Sunday, December 28, 2008

My Dear Husband :)

Here are a few pictures of Gordon! Since he is often taking the photos and posting them here, you all don't often get a chance to see him in daily life. The children and I, (Betsie) are so grateful for the time and effort that he puts into blessing us each day. In fact, as I type, he is tickling the children and keeping all three of them in giggles so I have some time to type! Spring is here in the Andes Mountains! On a recent hike through the mountains, which are slowly greening up again after an unusually long dry season, Gordon gathered a bouquet of wildflowers to bring home for me. What a blessing! In years past I have enjoyed wandering the hills, bringing home flowers, but at 7 months pregnant, I'm not doing much hiking right now. :) A Happy Couple! Here we are during our trip to Cusco last month - enjoying the sunshine and flowers . . . and each other! Doughnut making day! On Serenity Martin's 21st birthday last week, we enjoyed her choice of doughnuts as a birthday treat. Here Gordon is showing Elisabeth how to use a water bottle to pop out the doughnut holes. Charo, who has fond memories of making doughnuts with the Peachey family when they lived here, came bright and early to help Anna and Serenity. She is also 7 months pregnant in this picture. Please keep praying for her salvation!
Cultivating potatoes by hand, using traditional "foot plows," is back breaking work. But we had fun working together with the Swansons and "the girls" when we took them out to our "chacra" (field). Here are Gordon, Joey Swanson, and Serenity Martin working in a typical two man, one woman "set."
And last of all, when the days work is ended, and time allows, which is really only once in a great while, Gordon gets out his "sampon-ya" (very traditional Quechua musical instrument) [panflute] and plays a few hymns for us.

Friday, December 26, 2008

Swanson visit

We were very blessed to have the Jeff and Deana Swanson family visit us for a week last week. They were in Arequipa for 1 1/2 weeks to help with a construction project at a christian school there, and then came up to Velille to see us. They are from our sending church back in NC, and Jeff and Gordon worked together for 6 months, a year and a half ago.
Our house is in the background A belated Thanksgiving dinner Here we are with them, Anna, Serenity, and a native friend, as they were leaving. Another friend (S. H.) was on the work project with them and also came up to Velille for 5 days, but due to personal secuity asked not to appear on our web site. We were blessed to have him back in Velille for a visit.

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Roofing at Gabino's

Gabino, Olinda and Children Christian, Ruth and Hector
Gabino and Gordon fineshing up the new metal roof on their kitchen, which had it's thatch roof burn off reciently.

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Velille Friends

Here are a few glimpses into life with our friends and neighbors here in Velille. Having Serenity and Anna here has been a blessing in many ways. . . including the fact that they have often had a camera on hand for those "normal" everyday parts of life that we are usually too busy to document in pictures! Enjoy! On Tuesday evenings, we have begun a discipleship class with Daniel and Maria and Nelly, the three young believers here in town. Please PRAY for the three of them to desire the pure milk of the Word, and to grow thereby! Here we are a little before the class started, with Betsie helping Nelly finish up studying for the class. Nelly's son Fran sits next to her, and on the left hand side, Serenity Martin sits visiting with Nadia. Nadia has long been a visitor at our house. . . and we have asked you to pray for her in the past. Please do continue to pray for her, as she is very aimless right now, but has been telling us that she wants to draw near to God. She has been coming almost daily to spend time with Serenity and Anna. Pray that God will soften her heart, open her eyes, and show her that He is the Answer!
Left to Right, Susanna 3, Fran (a boy) 4, Elisabeth 5, and Roseli (also called Nena) 8.
Nelly's two children are our children's closest friends, as well as our closest neighbors. How happy we are that Nelly has become a Christian and now, in addition to the caring mother she has always been, teaches her children about Jesus Christ! Our children love to color together, play together, and go to church together. Praise God with us for the blessing that these children are to our children - and pray for the salvation of their father, Cedrillo.
Weaving a blanket! Nelly is sitting in the right front, watching two women work on their weaving next door to us.

Monday, December 1, 2008

Thanks for your prayers!

Thank you for your prayers for us while we traveled, we had a safe and healthy time! Our bus rides went really well - no major break downs, etc. . . We praise the Lord for that. We also had a couple days of special family time. We found treats for the children - cotton candy at 15 cents apiece and ice cream cones at the same price! It's hard to tell who had more fun - the children enjoying their treats, or Papa and Mama watching their pleasure!
Yum! Yum! Dad and Mom Howe - we enjoyed wearing our matching outfits. Thank you!
Dad and Mom Wenger, the puppy that you sent for Samuel's first birthday is his very favorite! He sleeps with it every night, and grins and says "Pu-ppy! Pu-ppy!" when it is time for him to go to bed! Thank you!
Three snug little darlings all cuddled up under Aunt Lydia's blanket after bath time. Time to warm up! It is summer here right now, but it still gets chilly every evening.

Sunday, November 30, 2008

meetings in Iscuchaca (near Cusco)

Nov 18 to 20, we had meetings with other missionaries and some potential missionaries. The Martins, Kropfts, Jon Kropft's parents, and a few men from NM, who are involved in starting another mission in another part of Peru, we all there, to encourage each other in the Lord, the work, and to talk about how things are working in our different areas. It was a real blessing and encouragment for us.
Levi and Judy Martin and Family
Jon and Charlotte Kropft (with one daughter missing)

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Well, we're off! Today, Wednesday the 12th, we leave for Cusco. Please be praying for our family's safety as we travel!

Monday, November 10, 2008

Charo and her boyfriend.

