Stilwells in Peru

Family Camp Pictures

2012-01-20T22:52:00.000-05:00

Here are only a few of the 300+ pictures we took at family camp. It was a blessing to have a full to capacity camp this year. The theme was "End Times". David's dad was the guest speaker. We had 117 campers and staff present.

All of the campers 117 of them!

Hot potato, hot potato

When the stove acts up (catches on fire) we cook over the firewood.

Abigail and Liliana teach the 4-5 year olds

Pierina and Martha taught the 6-8 year olds

Rebekah and Anna taught the 9-11 year olds

Ana and Jacob taught the 2-3 year olds

Sarah looked after our littlest campers

Aren't they just too cute!

No running water today? Just pull it up out of the well.

Counting out the trays for all 117.

Great families and a great view of the mountain behind them.

Everyone likes carpetball

Apple anyone?

Sarah plays with her little ones

Family devotion time

Woohoo! Snack shop time

Awesome the way the sun reflects off of the mountain

Rebekah teaching

Her students are really tuned in

Jacob is too

There were always dishes to wash

I just like this picture

We even let the workers eat.

The workers taught classes, served food and washed the dishes

Still serving

too cute!

More serving

Yep, they are loving camp food.

Anna (standing on the side in the orange shirt) is our fearless life guard this summer

Lots of campers in the medium sized pool

Some dads having fun in the big pool

Our oldest camper. She is precious

Anna is making sure they don't take more than their share of the bread

Washing again

Our wonderful cook, Rosa

We did let them play some too

Miss Rebekah Jo turns 17!

2011-11-15T10:57:00.000-05:00

Mommy's little helper

Getting baptized

Rebekah and Abigail 2008

November 14, 2011 in the truck going to the Bible college for her classes

Singing happy birthday!

Dressed up for the Bible college anniversary banquet

Happy 46th Birthday David- some pictures over the years....

2011-10-26T16:41:00.000-05:00

Spring in Trujillo

2011-09-29T19:14:00.000-05:00

Being south of the equator means that our seasons are just opposite of that of our friends and family in the USA. You are beginning to enjoy fall colors (which we miss terribly), and we are starting to see a bit more sunshine each day. It is still pretty chilly and the majority of the time the sky is overcast. Last week David and Rebekah took a missions trip to the Lima area. They had a very busy week of teaching and evangelism. David spoke many times on the topic of the family. Rebekah had the opportunity to lead 2 ladies meetings while the 4th year (Bible college) gal gave the devotional. At home we are plugging away at school. Ben is adjusting to college and continues to look for either a better paying job or one to supplement his on campus job. We are thankful that his body has adjusted to the food in the USA.

Jacob Turns 13!

2011-09-02T16:27:00.000-05:00

Happy birthday, Jacob. You are growing into an awesome young man. People who don't know him think he is so serious. But once you get to know him he is a real character! So much fun and so much busyness wrapped up into one boy! I personally hope he never looses those chubby cheeks! Love kissing them, but he only allows mommy to do that!

Can't wait to check out that new wii game!

Baby Jacob

August 30th at camp

2011-09-02T12:36:00.001-05:00

Cousins getting ready for their race

Friends forever

Noe and his son Daniel

Michael and Jacob - cousins and friends

Two members of the 4 member race. First place!

Jonathan, Jose, and Pierina getting ready for their swim race. Abigail is the towel holder :)

Marita wearing Sofia's hat and Flor Sofia's mommy

And this is Sofia wearing her own hat

USA - Trip The Last Post

2011-08-31T16:07:00.000-05:00

Cousins and Friends

The Scott family

Ben with his dad's Uncle Rick and Aunt Phyllis. He calls them Grandpa Rick and Grandma Phyllis

David's brother Jeff at bat

USA Trip - Bible College

2011-08-31T15:52:00.000-05:00

Ben's college room

Another view. His roommate is Tim Lossing, fellow MK from Trujillo. Ben and Tim share a bathroom with 2 other guys on the other side of the bathroom.

A view of part of the college library

Dorm

USA Trip - The Third Stop

2011-08-31T15:19:00.000-05:00

The next stop was Iowa, the last stop. David stayed with his brother Jeff and his family. We are so thankful for the hospitality. They are fun to be with and we love them dearly. This mom is also glad they are close by just in case Ben might need them.

The beautiful Mississippi River - crossing into Iowa

The "elder" Stilwell cousins. Benjamin (18), Hannah (20), and Joshua (19) These 3 love being together.

The stateside cousins. Front: Jessica, Jennifer
Middle: Josiah, Hannah, Joshua
Back: Benjamin and Joseph

USA Trip - The Second Stop

2011-08-31T14:55:00.000-05:00

Their next stop was Hills Corners Bible Baptist Church. Ben had a desire to stop in there for a servcie and see some friends. The family they stayed with have horses and some shooting for them to do. Nice men activities. Too bad they could only stay the night.

Ben and David in the USA (the first stop)

2011-08-31T13:31:00.000-05:00

David took Benjamin to the US to get him settled at Faith Baptist Bible College in Iowa. Their first stop was at my parents' house in Indiana.

My parents took David and Ben to this neat railroad museum/restaurant. It is less than an hour north of Lafayette.

This picture needs no explanation!

First Days of School

2011-08-16T14:16:00.000-05:00

Rebekah is a senior this year.

Abigail is a sophomore

Jacob is in 7th grade. No more elementary grades at our house

Final Farewell

2011-08-11T22:58:00.000-05:00

Last supper and RAGE game with the grandparents...at least for now.

One more picture with some of the youth

With the Edgar Oribe family

With the Jorge Vallejos family

I love this picture of my two boys.

Two of the young ladies that Benjamin has grown up with.

His "mami, Rosa". They will miss each other. Ben will really miss her cooking.

At the airport at the terminal, we are now separated by the glass.

Some of the friends who came to the airport to say good bye.

The plane...good bye Benjamin, we love you!

Youth Group Goodbye Party

2011-08-08T09:40:00.000-05:00

On Saturday evening, the youth group had a surprise good bye party for Benjamin.

They played some games and had a devotional.

A good bye gift from the group...

