Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

 

     Greetings in the name of our precious Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  We praise the Lord Jesus for having so wonderfully blessed us and for having sent his Holy Spirit to guide and teach us. We hope and pray that He has been blessing you wonderfully and that your life has been filled with His grace.  Thank you for your continued prayers for us and support of the ministry here in Peru.  We definitely see the results of you praying for us.  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.

 

     July has been a busy, but rewarding month.  We were blessed to have three teams from the States work with us this month.  One team was a construction and evangelism team from Lewis Memorial UMC in Augusta, Georgia, one was a medical team from Frazer Memorial UMC in Montgomery, Alabama and the third was a Discipleship team from Sugar Hill UMC in Sugar Hill, Georgia. The team from Lewis Memorial UMC helped to construct bathrooms and a security wall for the church in San Jeronimo.  They worked on the construction in the mornings and in the afternoons put on a Bible School for the children of the community.  The Bible School started the first day with approximately 150 children and grew to over 400 by the end of the week. The team had prepared for an average attendance of only 200 and had to depend on good management and the provision of the Lord Jesus Christ to have enough supplies for the week.  God is always faithful to provide the resources to complete the work he calls us to, and the supplies were sufficient to complete the week.  The best news is that the weekly Kid's Club that we had started in San Jeronimo has grown from an average of 30 children weekly to 150 as a result of this event.

 

      

First Day's Bible School in San Jeronimo. 

 

    The medical team from Frazer Memorial UMC worked in the jungle city of Satipo.  During their week of ministry they provided medical attention to around 2000 persons.  The group also provided eyeglasses to aid many who could not see well. Each one of these persons also received spiritual counseling, which resulted in over 500 first time professions of faith in Jesus Christ.  Terrorism was strong in Peru as few as five years ago and the terrorist groups still exist.  In the jungle, the Shinning Path Terrorist group still operates to a limited extent.  A few of the patients made it known to us that they were involved in the terrorist activity.  We pray that the treatment and love shown to them during their visit to the medical event will be an agent for change among this group.

   

Team member providing treatment to a mother and child in Satipo.

 

     The discipling team from Sugar Hill UMC helped to make possible the first district wide youth retreat in recent history for the youth of the Sierra and Selva District.  Youth leadership representing each church within the district, including one of our Kid's Clubs and our Thursday night cell groups, attended this event.  In all there were 150 persons in attendance.  Many of the pastors attended as counselors and indicated that they received a great deal of benefit and spiritual growth from the event as well.  The team from Sugar Hill prepared and presented the teachings on subjects, such as evangelism, spiritual disciplines, and relationship building.  The district youth leaders did an excellent job in the planning and preparation of the event.  We were blessed to see the fruit being produced by these leaders, that we have worked with over the last two years, as they demonstrated through their actions toward others the meaning of  "servant-leader".

 

 

District youth that attended the Youth Retreat.

 

    Please be in prayer for us during the month of August as we again have to renew our visas.  Each year this is a challenge and this year the challenge promises to be even greater.  The process can take as few as three days or can last several weeks requiring significant travel. 

 

   Again we want to thank you for all your support and prayers.  Please continue to pray for the church here in Peru. Please pray for our discipleship groups and the attacks against them.  Please pray for the children and young people that are part of the ministries here, for the tension in the churches, and for the church leaders.  Pray for the Lord to enable us to train more church leaders, cell pastors, and church pastors. Please pray for the leaders of the church here:  Bishop Marco Ochoa, and District Superintendents Jose Bustamante and David Figueroa.  Please pray for our safety as we travel, our continued adjustment and ability to understand the Peruvian culture, 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

                                                                                                                                    Missionaries to Peru