Sheridan & Anita Stanton, missionaries to Peru since 1983
December 7, 2009
Dear Friends,
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you! Anita and I wish you a blessed, joyous and peaceful Holiday Season. We pray that the Lord will bless all of you and your ministries as you remain faithful to our Heavenly Father, the almighty sovereign Creator and King of the Universe. HE has been so good to Anita and me during this past year.
However, as another year is almost behind us I have to admit that I am starting to “feel” the years; I must be getting old! My son, Joshua, turned thirty-one today! Happy birthday, Josh! He serves our country as a pilot in the US Air Force; holding the rank of captain. He is married to a wonderful young woman and they have two precious little girls. Our daughter Leah turned thirty-two in August and she is married to a fine young man and they have one amazing little boy. I have discovered though, that being a “Papaw” seems to help me feel younger. Praise the Lord for grandkids! We miss being able to see them, but we are very thankful for the ability to web-cam from time to time.
Anita and I feel our calling to Peru as missionaries just as strong today as we did when we first surrendered to come and serve here. November was another busy month in the ministry here in this beautiful country. The middle of the month we traveled to the Capital City of Lima where we helped the Iglesia Bautista Jordan (Jordan Baptist Church) celebrate its nineteenth anniversary. We helped to start this church and worked with it for six years up to its organization. My good friend, Pastor Jorge Dianderas, asked me to bring a series of messages on Christian Stewardship. We had a wonderful time with them. The photos show Pastor Jorge and his wife, Elvira; the congregation; and two of the charter members that were present with us at the very first church service we had at the beginning. It is always a blessed time when we have the opportunity to visit and minister to the several churches that the Lord has used to start in years past.
Pastor Jorge and his wife Elvira celebrate Iglesia Bautista Jordan's 19th anniversary!The congregation of Iglesia Bautista Jordan.Sis. Anita with two of the charter members of Iglesia Bautista Jordan.
The day after Thanksgiving, I traveled to the jungle village of Huayna Capac, a little place about four hours from Huánuco and one hour deeper into the jungle from Tingo Maria. It has been raining for weeks in the jungle and the small path to get to the village was just about washed out. It is only wide enough for one vehicle. I rejoiced again for having been blessed with the new 4×4 pick-up truck I received in June; it handled the road very well. There is no electricity in Huayna Capac so we used battery powered lights for the services. When you light up a church building in a village where there is no light, everyone attends! We had a great time with this small congregation and many decisions were made for the Lord. Please remember Pastor Miguel Gargate and his family as they faithfully work in this village as well as two other mission works he has started even deeper into the jungle.
Most of the other national missionaries have reported good attendance for the month of November and the ones I have heard from reported souls saved and baptisms during the month. I was hoping to be able to launch our Bible Institute classes online this year but it looks like that will not be a reality until March. Please remember to pray for us about this. Having the classes online will allow us to reach out and help and train so many more of God’s servants here in Peru. Happy Holidays! Until next year!
Anita and I continue to be busy about the Lord’s work here in the Andean Mountain town of Huánuco, Peru. She works daily on children’s Sunday School lessons. As I have mentioned a few times in the past, these lessons are used by all of our churches and we know of several public school systems in the country using her material in their religious courses. Yes, it is the law in Peru that religion must be taught in the schools! Would it not be something great if the United States were to return to her roots and overturn laws that have taken God and prayers out of the schools? We can pray!
I continue to pastor the Calvary Baptist Mission Church here in Huánuco. Even though much of my time is spent in preparing lessons and teaching for the Bible Institute, I always enjoy working with young mission works and seeing them mature and finally become independent and organized into a new church. On average it takes about five to six years from the start of a new work to its organization and Calvary Baptist will be no exception. Please pray for us and this young work.
In last month’s letter I reported that a young medical missionary from Huánuco, Silvia Rojas, was going to be married on the the 25th of October. Well the wedding went very well and Silvia and Benjamin are now married. It was the fourteenth wedding that I have conducted while in Huánuco. Later, after the wedding, I was told that family from both sides of the marriage had made comments about how nice it was to go to a wedding reception and not have it break out in family fights. It is a sad commentary on the culture here that most “non-Christian” weddings have a lot of drinking at the receptions and the liquor seems to take the scabs off wounds of many old perceived wrongs among family members. What a testimony it was for this young couple to share their faith in Jesus Christ before their families. Please pray for them as they start their new life together and serving the Lord at the Diospi-Suyana missionary hospital in Curahuasi, Peru.
