Dear Friends
and Family,
We pray you
have a blessed Christmas time as you celebrate the birth of Jesus. We are happy to be able to take this
opportunity to share what the Lord has been doing in our lives. This has been a year of changes and of
trusting in the Lord. God has been good
to us, and we praise him because he is always faithful.
The first
four months of the year were spent in Peru, as we continued to work in
evangelism and preaching the gospel in the small churches outside of Lima. One of the highlights from that time was
being able to host the first ever retreat for the young men from the
church. We were blessed to see the way
the Lord miraculously worked out all the details to make it possible. We also had a special time of baptism in the
river. The members of these churches
became very dear to us, and it was sad to say goodbye to them.
In May,
however, we boarded a plane and returned to the United States. Since we didn’t have the necessary support to
continue in Peru, we made the decision to come back to Oregon and wait on what
the Lord would have for us to do next.
Although it was hard to leave Peru, it has also been wonderful to see
the ways that the Lord has worked things out for us here. God led us to a great church and through them
He has provided us with a home to live in for this first year. It was amazing to see how the Lord gave us
everything we needed to furnish the home within a week of moving in. He is certainly a big God, who takes care of even the smallest details.
The kids are
excited to be back in the US again, but at the same time they miss Peru as
well. We continue to enjoy
homeschooling, but it certainly keeps us busy with a 7th grader, 5th
grader, 3rd grader, Kindergartener and a preschooler. This fall we also added soccer to the
schedule. The four oldest kids were all
on teams and had a lot of fun, although it was a bit hectic getting everyone to
all of the practices and games.
As we look
to 2014, we are excited to see what God has in store for us. Our desire is to return to the mission field
and be involved in ministry full time.
Please pray with us that:
·
In
his time, God would open the doors for us to work in missions.
·
God
would give us wisdom as we look into different mission agencies. Pray that He would guide us to a place that
would be a good fit for everyone involved.
·
For
God’s provision now and for the future as we think about raising up a team of
partners to join us in the ministry.
We pray that
each one of you will be filled with God’s joy and peace during this Christmas
season. This year, God reminded me to
rejoice in the victory that we have through the birth of Jesus. His birth is a powerful time of fulfilled
prophecies and of God bringing the hope of salvation to his creation. May we each grab onto the victory that we
have in Jesus and praise him for it this Christmas. “But
thanks be to God! He gives us the
victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
I Cor. 15:57
God bless
you and Merry Christmas,
Junior, Kristen, Alexis (12), Diego
(10),
Lucas (8), Josh (6) and Jonathan (3)
