Lelia now has chicken pox. I feel so sorry for her, she definitely has gotten a worse case than Benjamin did. She has it everywhere and tons of it. She is definitely not herself, acting all down and out. Pray for her that she will recover quickly and for my wife that will not go crazy while trying to take care of her and the group that is here at the same time.

Julio Soncco

June 30th was our son Benjamin´s birthday. He turned 6 years old, very hard to believe how fast time flies.

We had a great time, we went to the park and played. We then went out to eat where he wanted to go and after that went to a children´s archaid. After having a lot of fun playing games and riding bumper cars we went to the house to sing Happy Birthday and eat some cake.

I just wanted to take a moment to thank the Lord for giving me the privilege of having children, they are a blessing. Words can not express how much we love our children and are proud of them. We pray for them daily that they will grow up and serve the Lord with all of their heart.

As you know, during summer we have groups come and visit the ministry here in Arequipa.  My brother in law, Missionary David Gardner, is bringing a group of 15 people down.  They will be arriving on Tuesday morning.

We have been working on the national airline tickets, hotel reservations, transportation while here, etc., etc., etc..  Pray for my wife as she has been preparing the menu and everything while they are here.  This time she will be on her own, taking care of all the meals.

We are excited to have them come and visit.  Pray that the Lord will bless each and every one that comes.  Pray that we may be a blessing and of good testimony to them. 

Julio Soncco

Please pray for our son Benjamin, he has chicken pox at the moment.  It definitely is not a fun thing to have, specially if you have it down your throat also, like Benjamin does.  It hasn´t been real fun the last few nights with him not being able to sleep very well.  Hopefully this will go by fast, even though Lelia will probably end up getting it too, so that will be even more fun.

Please keep us in your prayers.

Julio Soncco

I know this is a little late, but I wanted to share with you what a wonderful day we had together has a family.

First of all, I wanted to thank the Lord for the honor and priviledge of being a dad. I have two wonderful and beautiful children. I pray that the Lord will use me and that I may be the dad I am supposed to be to raise children that will love and serve Him with all their hearts.

On Sunday, we went to church and had a great service. After church we went out with my wife and children and also with my mom and brother and sister. We had a great day, we rode horses, played and ate lunch together.

Here are some pictures of where we went and what we did.

First of all, just to let you know on Saturday, I had my wallet stolen out of my back pocket.  I didn´t have that much money in it, THANK GOODNESS!!! I did have all of my credit cards, my bank card, driver´s liscense, personal ID that is very important here, my card that says I have a pacemaker and who knows what else.  I spent several hours on the phone, cancelling all my cards, etc..  I knew this was normal for here, things being stolen all the time.

Yesterday, my mother in law called my wife and told her that her grandmother had had her purse stolen from her in Wal-Mart.  I could not believe that, that is not very common in the States, or at least that is what I thought, I had never heard of it happening to any friends or family members there.

I am just glad that grandmother is ok and also that nothing worse happened to her or myself.  I know God is taking care of us in every situation.

Julio Soncco

I just wanted to take the time to thank the Lord for everything He is doing in our lives and the ministry here in Arequipa. 

We can not express how blessed we are.  As you may know, we do not have the support requiered to live here as missionaries, but the Lord has taken care of us and our needs each and every month.

It is amazing how God works.  He is always there when we need Him the most.  This last week, I got a call from a Pastor in the States, that called to inform me that his church will be supporting our family starting in July - AMEN!!!!!!!! What an answer to prayers!!!

Please continue to pray for our family as we serve here in Arequipa, that the Lord will continue to bless us and supply our needs as He has been each month that goes by.

Julio Soncco

Last night one of my Aunts passed away, she had lung cancer.   Today we will be attending the funeral. 

We are thankful, we had the opportunity to visit with her and share the Word of God with her.  Even though we are not sure if she made a decision in her heart to accept Christ as her Savior, we hope she did. 

Please pray that the Lord may use us to be a testimony to others, that they may come to know Him as their Savior during this time and always.

Julio Soncco 

What an AWESOME day we had yesterday!!!

Faith Baptist Church had a day called ¨Siervolucion¨ which consist in serving others and being an impact to people.

We got together this morning at church at 8:30 a.m., everyone came with their idea of how they were going to serve and be an impact. We prayed and then all went out to different parts of the city to serve others.

Right as we were leaving the church, several newspaper people and a tv station came by to interview the pastor, they had heard about what we were going to do and wanted to put out on the radio, in the newspapers and on tv what was going on.

Some examples of what things were done are that some fixed computers for free today, cut grass at houses for free, washed their cars for free, gave out fruit, cookies, candy, shined peoples shoes for free, picked up some poor children and took them to the church and gave them a good meal, etc., etc., etc..

My family and I got together with Micah and Katia Smith that were handing out kool-aid and also with some young people to go out and be a blessing. We handed out free hot dogs to everyone. We gave out 100 hot dogs, kool-aid, candy and some crackers. Along with all of this we had people out giving tracts to everyone that came by and invited them to come visit our church.

Please pray with us that the Lord will bring many people to Him through this, that people may see a difference in us and want to serve the Lord also.

I would just like to take a moment to wish my wife´s grandmother a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! Today she turns 87 years old. 

I wanted to personally say how much I love her.  She has accepted me from day one into the family.  She is definitely an example to follow.  She has such a huge heart to help others.  She has been a wonderful grandmother and great grandmother. 

I am thankful to her for raising one of the best moms in the world, Ms. Betty, and because of these great women my wife as turned out into a wonderful mom and wife also.

We love you and are thankful for all you have done and still do for us, we miss you more than you can imagine.

Julio Soncco