Discipleship and evangelism ministries continue to grow in Peru
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 hope that you had a wonderful Christmas! It is amazing that God sent his own precious little baby, Jesus, to come to earth to save us, so that we can have a personal relationship with God forever. What a blessing! It is such a joy for us to share about Jesus and His love with others in Peru. We can always feel the presence of Jesus with us, and He will continue to guide and be with all of us forever.
In December, we continued with our usual ministries. The open Bible study that Arthur is leading on Friday nights is going well. He copies a passage from the Bible, and as a group, we talk about it and learn from it together. Three new people have come, but we are still praying that more new people will become involved consistently.
Mary Alice, Hayde, and Brian, continue to evangelize once a week. God is good, because many people are accepting the Lord Jesus. Most of them are a little reluctant to come to our house for the first time, but three girls have come and enjoyed it. Please pray that God will continue to help Hayde learn the entire gospel presentation, and that some of these people will come to our open Bible study on Fridays to learn more about Christ.
Arthur has been very busy this month organizing the medical and dental supplies from the medical campaigns, doing repairs to equipment, completing inventories, and getting quotes for supplies for next year. Most people have no idea how much work is involved in preparing for a medical campaigns and in completing the government paper work and other preparations necessary for these events. We currently have three medical teams planned for 2014: one in the low jungle in Boca Anapti, one in the high Andes in Yuraj Marca, and one near Huancayo in Chongos Bajo.
Arthur also spent a lot of time working on issues with the farm project. We had to change farm managers because of problems of negligence and dishonest book keeping. This hurt as the original farm managers were long-time friends and workers in the ministry with us. The Lord Jesus provided a new manager that has worked with Arthur for a long time in the ministry, Luis Lermo. He and his family, Carmen and Luis, Jr. are in the process of moving to the farm. Luis and Arthur spent the last three months in the transition process, and for the most part have the project back on track. A few more things need to be addressed in the next couple of months to complete this process. Arthur has prepared a detailed report on this project which is available at http://www.iveymission.org/report-on-anapati-mission-and-farm-project-december-2013.html.
This year, the discipleship ministry has especially grown in Puerto Anapati and Boca Anapati where we started a new work among the native Ashaninka people. This area, known as the VRAEM, has been and still is a zone of conflict with the Shining Path Terrorist and the narcotics trade. The work was started in April and is now in three villages and involves 85 adults and 83 children. The ministry uses the discipleship with the adults and Kid’s Club with the children. Other chiefs from other villages have asked for us to start discipleship in their communities, as well. The people in the community and the marines on the military base have said that the area has been much more peaceful since our workers arrived in April. It was reported that at least three incursions attempted by the terrorists were stopped by some unknown force without any conflict occurring.
Our team leader for the work with the Ashaninka , Jorge Ayala, was sick with malaria the first part of the month. In his absence, the young men on the team, Luis, David, Andres, and David working with a future discipleship leader from the Ashaninka community, Bernabe, visited another community Kamantabishi. Kamantabishi is a native community larger than Boca Anapti, and is also the center of five other smaller native communities. Bernabe presented the group to the chief along with the discipleship ministry. As a result the discipleship ministry will be expanded to this community starting in January 2014.
Thalia, who is the daughter of Alejandra Aquino, one of our strongest workers, is having a very hard time in Bolivia. She has been leading discipleship and a Kid’s Club in her home. Unfortunately, her husband, David, has been unfaithful and has been mistreating her. She has filed for divorce. After the divorce, she will be coming to live in Huancayo with her two children, Linsey and Benjamin. Pray that God will give her His strength during this difficult time of her life. Alejandra and her other daughter, Lisbeth, are stressed about this situation too, so please pray that God will give them peace as well.
God has blessed us with another grandson, Royce Manuel, who was born on December 14th. He is Mary Beth’s and Oscar’s son, and little brother to Dominic, who is now two years old. Royce weighed 7 pounds 13 ounces at birth. All the family is doing well. Please pray that God will watch over all of them and guide them in everything that they do.
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 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. 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 Ash and Audra McEuen, Martin and Tracy Reeves, Louise Reimer, Theresa Anderson, Tim and Jennifer Goshorn, Paul and Kelly Wiegert, Bryan and Jessica Monda, and their families. All are missionaries with the Mission Society that currently or will soon be working in Peru. Please pray for our safety as we travel, and that we will boldly speak God’s Word wherever we go.
We pray that Jesus will continue to give you hope to live each day for Him, and we also pray that God is drawing you closer and closer to Him every day. God bless you. We love you.
Yours in Christ,
Arthur and Mary Alice Ivey
The Mission Society Missionaries to Peru