A t shirt with a pictures of the youth group that went to the recent retreat. Very cool idea!

On the back are the names of the youth group members.

The group and a few others..

Good bye, Ben!

Abigail's Quinceañero

2011-08-05T15:41:00.000-05:00

Now we are back to June 17 when we celebrated Abigail's 15th birthday. It was a beautiful evening celebrating a beautiful daugher.She decided to have a more informal party than her sister had 2 years ago. Enjoy the pictures by clicking the link. https://picasaweb.google.com/perumom/20110618AbigailQuinceanero?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCP232eqT2prw4QE&feat=directlink

Ben's Graduation

2011-08-05T15:20:00.000-05:00

Now I am going back in time. In the past month and a half we have had 26 guests in our home. I am just now updating my blog with varios activities. This post is of Ben's graduation. Click on the link below to see several of the pictures. Our thanks to Barb Boyer for taking over 200 pictures at graduation.https://picasaweb.google.com/perumom/20110702BenSGraduation?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCN_gjdXyt9Qv&feat=directlink

Youth Retreat

2011-08-01T22:54:00.002-05:00

Yes, I know I haven't posted in a VERY long time. I will make up for that, I promise. We have been blessed with many weeks of company and a great group of young people who just left this morning. We spent 3 wonderful days at camp for the winter youth retreat. We had 171 campers and prepared food for 180! I had the privilege of helping in the kitchen. Wow, talk about exhausting. Yet...I would do it again in a heartbeat. I am sending some pictures your way. Click on the link below to view all the pictures that we took at the retreat.
https://picasaweb.google.com/perumom/CongresoDeJovenes?authkey=Gv1sRgCIfVsPPZoMPW5QE

While the Cat's Away

2011-05-27T11:23:00.000-05:00

While David has been in Lima this week we have been doing some painting in the kitchen, living room, dining room, laundry room and hallway of the house. It is looking great! It is nice to have bigger children to help out.

I did all of the cutting in at the ceiling level.

Abigail and mom working in the laundry room.

This is the ugly green that was on the walls in the kitchen. Now it looks like this...

Clean bright walls, I love it!!

Yeah, this is how we all felt at the end of the day.

This girl inhaled too many paint fumes!

Family Work Time at Camp

2011-05-24T23:44:00.000-05:00

On Tuesday, we went to camp for the afternoon. We enjoyed being able to do a bit of physical labor. It was a nice time together.

David, Steve, their dad and the camp caretaker all worked on putting up the beams to hold the roofing for the bathroom/shower area at the pool.

The girls worked on laying bricks for a sidewalk outside the dining room. It is harder than you might think to get the bricks level.

The finished product... it still needs to be extended down further, but this was the goal for today.

Benjamin is 18!

2011-05-05T09:38:00.004-05:00

6 months
One year

5 years

10 years

Graduation Picture

Two of his favorite things: the beach and his french horn

Macchu Picchu

2011-04-26T10:16:00.008-05:00

After a 2 hour train ride, we had a great breakfast at this little

restaurant before getting on the bus to go into Macchu Picchu.

Beucase of the rain, the river was very angry and muddy.

Totally awesome! You HAVE to visit Macchu Picchu. It is incredible.

We were so thankful that the rain held off until we were almost done sightseeing. The clouds were ever present as you can tell. It was chilly.

While Ben and David climbed Winupicchu with its 100's and 100's of steps,

the rest of toured the ruins.

Climbing up and up and up

2011-04-26T08:47:00.004-05:00

Picnic lunch at about 10,000 feet. We moved slowly.
Llamas and alpacas

A lot of the trip to Abancay (where we spent the night with friends) we were beside the river. As you can tell, it was raining.

Looking down on the city of Abancay. This was one of my favorite cities.

Breathtaking beauty

Thousands of vicuñas along the way, even in the road.

Unfortunately this bus decided he needed ALL the road on the curve around the mountain. We had only been on the road for 30 minutes. Thankfully there wasn't much damage. He even had the nerve to yell at David and tell him how much room he had to get over. Yeah, we were by the ditch and the mountain.

Notice the difference in the signs. We decided to go to the right so we could save a few kilometers to get to Cuzco :)

Paracas

2011-04-19T11:24:00.005-05:00

Even later in the day it was still foggy over the ocean. I love this man!

Unfortunately it was a very cloudy foggy day. David, Ben and Rebekah were disappointed.

Here Rebekah is doing well...as long as the boat was moving she was great. She discovered a bit of motion sickness when the boat was not moving forward! Like mother like daughter! Exactly why mother didn't go out to the island!

Big ol' sea lion out on the rocks.

Family Adventures

2011-04-19T09:24:00.004-05:00

Our famiy recently took a month long vacation. We traveled from Trujillo to Lima then to Cuzco, then to Puno and then back to the coast again. It was an awesome trip. We enjoyed seeing some beautiful sites and spending time together. It was also Ben's senior trip. I want to share a portion of the pictures that we took.

Lima's water fountain park. Guiness book of world record for the largest water fountain park. It is totally awesome!

What we have been up to....

2011-01-11T11:33:00.003-05:00

There were about 20 families and in all there were 80 of us to cook for.

Water war, dads in the middle, wives and older daughters on one side and the children on the other side. It was fun!

Wives are preparing!

10-12 year olds in their class down in the woods.

Pool time!

Class time for the adults. Our preacher was excellant!

We had a great team of workers. Thanks to Samuel and Fiorella (kids' class helpers), Rosa and Lister (cooks), Ben (kid's game director and lifeguard), Rosarella (class helper and snack shop), Rebekah (4-6 year old's teacher), Abigail (1-3 year old's teacher). Our camp director was David.

I couldn't resist - then and now

2010-12-28T19:55:00.004-05:00

Dad and Mom Stilwell with baby Jeff, Jon on the left and that cute redhead is David.

Imagine these 3 little boys on deputation!

I have never seen Dad and Mom's wedding pictures since we are never stateside together. During the years of terrorism here in Peru, they took all their pictures home to the USA with them.

They haven't change a bit :)

Christmas program at church

2010-12-19T14:29:00.004-05:00

Aren't they cute!

