25 YEARS IN PERU!

“One generation will commend your works to another; they will tell of your might acts.”
Psalm 145:4

The night of February 1, 1983, found us standing in Miami International Airport, giving
our last hugs to tearful family members before boarding a plane to a place God had called
us to but as yet we did not know—Lima, Peru. Now, 25 years later, that once unfamiliar
place has become our beloved home, the place of our children’s birth and upbringing, the
place of memories both joyful and painful, the place which forms the backdrop of God’s
shaping and using us for His glory. On this occasion of our 25th year in Peru—about a
generation—we take this opportunity to “commend His works” to those who have prayed
for and supported us over the years and to those of “the next generation,” that together we
may rejoice in His faithfulness.

We are humbled at how God has chosen to use us in the following ways:

• Serving in leadership in three churches in their early, formative stages

• Forming part of the church planting team which gave birth to La Vina del Senor
• Being part of the process of sharing the gospel message and/or discipling a
number of believers who are faithfully walking with and serving God
• Counseling couples with troubled marriages, several of which have been led
through a process of forgiveness and reconciliation. One of these couples plays a
key leadership role in our church.
• Leading the music ministry of La Vina del Senor and training others who now
faithfully and skillfully lead us in lifting up God’s name in worship
• Leading the Latin America area of the EFCA (now ReachGlobal) for six years,
during which area missionaries formed a greater solidarity one with another, and
in which the mission initiated or partnered with work in three additional countries
• Teaching classes, courses and seminars to train and strengthen others to serve
God
• Initiating the Celebrate Recovery ministry in La Vina del Senor (May 2005), a
ministry to those with addictions and painful emotional wounds from the past
• Forming part of the founding board of the International Christian School of Lima,
a ministry to both Christian and non-Christian international families, where
children of all grades receive a quality Christian education by teachers who love
them and are called to a ministry of personal and lifestyle evangelism through
teaching.
• Parenting our three amazing children, each of whom, through God’s gracious
hand, is faithfully serving Him in the stage and place in life He has put them

But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that this all-surpassing power is from
God and not from us. 2 Corinthians 4:7
We have also seen our share of testing, which God has brought us through faithfully and
used to strengthen us:

• Tim’s 10-year history of kidney stones, including three major surgeries. Praise
God he has been free of these for three straight years!
• Four miscarriages of very much wanted children
• Two bouts of typhoid for Tim and one for Debbie
• A two-year struggle with major clinical depression (Debbie), with an eventual
diagnosis of bipolar disorder. God is using this experience of emotional pain to
minister to others suffering emotional and spiritual difficulties.
• A major conflict between missionaries and national workers in our association, in
which 3 missionary couples were recalled, one resigned, and 3 were redeployed,
leaving two of us to continue the work here
• National workers who have had to leave the ministry because of sin
• People we have discipled who have not continued with the Lord
• Stages of difficulty and feeling helpless to know how to parent our children
effectively

We have been hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair;
persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed....Fro our light and
momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
2 Corinthians 4:8-9, 17

Over the last two months Tim has taught a course and given conference presentation on
conflict management and resolution, a seminar on how to recognize one’s spiritual gifts,
and has finished most of his next course for the Latin America Training Network. In
March he will teach a course on evangelism and another on world missions at the
Evangelical Seminary of Lima. Debbie has continued leadership of Celebrate Recovery,
and recently has returned to teaching music at the International Christian School after a
break for summer vacation. Several non-Christian couples have also been referred to us
for marriage counseling.

We would ask your prayers for the following:

• Decisions concerning finances. Our monthly support continues at a critically low

level
• Development of leadership for Celebrate Recovery, in order to accommodate new
people who are attending
• Tim’s teaching a series of special sessions on discovery of spiritual gifts to our
church—that it would result in people identifying and using their gifts
• Strength for Debbie as she seeks to balance demanding days of teaching with
ministry and home responsibilities
• Elizabeth in her studies at College of the Ozarks. She recently had a painful
episode with a gall stone, resulting in surgery to remove her gall bladder. Praise
God she is healing well.