 2nd year students. They are pretty good and will only get better as they continue to study.

The evening ended with a devotional from Psalms 149-150 on the What, Where, How, With what and For Whom is Biblical music.