Jacob gave the introduction to each section of the program presentation for his class.

These two are brother and sister.

Jacob's whole class taught by his Aunt Martha. They did a great job.

I love these costumes. They also did well. Rebekah team teaches in this class.

And the littlest ones, they only said, "Feliz Navidad" but they did that well!

Our lives as of late...part I

2010-12-19T13:56:00.005-05:00

Once the school year ends for the Bible college we, as a family, take our annual trek to camp and spend a few days as a family. We need this time to regroup and enjoy each others company. We play lots of games together and do some physical work together too. This year we worked on digging the drainage ditch for the pipe to drain the baby pool. It was hot work and I personally did not last long. We were sad to have to end our few days and come home. I was also sad to think this is our last family getaway at camp with Benjamin.

We enjoyed grilling out for our suppers. Love this new grilling area!

On Thursday Jon and Julie and all the cousins came out to spend the day with us. Here David, Jon, Benjamin are helping David's dad. They needed to get 2 power cables back up on the pole after a dump truck lifted his back end and pulled them down. So, they put 4 scaffolding units together, secured them with wire, climbed up and began pulling the cables.

Here is picture so you can see how high up they were.

When the job was done they had to get the scaffolding down somehow so Grandpa lifted Benjamin up on the bucket of the tractor and little by little he held the scaffolding while Grandpa lowered him. His uncles were on the ground giving support. Then they took the scaffolding apart and stored it away. Yep, mom was doing some praying for safety during the project :)

We helped grandpa mow the new grass on the volleyball court, it is so awesome!

We played games.

We enjoyed just kicking back. We also slept in our tent. Love the tent, airflow and no bugs!

Benjamin shot this critter with a BB gun.

Pretty good size, huh!

Year End Recital at the Bible College

2010-12-04T13:45:00.002-05:00

At the end of each academic school year, the Bible college has their recital involving the students who are in the music program and other students who participate in music. Some of the professors are also involved. There are some students who are multi-talented in music. The music majors are required to learn the piano as well as at least one other instrument. They also learn song leading and voice. It is so neat to see the students improve each year. David Alayo is the leader of the music program. He is also a good friend and Benjamin's music mentor. We are thankful for his ministry. He is also studying for his degree in theology.

This is a picture of Benjamin and Samuel, they are part of the traveling choir, they are very good. Ben and Samuel sing tenor. Samuel and his wife will graduate this year and are members of our church. Samuel is our church's choir director and is in charge of our music program. He and been are good friends. I am thankful for his influence in Ben's life.

Ben playing the keyboard in the mini orchestra. His French horn is broken so he played his part using the French horn setting on the keyboard. There were several violing and flutes as well as one clarinet.

These are the beginning flute students with their teacher (on the right).

Another picture of the orchestra

This surprised me. I had no idea Ben was participating in this woodwind group. It was very good.

David and Ben in their duet. Ben is quite a bit taller than his dad.

This guitar ensemble was very good. The flute in the group really added to the song. This one was my favorite.

This is a group of 1st and 2nd year students. They are pretty good and will only get better as they continue to study.

The evening ended with a devotional from Psalms 149-150 on the What, Where, How, With what and For Whom is Biblical music.

10th Anniversary Iglesia Bautista Victoria

2010-12-02T14:37:00.008-05:00

Friday night is traditionally dessert night. It was a nice time of fellowshipping together after the service.

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Saturday evening: Music night. Special music came in different forms, instruments, solos, and duets. It was a pleasant evening.

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Sunday: the main celebration day. A lunch together at church and then in the evening service the cake and gifts for the church.Steve - David's youngest brother and fellow missionary was our guest speaker each night.

Edgar y Claudia Oribe with their 3 girls. Edgar is our SS superindent and a good teacher.

Elsa, Astrid and Aldo with Ruth and Hannah.

The Oribe clan: the parents are in the middle (Agapito and Eva), their sons Edgar and Sergio and Edgar's wife Claudia. Agapito is our head usher. They are a very faithful family.

Noe and Miriam with Tatiana. Noe is one of our deacons.

Harber and Elizabeth

Noe and Diani with Jack

Fronilda and Margot

The church choir

The pastors, the guest speaker and the deacons with the cake.

The pastors with the cakes

The children waiting their turn to open the presents given to the church.

Eirene, Abigail, Natalia and Jaris - 4 friends

Angelica, Martha and Cinthia. These 3 are very good friends. Angelica and Cinthia are finishing up their studies and will be leaving Trujillo. We will miss them.

Thanksgiving

2010-12-01T20:15:00.005-05:00

Some pictures of our Trujillo BMM Thanksgiving celebration. There were 29 of us present including a friend and his wife and the FMCA teachers.

Rebekah's first pie, she did an awesome job making the crust. It's pecan by the way.

Julie and Martha finish the last details
Waiting to attack...

Attacking!!!!

Attacking!!!...oops, wrong kind of attack :)

After a great time of singing and giving thanks (led by my favorite red head) we spent the afternoon...

Playing table gamesPlaying outside
Working puzzles

Napping (okay, only Caleb took a nap but others probably wanted to) and visiting

We ladies enjoyed our visit away from the crowd, I love these ladies.

Rebekah - Sweet 16

2010-11-15T11:45:00.007-05:00

Here are several different pictures of Rebekah over the years. They are not in order, sorry!

Pastor's Wives

2010-11-11T09:57:00.002-05:00

For the past year I had the privilege of being the president of our Trujillo pastor's wives fellowship. November was my last month to teach these ladies. I am so thankful for each lady, their ministries and their friendship. This year we studied different lessons on how to encourage one another.

This week in pictures

2010-10-29T16:55:00.003-05:00

Elías - Dean of students at the Bible college

Enoc - president of the Bible college

David and Ben playing a duet on Monday night

Rebekah and her friends Rode and Margot and their silly pastor in the background

Rebekah and her best friend Margot. They have been friends since they were small.

The señoritas with Pastor David at the youth meeting/birthday party

The young men with Pastor David

Seminary traveling choir - see Ben in the back row?