Bro. Sheridan marries Silvia and Benjamin who will be working as medical missionaries in Peru.
The end of the month Anita and I traveled to the coastal town of Trujillo where I had been invited by the Esmirna Baptist Mission to come and preach and also teach on Baptist history. Trujillo is the third largest city in Peru with close to one million inhabitants. We had a great time with the mission work and the young pastor there, Moises Sevillano. He has been in Trujillo for two years now and has three different works; two in Trujillo and one three hours away in the city of Chiclayo, also on the coast. Please pray for Moises, he is very gifted young man with a genuine zeal to reach lost souls with the gospel of Jesus Christ. The city of Trujillo claims to be the “City of Eternal Springtime”, but after four days of humidity, Anita and I both agree that the mountain town of Huánuco where we live still has “the best climate in the world”, as the sign coming into our town claims.
From Trujillo we traveled back the capital city of Lima and spent a few days with Jason and Rebecca Reinhardt and the twins, Natali and Neomi. We had a great time taking the girls to the zoo and play park. They are now five years old and really love their Papaw and Nene (me and Anita!). We also enjoyed an afternoon with our missionary friends, Rodney and Rebecca Spears. Our new truck continues to run well and we thank the Lord for having it every time we make the long road trip from Huánuco to Lima and back.
While in Lima, Anita had her check-up with the oncologist and once again all the results of the various tests (blood work) came back with excellent numbers. We thank all of you for your continued prayers for her; I can see she continues to regain her former strength little by little as it has been almost a year since she finished her cancer treatments and was released by the doctor. God has shown HIS great mercy to us, and we praise HIM daily. Until next month.
In HIM by HIS grace,
Sheridan and Anita Stanton
ar Friends,
Anita and I continue to be busy about the Lord’s work here in the Andean Mountain town of Huánuco, Peru. She works daily on children’s Sunday School lessons. As I have mentioned a few times in the past, these lessons are used by all of our churches and we know of several public school systems in the country using her material in their religious courses. Yes, it is the law in Peru that religion must be taught in the schools! Would it not be something great if the United States were to return to her roots and overturn laws that have taken God and prayers out of the schools? We can pray!
I continue to pastor the Calvary Baptist Mission Church here in Huánuco. Even though much of my time is spent in preparing lessons and teaching for the Bible Institute, I always enjoy working with young mission works and seeing them mature and finally become independent and organized into a new church. On average it takes about five to six years from the start of a new work to its organization and Calvary Baptist will be no exception. Please pray for us and this young work.
In last month’s letter I reported that a young medical missionary from Huánuco, Silvia Rojas, was going to be married on the the 25th of October. Well the wedding went very well and Silvia and Benjamin are now married. It was the fourteenth wedding that I have conducted while in Huánuco. Later, after the wedding, I was told that family from both sides of the marriage had made comments about how nice it was to go to a wedding reception and not have it break out in family fights. It is a sad commentary on the culture here that most “non-Christian” weddings have a lot of drinking at the receptions and the liquor seems to take the scabs off wounds of many old perceived wrongs among family members. What a testimony it was for this young couple to share their faith in Jesus Christ before their families. Please pray for them as they start their new life together and serving the Lord at the Diospi-Suyana missionary hospital in Curahuasi, Peru.
The end of the month Anita and I traveled to the coastal town of Trujillo where I had been invited by the Esmirna Baptist Mission to come and preach and also teach on Baptist history. Trujillo is the third largest city in Peru with close to one million inhabitants. We had a great time with the mission work and the young pastor there, Moises Sevillano. He has been in Trujillo for two years now and has three different works; two in Trujillo and one three hours away in the city of Chiclayo, also on the coast. Please pray for Moises, he is very gifted young man with a genuine zeal to reach lost souls with the gospel of Jesus Christ. The city of Trujillo claims to be the “City of Eternal Springtime”, but after four days of humidity, Anita and I both agree that the mountain town of Huánuco where we live still has “the best climate in the world”, as the sign coming into our town claims.
