Caldas Novas

Jess posing by the pool!


Sam posing by the pool


family photo in the pool the day Sam learned to swim!


lots of fun at the pirate ship kids pool,


Didn't manage to discover the elegant way to get in or out of these huge rings!

sleeping at the airport waiting to board our plane at 0100!

Well after an incredibly long journey we arrived in Caldas Novas. We had a few days holiday before the Latin America BMS retreat . We loved the tropical weather in Brazil and spent our 4 days holiday in and out of the various swimming pools available. Caldas Novas is a spa town built around thermal pools with numerous swimming pools and water parks .Coming from cold Cusco what a treat to lie in the warm water and soak up the sun and even more so for the children to have so many opportunities to swim.
Samuel and Jessica proved themselves far more adventurous than their mother whizzing down the flumes and slides! We are particularly delighted that Samuel became really confident with his swimming and is very proud of himself!
What an amazing opportunity to visit a new country and to relax and unwind .

Off to Brasilia

We are off to Brasilia, first for a few days holiday then we have our BMS Latin America retreat,for the joint Peru and Brazil team. Please pray for safety in travel and that we will be physically and spiritually refreshed. ( A 0100 flight in the middle of the night with 4 children doesn't really sound too refreshing right now!) We would also ask you to join us in upholding the country Peru in prayer. 5th June is the date of the presidential elections, please pray for peaceful fair elections and for God's will to be done in electing the new leader for Peru. Report of our trip to Brasilia to follow......

Star gazing

This weekend we visited the Cusco Planetarium. From our garden in Cusco the stars in the sky are incredibly bright, but nothing compared to the stars in the campo. When we went out into the countryside just on the outskirts of Cusco to the Planetarium the stars were amazing. The experts took a long time explaining to us about the stars , planets and galaxies. We were then shown a number of the things we had learned about in the talk when we went outside with the naked eye, but the most exciting part was looking through the telescope at the stars . The big big treat was seeing the planet saturn with its characteristic rings, very clearly through the telescope!!!!

We were reminded of these verses in Psalm 8

When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?
O Lord our Lord how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Piano time

Jessica:


Anjanette started teaching Jessica and her friend Ella piano lessons 10 weeks ago when we returned to Cusco. They are making excellent progress and really enjoying their joint classes even if they are sometimes quite mischievous together!

Not wanting to be left out Samuel started learning his first few notes this week too! Enjoy these videos of their piano progress.

Jessica plays and sings "Nobody knows the trouble I've seen."
Anjanette and boy wonder play a duet called "Marching."


Sam:

Celebrating May birthdays

Scott went quad biking with some friends for his birthday celebration.


Anjanette Jess and Sam at her birthday tea.



And of course, the cake in the face:
Firstly we pray for Pastor Scott and thank God for him!


Next we sing to him ( he looks a little nervous since he knows what's coming next.....)


Finally we push his face in the cake!


Well the week of birthday celebrations is here. Thankyou for all of the birthday greetings we have recieved! So this is the week of celebrating and eating lots of cake . This is how El Puente Iglesia celebrates with their beloved Pastor

Huchuy Qosqo 2 day trek

Jess enjoying splashing in the river


fabulous scenery


The Huchuy Qosqo ruins

Anjanette feeling as if she has conquered the world! (that was before the long gruelling walk down!)


breathtaking mountain views


Scott very happy to soak his feet in hot water at the campsite after 8 hours of walking!

Scott at the campsite


walking through the canyon


Sam on horseback!


at the first mountain pass


This week Jess and Sam have had a week off school and so we decided to attempt a 20 k trek which included an overnight camping adventure. We set off from Tambomachay just outside Cusco city and we walked for 8 hours on day 1 ( 14k) It was great fun but hard work walking up mountains at 4000 feet . It was very hot in the day (Anjanette got heat stroke on day 2) and cold at night , (there was frost on our tents when we woke up in the morning!! )Remarkably the kids did not complain at all, they did occasionally take turns riding a horse to give their legs a little rest. We went with 2 other families and a guide, our good friend Robyn owns the SAS travel company and we went with her family, the SAS guides and cooks. Never has camping been so luxurious the horses carried the luggage, tents and food and when we finally arrived at the campsite the tents were set up and our hot dinner was ready for us! The views of the mountains as we trekked were absolutely breathtaking. The trek is called the Huchuy Qosqo trek since that is the name of some inca ruins that we visited along the way before we descended 1200k zigzagging down the mountain to where lunch and the SAS van was waiting in Lamay to drive us back to Cusco. So we are feeling victorious that we completed the adventure, astounded that the kids did so well, and very grateful for running water flushing toilets and comfy beds now that we are back at home!

Feliz Dia de Mama

Mothers' day in Peru is a big big deal! The shops go crazy selling mothers' day merchandise, most schools will put on an extravagant mothers' day concert as well as taking lots of time to make cards and presents. This is interesting since Peruvians do not send birthday cards or Christmas cards. People give presents and greetings to their friends who are mothers to celebrate this important occasion too!

This was the first mothers' day that the Williamsons celebrated at El Puente, the previous 2 years we were travelling since the mothers' day weekend marks the start of Jess and Sam's mid term week off school .

To mark this important cultural event we had a mothers' day celebration in church, the kids sang to the mothers and recited a poem, we then gave all the children (whatever their age) in church the opportunity to publicly thank their mothers, we prayed for mothers and thanked God for them and then in true El Puente style we had a special mothers' day cake! The children in church had made keyrings for the church mums and they were also presented with little boxes of choclolates !



We tried to be sensitive to the fact that mothers' day can be a hard day for some people who don't have a mother and we spoke of the importance of family, church family and the fact that we are adopted as God's children. We especially think of little Roxana in our church who lives with her grandmother and encouraged her to give the special gifts to say a big thankyou to her grandmother who cares for her.