Baptism in Libertad
Well, so much has happened in the past month and a half. I told you about the Women’s Ministry, so I will start after that. On March 17, we went to Libertad for a baptismal service. There were 8 people baptized that day. Seven were baptized in the creek, and one is bedfast, so he was baptized in his bedroom. Libertad is a small community, that after a short trip from Perla Mayo, you have to walk about 15 - 20 minutes to get to the community. We have Nazarenes in Perla Mayo as well, but there is no church in either place. They are preaching points under the Campanilla church.
Here are some pictures of the baptismal service:
On a sad and a happy note...This is Brother Angel. He passed away
about 4 weeks after his baptism. He is no longer suffering...He is with Jesus!
Birthday Party
The following Tuesday, I returned to Perla Mayo with a group of young people from our church in Campanilla, to celebrate the 15th Birthday of Ibani. She was baptized on Sunday, and the youth wanted to surprise her for her 15th birthday. In Latin culture, the 15th birthday of girls is celebrated much like the 16th in the united states. Sometimes it looks almost like a wedding! We didn’t do that, but we had a service and then shared cake and pop with Ibani, her family, and the hermanos who came to the service. Sixto wasn’t able to go because we were going to Moyobamba on Thursday for a pastor’s district retreat, and he thought he needed to be in Campanilla for the Tuesday Service. What I didn’t know is that we were going to be gone all night in Perla Mayo, so I was not exactly prepared as I would have been. Anyway, we had a good time. Oh, and to have colors for the icing of the cake, we used some koolaid that some had sent me from the WVN district. The pink was good (cherry), but the purple was a little sour (blue raspberry). Here are some pictures from that:
Easter Sunday
Easter was different that any Easter I have ever had in my life. So, in the states, we get new dresses for Easter Sunday, eat ham for lunch, and sing lots of resurrection songs. Well, here, we had Sunday School and fasted until 4:00 pm. Yesenia and I were put in charge of making the juice for after the fast, so at 3:00 we left to go buy fruit to make the juice. We could only find mangos, but they were good. After everyone left, thankfully (because I don’t like them at all), we killed the chicken to have for Easter dinner. I must clarify… I didn’t kill anything!!! It took Sixto, Yesenia, and Paula about half an hour to catch the chicken. It was quite the feat! That night (the evening service is the BIG service here), I played my flute in the service (“He Arose”), and we had the dedication of 3 babies/children. The two babies were Samuel and Carla, the nephew and niece of Sixto. Here are some pictures of the dedication:
The Project in Pucallpa
The first week of April, I went to Pucallpa for a project there. I have finished working for Extreme, but had agreed to help with that project. So I tried to leave for Pucallpa on Tuesday, but, even though I had already bought my ticket on the bus, my seat was taken when the bus got to Campanilla. So I didn’t leave until Wednesday, and I was suppose to leave at 8:00 am, but didn’t actually leave until 11:30 pm. It was suppose to be a direct minivan to Pucallpa, but because I was the only passenger, the drivers decided they didn’t want to go all the way to Pucallpa, because thy are from Tingo Maria, so we went to Tingo and they sent me on a bus from there to Pucallpa. I got to Pucallpa at about 3:30 am on Thursday. It was a great project...the group was mostly from Kokomo, Indiana, and they were very hard workers. We built two churches, a permanent and a mobile, and I am happy to say that one of the churches, the mobile, was in one of the church plants that Emperatriz, Luz, and I started. Glory to God!!!! Here are some pictures from that project:
Getting Married…
