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.

Written by Noél Rich | 02 August 2011

Hi dear friends!

July sure went fast! Now, August is here and we are thankful for every full day of work and blessing! We are very thankful to you who pray for us and share with us! Thanks so very much! Wish we could write each one of you individually but the time just flies and it doesn't get done. We do pray for you and thank the Lord for you.

Bob has traveled more this past month, to Espinar, the ranching communities in Puno, and to the Majes Valley, and even down into the valley town of Chichas, where the best avocados in the world grow. The brothers there generously share these avocados with us, especially when Bob goes in person. There are problems in some of these towns, but God is still working in lives and Bob's trips have been fruitful. I went with him over our Peruvian Independence day holidays to the plains town of Pedregal and to Aplao in the Majes Valley. We dealt with some problems, but also had good meetings with most of the believers present.

Over Father's Day in June we went to a wedding in the Colca canyon, a typical colorful ceremony. The town band accompanies the couple from the house to the municipal office where the mayor performs the official wedding, then the band accompanies the whole procession back to the house where the all day celebration and meal take place. Bob preached and we sang, etc., and it was a good testimony to family members and others.

At this wedding a believer who attended but lives near Pedregal said he listened to Bob's Bible study programs from the radio in Chuquibamba which gets down into the farms near Pedregal. There have been some problems with the radio but we are encouraged that it is still going and Christian programs are still being broadcasted. We are very encouraged that one of our youth here has found openings in another Christian radio for Bob's programs here in Arequipa. We have heard from some who listen and are blessed and challenged. Please pray for the radio ministry, for Bob as he continues to prepare programs, and for our dear Pepe who does the editing of Bob's messages for radio.

On all these trips the van (ex ambulance) has worked wonderfully well. Bob can take passengers from one community to another in the mountains, just not on the highways. So he is planning on keeping the ambulance till December when we hope to be able to sell it before we go to the U.S., D.V. in early January. We will trust the Lord to provide a good vehicle for Bob when we return in late February or early March, D.V. Thanks for praying with us for that!

God has blessed the main church here in Arequipa with a dear sister who really has the gift of evangelism. She was an alcoholic, but the Lord truly saved her and she is a very bold and faithful witness to her family and neighbors. She had one son out of wedlock and now has a good husband (who is not a believer yet) and two sweet little boys by him. Her name is Gladys. She has won at least 5 of her neighbors to the Lord (these 5 have been baptized here) and she's working on others! Please pray for Gladys and the new believers around her. They live in a poor area kind of far from the center of town and we are praying about starting a meeting in their neighborhood.

Written by Noél Rich | 05 July 2011

Hi again dear ones!

July is here and today it is sure cold! Our sun decided to go on strike. We have heavy clouds since yesterday aft. This a.m. the mountains around us came out with snow real far down, but then they went back under all those clouds. I imagine it is snowing again up there. When it is cloudy, temperatures don't go down as far at nights, but the sun, which warms us and the water up in the day is absent, so it is cold all the way around! Oh well, we are thankful for it all!

Elections were last month, and the nationalist guy won. He is saying he will be moderate, so please help us pray - and for the continued freedom to spread God's precious Word. We are real thankful for this privilege, and want to take advantage of it all we can!

Finally I can say that the adoption we were helping in is complete! The family, with their 13 year old daughter, should be back home now in No.Va. It sure was a long haul for them, and not real easy, but this precious soul and life are worth it. Please help us pray for adjustments and language learning, and most of all that this dear young teen gal will truly come to know our Saviour. A challenge, but thankfully God is on their side!

Mentioning children and their needs, there are two more precious children, a sister and brother, 12 and 9 years old, in a good Christian children's home, who really do need adopting. We all thought a Christian family from California was going to adopt them and now it appears they are not going to and the children were also thinking they would finally get a real mom and dad (they are orphans), so we are praying for a real Christian family for them, here or abroad. These are really precious children, orphans, but do have a good spirit and want to follow the Lord. Thanks for praying with us! This home has needs, but is really doing a wonderful job with these needy children.

The ex ambulance did not sell. Bob is using it and wondering if he should just keep it till the end of the year. We trust we will be able to take a trip to the U.S. early Jan. and we know God can and will supply the right vehicle for us when we get back, so please help us pray about all that too. Thanks!

