Pennsylvania Team

We are so pleased to be hosting a team from Pennsylvania this week.  Nate DeWitt brought a group of 16 including his own family to help here in Arequipa.  They have been helping in the orphanage Casa Hogar Nueva Esperanza for the first two days but today Mariesa is taking them to do a medical clinic in a pueblo about half an hour up in the mountains near Arequipa.  With the doctor and the nurses on the team, they should be able to help a lot of people who would normally not have easy access to health care.  Please pray for their safety today as they travel and work.

Bless you for your prayers and your heart for missions.

Lew

A Need

Today I had a visit from a pastor.  Pastor Jesus, a lady pastor, came to ask for money.  Her church owns a piece of property in Camana, on the coast of Peru.  We have visited and taught in Camana 4 times.  Her church has no building on the property.  At this time they are meeting in various houses.  In Peru, owning land does not necessarily ensure that you can keep the property.  Only if you improve the land and put up some kind of building are you allowed to keep the land.  If nothing is built after a few years, the land association will take the land and sell it to someone else.  So Pastor Jesus needs to put up some kind of structure.  She wants to put up a prefabricated building.  It costs about $1,000. U.S.  I have at least 6 requests every year for something similar (but usually the request is for more).  This is a good work and one that is worth investing in but we simply can not help everyone who comes to us.  I told the pastor that I would present the request to friends in the U.S. so that is why I am writing.  If God moves on your heart to help this church, contact me.  Do not help only because there is a need, but do help if God speaks directly to you about this.  I prayed with Pastor Jesus and told her that I would also ask our friends in the U.S. to pray also.

This is the property which the church owns.  It doesn’t look like much but it is in an area into which many people have moved recently and many of them have never heard the Gospel message.

May God bless you,

Lew

Word for the Day

La Navidad

Christmas

We had a wonderful, Jesus filled Christmas this year and we pray that your New Year will be blessed.

Christmas

What a wonderful Christmas we shared here at our house in Arequipa, Peru this year.  Our friends Deysi and Franz Capriles are visiting us from Bolivia.  They brought their two sons, Jeremiah and Franzlee.  Our friend Richi Cuellar arrives today from Bolivia and Freddy Caqui, our Bolivian son was with us also.  The children from the orphanage arrived with Gloria and Jose Ingalls and we partied until 2:00 a.m.

The children decorated the house, sang, each one told what Jesus meant in their lives, we opened presents, sang Happy Birthday to Jesus, watched fireworks, and ate turkey.  The children thank everyone who made it possible by their donations.  We also want to personally thank you.  It is the highlight of our year to spend Christmas with these children.

You can also view lots more pictures by going to my facebook site.

Bless you,

Lew

Christmas Eve

What a beautiful Day!  We awoke this morning to a beautiful sight.  The mountains surrounding Arequipa were covered with snow.  It is our first snowfall of the year.  You may remember that this is our summer season.  Our seasons are opposite of those in the U.S.  The odd thing is that we receive our snow during the summer and not during the winter months.  The reason for this is that we only receive rain during the summer and because the mountains are about 18,000 feet high, the rain turns to snow in the high altitude.  We never receive snow in the city because we are only at 8,200 feet in altitude.  But we do get to enjoy the view.

Last night we celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary.  Time sure flies when you’re having fun!  Our friends from Bolivia are here to help us celebrate this Christmas season and Deysi made a beautiful cake for “Papilew and Mamarisa”.

 

Mariesa got up early this morning to start the turkey cooking.  We’re having the children from the orphanage this evening.  It will be a long night because they don’t even arrive until 10:00 p.m.  The tradition here is to celebrate Christmas very late and eat the meal at midnight.  We’ll post pictures of the festivities later.  I’m looking forward to the smell of delicious turkey in the house later this morning.  I just can’t figure out why Mariesa didn’t want to cook the turkey head and feet along with the rest of the bird.

We are wishing every one of you a wonderful Christmas this year and we’re praying that God will bless you beyond your wildest dreams.  We are soooooo blessed this year and you are a part of our blessings.  This year we will also be blessed with another grandchild.  Our daughter, Alesia is expecting our 9th grandchild in July.  Please keep her in your prayers and pray for us, please.

May joy, love and peace fill your hearts this year!

