February 2008 e-letter

For larger, readable view, left click on the image.

Wichanzao Neighborhood Medical Campaign

This has been a fruitful week of ministry with the team from Independent Presbyterian Church. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I'll let the pictures do the talking...

Watching the Moon Disappear

Happy Birthday Hannah!

Independent Pres. Team Here

A team from Independent Presbyterian Church in Memphis, TN, is with us this week to put on an intense medical campaign in the neighborhoods around Wichanzao Presbyterian Church. They will be doing general medical consults (family, internal, gynocological, OB) out in the neighborhoods, as well as minor surgery, dentistry, Vacation Bible School and hairstyling in the Wichanzao Church. Please pray for the Independent Pres. team, the Peru Mission team assisting them and all those with whom they share the love of Christ in word and deed.

Fun Summer Days

Wish I didn't have to learn this the hard way...

I am already being poured out as a drink offering . . . —2 Timothy 4:6

Are you ready to be poured out as an offering? It is an act of your will, not your emotions. Tell God you are ready to be offered as a sacrifice for Him. Then accept the consequences as they come, without any complaints, in spite of what God may send your way. God sends you through a crisis in private, where no other person can help you. From the outside your life may appear to be the same, but the difference is taking place in your will. Once you have experienced the crisis in your will, you will take no thought of the cost when it begins to affect you externally. If you don’t deal with God on the level of your will first, the result will be only to arouse sympathy for yourself.

"Bind the sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar" (Psalm 118:27). You must be willing to be placed on the altar and go through the fire; willing to experience what the altar represents-burning, purification, and separation for only one purpose-the elimination of every desire and affection not grounded in or directed toward God. But you don’t eliminate it, God does. You "bind the sacrifice . . . to the horns of the altar" and see to it that you don’t wallow in self-pity once the fire begins. After you have gone through the fire, there will be nothing that will be able to trouble or depress you. When another crisis arises, you will realize that things cannot touch you as they used to do. What fire lies ahead in your life?

Tell God you are ready to be poured out as an offering, and God will prove Himself to be all you ever dreamed He would be.

My Utmost for His Highest
By Oswald Chambers

This Week in the Wichanzao Medical Clinic

Doug Gates, Dan Doolittle and Bill with Peruvian Mangoes - a gift from our friend Amelia

Dr. Dan Doolittle (an ER doctor and Peru Mission's Medical Coordinator) and Dr. Doug Gates (an OBGYN who grew up on the mission field in Bolivia - so he speaks excellent Spanish) from Carbondale, IL, are working with us in Trujillo this week (on loan from their loving families). They are attending patients in the Wichanzao Presbyterian Church Medical Clinic. Already this week, they have witnessed God's hand in mighty ways - watching seeds of faith blossom in the lives of several patients with heartbreaking life stories. Praise be to God!

IEPP General Assembly Success

We are thankful to the Lord for a very positive General Assembly of the Iglesia Evangelica Presbiteriana del Peru this past week in Celendin, Peru. The time was spent in harmonious fellowship, mutual encouragement and faith-filled vision casting. It was one of the best meetings Bill can recall since we arrived in 1999. There will be a follow-up meeting in 6 months to build on the momentum. Please pray for the Presbyterian church in all of Peru - that the brothers and sisters would truly demonstrate the forgiving love of Christ to all around them.