November newsletter

Our November email update can be viewed at this link. If you are interested in receiving email updates please sign up at the bottom of this newsletter.

We are excited about a visit to the States for Christmas and New Years.

The shop is in the midst of a move to a new location and a major transition.

Bible Studies at Parish

Every morning at Parish before we get busy working we take time to study the Bible and pray.

Lately in our study of the Bible, we have been working through it book by book.  When I first started working here we began by looking at Proverbs. Before I arrived the men worked through Ephesians and before that the Gospels. After Proverbs we decided to start making our way through different parts of the Bible to get a better background of the story and history of the Bible.  We started working through Genesis and then Exodus.  Our study of Exodus made for many interesting conversations on worship and how God describes in great detail how He wants the temple to be built.  After Exodus we made our way through Acts and studied the beginning of the Christian Church. Following Acts we went back to pick up after Exodus in reading through Leviticus.  In our journey through Leviticus this question often came up, “If God required these things to be perpetual, why don’t we continue doing them today?”  In an attempt to answer this question, I decided to ask another question, “Why did the pharisees want to crucify Jesus?”  Also, “Why did they want to kill Paul?”  Now we are making our way through answering that question. To show the cohesiveness of scripture, we start by looking at Jeremiah 31 with the promise of the New Covenant. We sat down to listen to Jesus in his sermon on the mount where he made a point to say that He did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it.  After that we took at look at Jesus’ initiation of the Lord’s supper and claiming that his own blood was that New Covenant. We followed that up with a skim through Galatians that ended today.  Galatians will prove to take much time in deep study to understand the depth of what Paul is getting in the contrast between the law and the promise. For instance, “what does it mean that we are free from the law if we are in Christ?” Before we dig in deeper through Galatians we plan to study the book of Hebrews to understand more about who Jesus was and what the Bible tells us about Him.

Happy Birthday!

We celebrated Sam's birthday last week. Meg worked super hard and made it a fun party.

What's going on at the Woodshop?

Two of the woodworkers with their families are included
in this group joining the church Cristo Rey.

I have been thinking and praying a lot about how this project is going. I actually have a lot of hope for it.  If the goal was to simply start a big business that would export furniture and make a lot of money some people might be able to say that it is failing or has failed.  But if the plan was to create a form of shaping men to be godly leaders then I think it is showing to be a huge success.  I really have felt spoiled to come in here and get to manage these guys.  They are the most responsible and reliable carpenters you could find in Peru.  The discipleship is going great and they are growing in leaps and bounds in their understanding of scripture.  It is amazing that they actually come to work thirty minutes early every day to study the bible for an hour.

Just the other day, Norvil was telling me about his future goals as I was interviewing him for the parish website blog. He said that he wants to put his own shop up in Moyobamba one day and do the same thing. He wants to teach the bible and pray before work. His wife, Flor, asked him, "What if they don't want to listen?"  His first response was that he would find other workers, but then said actually he did not want to hear it at first either. He said that for a long time he did not like to have to listen to the bible before work. He even laughed at some of the other guys who he thought were just going to church out of obligation and said that if he went it would be because he wanted to worship God not because he was obligated.  But, over time after hearing the Word more and more it started to grow on him.  He decided to start going to church and then he started feeling bad about not being married to Flor.  The Word convicted him and changed his heart so that he decided to get married and has now joined the church. Now he wants to be patient with others and teach them the Word. One of the most important things he wants to teach is that no matter how bad you have been, God can forgive you.  This is what we hoped for; that these men would take this and re-create it in other places!  

Now as the guys are making plans to form their own business and branch out it is my prayer that they will carry the torch and teach others that they bring in to work for them what they have learned about doing excellent woodwork to God's glory as well as studying what God's word teaches us about himself and worshipping Him.

Please pray that the Lord will continue working in their lives in shaping them to be leaders in this country. Also pray for them in finding a new location as our landlord is raising the rent, and please considering buying their products from the website to help them survive! 

New email update!

