Remembering the past

This weekend as we traveled around the country speaking we have been reminded of our great Christian heritage.

We spoke at Leicester Central Baptist church where the William Carey museum is kept. The next day we spoke at the Bunyan Meeting House in Bedford where the John Bunyan museum is. We had the opportunity to have a quick look at the exhibits; we saw the jail door from Bunyan's prison cell where he was imprisoned for his faith , and the wooden pulpit that he preached from. The William Carey collection also has many interesting historical items.

It was a great reminder of those that have gone before us and huge sacrifices that they made for the sake of the gospel.

In both churches we shared our story of the El Puente 4 year old church plant. It was exciting to do so in buildings where congregations have been meeting and worshiping for hundreds of years.

Scott's high altitude training was put to good use as he preached from lofty heights in the pulpit at the Bunyan Meeting house ! It remains a joy to meet different expressions of church and to share and be encouraged by them .

So if you are in Bedford or  Leicester we would highly recommend a visit to the two museums.

Friends, Family and Aunty Margaret

We are currently in the middle of a very busy home assignment visiting 18 churches in 6 weeks! One of the best things about our time in the UK is seeing friends and family we've not seen for years and enjoying watching our children re establishing friendships again. When we are in Peru we miss people in the UK , when we are in the UK we miss people in Peru! Because missionaries come and go someone once said to me that missionaries establish firm friendships on the field really quickly and that has proved to be true in our case!

Someone who understands this better than most is our wonderful colleague Margaret Swires. When we arrived in Peru at the start of our Peru adventure she welcomed us and helped us to adjust to our new surroundings. She has loved us and supported us and been a great sister and aunty to us, she has celebrated important family events with us and has been family to us in Peru when our own family has been so far away.

Yesterday, Scott went to the BMS headquarters to represent the Latin America team at a special presentation for Aunty Margaret's retirement. After 3 decades she is retiring from BMS , she will be sorely missed by colleagues and by the locals, she has taught us what it means to love and serve.
Please join us in praying for her, in many ways she is now more Latino than British so adjusting to life in the UK once again will be a challenge.

Hasta la vista Aunty Margaret , well done good and faithful servant!