Events of July & August
Church Ministry News
As our time in Peru for this term came to a close, so did my teaching of the series on I John on Sunday nights. The emphasis point that I tried to make from I John is to abide in Him. If we are abiding in Him, we cannot sin as He cannot sin. We sin when we are drawn away of our own lust trying to rush ahead of God, falling behind, or turning to the right or to the left. Abiding in Him is a daily, continual process of dying to self, letting His Word abide in us, renewing our mind taking every thought captive, obeying His commands to love Him and others (in His love) and praying and singing to Him.
As one of the leaders of the church, I was requested to once again visit the mission work that the church had in Caraz, a smaller city in the mountains of Peru. Two of us traveled up to survey the property that the church has purchased for a future church and to help the mission as it goes through a transition in leadership. Please be in prayer for this small mission work that has gone through some hard times that God will help them through this transition and for the sending church that they will have wisdom in fulfilling their responsibilities to the mission work.
A mother in the church approached me after one of the services and requested that I meet with her son who was having questions about the Christian faith. He is preparing to go to college and being taught a worldview which is opposed to Christ. When I talked to him, he told me that he also had two unsaved friends with whom he studies that also had questions. I met with them a copule of times for around three hours each time talking about Christ, our sinful nature, our need for a Savior and evidences to consider for Christ and His Word. We were scheduled to meet one more time before I came back to the States but the meeting fell through. Please be praying for these three young men that God will open their hearts and minds. There is a possibility that another missionary will be continuing where I left off.
On Saturday evenings, I continued teaching the evangelism course for the church in Musa. As part of the course, we split up and went around handing out tracts and talking to people. The goal is to help each of the church members to see their responsibility, equip them and then encourage them to witness. I was able to present the gospel to two young men during this time. One of them was a young man watching over his store. The other young man had just finished setting up a location for a special birthday party and was just waiting outside of the venue. We don’t always see immediate fruit but we know that God’s Word will not return void. I try not to force a decision as I know that it is the Lord’s conviction and not my persuasion that is needed. We are not called to save anyone, because we can’t. But we can obey God’s command to preach the gospel and then leave the results to Him.
Joy Thompson, one of my former students who had come to Peru with us 4 times on missions trips, visited us with her husband, Neil. On one of the Sundays of their stay with us, we visited one of the churches that we had worked with during our missions trips. I had the priveledge to preach in the morning service and then we enjoyed a special time of fellowship savoring a Peruvian potluck from the different regions of Peru.
As we have ministered in Peru, my family has mostly ministered behind the scenes as they have worked on learning Spanish. To finish off this term, we prepared a special family presentation consisting of songs and skits that we could present in three churches. The comments that we received after the services were very encouraging. Some were surprised at how much Spanish Julia, Amy and JD were able to speak. We praise the Lord for using us in this way to encourage others to overcome fears and use what God gives you to serve Him.
School Ministry News
God allowed me the opportunity to work with the teachers of a small Christian school in Manchay training their teachers in having a biblical worldview. We spent three afternoons together for two hours each time and then I had the opportunity to talk to a couple of them individually giving further advice and encouragement. There is a big need in helping these Chrisitian schools.
Creating an internet based software package is time consuming. I have been able to make some progress with the school administration system that will be offered to the network of Christian schools in Peru. This will be one component of what we intend to offer to help the Christian schools in Lima be better equipped in their goals of training young people to serve God and reaching families for Him.
Furlough
After packing things up, placing them in storage or loaning them out to others and finding homes for our pets, we returned to the States on August 22nd and have begun our Stateside ministry. Please pray that the Lord will connect us with the right partners during this time. We are looking to return to Peru in July of 2015.