Strawberries are now $.35/pound, big, beautiful, and delicious

The November birthdays: Steve, Mark, David and Natalia

David

2010-10-26T10:14:00.008-05:00

Happy Birthday to David: Husband, Father, Son, Brother, Pastor, Professor, and Best Friend. We love you!

A young David Allen Stilwell

On the college soccer team with his brothers

Our engagement picture

Our wedding day

Daddy and Benjamin

Daddy and Rebekah

Daddy and Abigail

David and Jacob

Father and Son

Pastoring the children in the church

Pastor

Preaching at a family conference

Professor (actually translator here)

Having fun with the family

My Best Friend

Jacob

2010-10-19T10:22:00.004-05:00

Abigail

2010-10-14T09:38:00.003-05:00

Rebekah

2010-10-02T21:11:00.003-05:00

I love this picture.

Beautiful inside and out.

Showing her silly side :)

We taught

2010-10-01T17:27:00.003-05:00

We usually had over 60 adults each night.
David spoke 1 1/2 hours Monday through Sunday nights. Except for Wed when we showed the Fireproof video. On Sunday morning he spoke for 3 hours. Whew! It was a great family conference, so many needs.

I spoke to the ladies twice. Once on what to do with your children during the service and then on raising young children.

Rebekah and Ben each taught a lesson every night. Abigail and Jacob were on crowd control. We were told they would have 15 children, they had 30. They had the children for 1 1/2 hours while their dad taught. On Sunday morning they really had to scramble to keep them busy since they had them for 3 hours. It was such a blessing to serve together as a family. While we met in the new church the children met in the old church which was just one big room. We had originally planned to split them up into groups but that wasn't possible.

Ben teaching.

What we did in CP 11

2010-10-01T11:11:00.004-05:00

Our children taught the children's class every night and on Sunday, they had 40 children for

1 1/2 hours each class. Whew!
We played and sang specials as a family

The children and David swam in the canal. Jacob has a rope tied around his waist to keep him from getting swept downstream. This activity made mommy nervous but daddy was there watching.

Jumping from the bridge into the water. It was very hot so the cool water was the best way to cool off.

David and Ben played specials also.

The Week of Ministry

2010-10-01T10:08:00.005-05:00

CP 11 is a farming community coop. Everyone is a farmer. They farm passion fruit, lemons, rice, tamarind. They all raise chickens, turkeys, goats, cows, etc. Since there are no refridgerators, we had fresh meat every day, yummy. Electricity just came to the town the day we arrived, what a blessing! Soon there will be refridgerators. Soon they will be more influenced by the world via tv. They all get up at 5:30 to head out to their fields. Uhhh...we didn't :)

A huge dam

Harvesting passion fruit, they harvest up to 2 tons per week!

Okay, you know what this is :)

We ate several meals with this husband and wife. Great people! They have been married 9 years and are still waiting on a child. Please pray for them, they are Hermedes and Carolina.

Having school.

The canal that provides the water for everything. Bathing, flushing, cooking, swimming, etc...

The pastor's house. Everything is from mud brick which keeps the house cooler in the hot temps.

The backyard, corral, etc.

The kicthen.

Our bedroom. Notice the mosquito netting. There are gazillions of those critters. Most people use the netting in order to sleep at night.

Pictures of Ben

2010-09-30T11:53:00.003-05:00

While we were at the beach we decided to take some pictures of Benjamin. We are looking ahead to his graduation.

Ben loves to play the French horn. He plans to study music at FBBC in Iowa.

He also loves the beach.

Máncora - God's creation

2010-09-30T09:49:00.003-05:00

I found this guy lying on the beach. So cool!

Mancora - us

2010-09-29T16:50:00.005-05:00

Jacob is hardly still long enough to get some good pictures of him :)

Last morning on the beach

I love this man!

My lovely ladies

Abigail My beautiful 14 year old

Ben my senior

The whole gang

Máncora - the water and other fun

2010-09-29T14:48:00.007-05:00

We asked for our breakfast to be served on the deck overlooking the ocean. Awesome!
Cafe con leche, mmmm...

Boogie board

We took our own food for supper to cut expenses. It was picnic time.

Boogie boards - yep those 2 played with them for 3 hours straight!

Kayaking. That didn't go well :)

Eating seafood. Jacob being goofy.

Sunday we had family church and then worked on our lessons for the week of family conference. Yes, we took our laptops, printer, and scanner with us. Good thing we did since the pastor there told us we would need about 25 copies for each lesson. We ended up making 60 each! Instead of 15 children in the classes, there were 40!

Table games!

Ben has passed his dad in height.

What a great family!

Jacob wave jumping.

The inseparable girls

Máncora

2010-09-29T11:09:00.006-05:00

We enjoyed 3 days of family, fun, sun, and relaxing before we headed inland for a week of family conference (that will be another post). The hotel we stayed in was awesome and since it was the off-season the prices were cheaper. We had a great bungalow and so much fun being together. Also, since it is the off season we were one of the few families/people there.

The place:

View of the beach from the balcony. Mancora has white sands and warm water.

A sitting area

The front of our bungalow

The swimming pool. After swimming in the ocean we headed to the pool.

Evening on the beach

Birthday pictures

2010-09-06T11:39:00.003-05:00

Jacob Matthew Stilwell

2010-09-01T21:26:00.006-05:00

Jacob Matthew Stilwell born September 1, 1998 12 years ago!
Here are a few pics...more to come...

Newborn 9lbs 11 oz

Look at all those curls

Jacob and Grandma Stilwell

Taking those first steps

What we have been up to...

2010-08-23T10:02:00.005-05:00

Wow! I haven't posted for over a month! I am so sorry. We have moved into our new home, gotten settled, hosted a group of 19 and started seminary and school. Life is settling into a routine now and I like that!

Here are some random pictures of what we have been doing. They are not in any particular order.

We played table games with the seminary students...

2 hours of around the world...they never seemed to tire of playing...

more games with some crazy students and professors!

silly time at home...

baking sugar cookies...

We built a wall...

reaquainted with old friends...

and painted a swimming pool...

we hosted a group from Kossuth Street in Lafayette, IN

we fed a lot of people...