Lew

CEB Christmas

Last night we celebrated Christmas with CEB Bible Institute students.  They had a wonderful evening opening presents, visiting and just having a time to relax during this busy season.  We talked about the importance of the birth of Jesus and how different families traditionally celebrate Christmas Eve.  Some students stayed late to discuss important issues about the Bible and different world religions.  We all went to bed full of turkey, ham and all the trimmings.  Thank you, Lord for a wonderful evening!

Turkey

Today is turkey day!  I am going to buy two turkeys.  One will be for the CEB students’ Christmas Party on Thursday and the other one will be for the orphans on Christmas Eve.  What a great day!  Deysi and Franz arrive from Bolivia and we have all our presents bought and wrapped for Christmas. God is so good and it is so fun to celebrate the birth of our Lord.  Although we do understand that Jesus was probably not born on December 25, it is still a time we can remember His birth and give gifts in remembrance of the greatest gift – Jesus!

 

 

 

 

 

May the love of God fill your hearts this year as you remember your wonderful gift of salvation.  Please share the love of God with everyone around you.

We love you,

Lew and Mariesa

Visitors

We are so excited.  Deysi and Franz Caprilles are visiting us from Bolivia.  They arrive tomorrow with their two boys and a good friend who worked with us in Rurrenabaque.  We haven’t seen Richi, Franz and J.J. since we left Bolivia.  Please pray that they will have a safe trip.

Word for the Day

 

Regalos

Gifts

The gift of salvation is the greatest gift we could ever receive.

Wrapping Gifts

We have had such a great time buying presents and wrapping them the last few days.  This year we will have all the children from the orphanage for Christmas and we are also having the students of CEB (the Bible Institute).  We have spent a whole day wrapping the presents so we now feel like expert present wrappers.  Freddy helped us wrap the presents both days.

The students will come for a party and dinner so we will cook a turkey and a ham for them.  The children from the orphanage will eat dinner and breakfast the next morning.  They will sleep here overnight.  new plan on preparing a turkey for them also.  Mariesa and I are probably more excited than the kids.

Thank you everyone who helped make this possible.  You can’t imagine how wonderful a Christmas this will be for some children who would have had nothing without your help.  We’ll post pictures after the dinner party with the students and the Christmas party with the orphans for your enjoyment also.

May the JOY of Christmas fill your hearts this year.

Lew

Pastor’s meeting in December

This morning we celebrated Christmas with the pastors in our regular Pastor’s Meeting for the month of December.  We sang and worshipped, read the Christmas Story, prayed, exchanged gifts, ate refreshments and, of course, fellowshipped.  We had a wonderful time and I’m sure the pastors appreciated the gifts donated by a pastor in the U.S. as well as  those they exchanged  It is such a blessing to many pastors just to be able to get together and share with others in the  ministry.  Thank you to those who support this project.  If you are interested in supporting a pastor for these meetings it only costs $5. per month and it is so appreciated.

As we enter the busy time of Christmas we wish you all the joy that knowing Christ can bring.  May He bless you with more knowledge of Himself throughout this busy season and may His peace reign supreme in your heart.

Merry Christmas from New Heart Ministries International.

Greeting and registering pastors at the meeting.

Pastors enjoying fellowship.

Mariesa and Xemima serving refreshments.

Reading the Christmas Story and worshipping.

Opening gifts

Web Site

Don’t forget, you can visit our website at:

www.newheartministriesinternational.org

or use these new easier addresses:

www.newheartint.org

www.newheartint.com

www.newheartint.net

www.newheartint.info

Orphanage

Yesterday we worked in the new orphanage.  We haven’t seen it in 3 months and were pleasantly surprised by the construction progress.  This orphanage is being built piece by piece on donations.  It is being paid for as it is being built and totally depends on donations.  Yesterday, we put together some donated shelves.  That was quite a challenge as the parts did not all match but they will be a blessing anyway.  We worked with Gordon and Susan Rehyer from Vienna, Georgia.  They have been here staying in the other orphanage and helping for over a week.  They have been to Arequipa many times and have a great commitment to the children in need here.