From Trujillo we traveled back the capital city of Lima and spent a few days with Jason and Rebecca Reinhardt and the twins, Natali and Neomi. We had a great time taking the girls to the zoo and play park. They are now five years old and really love their Papaw and Nene (me and Anita!). We also enjoyed an afternoon with our missionary friends, Rodney and Rebecca Spears. Our new truck continues to run well and we thank the Lord for having it every time we make the long road trip from Huánuco to Lima and back.
While in Lima, Anita had her check-up with the oncologist and once again all the results of the various tests (blood work) came back with excellent numbers. We thank all of you for your continued prayers for her; I can see she continues to regain her former strength little by little as it has been almost a year since she finished her cancer treatments and was released by the doctor. God has shown HIS great mercy to us, and we praise HIM daily. Until next month.
Today is Anita’s birthday and what a joy it has been to see her receive so many phone calls and cards! God has richly blessed me with thirty-five years of marriage to her and the opportunity of sharing as many birthdays. Thank you for all that helped to make her day so special.
Since the last mission group left in August things have slowed down some for us here in Huánuco. I have had to cancel a few of my speaking and teaching engagements due to the economic downturn; but the upside is that I have had more time to devote to lesson and sermon preparation. I am hoping to have another Institute class around the first of the year for all of our pastors around the country. My Monday night Bible class for our local pastors has been on pause for the summer but will resume again in two weeks (after Anita and I return from a speaking engagement the end of October).
Anita continues to stay busy writing the Sunday School materials for all ages of our Sunday Schools here in Peru. She spends many hours daily in this. On Wednesday nights she teaches a ladies class at Calvary Baptist. She must be a much better teacher than me because she has about twice as many ladies come to her class as I have men come to mine!
We enjoyed seeing Brother Jason Minix and Pastor George Sledd the first of September. Jason returned to Peru for a few days in order to pack-up his things. He has felt led of the Lord to be a missionary with Mountain Missions out of the South Irvine Baptist Church of Irvine, Kentucky. He will be missed here by many, many of the dear Saints of God that he has impacted by his ministry here in Peru. We wish for him and Andrea God’s richest blessings upon their family and ministry.
I had to make a small cut this past month in the monthly offering that Anita and I give to fourteen of our national workers. It is the first time I have ever had to do that in twenty-six years on the mission field. But we know that the Lord is still on His throne and knows what he is doing. The economic crisis has affected so many families and churches in States and the effects of that show up on the mission field as well. But the Lord’s work goes on! We just need to look for more cost-effective methods of getting the gospel out.
Speaking of the national workers, I have heard from about eight of them so far and they all give a good report. In total about fifteen souls were saved this past month between the eight. Our only female worker, Silvia Rojas, is working as a medical missionary at the Diospi Suyana Missionary Hospital in Southern Peru. She is in charge of the laboratory and spends the weekends conducting Bible Clubs for children. She grew up here in Huánuco and I had the joy of pastoring her and her family for several years. She is getting married on the 24th of October and I will be performing the ceremony. She is marrying another young Christian man that works at the hospital. Please pray for Silvia and Benjamin as they start this new life together.
Thanks to each and every one of you that continue to give month after month for the Lord’s work here in Peru. Anita and I thank the Lord for you in our prayers. Until next month.
In HIM by HIS grace,
Sheridan and Anita Stanton
sestantonperu [at] hotmail.com
Dear Friends,
Today is Anita’s birthday and what a joy it has been to see her receive so many phone calls and cards! God has richly blessed me with thirty-five years of marriage to her and the opportunity of sharing as many birthdays. Thank you for all that helped to make her day so special.
Since the last mission group left in August things have slowed down some for us here in Huánuco. I have had to cancel a few of my speaking and teaching engagements due to the economic downturn; but the upside is that I have had more time to devote to lesson and sermon preparation. I am hoping to have another Institute class around the first of the year for all of our pastors around the country. My Monday night Bible class for our local pastors has been on pause for the summer but will resume again in two weeks (after Anita and I return from a speaking engagement the end of October).
