Written by Noél Rich | 01 January 2012

Happy 2012 to all!

Well, it is coming on fast! The mountains around Arequipa had a white Christmas! We here in the city had rain and fog and drizzle and cold. "Summer" has left us already!

We had a good school closing program, and we just really pray that each student will remember and keep what they have heard of God's Word this year. It has been a privilege and responsability to give His Word to so many, in school, at church, and visiting. Thanks so much for your part in praying for us and sharing with us.

Also we had a good New Year's Eve service, till around 1:00 a.m. A new believer who works in the north of Perú was baptized at around 11 p.m. So that was a good way to end 2011 and start 2012!

Bob went to the Majes plains and valley last week but will not be going till after we return from the U.S. in March, Lord willing. The little group in Aplao in the Majes Valley needs prayer. They are small and often scattered. There are some who truly want to continue meeting and studying God's Word, so please help us pray for them.

There are many things we need to do before going to the U.S. January 9. Time just seems to go so fast. Please help us pray for Bob's van (ex ambulance) to get sold. Several want to buy it but as it is not permitted to take passengers so that makes it really difficult, as that is what most folks want, and that is why Bob wants to sell it! For sure it will not sell for anywhere near what we need to get a better vehicle for Bob, so please just help pray!

Many blessings and thanks!

Written by Noél Rich | 01 December 2011

Hi to you all!

Well, we trust you all will have a happy ending to this 2011!! God is so very good to us and we do not deserve His grace, but are truly thankful.

Bob has had some more good trips. One was to Espinar to encourage our worker, Nicolas Ala. He is doing the Lord's work in some very high, cold places, with rain and snow and mud, which makes transportation hard for him. He has a motorcycle, graciously given by Missionary Ventures some years ago and is giving it hard use. Do please help us pray for his home situation. His wife is not able to be with him much in the high place of Cayarani. Nicolas comes down to Espinar where she is every month for some days, and sometimes she goes up there. Their children are grown, but the youngest is finishing high school in Espinar. So we appreciate prayer for them and for the other workers we help here. Thanks!

School is finishing for the year. We have one more week of class, then finals, then the closing program. The kids are absolutely wild. God has helped us so far, please help us pray we will end well!! It is a challenge to teach so many but the Lord is giving me this privilege and we do pray for each life touched here. God's Word is in the hands of all of them and in their homes. We pray He will be in their hearts and lives for all eternity. Please help us pray for next year, for dedicted Christian teachers especially. We need to put a third floor on the primary side of the school. Please help us pray for the supply to do this. We lack funds for this as yet, but it won't cost near as much as the other side, so we trust the Lord will supply this need. Thanks so much for praying and to all of you who have shared. We are thankful for the privilege to share Him with all who come here.Please pray for the closing program too, that God will be glorified in all.

As the year ends, we are looking forward to seeing many of you, God willing, in January or February, 2012. Again, thank you so very much for all your prayer and sharing with us. You are a blessing! We pray God's richest blessings for you, and a very joyous Christmas season for you all. We are certainly thankful that the Father sent His only Son into this wicked world to save us lost sinners. To Him be all the glory.

Written by Noél Rich | 03 November 2011

Hi Ya'll!

Wow! This year is going fast! November brings Thanksgiving time, and we certainly have much to be thankful for! God is so very good, even though we do not deserve His goodness.

Early October was the school anniversary, with many activities. We had the Thanksgiving service and it was glorifying to the Lord. My fifth grade sang "He´s got the whole world in His hands" with props and some dramatizing and it was good. Then with the choir we sang "Majesty" in English and Spanish. Bob had a good message for parents and teachers.

Also in October we had another wedding of some of our youth, also glorifying to the Lord we think. We are thankful for believers marrying believers, and we do pray for these young families. We had some baptisms too, one of the girls in my 7th grade class, who is also the daughter of dear believers here. So God is blessing here.

Bob has had some good trips, to the valley and to some of the mountain areas. He is going to the valley this week. Please help us pray for the new little group in Aplao. Sometimes the believers there are too "busy" to take time for meetings, and it can be a bit discouraging. The ex ambulance still serves Bob well, though we hope to sell it before going on our U.S. trip. Thanks for praying for this and that all would work out for this next Jan. - Feb. when we hope to see many of you up there in cold U.S.A.! Speaking of trips, I had another surprise trip, with not a nice "fall" - a couple weeks ago. Used to be I could fall and get up and be fine, but now with old age, seems like each "fall" breaks or cracks something. This time it is a rib, which still is sore and wrapped up. Old bones - some day gonna rise again! Oh well.

One thing we ask for prayer for is the leadership here in our main church. Bob has been preparing some of the men and is coming up with at least one - perhaps only one as yet, whom he would like to recognize as an elder in the assembly here before we go to the U.S. in January. This dear believer is Fortunato Morales. He and his wife Sandra have two precious little gals in our school, kindergarten and 3rd grade. Really good girls and parents are doing a good service here in the church in Arequipa, with the youth and all really. They have a hardware business. So please pray for this family and for God's leading in our leadership. Thanks so much!

