Written by Noél Rich | 03 September 2021

Hi again, dear ones,

Well, we know September will not totally mend my broken bone, but there should be some progress. I was told not to expect total healing before 6 - 8 months, but after 4 or 5 I should be able to walk a little more. It has only been 6 weeks so we have a way to go. I am going to therapy and that helps. Still it is frustrating not to be able to do all I did before. For sure the Lord wants to teach me patience and to let others do a lot of my work. Thank you for praying for healing. The Lord, our Maker, is our Healer. We have heard of cases much worse and that makes me feel guilty for feeling bad for me. We pray for others who are much worse off. May we learn what God wants us to from these things.

For sure we are glad to be back in Arequipa, and Bob is back in God's work here. Many come for counseling,and also to buy Bibles and other literature. We have been able to visit some in the afternoons.

Today Bob left with Jeffrey and a couple of other brothers to the very high mountain town of Culipampa, where three regions meet: Arequipa, Cusco, and Apurimac. They went in Jeff's truck because Bob's doesn't have 4wd and on that road it is needed. It is a very long trip with nasty roads to get there, but there will be meetings and good teaching sessions. We are glad Bob can travel again.

The brothers and sisters here did a wonderful job of keeping meetings, visiting and outreaches going while we were gone. They continue in this. We had a wedding of a couple of our youth a few weeks ago, and there are some other couples who will want to be married soon. We thank the Lord for a good, active youth group serving the Lord and reaching out and teaching children in various parts, especially now that children are not coming to Sunday school, nor going in person to school. All is virtual these days.

Our brother Julian with his wife Paola are working in the Majes Valley and visiting and encouraging believers up and down the valley. They also visited the mountain town of Piraucho along with other believers and after many years of no church in that town now the brethren are very encouraged and have a place to start meetings again. They want Bob to visit there and help them, and he probably will. Julian and Paola stayed with us a week and dear Julian put in bars for me to grab in the shower and on the stairs going down from our apt. What a blessing! I can go downstairs now without fear, even though at a snail's pace.

Please help us pray that school will be able to be in person next year, starting in March. People here are warned and afraid of a third wave of covid. With the vaccinations the death toll is way down, and new cases are less than before, but the vaccination process is very slow. They are just now doing folks 40 - 49 years of age. And if you miss the day you are assigned you cannot make it up just any time, you have to wait till they do the ones left over.

So we still have some restrictions, though there is more freedom than before. We are allowed church meetings of 50% of meeting place capacity. And private cars are allowed out on Sundays. We still divide the group here for church meetings, some Saturday afternoons and others Sunday mornings.

Thank you so much for all you pray for us and share with God's work here. Our support address:
Christian Missions in Many Lands, Inc.
P.O. Box 13,
Spring Lake, NJ, 07762-0013 with a note: for Bob Rich, Perú.

We pray for many blessings for you, Love, Noél for us

Written by Noél Rich | 11 August 2021

Hi and August blessings for all of you,

Supposedly we should be in Arequipa, we did have a very good 5 weeks in VA, NC, and IN with our children and grandchildren and great granddaughter, family and business taken care of, a great Christian camp with our daughter Terri and family, and the youth of their church. The trip ended on a sad note though, Bob's sister's husband died very early Sunday, July 25. We were with them when Jay passed into eternity. For sure he is with Christ.

Jay Hubbard was a dedicated evangelist. Even when his bone cancer was causing unbearable pain he went out to a park by the lake, gave out tracts and told many of their need to know our Lord. Jay will be missed by his family and friends, and we do ask you to pray for his dear wife, Beverly, and their grown children and grandchildren. Their son Jonathan arrived with his dear family just before we left that Sunday to start our trip back to Peru. Jonathan and Jessica and their 4 little ones are a great comfort and help for Beverly.

We were blessed by being at the wedding of our grandson Ben Rich to lovely Andrea. Both are dedicated to serving the Lord. We truly thank the Lord for our children and grandchildren who are serving the Lord. Our great grandaughter is such a lovely little girl! Eliza Lynn is only one year old but she runs around and is learning to talk! OK, I admit to being so thankful for her and her Mom, Jennifer Lynn, Dad, Timothy Rogers, and of course grandma, our Theresa Lynn. Lovely family!!

