This week, Rev. Segundo Rimarachin, the Field Strategy Coordinator, is meeting with three church planters and their families in the city of Trujillo. These three church planters/missionaries will be initiating work in three cities where the church as yet has no work. All three cities are well known, Cuzco (near Machu Picchu), Puno (on Lake Titicaca) and Puerto Maldonado (Madre de Dios). We will be posting more information about these Peruvian missionary families who will be moving from the home churches and districts to raise up the church in these “campos blancos” (fields white and ripe for harvest). We will be posting the information about these church planters soon, so check back for pictures and profiles sometime in November.

Well, things have settled down a little since the earthquake. Rebuilding continues to be the top priority in the South with much of the $120,000 raised for the victims being budgeted to building projects. The money is also sustaining the 4 feeding centers that continue to provide communities with hot meals each day as individuals are still without homes and kitchens, and providing resources for medical clinics and evangelism programs throughout the earthquake zone. We are hosting a Work and Witness team in the area from York Stillmeadow, PA in July that will be working primarily in Pisco building the church and district center.

These next months are busy ones as we prepare to leave for our Home Assignment in the middle of December. We will be gone for three and a half months visiting churches from the West Coast USA to the UK and many districts in between. It will be a fun and busy time! Doug is now training the office secretary Billy Grillo in the finances so that he can take Doug’s place for the 3 months. Jen is trying to get everything done for Child Sponsorship in advance so as to only leave Tania Rimarachin with the responsibility of translating the kid’s letters.

As spring approaches we are enjoying the sunnier days here in Lima and trying to get the most out of them. We will be experiencing only winter weather from this December through November 2008 as we will miss the Lima summer that ends around April!

For us as a family this month was very special as we celebrated Jonathan’s 1st Birthday. Along with some other families we went to the zoo. Jonathan had a lot of fun pointing and “talking” to the animals. He is now walking around and chatting away in “Toddlerese” whenever he is awake. He is such a blessing! Here are a few birthday pictures