It has been a good month! Thanks for being faithful to checking in on us. Won't you be the next group to come and visit us?

Grandpa

2010-07-07T14:36:00.002-05:00

Grandpa and the Grandkids - they love their grandpa pastor very much.

Our pastors! Do you think they are related?

19 years of fun and adventure. I love you honey!

2010-07-06T09:36:00.003-05:00

Abigail's birthday with friends

2010-06-21T10:14:00.002-05:00

Abi and Ana

Abi and Pierina

The girls in the youth Sunday school class.

Fiorella (the teacher's wife, Ana, Abigail and Pierina)

Abigail's 14th birthday party at home (June 19)

2010-06-21T09:56:00.003-05:00

The table

All orange!

Yes, it is winter here.

Beautiful inside and out!

Surprise birthday party

2010-06-21T09:44:00.003-05:00

This month at our ladies meeting we had a Hawaii theme. Since it was the day after my birthday, the ladies decided to surprise me with a birthday party. After I finished the lesson the party began. We had a nice time together. I have a great bunch of ladies!

Missions Trip

2010-05-25T21:09:00.011-05:00

Yes, missionaries take missions trips! Last week our family took a missions trip to camp. There we were involved in a Bible school and a family conference. It was a great week. Here is a peek into what each family member did during the week. We began the week with 5 seminary students joining our team and one member from Victoria. Thanks to Samuel and Fiorella, Lucía, Jemima, Diana, and Nestor for their work at the Bible school and family conference.

David was the game director for the Bible school held in the afternoons, the kids had a blast! He was preacher for the family conference in the evenings. He spent his mornings getting certificates made, handouts ready, power point prepared, etc...

Kandie was the cook. We had anywhere from 18 to 30 people for meals. I am thankful for Martha, the camp caretaker/pastor's wife, who helped me. I also enjoyed preparing the snack for the Bible school kids. In the evenings I was involved in different special music numbers. On Saturday I had the privilege of teaching the church ladies how to make pancakes. It was fun!

Ben was the guitar player for the week. He also team taught the 6-8 year old class. He goes out to camp every weekend and teaches a Sunday school class. It is neat to see his students run up to him and give him a big hug.

Rebekah helped with the 3-5 year olds, helped with the snack preparation, helped with nursery during the evening services. She had one little deaf-mute girl who was her buddy all week.

Abigail helped with the 3-5 year olds also. She helped with special music and refreshments. She was a big help during the week, working wherever she was needed. She and Rebekah did a lot of dish washing this week.

Jacob was a student during Bible school. He did whatever was asked of him in the evening services and enjoyed playing with the other children. He was a big help to a deaf/mute boy, the brother to the little girl that was attached to Rebekah.

On Saturday the youth from Victoria joined us, here is our whole group.

and...in the mornings we did homeschool. Being able to make trips with daddy to do missions work in one great advantage of homeschooling.

Ben is 17 !

2010-05-06T09:06:00.004-05:00

Benjamin and Claudia celebrate their May birthdays together.

No Subway? No problem, just make your own sandwich bar!

This and That

2010-04-29T16:52:00.004-05:00

Costume Night at the Bible College

2010-04-17T16:01:00.003-05:00

This guy won best creative costume in the guys department.

The students are very creative. It was a fun night.

Some pictures the girls took of each other

2010-04-09T20:22:00.002-05:00

Rebekah Jo 15 years old

Abigail Nicole 13 years old

What else can you do with all the pick up sticks? Put them in your hair, of course!

The Beach

2010-04-07T08:46:00.004-05:00

Baptismal at Church

2010-03-29T15:55:00.004-05:00

For the first time in the history of Victory Baptist Church we had a baptismal service at our own church. For the past 9 years we have gone to 3 different churches to use their baptistries. But now we have our own portable baptistry that can be filled, drained, and then stored for the next time. So cool!Elizabeth gets baptised by Pastor David. Pastor Esteban helps her in and out of the baptistry.
Felicitas takes her turn

Girlys

2010-03-27T21:13:00.006-05:00

Janae, Heydi, Rebekah, and Clara...they worked together at ladies camp.

Some shots from home taken by the girls...

They are often asked if they are twins.

Isn't she pretty! Okay, maybe I am partial.

Just hanging out!

Our poinsettia trees in full bloom

2010-03-24T09:14:00.005-05:00

Silly Shots, No Explanation Needed :)

2010-03-16T21:46:00.005-05:00

A Few Wedding Pictures

2010-03-09T21:14:00.005-05:00

Benjamin, one of the groomesmen on his way back down the aisle.

Jacob caught the bouquet that Samuel threw, everyone thought it was hilarious!

The happy couple and their pastors

A view from up above. Nice!

The whole wedding party. It was very pretty with all the lilac.

The "damas" or bridesmaids

Ladies camp 2010

2010-02-26T20:10:00.005-05:00

Pastor's wives on the last day.

All of us!

Heydi, Rebekah and Clarita did a few skits and object lessons as well as did a LOT of dishes and work for the ladies. Thank you, girls.

Ladies from Victory Baptist Church

Ladies camp first to use the new swimming pool and boy did we like it!!

one side of the chapel

the other side of the chapel

Pastor's wives present at camp on Monday night.

BMM Field Conference Pictures

2010-02-14T09:52:00.008-05:00

Here are some family and group pictures from our recent annual BMM field conference. It was a great week! It just goes way too fast.

Our Fetzer teachers - Barb, Sarah, Becky and Melissa

ARRIBA! Tessha, Elizabeth, Caleb, Rochelle, Janae

Dr. and Barbara Anderson, our guest speaker

Rachel Tarvin - Cuzco

I think you know us :)

Our adult Peru MK's - Tim, Steve and David

Our Peru MK's - a lot of fun going on here!

The BMM Peru field (those who are currently here)

Becky, Rob, Jim Carlton - Lima

Steve and Molly Stilwell, Lili, Claudia, Tali and Caleb - Chimbote

Lois Hutchinson - Cuzco and Barb Perrine - Lima

Gary and Penny Whipple - Lima

Tim and Barb Whatley, Cesar, Brianna, Sonia, Caleb - Cuzco

John and Debbie Poe, Elizabeth and Olivia - Lima

Christopher, Diane and Allan Frey - Lima

Bruce and Debbie Maddox, Joshua, Josiah and John - Cuzco

Stanley and Ruth Templeton - Lima

Stephen and Evelyn Stilwell - Trujillo

A beautiful sunset to end a great week!