The orphanage being constructed is located in Characato which is on the outside of Arequipa in a more rural area.  Actually, the original settlers from Spain settled in Characato to begin the city of Arequipa over 490 years ago.  We are still needing two ladies to run the orphanage.  Please be praying that the right people will answer God’s call to this ministry.  Also, please pray for the funding to support this work monthly.

May God bless you,

Lew

I Am Proud

I just wanted to brag a bit this morning.  Our daughter and son-in-law, Laralyn and Joseph RiverWind won a NAMMY Award this year for their music.  Their CD Tribal Thunder won “best rock recording”.  As you may know they are The Blessed Blend, a band that combines Native and Celtic music.  You can check out their music and read more about their award winning cd at:

www.theblessedblend.com

You can also order some of their all natural body care products including Rooting Bear Rub, Grizzly Bear Rub, Bath Salts, Special Soaps, Lip Balm, and more.  They even have something for your dog.  Go online to check out their products at:

www.nativetouch.us

To Catch You Up

It has been almost a month since we have written on this BlogSpot.  Please forgive us for the tardiness but life is a bit hectic while we are travelling in the U.S. and internet service is not readily available in most places we stay.  We returned to Peru Saturday night and were greeted at the airport by a group of our friends and some children from the orphanage.  Wow did they ever make us feel missed and welcome back!

We couldn’t immediately let people know that we had returned safely because we didn’t have internet service at the house.  We spent all day Sunday unpacking and trying to recuperate from the travel.  The trip seems to be further each year and the airplane seats smaller and harder.  We finally managed to get someone to the house on Monday to repair the internet so you can once again reach us at lewandmariesadavis@yahoo.com or by telephone at 727-216-9617 (That number is a U.S. based Vonage number so it is not an international call)..  We’d love to hear from you.

What a wonderful time we had in the U.S. visiting family, churches and friends!  We didn’t get to see everyone because there just was not enough time.  That is one of the frustrating thing about our time back home every year.  If we didn’t get to visit with you personally, please forgive us and please understand that we would have liked to but just ran out of time.

We want to thank everyone who was so generous and loving.  You really made us feel welcome and loved.  We also want to thank everyone who has been so diligently praying for us.  Thank you for all the prayers for my father.  During our time in the U.S. we had to change our itinerary a few times when my father was in intensive care.  I spent about two weeks (24 hours a day) in the room with him the first time and 8 days the second time he was in intensive care.  Your prayers have made a difference.  He is home now and doing much better.  He is still having some hernia, heart and back problems that come with being 86 years old but he is able to get around now and is still taking care of his garden.  His biggest concerns now are the pain in his back and having to be on Coumadin (a blood thinner).  Please continue to keep him in your regular prayers.

Deysi and Franz Caprilles and their family will visit us in December.  They are the Bolivian couple who run the ministry in Rurrenabaque, Bolivia for us.  We are looking forward to their visit because we haven’t seen Franz in three years.  We also have a team arriving December 28th to help with the larger orphanage run by David Bolos.  For Christmas we always have all the children from the smaller orphanage come to our house.  That is our gift to each other.  Instead of exchanging gifts, Mariesa and I buy gifts for each of the children and workers in the orphanage.  They decorate our house, we sing, we eat a Christmas meal and we have fireworks and a birthday cake for Jesus.  In the morning we will cook pancakes and bacon for them.  This is a highlight of our year.  Since we can’t be with our children and grandchildren during the Christmas season, we spend the time with 25 other children.

God is so good!  We are expecting to see mighty miracles and many people won to the Lord this year.  We are praying for you and would love to hear your prayer concerns.  Contact us if you have specific needs we can lift up to the Lord.

Don’t forget to check out our web site at www.newheartint.org or www.newheart.com or www.newheart.info. We love you all and appreciate your love for missions.

May God bless you as we celebrate the birth of our Savior.

Lew Davis

Fall Festival

This week we have enjoyed our time in the Tallahassee area.  We are staying at our daughter and son-in-law’s house.  Kimberly and Steve are excellent hosts and we are loving our granddaughters Rachel and Rebecca.  We went to the Fall Festival at River of Life Church and had a great time.  I helped Kimberly with the face painting booth and Mariesa won a door prize.

Wednesday night I preached in Carrabelle Christian Center.  We also visited our good friends Garry and Gina Millender and Pastor Don and Lisa Carrolle.  We hope to host a team from Carrabelle in July.  If you are interested in joining this team, contact Pastor Don at Carrabelle Christian Center.

