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!

While the cat's away

In spanish we also have the saying while the cat's away the mice will play. Well Pastor Scott has been away (on home assignment) from El Puente Iglesia for 3 weeks now and it has been great to receive news from across the miles.

The church building project continues and last week the Cusco church had a great time as they hosted the annual chocolatada in the clinic garden for the community in Huambutio. They shared hot chocolate, sweet bread, did a gospel presentation and gave toys to the children .

While Anjanette is away we decided to change the format of the morning clinic sessions to running health education meetings and then in the new year the church  plan to run a children's club. It has been encouraging to hear that new people are coming along to the meetings and that relationships are being established and deepened. Please continue to uphold the projects in Cusco in your prayers, it seems that while the cat's away the mice are working hard !

The construction of the El Puente church building continues

Carla chatting with some ladies during one of the meetings

Snack time! 

Lots of smiles at the chocolatada

The Four Seasons

I am going to be very british and talk about the weather.

 Traveling from the Southern to the Northern hemisphere this week has been quite an adventure ,we feel like we have experienced all 4 seasons in a few days!

When we left Cusco last week the weather was similar to a British day in spring, mild and raining.

We then arrived in Lima 1 hour later and immediately felt the heat of the Lima summer , we even complained about the heat, asking for the air conditioning to be put on in the taxi that collected us. Scott got a bit sun burnt as we went out for a walk in the sun!

Posing with a fake snowman on a summers day!

We had a lovely surprise as we arrived in Dallas and saw the beautiful autumn colours. The weather was glorious and when we arrived my cousin was wearing shorts in December!
We made the most of the wonderful weather and took Jess and Sam horse riding on a fabulous warm day

Horse riding in the sunshine

Enjoying the autumn leaves!

and then 2 days later  the artic blast arrived.

Playing in the snow and ice with Jazzy the dog!

And so you see how we have experienced 4 seasons in less than a week .

We are now back in the UK and we have clothes prepared  for every type of weather possible!

The first storey is completed

Every church building project needs an architect on the church leadership

Standing on the first floor

Putting down the floor

Preparing the roof

On the first floor

Su Pueblo dice gracias ( the people say thankyou!)

We are very excited that the first storey has been finished. This weekend the church family went and walked on the 1st storey and celebrated together. It has been amazing to see the building taking shape so quickly . God is good !

UK Home assignment schedule

We are currently getting ready to head back to the UK for a few months . We have a busy speaking schedule and thought we would let you know where you can find us in case you would like to come and hear us speaking. Unfortunately we are unable to accept any more invitations to speak this time. Please pray for us as we prepare to return to the UK and for safe travels and a good restful time with family and friends when we are there. Thank you, we  look forward to seeing many of you very soon.

Sun 15 Dec        New Malden Baptist Church  am and pm

Sat 4 Jan             Bristol, Southmead (Bethany) 4-7pm

Sun 5 Jan             Bournemouth, Westcliff (am)

Fri 10 Jan             Hinckley (eve)

Sat 11 Jan            Earl Shilton BC (10am church lunch)

Sun 12 Jan           Horsham (all day)

Wed 15 Jan          Newport (Shropshire) 10:30 -12

Sun 19 Jan           Cupar, Scotland 10:30

Sat 25 Jan            Leicester Central 1-3 pm

Sun 26 Jan           Carshalton Beeches (am), Bedford, Bunyan (eve)

Sat 1 Feb              Northampton, Mount Pleasant (eve)

Sun 2 Feb            Marston Moretaine, Vale Community (am),
                             High Wycombe, Union (eve)

Sat 8 Feb             Rayleigh Baptist Church
Sun 9 Feb            Rayleigh Baptist Church

Mon 10 Feb        Southampton Medical School Christian Fellowship (eve)

Wed 12 Feb        Bristol Baptist College (day)

Thurs 13 Feb      Leominster 7:30-9 pm

Sat 15 Feb          Queens Street Godalming (pm + eve)
Sun 16 Feb         Queens Street  Godalming (am)

Feeding body and soul

Once again the Medical Missions International medical campaign is here in Cusco and this year El Puente is more involved than ever before. We have lent our church furniture to the campaign, Scott and some ladies from church are cooking for all 75 of the volunteers, Some of our young people have been helping to lead worship for morning devotions and as well as cooking Pastor Scott has been preaching and sharing with the participants. Anjanette has been kept busy seeing lots of patients. We have dentists, eye doctors, general doctors, a gynecologist and a physiotherapist and we have been seeing about 400 patients a day. It has been great to be part of this team bringing medical care and spiritual care to some patients who rarely seek medical help.

Church ladies cooking, our house looks like a restaurant this week!

Serving up food for 75 in a tiny kitchen at the campaign

Quechua pastor chatting with a patient

Dental work

Nurses enjoying their lunch!

Anjanette with one of the hundreds of patients she has seen this week.

El Puente Youth weekend away

In Peru November 1st is a national holiday so Scott and the Young People from El Puente took the opportunity to have a few days away. They decided to hold it at the clinic in Huambutio in an attempt to save time and money and they all had a fabulous time . Walking, playing, eating, singing, praying and studying together. They have returned exhausted and sleep deprived but happy. We are delighted that the Youth work at El Puente is going from strength to strength , it now looks very different from when we started the church 4 years ago. Scott challenged them to find their role and to serve within the wider body of the church, we look forward to seeing how God will continue to work in their lives.