Orchestra

2010-01-20T14:57:00.003-05:00

The whole orchestra, it was a totally awesome and God honoring concert!!

Dean Kurtz the orchestra director speaks while David translates.

Rebekah plays her flute, she is really coming along on it.

Ben on the trumpet

David plays the french horn and Abigail on the violin

Summer Fun and Creative Play

2010-01-20T14:42:00.004-05:00

They made their own target and bows, their grandpa would be proud of his little archers!

Jacob and Abigail play so well together! That is a good thing since Ben and Rebekah are at camp this week. Next week, all four of them go to camp!

Family Get Away!

2009-12-19T19:18:00.003-05:00

This week our family headed out to camp, an hour south of Trujillo. We enjoyed the time together with no telephone or doorbell. We had fun playing games together, working together and grilling out.

David and Benjamin hiked up a mountain and got some good pictures of camp from up there.

Even in Peru we have beautiful rainbows!

Silly time...

Working at pulling up weeds.

Game time

Ninth Anniversary of Iglesia Bautista Victoria

2009-12-12T21:59:00.004-05:00

Pianist Grandma

Our choir

Deacons and Pastores praying for the church

The cakes were beautiful!

The special speaker

Pastor Grandpa :)

Pastor Daddy

Rebekah's Quinceañero (15th birthday celebration)

2009-11-16T17:11:00.003-05:00

Here is a slide presentation of the celebration...they aren't quite organized but some of you are anxious to see the pictures. Let me know if you can't view them. For the world this time is when the girl goes from being a child to being a teenager/young adult. It is quite the worldly activity. We have modified it to being a Christ centered activity that includes a promise of purity on the part of the young lady.

Grandma's Birthday

2009-11-03T20:21:00.003-05:00

First the silly pictures:

When Caleb sees the camera this is what he always does

Silly grandparents!

Uncle David smiling like Caleb

The oldest and younest (and Caleb) with their mom.

All the grandchildren here in Peru

Caleb helps Grandma blow out her candle

The birthday girl!

Happy Birthday, David!

2009-10-31T20:10:00.003-05:00

The big cake complete with trick candles.

Pastor David modeling his new suit that was a gift from the church.

Birthday lunch. The Peruvian man next to Martha is a guy David grew up with here in Peru.
He is a member of our church.

My Trumpeteers

2009-10-23T09:11:00.003-05:00

Last night David and Benjamin played a trumpet duet at the seminary's music night as part of the anniversary. It was nice.

Praise!

2009-10-14T16:21:00.002-05:00

Many of you know of and have been praying about our issues with Rebekah's medical bills. Our insurance company had refused to pay for Rebekah's January surgery saying that it was cosmetic and not covered in our plan. Needless to say we were shocked. Cosmetic? Anyway, Rebekah's surgeon wrote a letter to the company explaining what he did and why. Early in July all this information went back to the medical evaluation committee. Rebekah has been saddened over the fact that we may have to pay a large amount of money (somehow or another). She is a young lady that is very careful with her money and it is difficult for her to just spend it. She didn't want us to have to spend money either. She also is aware that God allows all this to happen and we tried not to talk about the matter too much in her presence. Any way...today we received an email from the insurance company stating that they were paying all but $80 of the $14,900+ we owed to the hospital in Indianapolis! At our house there was some serious shouting goin' on! Rebekah is thrilled and once again we see God's love and care for us. Thank you for praying with us in this matter. What a great God we serve. Of course, He would still be a great God even if He didn't answer our prayers in this way!

Are You Ready for Some Football?

2009-10-06T10:31:00.003-05:00

Last night we had our BMM potluck for Trujillo and Chimbote. We enjoyed celebrating the October birthdays (Natalia, Steve and David). Caleb wanted to be on Uncle David's lap so he is in the picture too. He recently learned how to blow out candles so we had to work quick! He blew out Uncle David's before we could get the other 2 lit :) After supper we watched the Vikings - Packers game. Everyone was cheering for Minnesota except for Jacob. Yes, he is our cheese head! It was an enjoyable evening. The cousins enjoyed being together and watching a few episodes of Gilligan's Island.

Update

2009-10-02T19:26:00.002-05:00

I am sorry I haven't updated the blog in a while. I guess everything is just the same ol' thing. That is good, I guess, meaning we have had a routine. This week David and I traveled to Lima to begin working on getting our visas. If you recall, we lost our visas during our furlough due to a change in the immigration laws. The new law states that we cannot be out of the country more than 6 months or lose our visas, so we lost them. We had considered traveling to Peru in January for a couple of days just to say we had been in the country but that would have been, literally, thousands of dollars. While it will cost us a few hundred to get new visas and carnets for all 6 of us that is much cheaper. So, David and I traveled to Lima by bus on Tuesday afternoon, spent 1/2 hour at interpol (international FBI), had our fingerprints taken 18 times (I am not joking), our teeth checked (for future identification if necessary) and our mug shots taken. All this now goes to the FBI in the USA and when they clear us then we move on to the next step of actually receiving our visas and being able to get our carnets. The children don't need to pass for all of this since they are too young to be criminals :) Hopefully at the end of November all 6 of us will go to Lima for the last step. This last step usually requires several hours of waiting and waiting and waiting. The children are dreading it, they remember the last time! We will take a sack lunch, books, and games just in case. David spoke at a church on the other side of Lima Wednesday night. Since it was rush hour (why do they call it that?) it took us an 1 1/2 of bumper to bumper (literally) traffic. So glad I took some dramamine before that trip. The same route only took us 30 minutes to get home! Thursday we spent a little while at Fetzer (MK school through which we homeschool) then headed back to the bus station. We arrived home last evening at 10 PM. The children enjoyed 2 great days in Chimbote with their cousins, Uncle Steve and Aunt Molly. Grandpa and Grandma Stilwell joined them on Thursday. They traveled home, by bus, last evening arriving 10 minutes after we did. Thanks Stan and Ruth for housing us in Lima!