We got safely through the travels in the U.S. and back to Lima the 27th of July as programmed. We were in the Lima airport ready to board for Arequipa when... I did it again, hit the bottom step of a flight of stairs going down to get on the plane and cracked my knee cap, actually it was much more than a crack, a split, fracture. Wow, did it hurt. Of course we could not travel, we were taken by ambulance to a very nice clinic and left there, me on a stretcher, Bob in a chair.

After a few hours they kindly gave me a shot for the pain. But they would not call the traumatologist till they figured out the papers for who was going to pay for all this, including my surgery, etc. It was literally 8 hours till they reached an agreement with the airline, (but we from the very first said we would be willing to pay for it - God has given us abundantly). Anyway, finally I got admitted. Of course because of covid restrictions Bob could not accompany me anymore and before my surgery the next day they took another covid test for me, would not have operated if it were positive.

So, thankfully I was still negative and they operated July 29 and put wires and nails in my knee, bandage cast from thigh to lower leg, and medication through IV's. Well, that is a long enough story, I got released Friday July 30 in the afternoon. We are really blessed to be able to stay at the SAM mission home in Lima, a very lovely place. Bob is learning to cook, shop, etc. I am stuck most of the time with my leg up, and pain and swelling are slowly going down. However I have to take meds still and they are strong and hurting my stomach.

I take probiotics too but it will be several days till we get to go to Arequipa. Dr. says hopefully he will take out the stitches on Aug. 11 and then maybe we can return. A dear sister Iiving in Lima helped Bob buy a walker and I honestly hope by mid August to be able to get around better. Please help me pray for a quick recovery, and patience for all of us in this. Bob is being very wonderful but he does have other things to do, so we do pray for God's healing and NO MORE FALLS! Thank you!

Our dear brethren there are really taking care of things and still actively reaching out to the areas around. They baptized a young policeman in our main church in Arequipa. Our colleagues there keep us informed and are doing a great job, God's work is not stopped even when it seems our work is. But He has a reason for us being here. A young relatively new believer who was baptized in Arequipa is now working in Lima and came to see us and pray with us this a.m. Bob was able to answer some questions of his and he was thankful, generous, and even brought us dinner!

A sister working in the house where we are staying (SAM mission home) has had problems with depression due to an accident she suffered some time ago leaving her almost blind. Pray with us that we can encourage and help her while we are here. We also want to look up a couple more of our believers who with their families are now working in the airport here in Lima. These guys need to seek fellowship with other Christians, and their wives need to come to Him. So we want to serve the Lord wherever He has us, all is for some reason.

Thanks so very much for standing with us in prayer and all you have shared with us and the Lord's work and His school there in Arequipa. They are starting the second semester this week, please help us pray and praise God for the freedom to still spread God's Word.

Yes, Peru has a new president, supposedly he is communist, but has promised to respect private property and freedom. So this is another item for prayer. We don't know how it will all work out. Our support address is:

Christian Missions in Many Lands, Inc.
P.O. Box 13,
Spring Lake, NJ, 07762-0013 with a note for Bob Rich, Peru.

THANK YOU ALL SO VERY MUCH! Many blessings and thanks! Noel for us

Written by Noél Rich | 06 July 2021

Dear ones,

YES! July is a "flying" month for us. We are in the U.S. now for 5 weeks. We had to escape to Lima a few days early because the government decided to put a "fence" around Arequipa, no one could come in or go out of the city for some 15 days. We already had tickets for that week to go to the U.S. so we had to spend 3 days in Lima. Now we are with our daughter Terri and family. What a blessing to meet our first GREAT GRANDdaughter, Eliza Lynn! She is a really bright, happy and beautiful little gal, almost 14 months old! Well, great grandma's version, but it is true. Her parents are lovely servants of the Lord and we are so very thankful for that home.

We are with Terri and Josue at a missionary training center with a group of youth from their church for a missionary challenge camp. Bob has preached some at their hispanic church and also will share some here. Then next week we will head up to Indiana for the wedding of one of our grandsons, Ben. He and his fiancee, Andrea, met while serving the Lord with CRU (was Campus Crusade) during their college years. They will continue to serve God together. We are very thankful for this marriage and pray for God's Rich est blessings on their home.