Anita continues to stay busy writing the Sunday School materials for all ages of our Sunday Schools here in Peru. She spends many hours daily in this. On Wednesday nights she teaches a ladies class at Calvary Baptist. She must be a much better teacher than me because she has about twice as many ladies come to her class as I have men come to mine!
We enjoyed seeing Brother Jason Minix and Pastor George Sledd the first of September. Jason returned to Peru for a few days in order to pack-up his things. He has felt lead of the Lord to be a missionary with Mountain Missions out of the South Irvine Baptist Church of Irvine, Kentucky. He will be missed here by many, many of the dear Saints of God that he has impacted by his ministry here in Peru. We wish for him and Andrea God’s richest blessings upon their family and ministry.
I had to make a small cut this past month in the monthly offering that Anita and I give to fourteen of our national workers. It is the first time I have ever had to do that in twenty-six years on the mission field. But we know that the Lord is still on His throne and knows what he is doing. The economic crisis has affected so many families and churches in States and the effects of that show up on the mission field as well. But the Lord’s work goes on! We just need to look for more cost-effective methods of getting the gospel out.
Speaking of the national workers, I have heard from about eight of them so far and they all give a good report. In total about fifteen souls were saved this past month between the eight. Our only female worker, Silvia Rojas, is working as a medical missionary at the Diospi Suyana Missionary Hospital in Southern Peru. She is in charge of the laboratory and spends the weekends conducting Bible Clubs for children. She grew up here in Huánuco and I had the joy of pastoring her and her family for several years. She is getting married on the 24th of October and I will be performing the ceremony. She is marrying another young Christian man that works at the hospital. Please pray for Silvia and Benjamin as they start this new life together.
Thanks to each and every one of you that continue to give month after month for the Lord’s work here in Peru. Anita and I thank the Lord for you in our prayers. Until next month.
June was a wonderful month of great blessings from the Lord. In my last letter I spoke of Anita’s and my anniversary of thirty-five years on the seventh. One week after our anniversary I traveled into Lima to meet our first summer mission team. This group was from the Berea Baptist Church of Hiddenite, NC and it was their second trip to Peru. There were nine of them and they worked really hard on the mission project of helping the Grace Baptist Church of Huánuco build a security wall around the property. Digging ditches and then filling the ditches with concrete and rocks was exhausting work but they really seemed to enjoy it! After the work days we took them to Cusco and Machu Picchu.
While in Cusco they helped to paint the newly rented mission building for our Baptist Missionary friends Jason and Rebecca Reinhardt. The group was in Cusco on Sunday the 21st and during the night service I had the honor of translating for our good friend Jim Miller. At the close of the service three teenage girls accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior. What a blessing! That was better than the trip to Machu Picchu (which is considered one of the Seven Wonders of the World). After Cusco we traveled on down to the coastal town of Paracas where the group traveled out to the Ballesta Islands to view some thirty thousand or more sea lions. From Paracas they traveled on down the coast to Ica, Peru to the Huacachina oasis. This is where the sand dunes stretch for as far as the eye can see, and where they had an incredible time sand surfing and dune buggy riding. Anita and I certainly enjoyed having them with us and we thank the Lord for their love for the Lord’s work here in Peru.
Another great blessing for the month was the purchase of our new double-cabin, four wheel drive truck! Thanks to the Statesville Baptist Bible Institute for their generous donation of half the cost. The other half came from the sale of my old car and the BFM car fund. It is a rugged vehicle and should do well for many years to help get up into the mountain and jungle works. Praise the Lord!
Last month we mentioned the passing of Brother Wallace York and Sister Betty Creiglow. This month we were saddened again to hear of the passing of our old friend, Brother Homer Crain. Brother Homer taught me a lot about mission work here in Peru. He loved his Lord and he loved to preach the gospel. He will be missed.
