Arthur & Mary Alice Ivey
Jr. San Jose 454
Urb. San Carlos
Huancayo, Perú
011-51-64-21-21-52
E-mail: acivey@mindspring.com
Website: www.iveymission.org
March 31, 2008
“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: This is the message from the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand and who walks among the seven gold lamp stands. I know what you have done; I know how hard you have worked and how patient you have been. You are patient, you have suffered for my sake, and you have not given up. But this is what I have against you; you do not love me now as you did at first. Think how far you have fallen! Turn from your sins and do what you did at first.” Revelations 2:1, 2a, 3-5a.
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 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 was a very busy and productive month. The first of the month, Benjamin and Arthur participated in the President’s Gathering in Florida. This gathering is an annual event of the Mission Society in which the leaders invite people that they think will be touched by God to become partners with them in participating in and supporting the work that God does through His people in The Mission Society. Missionaries from several fields shared about what God was doing in their lives and in the lives of the people that they work with.
Arthur and Benjamin at The President’s Gathering
Later in the month, Alberto, Arthur, and Mary Alice had the privilege of going to Pachachupan to host a Leadership Training Event for various pastors and leaders in the area that were interested in leading Discipleship Groups. Sixteen leaders came from the several cities including Panao, Huanuco, Pachuchapan, Acamayo, and Molino. The leaders were very excited about starting discipleship groups in their communities. Some of them had already started groups, but were teaching the material in large groups, instead of small groups. Pastor Alberto encouraged them to teach in smaller groups, because it is so much more effective. Plans were discussed to train leaders that spoke Quechua Panao and Spanish, so that in the future they could lead groups in the native Panao language. Please pray for the pastors and leaders in this area, so that they will become effective Discipleship leaders that will train more people to do the same. Also, please pray for Pablo Villogas as he translates the discipleship materials into the Quechua Panao language. Please also be in prayer for Terry and Karla Smith as they finish the translation of the New Testament in Quechua Panao and for its publication in 2009.
Pablo, Edmin and Hilmar during break at leadership training.
God provided another team from the U.S. to conduct a medical campaign, Centenary Methodist Church, from McComb, Mississippi, led by Ashley Atkinson. The Casa de Oración Quechua Church in Chilca hosted the event. The doctors attended more than 1300 people in four days. It was very fruitful for the Kingdom of God because there were 517 professions of faith, and thanks to the team, each new believer was given a Bible. We appreciate all the hard work that the team from the U.S. and the Peruvian team did to make this event so fruitful, and we appreciate all of your prayers for this event. Please be in prayer for the follow-up process with the new believers and that we would be able to quickly incorporate them into the discipleship program. Please also pray that the team from the U.S. and the Peruvian team will continue to grow in their relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ and that He will continue to use each one of them in a mighty way.
Praying to receive Christ during medical campaign.
We have found as missionaries that it is very important to maintain an intimate relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Many Christians, including us at times, get so busy doing God’s work that we don’t take enough time just to be still before God, to pray to Him, and to worship Him alone. This time with God should be the most important time of each day, because we can only do the work of God through an intimate relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. God is encouraging us personally to form a deeper relationship with Him. He wants to be our first love forever. How is your relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you really know Him? Is He your true friend or are you just going to church because everyone else does?
There are different kinds of relationships that we can develop with the Lord Jesus. First of all, when we accept Jesus, we have a Potter-Clay relationship in which we are ready to be molded and changed by God. Later, we can form a Shepherd-Sheep relationship, in which we depend on God for our daily needs, as a sheep depends on a shepherd. If we keep growing in Christ, we will form a Master-Servant relationship in which we want to please God by obeying Him and by doing the works that He has called us to do. We can form an even deeper relationship with God when we have a Friend-Friend relationship with Him in which we realize that God loves us for who we are, not for what we do. In this relationship, we learn to enjoy just being with Him, like we enjoy being with our close friends. In the Father-Son or The Father-Daughter relationship, we even develop more trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. More than anything, God wants us to have a Groom-Bride relationship with Him. We are the bride of Christ, and God wants us to be passionate about Him, and love Him with all our hearts.
The apostle Paul was a great example for us, because he loved the Lord Jesus Christ with all his heart. He suffered a tremendous amount of persecution, but he continued to testify about the wonderful love of Jesus. He wrote in his letter to the Philippians, “I do not claim that I have already succeeded or have already become perfect. I keep striving to win the prize for which Christ Jesus has already won me to himself. Of course, my friends, I really do not think that I have already won it; the one thing I do, however, is to forget what is behind me and do my best to reach what is ahead. So I run straight toward the goal in order to win the prize, which is God’s call through Christ Jesus to the life above.” Philippians 3:12-14. We encourage you to continue growing in your personal relationship with Christ, and let Him become and continue to be your first love forever. You’ll never regret it!
Please be in prayer for each one of our workers and for each one of the ministries and projects, the discipleship ministry, the evangelism and church planting ministry, the prayer ministry, and the work to self sustain these ministries. Please continue to pray for financial support for the ministries both from Peruvian sources and U.S. sources. Please continue to be in prayer for the continued growth in the ministries in the Canta Valley, Palcazu, Pelmaz,
Bermudez, Shiringamazu, Villa América, Iscosazin, Huánuco, Panao, Molinos, Ambo, Acamayo, Tinahuani, Puno, San Martín de Pango, San Ramón, and Puente Paucartambo. Also, pray for the ministries in Huancayo, especially the Friday night Prayer and evangelism ministry, the Colegio El Camino and the Jesus Es El Maestro High School. 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 NEWMA, as well as their other leaders and national 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
******
The Mission Society P.O. Box 922637 Norcross, Georgia 30010-2637