Written by Noél Rich | 01 March 2012

Dear ones,

Well, can't believe everything is all packed (almost) and in less than one hour we head for the airport in Orlando to go back to Perú! True! We should arrive home in Arequipa March 2 around 1 p.m. So thank you all for praying for us as we go!

We have heard that the rains are subsiding now down there and that school starts on Monday, March 5!! Wow! I am not ready so please pray for me to get that way fast!! Plus we have heard that the lovely young couple in our guest apt. are moving out like tomorrow too, and the other family needs to move in soon!! Please help me pray to get all that ready too! I am truly really looking forward to this year's teaching - guess I will have 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th grades Bible ("Christian Formation") and English. Guess the classes will all be around 25 in number, so that will be a lot of work, but a real challenge and opportunity to give them God's Word. THANKS so much for praying for this.

Please also help us pray that the ambulance will sell soon and that Bob can purchase a better vehicle for his trips in and around Arequipa, to the churches and the brethren, being able to take some of them to accompany him! Thanks so much.

Please pray for the leaders to be ready to be named as elders in the main church in Arequipa. We have heard they are doing well and are thankful.

Please pray for the future of the radio in Chuquibamba. Things are not right there and some changes will have to be made. We are super thankful that Bob's Bible studies and other good Christian programs are aired on a Christian station in Arequipa as well as the one in Cotahuasi, through our brother, Bradley Shaw and family.

THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH for all you have shared with us. We truly enjoyed seeing many of you in these past two months! Thanks for your hospitality, sharing with us, and prayer. Please keep up the prayer part especially!!

Knowing I will not have time for another letter soon after we get back, we truly again want to thank you and we trust you will have a fruitful spring, and on, serving the Lord. God bless you with MANY BLESSINGS.

Written by Noél Rich | 01 February 2012

Well, greetings from U.S.A.!

This month finds us with our children and grandchildren! What a blessing to see them all growing up, loving the Lord and doing well in studies, work, etc. Truly, our TERRI and Josué, our PAUL and Kim, dear TANIA and Josh are absolutely magnificent parents and we can see the results - God in the lives of their children. Our JOE is right here helping us learn how to manage the new laptop computer Josué and Terri helped us purchase. This will take a long time for grandma to learn, grandpa is better!

Another real blessing so far is the weather!! Here it is unusually warm for Northern Indiana, and really all over so far we have had good weather for our travels. We are heading west and then north next week though, so this nice pattern could change to snow and ice. Please do continue to pray for this trip, and thanks so very much to those who have already put up with us (put us up) and showed your very kind and loving hospitality! You have made us feel very loved and prayed for! Thanks so much for all those who have shared with us too, what a blessing you are!!

This brings us to another reason to thank the Lord and thank you! God has supplied through some of you for Bob to purchase a vehicle upon returning early March to Perú! We are truly blessed!!! Thank you!! For this we will need to sell the ambulance, which did not happen before we left, but should happen in March, God willing.

So far we have heard from our Ebenezer Christian school, that they are having a fruitful vacation program, and are now contracting teachers for this upcoming school year, starting in March. God has provided some Christian teachers for high school, but it remains our prayer and concern that all our teachers be dedicated to serving the Lord. Please help us pray for this and for wisdom in their contracting and preparation. Thanks so much. We still need to see the Lord provide for the finishing of the primary school 3rd floor addition. They have started and the last will be ok to do in March if we can, as it is to be a light construction, "dry wall". The school is growing, and we praise the Lord for this, but do please help us pray for God to work in the lives of the students, parents or tutors, and teachers all. This is a fabulous opportunity and responsibility. Thank you!

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!