About trips, I did have one on June 11. Like, I had a big trip, will see you next fall. (Ha.) I took a nose dive, literally. Managed to break my poor old nose, and deviated the septum more than it already was deviated. So for a good 3 weeks I looked like I had come out of a combat zone, or as I told my 7th graders, was training to beat Kina. (Perú has the women's international boxing champ.) Well, I never would beat her, nor do I intend to try. The nose is getting slowly better. Decided not to have the op. the dr. offered, as he even said if the deviated septum is also from earlier falls, it wouldn't be easy at all to straighten it. He might be able to reduce the fracture some, but it is expensive and difficult. So it is slowly healing, the bruised cheeks, knee and arm are also slowly healing. I do have more nose bleeds and stuffiness nights, so please help me pray for grace to look like Rudolf the red nosed reindeer for the rest of my life. Thanks!

School is going well, but busy. Thanks for helping us pray for the lives we touch each day, that the students, teachers and parents will come to know the Lord. This is difficult in these days of so much world, all around us, and penetrating in the church too. A real privilege and challenge to be teaching so many in the ways of the Lord.

Our own precious children, now in their 40's, except Joe, who is 28, are doing well, and serving the Lord. How I long to be able to see our 9 precious grandchildren! Hope it really does work for early next year. Thanks for helping us pray!

Please also help us pray for our national workers too. Some of them have problems, family, ethical, and problems in the work. Thanks for praying!

Written by Noél Rich | 02 June 2011

Yes, June really is "busting out" all over! June 5 is election day here in Perú. The 2 runoff candidates are making a lot of noise, that is, their followers are, and the campaigns often include firecrackers busting out all over the city!! We are very thankful for the freedom we have had through these years to spread the Gospel! Please help us pray that this freedom will continue in the new govt. that takes power July 28 (Perú's Independence Day). Thanks!

God blessed us with some baptisms of new believers in May. Four young girls were won through the witness of other believers here and identified with the Lord in this step. Thanks for praying for their growth in Christ. Thanks for praying for discipleship of these and others in churches outside of Arequipa city. Bob continues his weekly and every other week visits to Pedregal and Aplao, in the Majes irrigation and valley. Especially the little group in Aplao needs encouragement and men to lead there. One of our youth from here, who is really from Aplao, has started a fish selling business there and he is really helping the small group that meets there, but we do need to see more raised up. The church in Pedregal, the irrigation area, is more established and has elders, but they are benefitting from the weekly Bible studies Bob has there. Bob has gone on some more trips to the mountain areas, and hopes to go this weekend to help with some problems in Espinar with one of our workers. Thanks for praying for these outreaches and thanks for praying for our workers, they are human and need their own Spiritual lives refreshed.

The ex ambulance still hasn't been sold. Thanks for praying for it's sale, and that Bob can indeed purchase a vehicle that will serve him, here in town and especially out in the many areas where he travels to. He has to travel on the buses here these days, so thanks for praying for safety.

There has been a real tragedy in one of our faithful believing couple's family. Gianluca Fussotto was the only son of Maria Elena Lazo and her Italian husband, Aldo Fussotto. Maria Elena's parents have been believers with us since early 1970's. Maria Elena remained Roman Catholic, but her son came often to church with his grandparents and did profess faith in Christ. He had the blessing of having a Christian maid that helped raise him from birth. This dear lady is from another church but she did pray with Gianluca and told him about our Lord since he was little. Anyway, Gianluca was in Argentina completing his hours for his pilot's license when last week was in a sudden plane crash which killed instantly all four occupants. Gianluca and the other Peruvian student were in the back part of the plane, while the Argentine instructor and the Ecuadorian student were up front on the controls. The little plane crashed nose down just before landing the night of May 25. Maria Elena and Aldo went to Argentina and brought back his body for burial here. They arrived last night and Gianluca was buried this noon. Bob spoke to the family and other friends at the wake last night, about the brevity of life (really, just a vapor) and of course had the chance to exhort these people to trust in Christ before it is too late. Please help us pray for Maria Elena and Aldo especially these days. We do not know why the Lord allowed this, but we do know that He wants these folks to truly believe in Him and give their lives to Him, leaving off all false hopes in vain rituals for salvation. Their only peace and comfort would be to know our Saviour. Please help us pray. The grandparents have been praying for them for years. Maybe it is God's time.

School is going well, but we need prayer for discipline in the large classes this year. I am truly enjoying and thankful for the times of Formación Cristiana with the younger ones, 4th, 5th, and 6th graders. We had a good Mother's Day program and a good parents meeting the other night, where Bob spoke to the parents about the need to discipline while the children are young, in the love of the Lord. We had our bimester tests and all the grades. English teaching to the 6th grade especially is a challenge. They are rowdy. Thanks so much for praying for the school's witness!

Trust you will have a blessed summer season! Here it is becoming more wintry! Dry, cold, nights and early mornings, finger and toe splitting time for me, which is kind of painful. Well, thanks for praying, and thanks for sharing with us here!