Sadly, several of our brethren in Peru have suffered seriously with Covid. Some are hospitalized with oxygen. The country is in sad shape as oxygen is scarce and expensive, the hospitals lack ICU units and beds to attend to the many who are sick. Please help us pray for these dear ones and for the families of the grieving with the loss of loved ones. And please pray this whole pandemic will end. True, the Lord has used it to draw many to Himself. As one comes face to face with death, it is even more urgent to seek Life, with God.

We remain limited in our church services, with only 20% of the capacity permitted at one time. We have the 2 weekend meetings, Saturday afternoon and Sunday mornings, and we ask our believers to only come to one of them. We are ok with the limit on Saturday afternoons but Sunday mornings are too full. Folks just can't come Saturday, some for work reasons, some because transportation on Sundays is limited and no private cars are allowed out Sundays. Most of the churches we are responsible for outside the city itself are able to meet but covid has appeared even in the most remote areas and is hitting hard to some of them. Thank you for praying!

Please pray for the school. Our dear teachers are faithful in teaching God's Word to all our students. We still are only doing school virtually, and it appears that the rest of the school year will have to be that way, with the most fervent prayer for us to be able to return physically to the classrooms next year. Please help us pray for the churches and the school to be able to function! I can give a 15 minute devotional by google meet to all the primary students each month and that is a blessing. It is so very important to reach this generation for Christ! Much of what they hear in public school and the influence of their modern companions there is anti-God. Please help us pray for freedom to continue to teach our Lord's truth and message.

Peru's political situation now is not good. It appears the Communist candidate for president won the elections, but by a very narrow thread. So votes are being recounted and nothing is sure yet. Protests, fear and unrest are way too frequent.

So please help us pray we can "fly" the 27th of July back to Peru. We need another negative test for covid to get on the plane.

Thank you so much for praying for us. Our support address is:
Christian Missions in Many Lands, Inc.
P.O. Box 13,
Spring Lake, NJ, 07762-0013 with a note: for Bob Rich, Peru

God's Richest blessings for you dear ones, Noel for us

Written by Noél Rich | 06 June 2021

Hi again, and yes, June will have a different tune pretty soon.

Tomorrow is the runoff presidential election here in Perú. This nation needs much prayer, so thanks for praying for this crucial election.

Well, guess I must start with the bad news: Covid-19 is running rampant here, especially in the south of Perú. It is now attacking and killing people out in the more remote areas where it wasn't present before. Some of the places where Bob goes and where we have churches have this killer virus and some of our believers have died from it. Others are recuperating but it is a difficult time.

However at least one case turned into good news. A leader in the Lord's work in Cotahuasi and his wife had covid and were taken in ambulances to the Majes valley for treatment. Upon being released from the hospital there they went to stay with his sister for a while in Iray, a small town near to Chuquibamba, where Bob has been visiting recently. Bob stopped there on his way to Chuquibamba last week to visit and encourage these dear folks, and the brother got his sister and neighbors (mostly family members) to come listen to Bob share the Gospel.

The people in Iray are very interested. Some have already had covid and recovered, others are scared of it, but they listened, bought Bibles, and invited Bob and the brother from here who accompanied him to come back and teach them more of God's Word. It seems this is an open door for the Lord to raise up a church there in the town of Iray. Thanks for praying.

Bob was blessed to see the believers in Chuquibamba going on with the Lord and meeting together in spite of the problem they had there a few months ago. That was dealt with and though it is sad to have had to discipline the main leader there, it appears the church is indeed going well. Please help us pray this will continue and that the Lord will raise up more leaders for His work.

Another sad note is that it appears we won't have school with students present until next year. Please help us pray for us to be able to indeed start normal school in March 2022. Thanks! But the good news is that the students are profiting from their virtual classes and our teachers, mostly Christian this year, are dedicated and doing a great job.

God is providing so some of the parents can pay fees. God has supplied for others who cannot. Thanks so very much for you who are generously helping these needy ones to be able to keep studying with us, and most of all THANKS to the LORD that we have the freedom still to teach HIS Word, HIS values, and HIS way. Please help us pray this will continue.

