Hello Everybody,
Here is our June, 2021 update;
The situation in Iquitos is much better now then it was in our last update in February. At least the people who live around the church are more relaxed. I only see half the people around here and on the buses wearing masks, of course to get into the stores & restaurants in town you have to have a mask on. We don't hear of anyone with Covid, but the news tells us there are still a lot of people in the hospital's because of it. And we have news of the 3rd wave coming, that is already in Chile & parts of Peru.
The restaurants still have the tables far apart, so they are not at full capacity as before. We don't see very many tourist yet, although a few brave souls are spotted once in while. We are looking forward to our movie theatre opening up again, hopefully someday soon. Most of the churches here in Iquitos are open, but not too many in Lima have opened yet, from what I hear.
Thanks to blessings from an unnamed Calvary Chapel church we were able to build a classroom, which we had been needing badly. The blessing also included raising our front wall. We had been having problems with some kids climbing over our front wall, so we wanted that to stop.
 Building the classroom |
 Almost done |
 Raising the front wall |
 Finished product |
We started the Children's Church in April. We started slow but the numbers have grown since then. The classroom was ready for the Grand Opening of Children's Church on Easter morning!!
The classroom went to our Kindergarteners. The children are taught by Elizabeth & Marbelita mainly, others come & go.
 Marbelita & Elizabeth praying with the children |
 The children praying |
 Helping them with a craft |
 The end of our first 2021 Service, in our new classroom |
We are tight on classrooms & teachers, so we have the next group of children from 6 to about 10 or 11 in our original classroom, taught by Loraine, Tatiana & Segundo.
 Loraine explaining the lesson |
 Loraine explaining the lesson |
 Busy with the assignment |
 Busy with the assignment |
We start to lose most of our kids when they reach about 12, but lucky a few hang in there. Our 12 & older class meets in the main sanctuary. Taught by Ena & Eli.
 Ena & Eli teaching the class |
 Busy with the assignment |
 Busy with the assignment |
Our Youth Group did a great job for Mother's Day:
They did few dramas, games & Choreographys, and afterwards they prepared an excellent lunch for the Mom's. It was nice that they volunteered to take on Mother's Day. They really outdid themselves.
 Moms gather for a pic after the program |
 Lunch for the mom's |
 Our Youth Group who prepared the Mother's Day Pgm. |
Our Youth Group once again blessed us by taking over the Father's Day Program. Sorry I don't have many picture, mainly because I was pulled into the games that they had for us pops. The only picture I have is with my semi-adopted daugher Ani (AKA Genesis).
 Genesis with me |
We also started a Bible College class in June "Religions & Sects".
The Calvary Chapel Bible College in Cajamarca, Peru, is offering many classes via online and we decided to take advantage of this blessing. We had 10 students who started the class. We set up our church to receive the class via Youtube. Our internet is a little slow here in Iquitos, but we are enjoying the class. Taught by John Bonner & Jhonson Hernandez.
 The first class |
We are having our Sunday morning & Wednesday night, (mid-week) service. We changed over to using facebook on Wednesday nights, it is easier than managing both zoom & facebook. I teach the Sunday morning services & Pastor Raul teaches the Wednesday night services. We have several ex-members who now live outside of Iquitos, mainly Lima, who like to stay in touch with us via facebook.
Gaby is heading up the Youth Group, on Saturday's and she is doing a great job.
And Gaby is leading many of our youth's and they are doing the Children's Church on Sunday mornings. So now I can sleep in an extra hour on Sunday's. They are doing a great job.
"Calvary Chapel Iquitos" (There are more pictures there than I can send in an update)
Sponsors
Several of our youth have graduated high school and now wondering what they will do. The common thing is for the boys to move to Lima, to find work there. We lose most of our youth this way as there are not many companies that provide jobs here in Iquitos. We would like to provide some training for these young people, even if it is just basic PC skills.
If you would like to contribute to any of the following ministries\expenses:
Harvest Alliance International P.O. Box 4550 Oceanside, CA 92052 Memo: "62414 - XXX"
(62414 is our ministry number) (Where XXX = General Fund, Children's Ministry, etc...)
*Note: The dollar is currently at 3.90 or 390 soles for every $100 (U.S.).
The highest it has ever been since I have been in Peru.
Thank you all for your prayers and financial support.
and God Bless you
Albert Smith
Calvary Chapel Murrieta
24225 Monroe Avenue
Murrieta, CA 92562
Memo = Peru, Albert Smith
Or for Jose
Memo - Peru, Jose Garate
Pastor Javier & Pastor Raul's offerings go through Harvest Alliance International (above).