This week we will be attending Bible Believer’s Fellowship and River of Life Church.  Hopefully we will also visit lots of friends in the area, as time allows.

We miss all our friends in Peru and are praying for them.  Please keep us in your prayers.  May God bless you!

Lew

Refreshing Times in Arkansas

What a wonderful time we are having in Iron Mountain, Arkansas!  After visiting and speaking in Louisiana we are now in Hatfield, Arkansas at Iron Mountain.  Iron Mountain is the headquarters of CMA, Christian Motorcyclists Association.  Yes, Mariesa and I are members of CMA – believe it or not.  No, we don’t own a motorcycle but we sure are enjoying the fellowship of this wonderful evangelistic group.  Our connection with CMA goes back almost 3 years. The first year we were in Peru we hosted a CMA team.  They were great and through that group we have developed some great friendships and become members of CMA.  Iron Mountain is where they have their annual Changing of the Colors.  It’s amazing to fellowship with about 5,000 bikers who love the Lord and are on fire to share their love of Jesus with others.

We leave Arkansas tomorrow and travel to Joplin, Missouri.  We’ll stay with Mariesa’s brother and visit friends there.  Hopefully we’ll see the Glenns and thank them for sharing their son, Stephen, with us.  He stayed with us in Peru and was a great help and an inspiring young man.  We’ll also visit with a group of friends who came to the Marshall Islands to help us on a mission trip when we were serving there.

God is so good.  Our trip to the CMA meeting was not on our schedule but God has an itinerary which is much better than ours.  We are trying to be open to His guidance and flexible.  We always tell teams who visit us that they must be flexible and now we are having to do what we preach.  Thank you for all your prayers.  You are making a difference.  We are keeping you in our prayers even though our schedule is busy.

Iron Mountain

We have been so busy and travelling so much that it has been really hard to keep in touch with everyone.  Please understand that we love you and are thinking of all of you.  Right now we are in Mina, Arkansas in their library.  We just stopped in to try and catch up on a bit of correspondence.  We will be here most of this week but by the weekend we will be in Joplin, Missouri.  We are in Arkansas for a CMA Meeting (Christian Motorcyclist Association).  Some of you may remember that CMA donated three motorcycles and 13 bicycles through us in Arequipa.  What a blessing CMA is to missionaries!

We had a wonderful time in Mansfield, Louisiana last week.  We spoke at 3 churches and attended a Senior group, a local CMA chapter meeting and an old fashioned church sing.  We have met some wonderful people in Louisiana including a pastor and his wife who are Latinos.  So we got to practice our Spanish with them.  We are looking forward to their church visiting us in Peru.  While in Louisiana, we had to get our car repaired again but God is so good and He provided the means and we had a place to stay provided by Southside Baptist Church in Mansfield while we were there.

They have had drought conditions in Louisiana and Arkansas for about three years.  Everything has been so dry but yesterday there was a good rain and this morning it was almost cold.  Please join us in praying for this area to have a lot more rain.

Now, I want to brag a little about my oldest daughter, Laralyn, and her husband, Joseph.  Their band “The Blessed Blend” won a NAMMY Award this year!  The NAMMY Award is the Native American equivalent to the GRAMMY Awards.  We are proud of them.  You can check out their music at www.theblessedblend.com or you can go to our website and follow the link.  Also check our their business at www.nativetouchtradingpost.com.

Even though we are busy and working hard while we are in the U.S., we do get a day now and then to relax when we don’t have to drive or speak.  God is good and He is renewing our strength and refreshing us through the friends and family that we visit. We miss all our friends in Peru and are continuing to pray for them.

If anyone would like to contact us here in the U.S. we can be reached at 850-728-4761 as long as we have cell phone coverage.

Don’t forget to visit our website at:

www.newheartint.com

www.newheartint.org

www.newheartint.info

www.newheartministriesinternational.com

May God bless each of you.  Please keep us in your prayers!