Peru Mission has a new email system to make it easier to send updates and for you to sign up on our mailing list.  Follow the link below to see our latest update and find a link to sign up on our mailing list.

October update!

Right now we are enjoying a wonderful stay that the Baptist Mission House in Lima. We are here in Lima in order to take care of getting our visa paperwork in order. We are preparing to take the kids to the zoo and find some other things to show them in Lima.  

We are also planning to visit a designer who has some of Parish furniture's products on display and show her some of our new designs.

New Website

Parish Furniture is redoing its website to begin selling small items. At the moment you can see pictures and descriptions of parish as well as a blog about the shop and the guys who work there.  Very soon you will be able to purchase items directly from the site.

August Update

    Wow, these past several months have flown by! Things have been extremely busy with visiting teams almost every week since June and adjusting to manage things at the wood shop. I intended to write an email update once a month and a newsletter once a quarter.  As I am carving out time to write an update, I realize it is already time for our newsletter and I missed a couple of months of updates.  I apologize that the newsletter will have to be next month. 
    First of all, I want to thank all of you for your faithful prayers and support.  We have been tremendously blessed these first several months on the mission field.  While there were some hard times with the children being sick, overall things have been great.  We are getting more and more adjusted to life here. We were also able to go on a trip to Huaraz, Peru with our summer fellows at the end of their term.  The discipleship at the wood shop has been very exciting.  There have also been some exciting challenges and adjustments with the business side of things. 

Praise and Prayer List:   

• Praise that Megumi is beginning to get more sleep now that Sam is sleeping better.
• Praise that Samuel and Satomi are both growing well and adjusting to the climate.
• Praise that the mission team visits went extremely well thanks to our short-term team coordinator, Alleen Mclain’s hard work!
• Praise that Norvil & Flor were married July 31!  Norvil is one of the woodworkers and is growing tremendously in his walk. 
• Pray for the growth of the men in the shop as we are walking through an overview of the Bible every morning before work for nearly 1 hour.  We are currently in the middle of Exodus.
• Pray for the success of gift shop sales in the States as we are gearing up to send a shipment next month and open up sales on our www.parishfurniture.com website after they have time to arrive hopefully early October!
• Pray also for other hopeful opportunities in selling furniture in the States. 
• Praise that we have received so far 3 custom orders for local construction!  This will challenge our departure date on the gift shop items but it is exciting. Pray also for continued entry into the local market as we are broadening our market in adding gift-shop items.  
• Pray for wisdom as we consider how to continue with Parish.  We are evaluating the best timing of how long to employ our woodworkers and/or transition them into their own business where we purchase their products and continue working with them in discipleship.  Pray for their development in learning how to manage business in a way that glorifies God.
• Pray also for Parish as we look for another shop location to lower costs and to be ready in case the owner fulfills his hopes of selling the property.
• Pray for Stuart’s father, Albert, as he continues to battle prostate cancer. His PSA levels are rising and they may discontinue chemotherapy. However, he feels great right now.
• Pray for Stuart’s Aunt Kathleen who recently received news of liver cancer.
• Praise that Meg’s sister is coming to visit us for two weeks!

June Update

    We are extremely grateful to all of you for your continued prayer and financial support.  Things are very exciting and busy these days. The exciting part is getting to see God provide in miraculous ways!

Here are a few updates and prayer requests as you lift us up in prayer to our faithful provider:
1. Pray for the Lord to raise up sales and/or donations to keep the Parish wood shop going.  It is out of money and the mission is graciously keeping us going in hope that the Lord will provide.
2. We had to say farewell to the Bolton family as they returned home last month.
3. Pray for me as I am learning more and more how to balance running the shop and discipleship with the woodworkers.  Things have been very busy after Chris Bolton's departure.
4. Praise that one of the men has decided to marry his "wife"! 
5. One of the other woodworkers has started taking an AutoCAD class at a local technical college, several others are interested in taking classes as well.
6. Pray for Meg as she is scrambling after two very active little children and busy hosting weekly mission trip team dinners this summer.
7. Pray also for her as she considers a possible opportunity to present a seminar at a local university.
8. Pray for the whole Peru Mission team as we are down to 3 families out of the previous 5 for this next month of hosting mission teams.

