Arthur & Mary Alice Ivey 

Jr. San Jose 454

Urb. San Carlos

Huancayo, Peru

 

011-51-64-21-21-52

E-mail:  acivey@mindspring.com

Website:  www.iveymission.org

 

December 31, 2006

 

 

"Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings."  

Isaiah 58:12 NIV

 

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

 

     Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.  We praise the Lord God for all He is doing in our lives and in the ministry here in Peru, for filling us with His Holy Spirit to guide and direct each of our steps, and for pouring out His grace upon us through His precious Son, Jesus Christ. We hope and pray that He has been blessing you wonderfully during this past month and that your life has been filled with His glorious riches and mercy.  We want to give you a special thanks for your continued prayers for us and support of the ministry in Peru.  We definitely see the results of your prayers for us and for the ministry here.  You are special people called by our Lord Jesus Christ to minister to His children.  Thank you for your faithfulness to His calling.  Thank you for your love for Him, for us, and for His children.

 

     The Lord Jesus Christ continues to advance the ministry and bring the Kingdom of Heaven to Peru.  New ministry opportunities continue to open up for us, and the Lord is continuing to bring new workers into the harvest.  Everyday we must trust in Jesus to provide for the great spiritual and material needs that face us.  It would be easy to become dismayed, if it were not for the Lord answering the prayers of the saints offered up on our behalf.  

 

     The Discipleship Ministry is continuing to grow.  We had our third gathering of the year with over 260 in attendance. Because of the growth of the ministry we had to move to a larger facility called Colombino.  The praise and worship team lead the event and a number of the pastors that are involved with us participated in different parts of the program.  Pastor Gonzalo Hualcus shared the meditation, which the Lord used to bless us all.  A group from the Quechua community participated by leading some praise and worship in Quechua using traditional regional music.  We were blessed to have our first third generation discipleship group from Sapallanga led by brother Javier present with us.  

 

 

Part of the group sharing lunch at the Gathering

 

     Genaro and Luis, missionaries to Shiringamazu in the low jungle, returned home to Huancayo just after Christmas.  They reported that not only were 70 persons now involved in discipleship in Shiringamazu, but that community leaders had been sharing in other places in the valley and now some 200 or more people in Villa America and Conas, towns approximately 7 hours walk from Shiringamazu, also want to be involved in the discipleship process. 

 

     Manuel Villar and Arthur were able to begin coordinating with Pablo Villogas and Terry Smith of the Summer Institute of Linguistics to begin developing a program for church planting and leadership development in the Pachitea region among the Quechua Panao people.  Since Terry and Pablo are translating the Bible into Quechua Panao language, they will be able to translate our discipleship materials, also.  Manuel speaks this dialect of Quechua and lives near the region, has planted over 300 churches in his lifetime, and is accustomed to training leaders within their local setting.  Asbury United Methodist Church from Madison, Alabama has been working with Arthur in Huancayo and Terry Smith among the Quechua Panao and are also willing to partner with us in this project.  In fact, this work will probably occur because of their initiative to get Arthur and Terry together last year during a literacy workshop among the Quechua Panao people that they sponsored and participated in.  

 

     As the work increases so does the need for workers.  Todd Weeks, a mission intern with The Mission Society, has been helping us since August of 2006.  He has decided to extend his stay until April.  Todd has been leading two special groups of young men in an in-depth study of sexual purity and Biblical standards for healthy relationships.  We are working to try to increase these studies, especially among the youth and young adults, but lack prepared workers.   The first of December Justin Grogg, a one year missionary with The Mission Society, arrived in Huancayo.  Justin will teach English in the Colegio El Camino and work with toward evangelizing and discipling the students and their families.  Billy and Laurie Drum, and their children Ryan, Miles, and Sara,  came for a pre-field visit and spent Christmas with us.  They are preparing to respond to God's call to serve in Peru as full time career missionaries with The Mission Society.  They are currently raising support and hope to attend language school starting in the later part of 2007 so that they can begin serving in Peru in late 2008.  Please give thanks to God for and pray for each one of these precious people as they are a great help in the work here. As the Kingdom expands here, so does the need for workers; please keep praying for the Lord to call workers for the harvest.

 

  

The Drum family: Billy, Laurie, Ryan, Miles, and Sara 

 

     December also made obvious the ever present change in our lives.  Susan Velarde Chavez, one of our very special youth graduated with her degree in Early Childhood education this year.  She will be teaching in the Colegio El Camino next year giving us another strong Christian witness among the students there.  Even more precious, our oldest son, Benjaimin, graduated from high school, and our daughter was promoted from elementary school to high school.  Benjamin graduated first place academically in his class, and Joshua and Mary Beth finished the school year in second place in their classes.   We praise the Lord Jesus for his presence in the lives of our children and for upholding them through the challenging years of their youth.  Please continue to be in prayer for them and especially for Benjamin as he transitions to a new phase in his life.  

 

  

Benjamin, Mary Beth, Arthur, Mary Alice and Joshua    

     

     Please continue to be in prayer for the continued growth in the ministries here in Peru, especially in the Canta Valley, Huancayo, Palcazu, Pelmaz, Bermudez, Shiringamazu,  Sambillo Alto, Rio Azul Ugarteche, San Augustine, KM 40 and Tinahuani.  Also, pray for the ministries in Huancayo, especially the Colegio El Camino. Please continue to pray that the Holy Spirit would continue to awaken and change hearts among the young adults of Huancayo.  Please give praise to the Lord for bringing us additional persons called to be part of the missionary team in Peru.  Covenant with us to continue in prayer for the young adult leadership team and their continued ministry to the spiritually lost and dying youth of Huancayo.  Please pray for the leaders of  the churches in Peru, and for their spiritual protection and growth in the Lord Jesus.  Also be in prayer for Obed and Cynthia Alvarez, the head of Mision-AMEN, as well as their other leaders and missionaries.  Please pray for our safety as we travel, and that we will boldly speak God's Word wherever we go.

 

    We pray that God is drawing you closer and closer to Him every day. God bless you.  We love you.

 

 

  Yours in Christ,

  

  Arthur, Mary Alice, Benjamin, Joshua, and Mary Beth Ivey

  The Mission Society Missionaries to Peru

 

 

 

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The Mission Society                                                      P.O. Box 922637                                                        Norcross, Georgia 30010-2637