Prayer Request

Please be in prayer for me this weekend.  I will be sharing three different messages at a church which is celebrating their anniversary all day Saturday and Sunday.  I have three powerful messages that I know comes from God for this church.  Pray that everyone will be open to hear the Word of God and then be obedient to it.  I am also expecting to see people make a commitment to God for the first time in their lives.  I want to see people saved.  We are close to the end times and time is so short.  We must bring in the Harvest now!

Also, please continue to keep Mariesa in your prayers.  She is still in the U.S. and undergoing all kinds of medical tests.  We are waiting for a good report but we covet your prayers daily.

May God bless you for your heart for missions.

Lew

Update

Dear Friends,

I just want to give you a quick update.  Mariesa is now in the U.S., as some of you know. Her health has not been good for a while so she is there to see doctors and try to recuperate her health. She is undergoing treatments for parasites and they are also running other tests, so please keep Mariesa in your daily prayers. She is also in the U.S. to help our daughter who is expecting in July. Our daughter is having a difficult pregnancy and needs help so Mairesa is in North Carolina with her. We would also appreciate your prayers for our daughter.

Mariesa will be making a two week trip to Peru on June 4th with Melissa and Linda, our friends from Winter Haven, Florida. Prayers for their safety would also be appreciated.

Things are  going well here in Peru although I am missing Mariesa.  I am very busy trying to finish up a group of students in CEB (the Bible Institute).  It looks as though we will have our first graduation at the end of July.  It has taken us three long years to finish up two year’s curriculum, but some have persisted to the end.  We will have a small graduating class, but they are special and have worked so hard.  This past week we finished the class on Hermeneutics and they thoroughly enjoyed it.  I believe it opened their eyes to something more than just reading and studying the Word of God on the surface. They are really beginning to dig for golden nuggets in the Bible.  This week we started the class on Homiletics.  They are mostly very shy so it will be a challenge to some of them as they prepare sermons and deliver them in front of the class.  Please be praying for these students.  So many have started but so few will finish the race.

I have been so busy lately.  In addition to studying and teaching, I have been very busy with activities with the students.  We have done service projects, evangelism, family picnics, and home activities.  We have also been distributing Bibles.  We purchased some Bibles in Quechua this month to distribute to some of our new converts who only speak Quechua.  You should have seen their faces as they received their first Bible in their own language.  Just this week we were informed that we will be given 1000 more Bibles to distribute.  I guess the students and I will be planning another evangelism trip soon.  We have two interns living in the downstairs apartment and I have a lot to do in coordinating their activities.  It is such a blessing to see young people answer the call of God to missions.  I am preaching many Sundays and for some reason I seem to be invited to speak at every church’s anniversary celebration.  I also baptized a group of new Christians recently and it was such a pleasure.

There is so much that needs to be done so we need your prayers.

May God bless you for your heart for missions.

Lew

Jessica and Maisie, new missionaries

CEB Family Day

On May 1st the Peruvians celebrate two different holidays.  That’s when they celebrate the Virgin of Chapi and their national Labor Day.  For celebrating the Virgin of Chapi, people make a pilgrimage to the pueblo of Chapi outside of Arequipa.  It is a two day walk and many make this walk to incur favors and miracles from the Virgin of Chapi.  Along the way many build little stone houses with thatch roofs for their dead ancestors.  They put food in the little house and sprinkle the ground with wine as an offering.  By the time many arrive in Chapi, they are very drunk.  This year one person died on the way there.

We at CEB, the Bible Institute, decided to have a Family Fun Day on May 1st since it was a holiday.  We went to a park in the countryside and spent the day.  We cooked hamburgers and hot dogs and everyone brought something to share.  I made potato salad.  This, of course, is a traditional picnic food in the U.S. but none of my students had ever tried potato salad.  They loved it and everyone wanted the recipe.

The students and their families really enjoyed the day relaxing and having fun.  We hiked, played gamed, had fun and fellowshipped.  It was a great day!

Thought you might like to see some of the pictures.