May Update

The Throne

This is a prayer from "The Valley of Vision" p.272  It is very encouraging and I want to share it with you.

 O God of My Delight,

Thy throne of grace is the pleasure ground of my soul.

Here I obtain mercy in time of need, here see the smile of thy reconciled face, here joy pleads the name of Jesus, here I sharpen the sword of the Spirit, anoint the shield of faith, put on the helmet of salvation, gather manna from thy Word, am strengthened for each conflict, nerved for the upward race, empowered to conquer every foe;

Help me to come to Christ as the fountain head of descending blessings, as a wide open flood-gate of mercy. 

I marvel at my insensate folly, that with such enriching favours within my reach I am slow to extend the hand to take them. Have mercy upon my deadness for thy Name's sake. Quicken me, stir me, fill me with holy zeal. Strengthen me that I may cling to thee and not let thee go.

May thy Spirit within me draw all blessings from thy hand.

When I advance not, I backslide.

Let me walk humbly because of good omitted and evil done.

Impress on my mind the shortness of time, the work to be engaged in, the account to be rendered, the nearness of eternity, the fearful sin of despising thy Spirit.

May I never forget that thy eye always sees, thy ear always hears, thy recording hand always writes.

May I never give thee rest until Christ is the pulse of my heart; the spokesman of my lips, the lamp of my feet.

Peru Mission update

A New Way to Support Missionaries

 Are you interested in finding beautiful handmade greeting cards?  There is a group of talented artists in Trujillo, Peru who make them from recycled paper.  This is a great new business that is helping change peoples lives.  Just check out their website, Peru Paper Greeting Cards.

Now you can also support us by buying these cards. If you put our name, MILLS, in the comments section 10% will go towards our support.

To have 10% of the purchase price of your Peru Paper order donated to one of these categories, please put the code in the "Order Instructions/Comments" (NOT the "coupon code"- this isn't a discount but to indicate to me to make the donation) section on the "Order Confirmation" page of the cart checkout.  This will let me know that you would like 10% of the total purchase price donated to CMS to the account indicated.  Peru Paper Company will make a donation at the end of each month for all of the orders we receive, and I will put a note in the order so you will know that a donation was made. 

March Update

Dear Friends and Family,
    It is hard to believe we have less than one month left in language school.  We have been working hard but it has also been a lot of fun.  Please pray for us as we unscramble our brains and learn to put to practice all that we are learning.  Even Satomi is learning a good bit of Spanish, perhaps she will be speaking more Spanish than us before we leave.  This language school is turning out to be very good.  The classes are designed to teach us the grammar and they give us tons of practice that reinforces our learning.  Then we also have one-on-one practice classes.  In my class we are working through the Bible in Spanish and learning how to write out a summary of the passages in Spanish.  It is great practice for preparing to teach the Bible in Spanish.  Meg is also improving in conversational Spanish.
    This past month has had its ups and downs.  We enjoyed a great weekend trip to visit Colca Canyon, one of Peru’s treasures. Satomi decided to see how hard she could bite down on Samuel’s fingers. Samuel learned to roll over. We have enjoyed becoming a part of a small presbyterian church here in Arequipa. We received bad news about my Father’s battle with cancer.
    Our main prayer request is specifically for my father. He started an experimental trial to treat prostate cancer the same day we left for Peru.  The treatment greatly helped the first four people in the trial but for some reason after starting the treatment in his case the cancer started to grow twice as fast.  It got to the point that they had to start radiation again in several spots on his spine for fear that the cancer may paralyze him, which disqualified him from the experimental trial. Since starting the radiation they have found another spot on his ribs.  It seems that the cancer is spreading quite fast. Please pray for him and my mother as they trust in the One who is able to heal him completely.
    Please also continue to pray for us as we learn to speak Spanish and will be traveling to Trujillo April 3rd, Lord willing.  Please continue to pray for the Parish Furniture shop that God will raise up enough funds to keep it running.  As always, please continue to pray that we would delight in Jesus and seek to glorify Him and bring others to Him.  Pray that we would remember it is not about us but about what Christ has done for us.

