It has been hard to find time to write these past few weeks, but looking at the date of the last post, even I was surprised at how long has passed. I will share a bit of what’s been going on.
The week after Dad’s left, we started on the well house for our place. Caleb got the pad prepped in complete contradiction to Percy’s instructions. Poor Percy. We try to go along with his ideas for the most part, but the common method for doing a cement pad here is to fill the area as full of stones as possible and to put the thinnest skim on top. For us to put a 4″ pad of pure concrete was about more than he could believe.
I was glad that I could help Caleb do the mixing and pouring. We had a nice, sunny day, and it only took us a few hours to do the whole project. Caleb and Percy have been laying the block since then, poco a poco. It’s looking like the roof might be going on tomorrow. I’m wanting the building completely weather-proof, which is another trial for Percy. This little well house will be better built than some of our neighbors’ houses, but I want to be sure that nothing freezes or is otherwise bothered by the elements.
The well is still overflowing with water. For that reason, we put an overflow pipe on the well casing about a foot down from ground level so that water wouldn’t run up and fill the well house. We’ve been irrigating 24/7 now since soon after the well was dug, and the water level has never gone down. Such a blessing.
I also spent much of that week studying for the messages I was planning to share in Puno. I had all the studying and outlining done and some of the writing before we left, so I thought it was a success. That was the first time I ever shared a series of messages back to back, and it proved a new challenge for me.
I’ll try to share about our time in Puno tomorrow, Lord enabling.
Some quick updates on people: Percy has decided to come back to church, but he is there alone. The rest of his family has chosen to stay with the Pentecostal church in town. It is very apparent that his wife and daughters are very sad, and they’ve even shared with Leonela that they feel sad, but they aren’t willing to make the change. Percy says he wants to receive further instruction in consideration of membership, but we haven’t yet been able to make it happen. I think it is hard for him to actually do it without his wife at his side.
I have been able to visit Rafael Farfán again recently, and he asked if I could come more often, maybe weekly. So, I’m going to try to do that. In our last visit, they asked if they could come for Bible study on Friday since they need to work on Sunday. I gladly welcomed the idea. They came and it went really well. I forget who all was in during the study, folks came and went, but Caleb’s were over for supper and joined us. Rafael has thanked us multiple times for the study and say they are eager to come back this Friday.
Alicia talked with the pastor of the Peruvian Church where she is member and told him she will be officially becoming part of our church. She also talked with her children and her siblings, and they all gave their blessing for her to go ahead. Family is everything in this culture. Alicia has asked for instruction for baptism. She says she was baptized many years ago, but she’s not sure if she really understood what it means to be saved and so on. We had our first instruction class with her today, and it is evident that there is ignorance with regard to the fundamental doctrines of the faith.
These folks are in need of your prayers. And we are, too! We had a members’ meeting on Sunday and went over some tough talking points that weighed heavily on various of us. We concluded that we love our little church and want to see it keep growing. I love our dear brothers here and how we are learning to operate as a body. God continues to supply the needs of the whole.
One other prayer request: We received some tips on potential teachers for next school year. Please pray with us that these things could come together for the good of the church.
¡Hasta pronto!
Juan David 