The greatest blessing of the month came on June 15, when our newest granddaughter, Elizabeth Claire Stanton was born to our son and daughter-in-law, Joshua and Cheri Stanton. The baby and mother are both doing fine. God is good! Until next month
In HIM by HIS grace,
Sheridan and Anita Stanton Apartado Postal 140
Huanuco, Perú, South América
sestantonperu [at] hotmail.com / arstantonperu [at] hotmail.com
The apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthian Christians these words: “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.” Anita and I have been busy in the Lord’s work during the month of May. I started the month off with a revival meeting in the mountain town of Huariaca. Only the Lord knows if revival was accomplished in this small mission work we helped get started several years ago. There were many rededications, two asking for baptism and one young woman trusting Christ as her Savior. We give the Lord thanks for his graciousness to those dear saints that live high up in the Andes Mountains where the air is cold and crisp.
The next weekend I preached two nights for the youth group of the Calvary Baptist mission church here in Huánuco. It was not as well attended as I would have liked but I did have a good time with the kids that came. Brother Enrique Castillo is our youth minister and he does a tremendous job with these young folks. We had four trust Christ as their Savior during the month and they are now in discipleship training. We had hoped to baptize these four but their parents are not in favor of their being baptized at this time. These kids come from a rough area of Huánuco and their parents do not attend church. Since these youths are between thirteen and seventeen we ask the parents for permission. This shows respect for the parents and helps keep the door open for continued witnessing to them.
On the fourth weekend I traveled to the high jungle town of Oxapampa where Brother Carlos Gonzales is the mission pastor. It takes eleven hours on the bus, over terrible roads to get to this town. But the Lord blessed and we saw the church strengthened, evidenced by the decisions made. You might remember that Carlos lost his wife to cancer a few years ago and he is now in need of an operation to remove a large gall stone. Please remember to pray for him and the work in Oxapampa.
June the fourth, Anita and I were in the capital city of Lima in order to receive, Andy Norris; a young university student from the States that has come down to work and help us for a few months. He has already been a great blessing to us. Andy has designed a template in Microsoft Access for a library data base. He is in the process of cataloging and organizing my entire library and when his is finished I will be able to search all my books, pamphlets, microfiche, and electronic books just by typing any word, topic, or author. Pastors, he is good, maybe some of you in the States would like to have him come and do the same for you!
This past Sunday, the seventh of June, Anita and I celebrated thirty-five years of marriage. We had a wonderful day rejoicing in the Lord by reminding ourselves of the many, many wonderful things HE has done for us over the years. The Calvary Church surprised us on Sunday night with a special gift and anniversary cake. Sunday morning I also had the joy of baptizing a young man, Alan, into the fellowship of the Calvary mission church.
Andy and I will be traveling to Lima this weekend to receive a mission group from the Berea Baptist Church of Hiddenite, North Carolina. The group will be coming to help us build a security wall around the property of the Grace Baptist church here in Huanuco. Anita and I are staying very busy, making the preparations for this group. They will be in Peru for two weeks and we pray the Lord will greatly bless their time here with us.
We were saddened this past month to hear of the passing of Brother Wallace York and Sister Betty Creiglow. They both were great examples of service to our Lord and they will be greatly missed by all who knew them. Write us or call, we always enjoy hearing from those we love.
In HIM by HIS grace,
Sheridan and Anita Stanton
Huanuco, Peru
South America
sestantonperu [at] hotmail.com
The month of April marked twenty-six years completed in Peru for Anita and me and thirty-one years since my being ordained into the ministry. However, the month could best be described as TRAVEL for me and TEACHING for Anita. One weekend I preached a three day meeting in the jungle town of Cayumba on the theme of marriage and family. It was a real blessing with several couples asking for baptism. One of the highlights was learning that Anita’s series of Sunday School books she has written over the years are now being used as textbooks for religious education in some of the public schools in that region. You just never know how the “small things” you do will be used of the Lord one day!
The following weekend I was out in the Central Jungle town of Pucallpa where we lived for seven years. I was asked to help coordinate the organizational services for the Hebron Baptist Mission. The organization service was very well attended with many sister churches being represented. David Olortegui is the pastor/missionary there. I had the joy of pastoring him for several years (he is from Huánuco), conducting his marriage ceremony and ordaining him to the gospel ministry a few years ago. The Lord has blessed his ministry and his hard work. The new church is now officially called “La Iglesia Bautista Monte Horeb” – the Mount Hebron Baptist Church.
