Church Anniversary Celabrating Three Years

On Sunday, July 6, we celebrated the day the church began as a new work.

Three years ago we had our first service.  The Lord has brought us a long way.

 He has done a mighty work in many hearts.  Friendships are made and bonded in Christ.

We served cake and soft drink for the occasion.

Mario serving others.  He was a pastor for over 12 years.  He started attending our church and got saved.  His joy is contagious and he is one big blessing.

 The decorative center piece was made and donated by several ladies whose heart had a mind for the work of the Lord.

Serving Christ in His church is one exciting place to be.

 Ruth and Sonia. Sonia is praying for her father and brother's salvation.  Many are the only ones in their family who are saved.  The Lord is building His church.

New Church Is Officially Established

On July 3, we officially and formally organized our church in Lima.  This is the incorporation process.  A lot of hard work, sweat, tears, prayer, giving and evangelization and training by so many to get to this point.  Most of all, it takes the working of the Holy Spirit in lives of men and women.

We approved our church constitution, articles of faith, and church covenant.

After approving these documents, each person came forward to sign the church covanant.  This is Freddy, his wife, Ivon, and their daughter, Zoila.  Their son and youngest daughter also joined, but are not in the picture.

It was a day of rejoicing.

Our deacon, Ricardo, and his wife, Nancy sign the church coverant.

We had four lines of members signing.

It tooks us 3 years to the day to reach this milestone.

We had a beautiful bronze pin made with the church's name and logo.

Each member received his or her own person church founder pin.  It is theirs to keep.

It is bronze and looks attractive when worn with any color of clothing.  While all members receive one, only members who were present at the foundation meeting received a charter member pin.  They will be treasured for years to come.

 Ruth receives her founders' medal of honor.

The members placed the pin on another in their first act of serving one another as a family in Christ.

 We also elected our church officials.  From left to right: Ricard (deacon), Cesar (treasurer), Stan (senior pastor), Eduardo (assistant treasurer), Edward (assistant pastor), Julio (assistant secretary), Pool (youth pastor and secretary).

  We began with 61 founding members.  They will forever be known as the charter members of the church.  In this picture are most of the ladies.

  In this picture are most of the men.   There were a total of 60 founding members.

 Since that day, we have added 14 more who could not be at the meeting the Thursday night the church organization took place.  We now have a total of 74 members.  More will soon be added and another baptismal service will also soon take place.

After the pinnning cerimony, we closed in prayer and went to a chinese restaurant to celebrate!

The time of rejoicing just made the food taste all that much better. 

How good and pleasant it is for brethern to dwell together in unity!  Psalm 133:1

The church surprised me with a birthday cake.  I turned 60 the day before.

 They gave me a beautiful shirt and matching tie.  They are so kind to Ruth and me.  (Did you notice the pin?)

And we got lots of good pictures.  Pastor Edward takes another.

This precious time will link on in our hearts and minds for a long time to come.  This is Leonardo and Laura.  They have plans to get engaged soon.  Both love the Lord and are a real testimony of how young people should walk in holiness.  They are fruit that abound to your account.

Baptismal Service

Baptismal services are a time of rejoicing for our church.  We love seeing new people come to Christ.  It brings excitement to the entire congregation.

On June 29, four more of our believers followed the Lord in believer's baptism.

Kelita has such a sweet spirit.

Andres is the son of our church treasurer.

From left to right: Vicky, Elvira, Cristian, Edwardo.  Eduardo y Vicky taught Elivera and her son, Cristian their course on baptism.  We teach our new believers the importance and meaning of baptism beforehand.  We want them to know why they do what they do and make their decisions with convictions based on the Word of God.  It is our desire that they learn to follow the Bible and not just what a leader says.

This was the eighth time our church has had a baptismal service.  From left to right in front row: Kelita, Elvira, Andres and Cristian.  From left to right in back row: Pastor Pool, Stan, Pastor Edward.

Jesus brings true joy to the heart!

When Elvira began attending our church, she thought she was a Christian.  She soon found Christ after many careful presentations of the gospel.

Kelita was led to Christ by Pastor Pool and his wife, Etelvina.

Every time I baptize someone, I wonder what Christ will do in and though that new believer.  Andres is making many important and wise decisions in his life.  It is our prayer that he will follow Christ for the rest of his life.

Templeton Family

Here are some of the people who are very precious to us: our grandkids.  And they are grand.  Not all are pictured.  We will try to post some good pictures of Jonathan, Lorena and Norah in Spain.  We did not get to visit them on this trip.  We were in Tennessee, Pennsylvania and Quebec, Canada.  Our family is kind of spread out!

Dax - Jessica's little man.

Grandma with three of her sweet grandkids.  Left to right: Emily (Amy's), Chloe and Bayne (Jessica's)

Grandma and Emily  Emily is a photostatic copy of her mommy.

Jessica and Amy - Stan's two little girls.  Little girls are precious.

Left to right: Ben and Amy then Jessica and Deric

Jessica with Chloe

Deric with Chloe, Dax (in the middle) and Bayne.  Deric and Jessica have three children.

Grandpa and Chloe having a tea party.

Dax will be one year old this month.

Chloe, Bayne and Dax with their Peru shirts that Grandpa and Grandma gave them.

Grandma pushing Bayne on the swing.

 Carson and Aurie - Nathan and Audrey's two.

 Audrey with Carson and big sister who gives the thumbs up.

 Stan's parents.  What a blessing to have parents like them!

 Grandpa plays "farm" with Bayne.

 Stan's sweetheart on the shore.

 Grandpa builds a castle with Emily.  It was like reliving the past with another little Amy.  She is just like her Mom.

 Grandpa feeds Joel.  Joel is Ben and Amy's little fellow.  Soooo cute.

 Emily all decked out.

 Joel was reading to Grandpa.

 Joel and Grandpa partied all day long!

 Amy is a treasure to my heart.  She loves Christ and is learning French in Quebec, Canada to better serve the Lord along side her husband, Ben.  God has given us two great son-in-laws.

 We have fun being together wherever we go.

 Amy with Emily.

 Ice cream delight!

 Went on a hike in Quebec.  It was a beautiful day.  But then, every day is beautiful when Ruth is with me.

 Aurie with her Peru shirt.  She is Nathan and Audrey¿s youngest.

Nathan and Dad.

Grandma with her precious little guy, Joel.  Joel, Emily, Ben and Amy live in Quebec, Canada.  We got to visit them for one week.