Aug 20, 2016

Email Update from April 5, 2016

Greetings from Peru! Here are some highlights and prayer requests. Don't miss the last 3!
We want to take a moment to let you know how thankful we are for having you on our support team. Here are a few updates from the last few months as we serve in Trujillo, Peru.
The year 2016 has started off very full!
  •  January 1, we returned to Peru after a Christmas visit and helped with the Summer Camp, Noah's Ark. My niece, Anna Louise, stayed with us for a week after coming down with the group from Twin Lakes in Jackson, MS. 
  • Bethesda Clinic re-opening. The first week in February the medical clinic in Arevalo started attending patients again.
  • Geneva School found a new director and also hired a few new teachers and started the new school year on March 7th.
  • We had a great VBS week in our church in Arevalo with around 60 children every day.
  • Cristo Restaurador celebrated it's 11 year anniversary on February 14th with a potluck dinner and special music from a visiting volunteer from Nashville. We had a decent turn out and seemed to encourage attendance a little bit. Please pray for our church attendance. We have several new visitors coming regularly but we are losing several older members. We are seeking them out and visiting them. Please pray for grace and encouragement for them. 
  • Last week, we celebrated the Resurrection of our Lord with a Maundy Thursday service, a church-wide picnic fellowship, a Saturday prayer vigil and a sunrise Resurrection service. 
  • The Young Adult ministry increased attendance during summer vacation, one evening we had 24 people. We planned several activities, a day of sandboarding, a trip to the beach, a fund raiser for a retreat later in the year. Please pray for these young christians battling many temptations and struggles.
  • We started an officer training class where several candidates are regularly attending along with a few others who are interested in learning more. We also started a new apprenticeship program with four young men (see more below).
  • The carpenters at Las Ponas are plugging away but struggling to grow. Please pray for encouragement and wisdom to improve their business and discipleship efforts with their employees.
  • In the bible study with Felix the mechanic we have had several very good conversations where he expresses recognition of his need for Christ and change in his life, yet he thinks he is not worthy to give himself to Christ. Please keep praying for the Spirit to work in his heart and help him understand free (yet costly) grace. 
  • Praise God and many thanks to our supporters that our personal financial support has been fully supplied and we lack in nothing!  
  • Because of too many mechanical problems we are going to sell our old VW classic van and plan to replace it with a more reliable car. Please pray for a buyer for the old and guidance to select the right vehicle to suit our needs for family and ministry. 
We have 3 special prayer and fund requests:  
  1. Geneva school is working towards becoming self-sufficient but will need a few years to reach that goal. Would you consider supporting the education work to cultivate a new culture in the next generation? You can do so here and select Arevalo Geneva School
  2. The session at Cristo Restaurador has started an apprenticeship program where we are training 4 young men in ministry. Their names are Alexis, Bryand, Jefferson and Luis. These young men have proven themselves in their commitment to the church and are zealous to serve Christ. Some are considering full-time pastoral ministry and others are pursuing careers but commited to serving the church in ministry. We would like to enable them to dedicate concentrated time in ministry in the church and study by providing a stipend for them. Please pray for our program that we would succesfully prepare these men and also please consider contributing to support this. We aim to raise $330/month per apprentice for 2 years. Please consider helping us provide this by donating here and writing in the additional comments: Arevalo Apprentices
  3. We saved the best prayer request for last! This one is not a fund request but an announcement and request for prayer. We are excited to announce the expectation of another baby!  Megumi is due to give birth to our fourth child early October. Please especially pray for the delivery as we are planning to stay here in Trujillo for the birth.


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