Youth event in Piura

Scott is heading up the youth department of the Peruvian Baptist Convention. This is an exciting new venture, he is working alongside young leaders from different parts of Peru and his role involves travelling for planning meetings and youth events and conferences. This weekend he was in the north of Peru in Piura for a regional celebration. He had a great time and was encouraged to see young people being challenged and responding to God's Word.

Reflecting on the last 4 years

Today marks exactly 4 years since the Williamson family arrived in Peru. Dear Aunty Margaret Swires collected us from Lima airport and brought us back to her apartment where she spent a week helping us with our paperwork and orientation. We had told 3 year old Sam and 5 year old Jessica that we were moving to Peru to tell people about Jesus and to start a church. Well a few days into our Peru experience Margaret overheard an anxious conversation between Jess and Sam. They were concerned that we had been in our new country for a few days and hadn't told anybody about Jesus yet. (At this point we didn't even know any spanish!) This was when Margaret decided that this new missionary family was going to be just fine, and thankfully wise Aunty Margaret was proved right. God has protected us and sustained us and given us a strong love for Peru, by far the biggest blessings along the way have been seeing El Puente Iglesia evolve and grow and also some of the wonderful friendships God has provided us with. We have heard many experienced missionaries say that the first 4 years on the field are when you learn the culture and language , after which you begin to be useful and can go deeper and see your ministry flourish. Well we still struggle with language (the adult Williamsons do) and some aspects of the culture, but we also find ourselves accustomed to the Cusco way of life that would have seemed so foreign to us 4 years ago. In fact aspects of life in the UK now seem very foreign to us. Thank you for journeying with us and standing alongside us supporting us, we try not to dwell on the negative times but of course there have been huge struggles in the last 4 years, there are many times when your prayers sustain us and give us the strength that we need to continue. Please join us in celebrating and giving thanks for 4 wonderful years. Muchisimas Gracias!

Sacred Valley

We had a few days away in the sacred valley this week during the school hols. It was great to spend time relaxing and laughing together, Jess and Sam are becoming such fun company. We went swimming and played tennis, Scott found a good restaurant, Anjanette read 2 books and a happy time was had by all!

Third church anniversary

Today is the 3rd anniversary of El Puente Iglesia. Anniversaries are a big deal in Peru, it was wonderful to rejoice with our church family and to remember the story of our church. We celebrated with singing, prayer, poems, hearing God's word, dancing ,rapping,looking at photos, eating, lots of laughter and a special thank offering for our church building fund. God has been so good to us and we really have reason to celebrate his faithfulness today. Hard to believe that 3 years ago we were just starting out as we look around at the church family we love so much today. We have certainly had our ups and downs and we thankyou for journeying with us and supporting us in many ways.