One of the girls who receive help for fees was baptized here a couple weeks ago. She is the daughter of a faithful believing family here. We thank the Lord for our families. They need prayer too. As we were praying with the school directors last week, they said Father's Day is hard for many of our students because of so many broken homes, absent Dads. Sad.

Thanks to all who pray for us and share with God's work here. Our support address is:

Christian Missions in Many Lands, Inc.
P.O. Box 13,
Spring Lake, NJ, 07762-0013 (with a note: for Bob Rich, Perú) Thank you!

We wish all of you Dads a very happy Father's Day. Please lead your children in God's way. Blessings for you all, Noél for us

Written by Noél Rich | 03 May 2021

Hi to you all!

Yes, it is May, hope it is a nice one where you are. Here we had a few shakes (earth tremors) a couple weeks ago. They did not do damage here in Arequipa city, but out in the Camaná area, Quilca and around, they were a little stronger. Reminds us that God can shake up in a big way whenever He wants, and we need to be ready. We pray we will be steadier, not only physically but Spiritually too.

We thank the Lord that even though there have been more deaths from Covid recently, the ones we knew were indeed believers in Christ and are with Him. One dear sister was a young, healthy mother of 3 small children. She was fine one day and the next got Covid really bad and died. Her husband, Nicanor, was of course very saddened. The church here helped him and family and he is grateful. This is in the area of Agua Buena (annex of Polobaya) where Vicente and family have an outreach and have seen a group raised up there for Bible studies. Pilar and Nicanor were converted and baptized last year.

Another sister from a sister church here in Arequipa also died in April. We thought she was getting better but when they took her off the oxygen I guess it went to her heart and she went to be with the Lord. Her children are grown, and her husband recovered from covid, but still, these things are hard on the families.

And yes, the sister from the Moquegua area whom I mentioned last time also died (of cancer). She was a true believer, and some of her children follow the Lord, as does her husband. Thank you so very much for praying with us for these grieving families. Our comfort is in the Lord and His Word and promise for eternity.

True, the "second wave" of this coronavirus is hitting hard at Arequipa. Restrictions remain and new rules are: the wearing of 2 masks and use of a "facial protector" (plastic over your face, very annoying) for going into stores or riding in public transportation, new cases every day and the death toll is high.

Better news: another one of our churches had a baptism here in our meeting place (we have the baptismal) and we are thankful for these new believers, one, the daughter of believers and the other, the husband of a lovely Christian. So we thank the Lord that even in sad times, new life is blooming. Bob is able to travel and is now in Espinar, the mountain area belonging to Cusco but close to here and we have several small churches in the area. Bob has found that the groups up there are doing well and are encouraged in the Lord. Thank you for praying!

Today, May 1, is "labor day" here in Peru. So it is a holiday. It is also the day of the "guardian" of Arequipa, the "virgin of Chapi". Yearly thousands go on pilgrimages to the sanctuary in Chapi (about an hour and a half out of Arequipa). There is another sanctuary here in town and both these places usually are full of folks devoted to this image. Last year and this year all these gatherings of people are prohibited, so the R.C. bishop put the image in a helicopter and flew her (it) all over Arequipa so the faithful could know she (it) was watching them. We could all go to our roofs and wave. Ha.

We live between the back door of a cloistered nuns convent and the soccer field of the big Catholic boys school, Don Bosco, and when the helicopter flew over they shot up a lot of firecrackers. (These virgins just love firecrackers, all of the Catholic feasts are full of them). Oh well, it is pitifully true that this city is very idolatrous.

The second round of presidential elections is June 6. The two runoffs are a communist and the daughter of a previous president who is processed for corruption. Not too hopeful for anything better here, but yes, we trust the Lord, not human governments. We wait for His perfect, righteous kingdom. Thank you all so very much for praying with us and for all you share for the Lord's work here. For all you Moms, have a very happy Mother's Day.

Our support address (with a note: For Bob Rich, Peru) is:

Christian Missions in Many Lands, Inc.
P.O. Box 13,
Spring Lake, NJ, 07762-0013

Thank you and many blessings for you, Noél for us