in the joy of resting in Christ,

Stuart Mills (for Megumi, Satomi and Samuel)

February Update

Dear Friends and Family in Christ,

One month into Spanish school, we rejoice in the Lord for all that He has blessed us with here in Arequipa, Peru.  We are very thankful to God and to all of you who are praying for us and supporting us financially.  The Lord has answered your prayers in that we arrived with all our luggage safely and provided in many ways to help us get settled in order to study Spanish.

Here are a few prayer requests (followed by a little bit more detail if you are interested & photos below):

• Spanish: maximizing study time while still spending quality time with each other and our children.
• Parish Furniture: Sales are not good because of the economy and the shop needs at least $40K to continue running another year. 
• Being good stewards of our time and resources.
• Health: there are some nasty bugs floating around here.
• My dad, Al Mills, had a bad weekend due to a bad reaction to experimental treatment for prostate cancer.
• That we would delight in Jesus and bring others to Him

Our host picked us up from the airport and brought us to his house where we are renting a 3rd floor apartment.  The family we live above has been a great blessing to us. Dennis and Ruth have been missionaries from Canada for nearly 30 years.  They helped us get our feet on the ground and threw a surprise celebration for Meg's birthday 4 days after we arrived. Then on Satomi's birthday they also invited us over for homemade pizza and cake for her.  They have been like Satomi's adopted grandparents.  They also connected us with a lady, Amelia, who helps them once a week and is now helping us watch Satomi, clean and cook lunch while we are in Spanish classes.  Amelia has been the biggest blessing for it would be almost impossible for Meg to learn Spanish with taking care of these things and the children.  

The Institute where we are studying Spanish is excellent. We are learning a lot and they are very helpful in teaching us about the culture in Peru. Please continue to pray for us to be diligent in studying Spanish and balancing life with two small children.  

We have also been spurred on by a few missionary biographies given to us by some of our family members before we left the States.  We pray the Lord will equip us to speak His Word to those around us, that our lives will be centered on delighting in Jesus and seeking to bring others to know Him.  We also pray that as you pray this for us, He will instill that same drive in all of you; to delight in Jesus and bring others to know Him.

Lastly we ask you to pray for Parish Furniture.  We are still in Arequipa studying Spanish and are looking forward to getting to Trujillo and joining in the work in the shop.  As you know the economy has been bad these last couple of years and this has affected the sales of furniture.  Parish is working on making adjustments to help but still needs at least $40,000 to keep running another year.  Please consider donating to Parish through Peru Mission to keep this vital ministry going. We are confident God has called us to Peru for a reason and we are confident that He will provide the means for what He wants to do.  Could it be that He chooses to use you to provide for His work?   I would like to have at least a year working in the shop before we make any decisions on redirecting this ministry.  Our primary goal is to make disciples of Jesus in the workplace. If God has other plans on how we do that, we are praying that we will be open to His guidance. Please pray for this as well.

in the joy of resting in Christ,

Stuart Mills and family

At Home in Arequipa!

We have made it to our new home for the next three months while we try to cram in as much Spanish as we can.  It was a long flight and we could not have made it without all the many blessings from God in so many friends and family helping us in big ways as well as meeting new friends on the airplane.  Satomi met two other toddler aged girls to entertain her, so much that she didn't sleep a wink on the flight to Lima.

I never cease to be amazed at how much God blesses us by providing people to help. I pray that we will be faithful to live out the example that has been shown us and that we will be giving and serving to others that God brings in our path.

As you continue to lift us up in prayer that God would give us grace in learning Spanish and for the children to grow and adapt to life here in Peru, I have another request for my father. 
The same day that we left for Peru, he was scheduled to start the first stage of this clinical trial to fight prostate cancer. Please pray for him and my mother as they go through these next three months travelling back and forth to Houston.

Now we are off to catch up on sleep!