Teacher and Family Conferences (June 19th)

The conferences were not as well attended as we had hoped partially due to do people traveling for Father's day and some lack of promotion due to the miners strike but those who did come were very grateful for the sessions. I had one particular young man who serves his church as a Sunday School teacher indicate that the conference had helped him to realize that he needed to have clear objectives for his class and his teaching. We also had the opportunity to witness to a few unsaved people who came to the church for the first time. It was a long day with the teacher's conference running from 9:30am to 2:00pm and the family conference from 4:30pm to 8:30pm. Though we were tired, we believe that the Lord blessed the day.

Sunday Preaching (June 20th)

Pastor Trejo and I had been invited to a neighboring town (La Merced) to speak Sunday morning. We arrived and Pastor Trejo taught the adult Sunday school class while I went around with the pastor to visit some of the other Sunday school classes. I told them some about being a missionary and answered any of their questions. During the morning service, I had the privilege to preach. Since this was Father's Day, the church had a special time of fellowship after the morning service where we were able to fellowship with the pastor and some of the church members as we were all served a meal.

After returning back to San Ramon, we had a little time before the evening service, so we all went for a walk. We were able to see some of God's beautiful nature including butterflies, giant ants, a termite mound, and a tall waterfall.

Heading to the evening service, we had to walk quickly as there had been some lightning and appeared that it might begin to rain (real rain, not Lima "rain"). We arrived without getting wet as the rain held off for us. As the church here in San Ramon is a church that is just getting off the ground, we were grateful to God for the opportunity to minister to those who came to here His Word.

After the evening service, we walked around trying to find a place to eat but all that was open were some general stores. After buying some lunch meat, crackers, and some other snacks, we headed back to the hotel to eat and fellowship. Pastor Trejo and I had the chance to have some long discussions about the mission work in Peru. I have enjoyed our developing friendship over the last few years.

Going back home over the mountain (June 21st)

On our trip back to Lima, we had to wait for the bus to arrive. While we waited, we handed out some tracts and witnessed to three ladies that were selling snacks to the travelers and to a mother and daughter who were there to travel to Lima. The bus ride was fairly uneventful with some stunning views of the mountains of Peru. When we passed through the city of La Oroya where the mining strikes had occurred earlier, we passed without a problem though we could still see evidence of the strike (military vehicles including a water cannon tank). As we were arriving back in Lima, our bus ran out of gas and tried to coast into a gas station. It made it half-way in before stopping. With part of the bus sticking out into traffic, they had to fill a can with gas and then fill the bus with the can since the fuel hose would not reach the bus. When things like this happen which you would not normally see in the United States, I usually just turn to an American traveling companion and say, "Welcome to Peru." Having left San Ramon at around 9:45am, we finally made it home at around 8:00pm.

Sent to the principal's office (June 22nd)

As part of my research for our teacher-training ministry, I visited three schools and had the opportunity talk to the directors of the school for about two hours each. I was able to get a better understanding of what the Peruvian schools emphasize in education (about one-third of the school day is dedicated to math) and some of their methods of instruction and discipline.

Fine Tuning of mission goals and strategy (June 23rd)

I continued my research by visiting La Molina Christian School and speaking with a couple of the directors about how the school is operating and some of its strengths and weaknesses. We would like to use this school as a launching ground for the teacher training and curriculum development aspects of our ministry. After our discussions, we have come up with some potential plans for how we could effectively work together to reach our goals of strengthening teachers and schools to maximize the potential for ministry and to create a generation that is willing to serve the Lord here in Peru and even willing to go beyond Peru as missionaries. Though it may seem like a bold goal, we are praying that God will use this ministry to strengthen the churches to become epicenters for missions.

Pricing for the future (June 24th)

I was scheduled to visit one more school and talk to its director but when we arrived, we were informed that the director had to leave on a trip. We instead used the day to do some price shopping for a vehicle and other items. We also had the chance to visit with a couple of families for a little time before heading back home to prepare for a busy weekend. We have just a little under one week left.

June 19th-24th

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