I finished out the last weekend in the town of Huariaca, nearly two miles high up in the Andes Mountains. It was a three day evangelistic meeting with one of our Baptist missions and the Lord blessed with two trusting Christ as their Savior and two “cold hearted” church members repenting and asking for the church’s forgiveness.
Anita stays very busy teaching her literacy classes four afternoons each week. So many of the people in this region of Peru cannot read or write; have no math skills and are taken advantage of all the time by unscrupulous merchants. Teaching them is very slow, repetitive work (and sometimes aggravating when they don’t practice at home)! But she is dedicated to this ministry and loves the ones she teaches. It thrills her to see her students get excited over such simple things are learning to read and write their names.
Besides the literacy classes she also prepares the Sunday School lessons for our church and then teaches the teachers how to teach! This Sunday she has asked me to participate in a skit for the Sunday School children. I get to play the part of Jesus receiving all the little children. I guess having my beard helped me get the role! She continues to feel good physically; she claims she feels better than she has in years. We continue to give our gracious God all the thanks for His healing her of cancer.
We thank the Lord for all of you; for your thoughts and prayers; the cards and letter; your support and encouragement.
March 10, 2009
Dear Friends,
Anita and I arrived back in Peru and are staying busy getting things back in order. Anita has learned to pace herself and not over exert herself physically; she still gets fatigued easily and her doctors said she would need at least a year to recuperate her full strength. For those of you that know her, you know that she works hard and long hours and won’t rest until “the work” is done. But as I said, she is learning to pace herself and rest when necessary. Thanks again to all of you for your prayers for her during the past year. The Lord has been merciful to us! If you need to contact us please use our field address and phone number listed above.
Upon arrival back in Peru, we had a great reception at the airport in Huánuco by about twenty dear friends that came out to greet us. It was quite a surprise. Then when we got to the church (we live in an apartment the church building) there was another great group to greet us. It was a wonderful “welcome home” for us.
Four days after unpacking and getting a lot of things put away we left for Lima again; this time to meet a small group from Tri-Cities Baptist Church of Johnson City, Tennessee. We took them to Cusco and then on to the Mission Hospital “Diospi Suyana” in Curahuasi. We are supporting, Silvia Rojas, a young lady from our church there as a medical missionary. We had a great visit and then we traveled back to Cusco in order to spend time with missionaries, Jason and Rebecca Reinhardt and the twins, Neomi and Natali. (These are the twins we took care of for seven months a few years ago). They sure love to see their “Nene and Papaw” come to visit!!
My Monday night Bible classes have resumed and I am enjoying them very much. Anita will soon start teaching her literacy classes again. She is very anxious to get back into that area of her ministry.
We are back working with the Calvary Baptist Mission here in Huánuco once again. Our first service back they also surprised us with a welcome back party. The Minix family, Jayson and Andrea, have done a wonderful job working in this new mission. They are now back in the States on furlough and presenting their children, Austin and Lauren to their supporting churches. Both children were born here in Peru during their first term. The work is doing well, we had one young man accept Christ as his Savior on our second Sunday back in Huánuco. Our great God continues to bless and bless!
Thanks to the Mount Calvary Baptist Church of Charleston, West Virginia we were able to purchase a new motorcycle for Pastor Carlos Gonzales for use in his work in Oxapampa, Peru. He was overjoyed with the new motorcycle. Thank you pastor Mitchell and saints of Mount Calvary Baptist!!!
Until next month.
In HIM by HIS grace,
Sheridan and Anita Stanton
Anita and I are busy packing and getting ready to return to Peru in two days!Time has slipped away quickly the past couple of weeks and it seems no matter how prepared you think you are there are always last minute details to take care of.We are so anxious to get home and back into the work the Lord has called us to do.We will be out of communication for a week or two until we get our internet service up and running again.Words cannot express the depth of our gratitude to our great God for His manifest mercy in healing Anita of cancer this past year.We thank each of you for your love and concern that you showed to us by your prayers, cards, phone calls and gifts.
