Summer Summary

The summer season has finally come to a close and I finally have the chance to fill you in on all that’s been happening…

SUMMER TEAMS

Nine people from Glenrock Baptist, Sisk Memorial Baptist and Providence Baptist Churches in York County, SC, as well as Emmaus Church in New Bedford, MA, came down the first week of June, primarily to work on construction of “the Big House” (where the Brocks will be living until they pass the torch to someone in the next generation) that will be part of the PETRA camp site.  Doing it all the old-fashioned hammer-and-nail style, they managed to put in place all of the floor studs and half of the sub-flooring, which was fantastic progress considering the intense heat and the incredible size and weight of the Quinilla wood from the Amazon Jungle that they were using.  We also had a couple who is pretty horse savvy and worked on training the unbroken horses that are part of the camp ministry.  Right after they left, a second team from New Union Church in Gainesville, GA, came.  They were only here a few days but finished the subflooring and put up the studs for one wall.  Vann has since been working on the construction and has made a good bit of progress, getting up most of the wall studs by himself.  They hope to have it dried-in by November, when rainy season begins.  We are all very thankful for the help and encouragement of the teams as they demonstrated to us their servant hearts.

 

Glenrock/Providence/Sisk/Emmaus Team displaying their work

 

Getting the horses used to being ridden

New Union Team from GA finishing up the wall studs for the bay window

 

FLASHMOB

I ended up not taking part in the flash mob after all because we had to schedule our flights to the U.S. for the day that was chosen to perform, but maybe next time… J  I’m still hoping to eventually do some sort of dance ministry again.

HOME TIME

Ah, where to begin!  Aside from being Walter’s first trip to the U.S., this was his first trip ever outside of Peru.  I had so much planned for us to see and do but most of my plans fell through.  When I was preparing for the trip, I forgot to factor in all the extra hours of shopping that Walter would want to do in a land where anything you could possibly want exists, and it’s all on sale!  But my mom took us to Carowinds amusement park where Walter experienced big roller coasters for the first time.  We also went go-cart racing a couple of times.  Several of my friends came over one day to meet Walter and play games.  A few of them speak Spanish, so we were able to play bi-lingual Pictionary: challenging and fun :) .  Other than that, however, it was mostly family time, fully equipped with an American 4th of July picnic at my Grandma's house in the mountains of PA, which included fireworks, a hamburger cook-out, rounds of croquet, and the Annual Waldmeyer Cherry Pit Spit.  All of my family, not surprisingly, fell in love with Walter as easily as I did.  While we were visiting my family in PA, we had a “Blessing of the Marriage” ceremony at my grandma’s church.  It’s ironic how Walter and I both wanted to elope and keep things simple, and somehow ended up with three weddings: a civil and a church wedding in Peru and another ceremony in U.S.

 

Walter got to know Wal-Mart very well

Walter and me at Carowinds, modeling the cool car and the roller coaster in the background

Go-cart racing (Walter beat me)

 

The Annual Waldmeyer Cherry Pit Spit: when the Waldmeyer family gets together in the summer, sports awesomely nerdy matching T-shirts and has a competition to see who can spit cherry pits the farthest. (Notice my dad cheating as he raises his arm to throw his cherry pit instead of spitting it. Can we say "disqualified"?!)  No one has ever won a cherry pit spit because their are discrepancies every year and as we all compete, there is no judge.

 

Walter and me with my sisters and their families after the Blessing of the Marriage ceremony

Can you even stand how cute my nieces and nephew are?!

Walter was eating so much food with everyone forcing him to try new things (which he thoroughly enjoyed) that he decided to stay busy to not gain weight.  Here he is using a machete to clear out underbrush in the woods behind my mom's house.  He did a lot of yard work for my aunt in PA, too.  I think everyone was sad to see him leave.

 

MINISTRY

While we were in “the States” we also took the opportunity to visit several churches, some which have been supporting me for a while and some to which we introduced ourselves for the first time.  We had many opportunities to speak about the ministry that God is calling us to here in Pucallpa and plans for the near future.  Aside from working with the Brocks, we’ve also been “elected” (in other words, no one else wanted to do it) to lead the youth group at church for 12-15 year-olds.  We’re both pretty excited about it since youth ministry is where both of our hearts are, and we’re looking forward to seeing what God has in store for us and for the young teens he is going to put under our care.  We’ll probably be starting it up in two weeks, so please keep us and the teens in your prayers, that we’ll have the courage and self-discipline to follow through well, and that the teens will be receptive to, not only the messages the Lord teaches through us, but to us as leaders and mentors. 

Thanks so much for reading and for keeping us in your prayers.  Remember, if you would like to donate to our ministry (for example, pay the $35/month for our internet so I can keep you updated) please write checks to Glenrock Baptist Church with “Peru Missions” in the memo and mail to

Glenrock Baptist Church

P.O. Box 151

Fort Mill, SC 29716