I returned to Campanilla on the 11th of April, and began the final preparations for the wedding on the 20th. On Monday, I made flowers (cala lilies, my favorite) because we couldn’t find any silk flowers anywhere. I had bought some cardstock when I was making invitations to make my samples, so I had that, as well as a big sheet of goldenrod and a sheet of yellow art paper. With this I made the flowers. We had asked some friends to send candies and flags from the states, but when I went to Juanjui on the 13th, they still hadn’t come. They were for the wedding ceremony and reception. So, the post office people said they would call if the package came. I must admit, I was a little nervous that it wasn’t going to come! So, on Wednesday, we went to the hospedaje in Campanilla that had space, because we had some friends coming on Thursday. While we were there, the call came that we had received a package!!! Praise the Lord, because it was perfect timing. I was going to Juanjui the next day to meet our friends, Elisabeth Lewis, and Ron and Lynda Webb and family. So, on top of all that, they are currently working on the road between Campanilla and Juanjui. It is the last part of the main highway that isn’t paved yet, so it will be a blessing when it gets done, but right now it is a headache! The road is only open until 6:00 am, then from noon to 1:00 pm, and again at 6:00 pm all night. We had called our friends to see if they could come early from Tarapoto to Juanjui so we could return to Campanilla at the noon opening, but they were unable to. So Sixto decided it was better if he stayed in Campanilla and helped with wedding preps and I went to Juanjui to meet our friends. I wanted to leave Campanilla at 5:00 am but the car didn’t come until 6:00am. Fortunately, it was raining, so the heavy equipment couldn’t work too much and they had more openings that day. But I didn’t arrive in Juanjui until 10:00 am. I went to get copies of my Carné first, so I could go to Serpost and pick up the long-waited-for package. After I had the package, I went to the two banks I needed to visit, and then I went to the internet, because I thought I was going to have several hours to “kill”. While I was at the internet, our friend called and said that they had gotten a car all the way to Campanilla, so I could go back to Campanilla while the road was still open. So, I got to the terminal in time to go back to Campanilla with Sixto’s cousin, Manuel. We got to Campanilla at about 2:30 pm. It had rained all night the night before, so we made it through the construction easily enough, but then there were large trucks stuck in the mud. Our friends didn’t get to Campanilla until 7:00 pm. They came with cream cheese from Tarapoto. The package I had picked up had some decorations, and lots of candy from the States for using at the reception. That night we had a service at 8:00 pm, and the next morning we started with the final preparations. On Friday morning, Sixto and I had our civil marriage at 10:00 am. So, before that, we had breakfast and made a plan for the day. The plan changed many times during the course of the day, but it makes you feel better to have a plan. You know? At 10:00 am, we went to the municipal building for the civil wedding. After the wedding, we went back to Anibal’s house and waited to eat lunch. After lunch, the ladies, Elisabeth, Lynda, and little Miss Haylie, got started on the “bocaditos” (that’s appetizers). I don’t know what I would have done without these amazing women on Saturday! Meanwhile, the men worked on the electricity and lighting for outside for the ceremony. We had the wedding outside the church because the church is small...it is filled with just the people from the church, so since we had lots of invited guests, we had the wedding outside. We made three batches of cream cheese mints, cut cow tails to bite size, and obsession waffle snacks too. We also had m&m, jolly ranchers, lemonheads, smarties, toblerones, and pretzels and bit of honey dipped in chocolate. Needless to say, everyone liked the candies. On Saturday, we decorated. Luz, my 40/40 partner came from Pucallpa, and she helped me so much on Saturday. She got there at 7:00 am on Saturday, and I don’t know what I would have done without her!! She helped me all day: with the decorations, with my dress, with the reception, and much, much more. Saturday night, I was ready at 5:30 pm for the ceremony that was to start at 7:00 pm. However, the wedding didn’t start until about 8:30 because the car that the superintendant was in to Campanilla broke down and you can’t have a wedding without a preacher!!! So he got there and the wedding started. When I got there, I was shocked! There was standing room only! What a blessing to have so many friends there to share this special occasion with us! We went to the reception afterwards, and like I said, the candies were a hit! We had chicken with rice and potatoes, but not just any chicken, free range chicken. We were tired, but it was a great day! We were very happy to share it with our friends here in Peru! Here are some pictures of the wedding and there are many more on Facebook! Check it out!
The ONLY Honeymoon Photo...at the Blue Lagoon in Sauce, Peru.