Besides getting back into the normal ministry activities that we do, we are also planning on expanding our Bible Institute to include online classes.It will probably take a few years to get a complete curriculum available online but we are looking forward to the challenge.Anita is anxious to get back to teaching the women in Huanuco and also to start helping so many of the ladies learn to read and write.We also have four (maybe five) mission groups coming down this year and we are praying that each group will be encouraged in their walk with the Lord and will receive a long lasting burden and passion for missions.As the apostle John said in his 3rd epistle, “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth”, this is our prayer for each of you.Our next letter will be from Peru!
Dear Friends,
Happy New Year! Anita and I trust that this past year was a year of blessings for you and we pray that this year will be even more! This letter is being written from Florida where I am speaking at the annual Bible Conference of the Jordan Baptist Church, Pastor George Sledd. It is 80 degrees outside and we have the air conditioning going, what a blessing! Anita is traveling with me and we just came from Elliot, Mississippi. From here we head up to speak at churches in North and South Carolina. We take our time and make sure she gets her rest, but she really does enjoy visiting with all of you. December was a very busy month for me; I had the opportunity to travel in Ohio, West Virginia, Illinois, Indiana, and two churches in Kentucky and give a report of the mission work in Peru. All of the churches have been very gracious in their hospitality and love offerings for which we are very thankful.
One of the high-lights of the month of December was having both our son and daughter and their families with us for a few days. It was the first time we had all been together since the grand kids were born. Anita and I enjoyed so much our time with them. The added bonus was finding out that our daughter-in-law is expecting our third grand-child in June.
But the best news of all was when Anita went to the doctor for her final visit the last week of December and he told her that her tumor marker count was down (even below the accepted normal level). For this great news we are still rejoicing! She does not come back to see him again until September. Sooooo, we are heading back to Peru the 12th of February. Even thought 2008 was a difficult year because of Anita’s cancer treatments we count it a year of blessings for the many life lessons learned and for having our faith strengthened. We thank all of you for your never ceasing prayers and for your generous support during the year. Anita and I are both anxious to return home and get back to the work God has called us to do. May God bless you for your love and concern for the lost souls of Peru. Until next month.
Dear Friends,
What a blessing it is to be chosen to serve our Lord in such a beautiful country as Peru, South America! Anita and I miss being in the work there and we are very anxious to be able to return home soon. But first we must be sure the Lord has used the doctors to do all they can do to help cure her of the breast cancer that she is being treated for. As you all know she first went through months of chemo therapy, then she had the operation and now she is being prepared for the radiation treatments. We have had a two week setback on the radiation treatments due to a small spot where the incision has not healed as quickly as it normally would have. Thankfully, the place has healed up and now she is to return to the radiologist on Friday the 10th to prepare her for the treatments that will probably begin on Monday the 13th (her birthday!!). But Anita takes it all in stride and continues to maintain a strong faith in the Lord, knowing that HE is in control.
I have been able to travel some this past month and share with a few churches about the work in Peru. Calvary Baptist church of Richmond, Kentucky; Grace Baptist Church of Milford, Ohio; Chapel Hill Baptist Church of Nicholasville, Kentucky were all very gracious hosts and we thank them for giving us the opportunity to share with them about the work in Peru. I was also blessed to be able to participate in two mission’s conferences recently: The First Baptist Church of Science Hill, Kentucky invited me to speak on the 30th and then I spoke five times at the annual mission conference sponsored jointly by the Lake Road Baptist Church of Clio, Michigan and Grace Baptist Church of Holly, Michigan. I had a wonderful time with them all.
Anita and I were saddened to hear of the passing of Sister Elizabeth Crain. When we heard the news a lot of memories flooded back in our minds of how the Crains helped us when we first arrived in Peru twenty-six yeas ago. They taught us some very valuable lessons about how to survive in Peru during those early years. Sister Crain will be missed by many brothers and sisters in Christ, both here and in Peru.
We thank the Lord for each of you, for your prayers during these difficult months and for your faithful support. We hope to be able to see a many of you as possible before returning to Peru. The way things look now we hope to be able to leave around the end of January or some time in February. We need your prayers.
January 6, 2009
New Life Baptist Church 