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THE NEWS of LATE

Lots to say about the ‘goings-on’ here in Peru…seriously, things have been going 100 miles a minute and we love it. To keep from being long-winded, here’s the info in a to-the-point format:

~ The church body continues to grow numerically and, much more important, spiritually. Regular weekly Bible-studies are nurturing a number of faith journeys.

~ We’ve loved having 4 interns from Texas A&M University over the past 6 months! They have been a good shot-in-the-arm for the faith community, especially for our active, servant-minded college-aged group. We’ll also have 4 new interns set to arrive in August (2 from ACU & 2 from A&M). They’ll be with us for 9 months.

~ We’ve rented a new facility that we’ll use in a number of ways…all with a goal of maximizing our involvement in the Peruvians’ lives. Some of these ways are:

*Administrative offices for our non-governmental organization called Aliento de Vida which focuses on nurturing healthy families, marriages and combating the situations in Peru that have led to its high rate of domestic violence.

* Site for regular marriage seminars, church services, Bible studies, and youth nights.

* Local ‘hang-out’ where people are welcome to check their email, study for classes, enjoy a cup of coffee and a great conversation, relax, be encouraged & simply connect with other people.

* A place to mobilize La Mano de Dios which is our church’s efforts to conduct service projects throughout the community. The needs of Peru are tremendous and, as a church, we feel like we should try to do something about it.

THINGS to be PRAYING ABOUT

~ Our team is conducting a fund raising campaign with fine-artist Rolando Diaz (www.rodiaz.com) in an effort to raise awareness and funding for the work in Peru. If you live in the Dallas area (or are willing to drive in), please consider supporting us by attending this event or helping financially. Click here for the info.

~ Travel: many on the team are traveling or will be traveling in the coming months for either furlough or vacation. Prayers for safe travels and refreshing times would be great.

~ Our families: can I be ‘extra’ honest here? We are doing well but its not always easy. Lima’s big and pulluted. Winter is cold and dreary. We miss our families and our friends. We miss BBQ and Panera Bread bagels (referring to the ladies on the team here). We miss easy conversations in English. We miss carpeted floors and houses without bars and electric fences. But again, and I mean this, we are doing well…somedays, though, are much better than others. As for our 10 precious children, they are growing up so fast: we’ve got 1 first-grader, 2 that will start kindergarten in the coming months, 4 in an early preschool program and 3 more that are now learning to walk and talk. You guessed it…ts crazy around here sometimes.

~ Those new and old in their faith. May the Lord’s spirit in our lives remain fresh and active as we follow Him in Peru.

~ Team health: Winter is here and the sniffles (and flu and sinus issues and cough and…) are all back in full force.

PERU NOTE of INTEREST

~ Peruvians recently elected their next president. Its been an interesting time in the sense that he is considered to be a socialist and closely connected to Venezuela’s President Chavez. Only the Lord knows what will happen but this has proven to be a huge event in Peru. Click here for an interesting news article.

YOU

You mean a lot to us and the times you send us a note or leave comments on our blog, facebook, website, etc. make our day. Thank you for taking the time to follow the story down here. Thank you for caring about us and our dear Peruvian brothers and sisters. Check out the links to our blogs to both contact us and to know more about the great things going on down here. . Also, click here to see a collection of team videos.