The Stilwell Family at Victory Baptist Church

2009-09-26T15:15:00.002-05:00

Abigail makes dessert

2009-09-15T20:17:00.003-05:00

Aren't these cute? Mom, they came from one of those dessert cookbooks that you gave me for Christmas.

Missionary Conference at Victory Baptist

2009-09-14T20:08:00.007-05:00

Our church just finished their annual missionary conference, it was an awesome weekend!

The waiting line for the...
the food on the table

Our missionary families

Kangaroos

2009-09-03T19:59:00.004-05:00

No, we are not in Australia, although that would be awesome!!

Instead our children are the kangaroos...for the all churches olympics Abigail and Ben won first place in their age groups. Jacob got 3rd place. Ben really had to work for his 1st place, he had to jump several times against a good friend of his. Jacob also had to jump several times for his 3rd place status. It is neat to see them participate. Rebekah ran for our church in her age group. She got 3rd place.

Jacob's Birthday

2009-09-01T21:38:00.003-05:00

See if you can guess the theme of his birthday this year. I give you one guess....

Did you figure it out?

Beads and Books

2009-08-19T14:35:00.003-05:00

Some school pictures...

Benjamin 11th grader

Rebekah 10th grade

Jacob 5th grader

Abigail 8th grader

The Peru girl cousins enjoyed spending a morning together. They had a jewelry making party.

First Sunday Back at Victory

2009-08-11T15:28:00.003-05:00

Ben with one of the young ladies from church

Delcious potluck of peruvian food

Tons of people, including new faces to us, at the potluck

We made it!

2009-08-08T19:45:00.005-05:00

Thursday at noon we left the hotel, arrived at the airport and found out that our check-in bags arrived in Lima several days before we did. We hoped they were still there and unopened (they were). At 3 PM they announced our boarding would be delayed until around 6 PM, we started laughing...so many delays, missed flights, etc...what would be next. At 5 PM we began boarding, at 6 PM we actually took off. Can you say excited? The flight was awesome with free headphones to use the personal movie/game screens at our seats. The children even played Battleship against each other (all my men were in row 17, us ladies were in row 8). We landed in Lima at 12:30 AM, flew through immigrations and picked up all of our bags. We now had 26 bags in our possession (carry ons and check ins). Off to the national airline counter to recheck in the checkins. We found out that now they allow 2 bags per person since we came off an international flight, woohoo, we only had to pay for the 2 extra bags!!! What a blessing. By 2:30 we had had some chicken and were waiting at our gate for our flight to Trujillo. Jacob slept through most of the wait. By 5 AM we were on our plane flying to Trujillo. It was a blessing to get home. Several of our youth group members were at our home cooking us a breakfast of pancakes and fruit salad. Too bad we had eaten on the flights and in the airport, we weren't too hungry. It is great to be home, today we saw many of our friends and church members, lots of huggin' is going on today. Several of our bags are unpacked, the rest will wait until next week. David is at the youth meeting right now, having a great reunion I am sure. Thanks to everyone for your diligent prayers for us.

Happy people waiting in the Lima airport for the last leg of our journey.

Jacob sacked out in the airport

Beautiful sunrise over the ocean on our flight to Trujillo
Our pickup packed with some of our bags

Dad's pickup with more of our stuff

Some of those who greeted us at home with a breakfast

Wednesday

2009-08-05T15:39:00.002-05:00

Here are a few pictures from today so far...

Yes, we are using lots of sunscreen.

It is 104 outside with the heat index, we don't stay out long!

My pool man!

We have a grocery store about a block away so that has been helpful.
We haven't had to eat out all the time.

While We Wait

2009-08-03T22:06:00.004-05:00

As many of you know, due to a storm on Friday we were delayed by 2 1/2 hours from landing in Houston, TX. Our flight to Lima left without us (and 30 other passengers). For 2 days we tried to get on the plane by being on standby but to no avail. We do, now, have tickets for the Thursday flight. We will land in Trujillo at 6:15 AM on Friday, only 7 days later than expected! We are using these days to reach out to those we come in contact with. Many are frustrated and yes, angry that they aren't on the plane but we are trying to be a testimony to them. It has also been a time of growth for our children, they REALLY want to be in Peru, NOW!. They have been disappointed for 3 missed boardings, but do understand that God has this in His perfect plan for us. Does that mean it is easy? No, but it does mean that we are not in this alone, God is here with us, He loves us and wants the best for us, even if that means waiting. So...what do we do while we wait? We are thankful for this Econolodge that has given us a fairly good discount for staying several nights and being in a "distress" situation as they call it. A block away is a Kroger grocery store where we can buy food so we don't have to eat out all the time. Our hotel rooms each have a microwave and fridge! Our home church gave us a gift for travel expenses, God had it all planned out for us. There is a great pool right across the parking lot too! Since we just came from the Stilwell family reunion we even have our swimsuits and play clothes with us. We are thankful for many things, many prayers from others and that we are together and safe. We also have great beds to sleep in! Here are some pictures of our few days here.

Supper by the pool, Church's chicken, Yum!

Fun in the pool

Rebekah and Abigail working on Sudoku

Ben trying to wait patiently

Flying from Chicago to Houston (via San Antonio) We sat in San Antonio for 2 hours while the storm cleared or they fueled the plane, we aren't sure which is true.

Girls on the plane

Pictures from our 3 week adventure - lots of them!!

2009-07-03T09:46:00.010-05:00

First, pictures from the Garden of the Gods. We prefer to call it, Garden of God. It is a beautiful place!!

Rebekah and Abigail
Pacey and Jacob

David and Kandie

Blaine being tough!

Ben

Kandie and Terah the sisters in law

My girls

The Johnston kids except for Benjamin

Pacey being a bear - look out!!

All of us at the balanced rock

Abigail and Hope

The kids

Then, some pictures from Rocky Mountain National Park...beautiful place. Many of these Ben took since he has the better camera.

Drive - Set Sail - Drive - Delay...