Written by Noél Rich | 06 October 2011

Hi friends!

Wow! This month is going fast already!! We are really busy here with church, trips, visiting, school, etc. Some new believers were baptized, and now this month some of our youth will follow the Lord in this step. Some are children of believers, which is a real blessing. Some are in the Christian school too, in my classes. God is working in their lives, and we are very thankful to see them follow Christ this way. Please pray for them, and for us as we work them and others. Bob has continued to travel to the Majes project and valley towns with weekly Bible studies, plus preparing studies for the church here and the radios they are broadcast on. Thanks for praying for this ministry too.

Forgot to tell you our little cocker spaniel had 5 pretty little puppies again on Aug. 4. They are now 2 mos. old and most of them are sold. They are cute and fun but do eat!! Oh well.

School has really been busy these last weeks. We had bimester exams, which means over 140 exams for me to give, grade, and register. Also, we are celebrating the school's anniversary this week, with the Thanksgiving service this Friday evening. Bob will be speaking to the parents and teachers, and I have several numbers with the students. We pray it will really all be for the Lord's glory. Please help us pray the school will always be a light and a good testimony, with many truly coming to know the Lord. Discipline is difficult in the large classes of especially the teens this year. We see the results of broken homes and absent parents in so many cases. Youth today are searching, yet really lack Godly guidance. Thanks for helping us pray for our part in this. We are truly thankful for the opportunity to be able to reach into so many homes with God's Word.

Thanks for praying for my health too. I had a recent nasty case of laryngitis, not being able to make a sound above a whisper. This was treated with antibiotics and cortisone, but now it is in my tonsils, eyes, sinuses (with heavy nosebleeds), so I think it may not be getting over soon. No time for more doctors, but hopefully soon to recover. God has given us good health really, but these things come our way sometimes. Thanks for praying!

Though I have had 0 time to really help with the children's home we are concerned for, I still pray for the needs there, especially for some who really need good Christian homes. God's best for them.

Earlier this week we were able to purchase our airline tickets to come visit you all in Jan., D.V. We leave Perú Jan. 10, and will spend the rest of Jan. on the eastern side of the U.S. and hope to get all the way out to the west coast in Feb. Please pray for the right vehicle for us to use there in the U.S. Bob's sister and brother in law are helping in this and we trust the best solution will be found. Well, we are looking forward to seeing some of you anyway! We have an incredibly short time to visit most of you, even our children! This time it has to be whirlwind! School starts again the second week of March, so we plan to be back here then.

Written by Noél Rich | 04 September 2011

Dear friends,

Finally it is getting warmer here, September brings our spring. But it also brings dust storms and winds to our desert. Arequipa here is sure full of cars and smog, like never before. With growth comes many problems! God is so good to us and we thank Him for life, health, and the opportunity to spread His Word.

In August, we participated in a couple more weddings of children of believers in our different churches here. Also we were blessed with more baptisms. Some of our youth are winning their friends to the Lord and some of the believers' children are following the Lord this way. God is giving us growth. Please help us pray for Spiritual growth in these new believers' lives. Thanks!

A dear missionary couple from Bolivia came over to give a seminar in Quechua for leaders from several of our mountain churches. We pray for lasting results in the lives of the ones who attended and received the very helpful materials they brought. These help to really understand and study God's Word, to be able to share Him with others. Bob has had some other fruitful trips in the ex ambulance. He also travels by bus when he is only going for a short time a few hours away. The van is necessary to take Bibles and other materials, but bus travel is more economic as the price of our fuel here is very high. Also, the U.S. dollar has really dropped - lower than ever before. Guess the depression in the U.S. will last for a while, but it does affect us here too, as well as in other countries, I am sure. We do thank the Lord for His provision in spite of all this.

The school year is going fast! We thank the Lord for the opportunity to teach God's Word and pray this really will bear fruit in lives. Truly the school has helped us with the children of several of the believers here, and some of them are following the Lord. We thank Him for families! So many families are falling apart these days. We have several students from broken homes. They really need the Lord, so do their parents. Please help us pray for salvation here, and godly values in their lives. The father of two of our high school girls just died a couple weeks ago. This is sad as we don't think he was a believer, though his widow is, and the girls at least are hearing God's Word. We do pray for them and their situation, difficult now.

Please help us pray for the radio ministry, in Chuquibamba especially. There probably will have to be some changes there, and we pray God's provision and wisdom for the right decisions and management there. We do thank the Lord for the opportunity to broadcast His Word to many listeners this way. Thank you for praying.

Truly, thank you so much for praying with us and sharing with us for the Lord's work here. We want to glorify Him with all He gives us. We trust, God willing, to be able to visit many of you this coming Jan. and Feb. 2012, in our short trip to the U.S. Thanks for helping us pray about this too.