Arthur & Mary Alice Ivey 

770-424-6783

E-mail:  acivey@mindspring.com

Website:  www.iveymission.org

 

May 31, 2005

 

 

"After a time of greeting and small talk, Paul told the story, detail by detail, of what God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. " Acts 21:19  The Message

 

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

 

     Greetings in the name of our precious Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  We praise the Lord God for having sent His Son, Jesus Christ, who has 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 during this past month and that your life has been filled with His grace 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.  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.

 

     We are identifying a little more with Paul.  We have not suffered as he did, but he did have to return to Jerusalem to report to his home church what God was doing through his missionary ministry, and we have been doing the same.  Thanks be to the Lord Jesus Christ, when we return home we do not have to face imprisonment, as Paul did, but have really enjoyed having the opportunity to form new relationships and renew older ones.  We have been loved, blessed, and encouraged by many of you in the churches we have visited.  During May we continued to visit and share in churches about what Jesus Christ has been doing in Peru and to raise support for our return.  Our pledged support has reached a level of approximately 70% of our projected budget.  We have scheduled our return to Peru for October 26, 2005 and have begun some of the initial preparations for going back.  We have had the chance to talk with more potential missionary candidates about working with us in Peru and ask that you be in prayer for them as they seek God's guidance.  We still have work to do with the home office to prepare for the future work of the Mission Society in Peru.  Arthur is trying to make some repairs to our house so that we can rent it while we are in Peru.  Please pray for Arthur to have time to complete this and for us to be able to find a suitable renter.   Arthur, also, must take continuing education to maintain his professional engineering licenses.  He was able to take one of the courses this month on Seismic design of Concrete Structure.  Please continue to prayer for our support raising, and for the recruiting of additional missionaries. 

 

     We have been sharing about the ministry in Peru with our individual and church partners, and will continue to do so throughout our time here.  During May we finished our time in Paintsville, Kentucky and took a few days of family rest time at Lake Junaluska.  Mr. and Mrs. Alan Bly were generous enough to offer us their condominium there for this time period.  We spent Mother's Day weekend visiting with both Grandmothers.  After Mother's Day we were back on the road to share at Rock Springs United Methodist Church in Rock Spring, Georgia,  Lewis Memorial United Methodist Church in Evans, Georgia, and Owl Rock United Methodist Church in Ben Hill, Georgia.  We were blessed to enjoy the hospitality of many generous folks who opened their homes to us and provided a place to stay and meals while we were traveling.  In June we will be sharing at St. Stephens United Methodist Church in Marietta, Georgia and Douglasville First United Methodist Church in Douglasville, Georgia.  Obed and Cynthis Alvarez will be here from Lima Peru to meet with Arthur and the folks from the home office about future work in Peru, also. 

 

      We have worked hard this month with the medical teams and those in Peru to arrange for this years medical mission teams.  We believe that by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we have met this year's challenges, and the importation of medical supplies will move ahead.  Genaro Puente, Luisa Cardenes, and Obed and Cynthia Alvarez have worked hard to arrange all of the logistics in Palcazu and Canta.  The Peruvian support, translation, and evangelism teams are forming.  The Peruvian part of the teams are usually 1 1/2 to 2 times the size of the US contingent.  Contracts for food, lodging, and transportation are being finalized.  Please be in prayer for all of the persons and the planning involved in these events.  Pray for the Holy Spirit to prepare the way, and to prepare the hearts of the people to be served to receive the Lord Jesus Christ.  Our first team will be arriving in Peru to work in Palcazu on June 17th.  Please bath them in your prayers and pray that the Lord Jesus will make straight their path.  Pray especially for Pastor Bruce Nettleton and Ted Pass as they have the leadership responsibility for this team. 

 

  

     We have a wonderful opportunity to further the work in Peru and all of Latin and South America coming up in late August.  The World Parish Division of the Mission Society will be conducting its first Latin American Mission Mobilization event in Costa Rica.  Arthur will be there hopefully with some of the folks from Peru.  We currently have six scheduled to attend - Victor, Graciela, Carlos, David, Daniel, and Zulema.  Please be in prayer that God would use this event to further empower each of them as they are each key leaders in the ministries in Peru. This event has been given a matching funds grant.  These funds will provide a way for participants from all over Latin and South America to attend.  Please pray for this event, and, if the Lord Jesus leads you to give an extra one time gift for this event, please do so as it will be matched dollar for dollar.  You can send gifts made payable to "The Mission Society" and designated "World Parish Ministries - International Ministry" to the address at the bottom of this letter. 

 

     Please continue to be in prayer with us as we continue to raise support to return to Peru.   If the Lord leads you to partner financially with us in this ministry, you can send gifts made payable to "The Mission Society" and designated "Ivey Support  254/IA" to the address shown at the bottom of this letter.  Please also pray that we can find 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 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

 

 

 

*** IMPORTANT NOTICE***

      We will be in the United States until late October 2005 to raise additional support in order to return for an additional 4 or 5 years to work in the ministry in Peru.  We will also be using this time to recruit new missionaries for the work in Peru.  If you would like to have us share with your church, Sunday school class, in your mission conference,  or other group, we would love to hear from you in order to schedule a time to visit. Our U.S. contact information is at the top of this newsletter.

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