Arevalo Fellowship Hall

I'm ashamed that I overlooked Dr. Sam Suttle's (Louisville, MS) comment on the previous post for so long. He inquired about the work on the fellowship hall in Arevalo. Below, one can see quite a few pictures of how far we have advanced (above is what it is supposed to look like when we finish). At long last we have the roof over the auditorium, first floor bathrooms, front portico, second floor, and doors and windows finished (though we still lack glass in the windows). These pictures do not show the roof very clearly. I had a number of good pictures of this on my computer which was recently stolen. I'll try to get more soon and post them. The building is actually closer to being finished than it looks. We haven't done the "tarajeo" (kind of like stucco) on the outside of the building yet and around the edges of the windows, because that has to wait until the third floor is finished. We've been raising money for the clinic lately, so finishing the fellowship hall is on hold for the moment. Once the first floor of the clinic is operational, then we will get back to finishing the fellowship hall.

Here are the photos:

Lenin Celiz and Peru Mission Doors

Lenin Celiz left Peru for Jackson, Mississippi yesterday, arriving today. As the mission's architect and supervisor of construction projects, we were loath to part with him, but it's only for two months, and it is for a very good cause! Lenin is one of our most faithful and gifted parishoners in Trujillo. He is a man with a quick, playful smile; contageous optimism; an ardent faith in the Lord Jesus; and a zeal to make Him known.

In addition to being an architect, Lenin is also a carpenter from the city of Moyobamba in the upper jungle of Peru. Lenin grew up working with mahogany, cedar, and other tropical hardwoods in his father's mill until leaving for Trujillo to study architecture. He will spend two months studying English at Jackson State University in the mornings and working with millwright Mike Boyett in the afternoons. Our plan is for Lenin to get experience with the kinds of hardwood doors that are currently being made in the US, so that he can return to Peru and set up a shop to build those doors here for export to North American markets.

This project has been in the works for several years, but now at long last it seems that the Lord is bringing it to fruition. Exports of raw mahogany and cedar have dimished to a trickle from places like Brazil and Peru, as these countries have begun to crack down on the black market trade and put severe restrictions on the legal trade. Developing countries are now more interested in selling value-added products than simply raw lumber. Our hope is to set up a shop that will make the finest quality mahogany and cedar doors and furniture for sale in Peru and the US. In addition to providing jobs for people in our churches, we are hopeful that this will generate a profit that can be used to build new church buildings.

Photos: top, Lenin with some architectural students working on church plans. Middle, Lenin with a mahogany seedling in Moyobamba. Bottom, a load of Moyobamba cedar going to Trujillo for doors and windows in one of our churches.

Katheryn

This picture was taken by Adam Mikeal back in March during the University of Texas/Texas A&M spring break missions trip. The mischievous look is a priceless glimpse at Katheryn's personality.

New Missionaries

April 19th marked a new occasion for rejoicing among the Peru Mission team. Allen and Sandi Smith, have officialy begun their ministry with us in Trujillo. They arrived in Peru from the States with their daughters Abigail and Adeline, back in the third week in January, but spent February 1 through April 15 in langauge school in Cusco. On April 19 they made their way up to Trujillo after a few days of paperwork in Lima. We now have them officially moved into their new home. They will continue langage studies as Allen eases into responsibiities around the mission. We want his transition to be as smooth as possible and will not load him down with much to do just yet, other than studying Spanish, doing visits with our pastors, and helping out with church music. Please pray for Allen and Sandi as they continue to adjust to a new city and a new home, and as they continue learning Spanish. You can read their blog updates here.

In addition to the Smith Family, we have also welcomed to the team Mr. Caleb Sutton from Valparaiso, Florida. Caleb is actually an old hand around here. He first visited Cajamarca and Trujillo back in the year 2000 on a short term trip with his church. Since then, in addition to other short term trips, he has done two internships with us. One for about nine months in 2003 and then again in 2005 as a summer intern. Now, however, he is back for a much longer tour of duty. He finished a bachelor's degree in English at the University of West Florida this spring and graduated about 10 days ago. We are delighted to have Caleb back for at least two years. He will be teaching English in SALI, as well as helping with the university ministry and church music. Please be praying for Caleb and his ministry with Peru Mission.

New Sport

We have begun a new sport here at the Baker house, swimming. So far we are loving it. Abby, Katheryn, Olivia, and Noah are all taking classes 3 days a week for an hour a day. Katheryn has been working on getting a breath between strokes without raising her head out of the water. Olivia has been working on getting her entire head under water and not just the tip of her nose. Abby has been amazing me at how fast she is on her back. She has a"bad" backstroke. She beats all the other kids to the other side of the pool almost everytime. And Noah is our frog. He doesn't really like to swim on top of the water, but boy can he go when they practice swimming under water. They are having a lot of fun, and I'm just a little proud of them!

Milestones at the Baker House


Millie is such a big girl now. She has successfully completed her time of "potty training." We are so proud of her! We have also come to a huge milestone at the Baker house. For the first time in 16 years we don't have anyone in diapers. Can you believe it? WOW!! The kids are all growing up so fast. There have been many days in the heat of the battle that I felt like we were just marking time, but in reality they have grown so fast! As Wes said last night, our next milestone will be to get rid of the sippy cups!











1,2,3,4,5,6,..... Oh no, one is missing! Yes Cullen is gone. He went to church camp in Moyobamba with several other young people from the three Trujillo churches. He called us on the phone the other night and said he was having a great time. This is Cullens second trip to the jungle. He said he would like to just move there. Moyobamba is a city of about 25,000 located in the upper jungle of Peru. It takes about 19 hours by bus to arrive. That's a long bus ride! Needless to say the girls and I have not made that trip yet. Abby and Katheryn are just dying to go!

Here we are in the middle of a very hot summer. The girls have been spending a lot of time in their bathing suits. We have had a lot of good days to spend at the pool. We have been busy as usual with school, violin lessons, riding bikes,and just stuff like that. One of Millie's favorite pastimes these days is coloring. Lauren just celebrated her 16th birthday, wow! She is becoming such a lady. She is busy as ever with school. She hopes to work up at Casa San Agustin as their secretary in the afternoons. She is pretty excited about that. I am excited about that, maybe I won't hear "Mom can I have some money?" Cullen is also working in the afternoons with the carpenters who are making the doors, window frames, and roof trusses for the churches.




We had a great time last week with Dr. Pete Forney, Dr. Luis Ramos, Dr. Tim Owens, and Dr. Chris Felitta. All the doctors attended patients in the Winchanzao Church. Dr. Tim Owens and Dr. Chris Felitta also attended in the Arevelo and Larco Churches. Dr. Pete Forney and Dr. Luis Ramos performed several surgical procedures. All the doctors were very busy, but were a blessing to the people here.