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