December Prayer Letter

Dear friends and family,
Hello!! Merry Christmas to you all!! Most of you probably have snow by this time, at least all of you that are in the Mid-West, but it is just getting hot down here. We are just now entering our summer. So when you drink your hot chocolate and scrape your car windows, think of me. =) Really, thinking of the real meaning of Christmas is something challenging to me. God is teaching me a lot lately about servant hood, and Christ coming to this earth is the perfect example of a true act of servitude. God is teaching me that I need to serve Him before I serve man and others. My actions need to be out of my love for Him primarily. Also, I am learning a lot about serving with my whole heart and not just my lips or my hands.
I saw an excellent example of this in the jungle. Right after I wrote last, we had our jungle trip. Ten or so of us from Buenas Nuevas took a bus for 24 hours to get to Moyobamba, a place in the northern part of Peru. We also visited Nueva Cajamarca (Ucrania), and Bagua Grande. We held the services and did kid’s clubs in the streets. Our trip was made complete on the ride in the combi (a van which should have held fifteen people) with 21 people and two chickens for 5 to 6 hours. God provided for us on this trip and we were able to see over ten people accept Christ as their personal Savior. What a blessing for the Lord to allow us to take part in His work here! One thing that really encouraged me on this trip was the people of Ucrania. They were so friendly and they served so willingly. We went there with the mindset to serve them, and yet they served us. They served with their whole hearts. Another encouragement to me was how they sang. They sang the songs differently than we are used to, but we could tell that they were singing with their whole heart, not just to sing it. I was reminded about how important it is to do things from the heart as it says in Ephesians 6:6-7. “Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart; With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men:” They were a great encouragement, and I believe that our trip to the jungle changed each of us that went in some way or another. We left with a burden in our hearts for this area. There are only ten or so Baptist churches in a very large area, and Pastor Evelio is working on a program to help train Pastors and leaders in this area so that new churches may be planted and the work can grow. As Pastor kept saying, “The fields are white for harvest.”
After we had our jungle trip we were back in Lima for several days and then took off again, this time headed south to Cusco. We helped the Whatleys in Cusco. Before leaving, Mr. Carlton (our head missionary down here from Baptist Mid-Missions) told us that we would basically be tourists and just observing the churches. Well, I am thankful that it wasn’t that way. We ended up working most of the time that we were down there, and we were very happy to help out. We attended a funeral on Saturday afternoon after we arrived in the Cusco area. It was interesting to see the way they do things down here, and also the difference between funerals for believers and non-believers. We ran Jóvenes (the youth group) in Urubamba (which means “land of spiders” in Quechua, not very encouraging) on Saturday night. On Sunday morning, we led the first part of the service for the church that Tom and Barb Whatley have in their house in Harín. Annette and I were able to talk with the girl Sunday School class for the Sunday School hour. On Sunday night we ministered in the church of national pastor, Pastor Rubén, in Calca. We also did the chapel service for the seminary in Urubamba and were able to help out with some little things like painting and helping out the Whatleys with things around the house.
On Thursday and Friday we did some sight-seeing. We went to Machu Picchu, the ancient Incan ruin, and we took a tour of the city and outskirts of Cusco. It was a good trip and I was very thankful to be able to see the difference once again between the different regions of Peru. Cusco is in the mountain region. There is a big difference in the way people think and act and their lifestyles in all of the different regions, and therefore it is necessary to have different methods of ministry to reach them.
As we are getting deeper into our months of ministry and language learning, we are gaining more responsibilities. I am now in charge of the kid’s club in Portada 1 in Manchay, the one that we started a few months back. I also have the opportunity to give the lesson every Saturday night for the ladies in Jóvenes Mayores (ages 18 and up). I am excited to get started with these ministries.
We recently had two young men get baptized, Henry and Johan. It is exciting to see people growing in their walks with Christ. Henry is a young man who is very excited to do things for Christ, and he keeps growing despite the fact that his parents pressure him against it.
Thank you all so much for all of your prayers and support! It is wonderful and encouraging to know that there are a lot of people back in the States praying for us down here. Thanks! Also, I am still short some of my funding for this year, so please pray and consider supporting me financially if you are able to.

Prayer Requests:
-The churches in the jungle and selva that we have visited
-The kid’s clubs (that the kids would come faithfully and hear the Gospel and accept Christ)
-The church in Manchay that is branching off to hold services on its own at the end of this month with the missionary Mr. Carlton as its pastor
- The group ARRIBA! and our preparations as we are going to be working at camps and going on two more trips to the jungle this summer
-There is some division between some of the believers in the Manchay church
-Financial support for all the members of ARRIBA!