Hola Familia, we are heading into our fourth month here in Iquitos, Peru. It seems like we have been here for a year, but time is a strange master. This last month was a difficult one as we were all sick for about two weeks. The whole city was fighting something with flu like symptoms, but we are back on our feet and running.

     We visited two local churches whose pastors are in the Friday night Inductive study class. At one of the churches, Ebenezer, Ryan taught a message and they sang a special song in their native tongue for us. It was a sweet little fellowship in the outskirts of town. The second church, Iglesia Cristiana Gloria de Christo, is a new church plant and they had a two-day conference to celebrate their one year anniversary. Victor and Ryan both shared messages to encourage the congregation. It was a great time of sharing the Word and breaking bread with the body of Christ.

Victor and I have also had the opportunity to teach at Calvary Chapel Iquitos for the last 3 weeks while the senior pastor is on furlough. I have been teaching in Spanish only and it has been tough! The people have been very gracious with helping me find the correct words to say when they evade me. I have found myself playing charades sometimes to come up with the right words or phrases. It works well, the people are forced to stay attentive, praise the Lord. We will teach two more times and finish up the book of Colossians. On Thursday nights we are also doing guitar lessons for some of the youth at CC Iquitos. It has been a blessing to get to know the people at this sweet fellowship. 

     On Friday nights, the inductive study is going great! We are in our sixth week and people are starting to catch on. It is fun watching them get excited about interpreting Scripture within its context. The people are so excited to learn and we have great hope for their future as Bible students as well as teachers.  

     Karen and I recently took a trip to Cusco for our visas. We are in the process of getting our residency visas so we don’t have to leave the country every six months. The process promotes patience in the inner man, but we are topping the hill and should be starting the downhill run this Monday when our last document should be filed. We went to Cusco for the last steps of the Interpol process and now everything is in the hands of the Lord. While we were there, we did some sightseeing and we went to a mid-week service at Iglesia Calvary La Semilla. It was a great time of prayer, worship, and fellowship!

 Please pray for us as we are heading out to a river community called Oran. We are going to be able to teach and fellowship with them as they celebrate their 50th anniversary.  We have done studies there before and they have been such a great church and are very much on fire for the Lord.  

   We will be moving out to Cochequinas in August. Everything is still on course. We have a jungle home ready for us, a multi-purpose church building, and a couple other properties we will use for ministry. Jim and Chrystal Boothe, who run 414 Missions, are letting us use all of the property and they notified us we can use their big boat as well. Praise the Lord, we are set! What a miracle.  

     The plan is to teach a two-week pastoral training course to the surrounding jungle communities throughout the year. We will also start a Bible College in the jungle where local river pastors can send men who would like to be trained for ministry. It will be an 8-month course with an optional extra year for pastoral training. Please continue to keep that in prayer. We would like to make it free, so we are praying for the Lord to provide!  

If anybody has any connections with organizations who do water filtrations systems in the mission field or reading glasses distributions, please contact us. There is a great need for both in the jungle river communities. 

We continue to be overwhelmed by the Lord’s guidance and provision in our lives. 

“And the Lord, He is the One who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed.””

(Deuteronomy 31:8)

Thank you for your love and support!