HipĆ³lito and Charo
Please be praying for Charo, our dear friend, and her boyfriend. They have begun living together and 18 year old Charo is 6 months pregnant. For years she has been a dear friend to us, the Peacheys, and others who have served here in Velille.
She has heard the Gospel, and for many years stated that she would not follow the footsteps of most of the youth here, in getting pregnant while young and unmarried. However over the last year she repeatedly put off the day of salvation, and sadly has indeed yeilded to the ways of the world.
Pray that she would see that now more than ever she needs the Lord's help! Motherhood is no small thing. We pray that she would be brought to a place of seeing herself as a needy sinner - and turn to Him who has all power and is rich in love and mercy!

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Susanna's Sayings

Susanna and Elisabeth have been working on memorizing the books of the Bible as a part of their school every morning. Susanna has come up with a few interesting comments lately: The girls were trying to remember the order of some children in a friend's family, and Elisabeth said, "Wendy, Regina, Joshua.....uh....Joshua....." and Susanna completed it triumphantly with, "Joshua, Judges, Ruth!" Another time, Elisabeth started wailing, "Susanna hit me......on purpose!" Susanna replied, "No....it was an Exodus!" (meaning accident) Susanna is not the only one that says funny things; We adults, still goof up plenty in Spanish. Everyone got a good laugh the other day when we said that a friend of ours, who had chicken pox, was covered in hail stones (granisos), instead of a rash (granitos).

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Happy days at the Wenger House!

Chicken Pox!!!
Poor Susanna - she and Samuel came down with them yesterday, Wednesday. She has by far the worst case. . . and is spotted everywhere - in ears, mouth, etc. . . But if you ask her how she is, she still says, "good!" and if you ask her why she is happy, she says because she finally got the chicken pox! - She wanted them 2 weeks ago when Elisabeth had them.
Samuel Pilgrim 18 mo.
Samuel is our sweet, sunny dispositioned little toddler.
Loved by all, he loves to "smile" at request, give kisses,
make his favorite stuffed puppy dog give kisses, and put things in his pockets!
Fresh from the bath - he always crinkles up his eyes when we say, "smile." Quite a few of our friends have learned the English word "smile" to see him give this rewarding grin. We are teaching him to do smile when we say it in Spanish now! His latest enjoyment has been bouncing with his sisters on this innertube! Look at those blue eyes! They get a lot of comments around here. His blue sandbox-tote is in the background, he plays in it every single day!
Pockets, pockets, pockets.
He was thrilled to find his Sunday overalls had nice big pockets
as he got ready for Church last Sunday!
Susanna Grace, 3
Now that the rainy season has begun, and the grass has once again begun to grow, Susanna sometimes gathers grass from our yard for the guinea pigs.
We have 4 guinea pigs that she feeds for one of her daily chores.
Pull that grass!
Oh no! That puppy! Susanna's dog, "Monkey" - named by Susanna herself - is often a hindrance to Susanna's chores. She gets a little frustrated. . . . . . . So she lays on the dog! Whenever she is getting too many lick-y kisses from puppy, she just throws herself on the dog and smiles. Trapped!!
Elisabeth Serenity, 5 Elisabeth also has daily chores, including feeding and watering the pigeons. She does a good job, although she much preffers playing with Samuel or doing school. Elisabeth with her water pail, in our little back yard - which we call a "patio" here. The guest room is in the building on the left, our little gardens are on the right, and the door behind her opens to neighbor Neli's yard . The picture was taken from our kitchen window.
Gordon and Elisabeth having a "father-daughter" talk about the pigeons. The "palomas," as we call them in Spanish, are their joint project. There are always a few pairs incubating eggs or raising young. . .
Filling the feeder with grain.
Smile! It's Social Studies quiz time! Elisabeth is an eager student!
She really likes school, and now that she can read on her own, does a good bit independantly.
Elisabeth loves babies, and likes to help Samuel with everything he does. Here they are on our bed happily singing together from "The Christian Hymnary." Elisabeth will be such a big help when the new baby comes in February!

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Family photos and visit from Chile

We had a surprise visit from 4 young men from the 13th to the 18th of Oct. They are all involved in an outreach from Shippensburg, PA, and are serving in southern Chile, about a 70 hr. bus ride from here. They just wanted to see what the Lord is doing in Peru and encourage the believers and missionaries here. We didn't know any of them before they got here. And they were a real blessing. We fixed up our meeting house, helped Daniel's family plant barley, and helped Maria's widowed mother make new rock pens for her cows.
Radford, Konrad, Conrad, and Josh Here are also some family photos from this month.

Monday, October 20, 2008

Attention: Grandparents and anyone one else interested:

Just click on a photo to see the full size, and then save it, and then you have it, or can print it. The little pictures on the right can only be saved and printed as is, which is poor quality. Hope you enjoy them. -Gordon

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Photos from trip and at home 9-08

We took a family trip to Cusco, and then on to Levi and Judy Martin's home from Sept. 21 to 25. We had a very refreshing time as a family, good fellowship, and even picked up around 200 Quechua Bibles, which were on sale. We enjoyed seeing the Martins' new house and cows. They are selling milk and yogurt in addition to preaching the everlasting Gospel in their part of Peru.
Gordon, on the way home from Cusco

Samuel loves anything Papa does - like maps

Samuel playing with tea set at Martins

Elisabeth's lego design at Martins

Sleepyheads sharing stuffed animals

Elisabeth playing at Martins

Sharing yogurt popscicles

Samuel enjoying a popscicle

Elisabeth at home with a beloved doll

first time blogger!

Hello, testing one two three...

Welcome to our site!

We are obviously new to blogging, but here is our attempt!

-Gordon