NEIGHBORS AND FRIENDS

Last September a local family moved next door, just before the earthquake. Our new neighbor, Rosa, still had not unpacked all the boxes when it happened. We had some interaction that day, her husband, who was still working at the time, was in Peru. They suffered a lot of damages, so she packed her kids and went back to the capital to stay with her family. We did not see her again on that trip. Now we are back and repairs are being made in the units, we have had many opportunities to talk. His name is Dennis, so I commented that it was the same name as our pastor, but did not pursue the subject. They evidently picked up on that comment that we were Christians, A few days ago she asked John if he knew of an Evangelical church around here; of course he knew of one! Since then, we have shared a lot, and Dennis went to church Thursday night with us. He has now retired from being an airline executive. They have been married 18 years and have one 17-year-old daughter and a12 year-old son. Dennis and Rosa now work for Rosa's family, so they travel back and forth to the capital a lot. Wednesday night we had them over for dinner and had a great time. We found out a lot about each other. I think that we can be good friends. It is such a blessing to have Christian friends next door! They know that the Lord has placed them here for a reason and are actively seeking his will.

This week we finally went to see the new church being built in the next town over, Cebadilla. It is very big! It will hold about 250 people in a town of just about that many people. They expect the whole town to come to the Lord! There is a couple from the same denomination who live in the States, and they have taken an interest on the project. They donated the materials for the building. The church is paying for the workers. They hired an architect to draw the master plan. They will eventually have Sunday School rooms also, but right now they are building the church and bathrooms. The lot is about one quarter of an acre and the church is 2,500 square feet.

John and I in front of the church

Front view of the church

John and I, the pastor and his wife (in this culture they are both pastors)

View from the inside

Side view - all those trees will be green in the rainy season

Bathrooms and septic tank

Tomorrow night is our Valentine's party with the couples. We took this picture the first Saturday that we got together. Yirardi is the boy with the green shirt, his dad is behind him in the striped shirt and his mom is in the front raw on the left. Luz, the lady getting married, is on the right with the black top, and I just realized that Francisco did not stand up for the picture.

Until next time...from the beach...