Arthur & Mary Alice Ivey

Arthur & Mary Alice Ivey

Jr. San Jose 454

Urb. San Carlos

Huancayo, Peru

011-51-64-21-21-52

March 31, 2006

"May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them as even as you have loved me. " John 17:23 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.

March in Peru is the beginning of the school year. Those that attend school and the universities become burdened with heavy work schedules and often are unable to participate in the ministries as consistently as they would like to. This presents a special challenge for us in trying to make the ministries as accessible as possible. We have had a decrease in attendance in the numbers of youth and young adults at our Friday night prayer gathering, but we have seen a corresponding increase in adult participation. We are blessed to see the Lord continuing to bring a group with various differences together to pray and worship. We not only have folks from different church backgrounds, but different social backgrounds, as well, and now we are seeing an increase in the age range of those participating that spans from the early teens to the late 70's. We have been praying for the destruction of demonic strongholds in the city of Huancayo. Many of the participants have now begun to join us in fasting on Fridays for the spiritual liberation of the people of Huancayo. We have seen significant changes in attitude and ministry in one church that we work with and have been praying for, and increased growth in some of the others.

Benjamin had been leading the praise and worship for our Friday night prayer meeting. The Lord has been blessing this part of our ministry as well. We now have some new ministry associates, Alberto Fernandez and his wife, Karen. Alberto plays the keyboard and is an excellent Bible teacher and pastor. Karen has experience in medicine, campus ministry and is a drummer. We unfortunately don't have any drums yet for her to play. Alberto and Karen will be a great help to Arthur in maintaining consistency in the ministry in Huancayo when he is traveling, which is about 50% of the time. Two other young men have joined our praise group, also, Jorge and Jose. We now have Benjamin and Jorge on acoustic guitar, Jose on the electric guitar, Joshua on the base, Alberto on the keyboard, Karen singing, and Mary Alice running the Power Point for the words to the music.

Alberto and Karen Fernedez and their son Sebastian.

Mary Alice is teaching English in the Colegio El Camino this year. She is teaching students from kindergarten to sixth grade. Since her background is early childhood education, this is a special blessing to her. She is not only able to teach English, but is able to do it with a strong emphasis in the Bible. She wants to reach the students for Christ, and hopes also to have opportunities to influence their parents for Christ as well. Joshua has started a small discipleship group with four other boys from his classes and is teaching the same material we use in our discipleship ministries. Two of his friends regularly attend the Friday night prayer group.

Mary Alice and the sixth grade English class.

The Lord Jesus has continued to deepen people's experience of the Holy Spirit and their relationship with Him. We have 35 people in our discipleship groups that are studying hard to become mentors for new believers. They are excited and energized by the truth that they are receiving and many are expressing a new found freedom in their relationship with the Lord Jesus. Several have started discipling others already and we know that we have at least 80 others being discipled by those that are learning from us. Our groups meet on Tuesday nights, Wednesday mornings, and Wednesday nights. Many of the participants have commented that these studies and group participation have brought freedom to their lives in ways that they have never experienced before. "And you will know the truth and the truth will set you free." Jesus is revealing Himself in deeper and deeper ways to those that are participating in these groups. We are also in the process of forming more of these groups. Please be in prayer for this ministry and for those who are involved.

Arthur and the Wednesday night discipleship group.

Arthur returned to the states for a week to participate in the World Mission Event at Sugar Hill United Methodist Church. He also had opportunities to share at Dalton First United Methodist Church and at Varnell United Methodist Church. This trip, also allowed us to bring back a large number of discipleship books for the ministry here in Peru. We also continued the design and planning for two construction projects, The Center for Production and Renewal in the Canta Valley and the construction of classrooms for the church in Tres Esquinas.

We are currently in a period of political change in Peru. A new president and new government leaders are being elected. There is a candidate that is popular that if elected could set the country of Peru back in its development, cause an increase in violence, and eliminate the current democracy. This candidate is very nationalistic and wants to expel foreign entities from the country. This could include us. Please be in prayer for the nation of Peru and that God would put in place the government that He wants.

Please continue to be in prayer for the continued growth in the ministries here in Peru, especially in the Canta Valley, Huancayo, Palcazu, Bermudez, and Sharingamazu. 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