Lew

Detour

Last Sunday we had a wonderful visit at Celebration Church in Kingsport, Tennessee.  It was great seeing the mission board as well as staying with Kelly Abon’s family.  We got to see her 4 daughters and son who just celebrated his first birthday.  As some of you may remember, Kelly was in the Marshall Islands when we were and she and Mariesa worked together in a clinic. Please be praying for Abon Abon, Kelly’s husband.  He had to make an emergency trip to the Marshall Islands because his brother passed away.  Pray for the family and his safe return this week.

We had to make a detour in our itinerating.  When we arrived in Tennessee we were once again having trouble with our vehicle.  Instead of going on to Virginia as planned, we came back to Brevard, North Carolina where we know a trusted mechanic.  He worked on our car Monday and we should be back on the road today.  We will continue our trip to Virginia.  Thank you for your prayers.

Rick and Judy Jennings have been so dear to us for many years and this year they have certainly proved their love.  We stayed at their house again last night and enjoyed their fellowship so much.  (Thanks Rick for letting me win the game.)

I would like to personally thank everyone for the prayers for my father.  He is recovering but slower than he would like.  He is not used to being unable to plant his garden and do everything for himself.  Please continue to pray for him.

We are looking forward to getting back on the road and visiting m ore friends and supporters.  Don’t forget you can reach us at 850-728-4761 while we are in the U.S. and you can visit us at www.newheartint.org or www.newheartint.com or www.newheartint.info.

You are precious to us and to the Lord.

Feast of Trumpets

Last night we celebrated the Feasts of Trumpets with our family in Murphy, North Carolina.  It was so good to gather with our daughters Laralyn and Alesia and their families.  We missed Kimberly and her family because they were unable to travel from Florida to be with us.

We are enjoying our time in North Carolina.  This time of year is wonderful in the mountains with the cool nights, the pleasant days and the leaves beginning to change colors.  Driving through the mountains is always a treat for us.

We have been hosted by Pastors Rick and Judy Jennings of Joy Outreach Church in Pisgah Forest and Pastor David Gillespie of Faith Fellowship Church in Burnsville, North Carolina the last two weeks.  They have been friends and partners for so many years as we minister on the mission field.  They have welcomed us with open arms and made us feel so much at home.  Thank you for your generosity, fellowship,and letting us share what God has put on our hearts.

We miss our friends in Arequipa, Peru but trust that God is working His will in their lives while we are in the U.S.  We send our love and want you to know we are thinking of all of you and praying for you.

This weekend we will be in Tennessee.  Please continue to pray for us as we travel.  We have had some mechanical problems with the car but God sent us a good Christian mechanic to repair it.

We look forward to seeing more of our dear friends here in the U.S.  Don’t forget you can contact us by phone in the U.S at 850-728-4761.

Bless you

To Catch You Up

I’m so sorry that it has been a while since I gave you an update on our travels.  I have been so busy and out of pocket.  My father was taken to the hospital and had emergency surgery 9 days ago.  I spent the first 8 days with him day and night sleeping in the chair in his room in SICU.  He had a very dangerous aneurysm that could have ruptured at any moment.  He has also had complications from the surgery.  Just today he was moved out of ICU. Please keep him and my mother in your prayers.

Mariesa and I left Florida Friday to come to North Carolina where we spoke at Joy Outreach Church in Pisgah Forest.  Next Sunday we speak at Faith Fellowship Church in Burnsville, North Carolina.  Please keep us in your prayers as we travel.  This week we will replace the power steering pump in our car but God is good and has provided the money as well as an honest Christian mechanic to do the work.

We thought we would would be getting a little chance to relax a few days but that has not happened yet.  We have been enjoying wonderful fellowship with so many friends each day since we have been back.

We are praying for all of you and covet your prayers.  Feel free to call us as we travel at 850-728-4761.

Bless you, Lew

Word for the Day

Girasol

(hear ah soul)

Sunflower

Bible Study

Yesterday we enjoyed an interesting Bible study at Cathy Bentley’s house.  We studied about the location of the Garden of Eden.  Her excellent research always makes you think and want to research more for yourself.  The group prayed for us as we are soon going out to itinerate and will be on the road for the next two months. Thank you guys for the prayers!   We appreciate the time God is allowing us in Winter Haven to visit friends and family.

Word for the Day

Dormir

(door mere’)

 

To Sleep

Arrastrarse

(ah rrross strar’ say)

To crawl