2009-06-29T15:57:00.003-05:00

Hello for HOT Nebraska. David is happy to be in the state of his birth, he's a cornhusker :) It has been a couple of weeks since I have been able to post on my blog, I will attemp to give a brief update. On June 13 we left Lafayette for Des Moines, IA where we presented Peru in Floris, IA (it was a great but brief time) and spent the week with David's brother Jeff and his family. Ben and Rebekah enjoyed taking a module at FBBC. This was a week long course on Personal Evangelism. The credits they received will apply to their freshman year! They lived in the dorms and generally experienced college life. They both enjoyed it. Abigail celebrated her 13th birthday while we were there and I celebrated my ____ birthday :)

From there we headed toward Denver to visit our last supporting church. We were with them for a week helping with their VBS and giving the missionary emphasis each day. It was a blast! The theme was Set Sail Spread the Good News. We did some sightseeing (awesome creation) and immensly enjoyed seeing my brother Blaine and his family for one very short afternoon.

At the end of the week we began our trek back to Indiana. We stopped in Nebraska to visit Phil and Joyce Tilson. Phil and David were roommates all four years of college and each others best man. We are good friends. Phil is the director of Whispering Cedars Baptist Camp here in NE. Sunday morning when David started the van he put his foot on the brake and the pedal went all the way to the floor, uuhh oohh. We took a different vehicle to church! Long story short, the brake line is broken and there are NO parts in Iowa, Nebraska or South Dakota!! The part has been ordered from Detroit and should arrive tomorrow afternoon. The Ford dealer is 30 minutes away so once David gets back with the part, gets it installed and working we will load up and head to Des Moines. We had hoped to spend all day Tuesday with them so we can say good bye to David Uncle Rick and Aunt Phyllis, cousins and Grandma. Now we will have to fly through. We want to get home by Wednesday. I am anxious to get home, we have been gone long enough!

Well, that is the scoop. When I get home I will eventually post some pictures from our trip. Next Monday is our 18th wedding anniversary! We will spend the day driving to Cleveland for the BMM annual conference. How romantic :( We are looking forward to the time with Mom and Dad Stilwell, Jon and Julie and family and MANY of our fellow Peru missionaries!!

Johnston June Birthday Bash

2009-06-12T22:37:00.002-05:00

Chris, Kandie, Dad, Abigail

Tonight we celebrated the birthdays for June in the Johnston/Stilwell family. My dad, my brother Chris, Abigail and myself all have birthdays this month. It was a very nice evening together!

She's Done!!

2009-06-08T21:12:00.003-05:00

Rebekah has been officially released from having to see Dr. Greenberg her hand surgeon. It was a bitter sweet moment as we said good bye to him and his nurse. He does want to see Rebekah again in 3 years when she comes home for college. He believes she will need further surgery at that time (in about 3 different areas on her hand and arm). We are so thankful to God for the ways He has worked in our lives in the past year and a half. So many tiny details He took care of and the MANY ways we have been blessed. Thank you for praying for us!

Fun at the Indy Zoo

2009-06-05T16:43:00.005-05:00

This bear cubs were so cute and playful.

Komodo dragons on display this year, they are huge!

Fun picture, check out Jacob's glasses!

We had fun at the zoo today and the weather was perfect! The dolphin show is always a hit but not good for picture taking :( Too bad Benjamin an Daddy weren't with us.

Friends and Fun

2009-06-02T14:06:00.004-05:00

Daddy and Benjamin are gone. My sisters left today too. This morning I went to the dentist to make sure my teeth are okay before I go back to Peru. They are doing great and I don't have any more baby teeth. Mom thought that was sad, another epoca of her mommy life is over. Her children all have adult teeth now! After seeing Dr. Sakel, I picked up my friend Colin and we headed to Chucky Cheeses. I had never been there before and boy was it fun! The pizza was good and I really liked the games. Colin won WAY more tickets than I did but I think I did okay since it was my first time. Colin is going to spend the night tonight. We will be playing some great games of nerf gun and water games. Colin is a lot of fun.

Jacob and Colin

Putting the won tickets into the counting machine.

Baby Birds and Awards Programs

2009-05-29T15:57:00.005-05:00

Jacob receives the Eagle Award for his classroom. The Eagle Award is for excellence in character and leadership. He also received the iniciative award and PE and music awards. We love you Mrs. Musser! Thank you for teaching Rebekah last furlough and Jacob this furlough.

Abigail and Rebekah received awards for zero demerits this year. Abigail also received awards for excellence in math and English. She was nominated for the Christian character award in 7th grade. Rebekah is thrilled for her siblings and has learned that she needs to be more involved in school activities, she plans to do that in college! Benjamin wasn't at the awards program since he is traveling to the Wilds with his dad. He received the award for excellence in chemistry! He was also nominated for the 10th grade boys Christian character award. Thanks Faith Christian for all you do, we will miss not being a part of school!

We never know what is going to bloom in the beds in front of our house!

These guys are flapping their wings now! Momma is doing a good job feeding them!!

All Creatures of Our God and King...

2009-05-27T06:40:00.002-05:00

This guy, or is it girl? was found on the road close to our house.
These cuties are growing fast!

Okay, I wasn't too fond of this new find...

2009-05-21T16:09:00.003-05:00

This snake (they thought it is was garden snake, internet searching reveals it is more like a rat snake) was about 4 ft long. Dustin, our neighbor, found it down by the pond. He called David, who took a box down to the pond so that we could save it for the kids to see. He was then released into the woods. You won't find me walking through that tall grass now.

Where do you sleep when your bedroom floods?

2009-05-21T06:37:00.002-05:00

Jacob doens't look too comforable but he doesn't seem to mind!

You have to sleep anywhere you can. I think we pulled out almost every blanket we have for them to make their beds!!

High School Spring Concert

2009-05-20T06:18:00.006-05:00

Last night was the spring concert for the high school. It was a full evening with bands, readers theaters, choirs and handbells. It was an enjoyable time. The choirs were great!

My two high school choirs members before the concert

Full Sr High Choir, they sound fabulous!

Benjamin sings tenor.

Full Jr. High Choir, they are really good.

Abigail sings soprano.