Dear friends,

We are so grateful for the time we spent in the United States from the middle of May to the Middle of July. We were able to see many of you and your encouragement was a big blessings. Upon our return, we immediately set to work getting ready to move to our new house. Many of our household items we purchase used from a missionary family that returned to England. Some of the youth group from José Olaya church helped with loading and unloading the truck. We hope to move the workshop ministry soon.

Something that really bothers Ruth and I is how slow the churches are to reopen here in Arequipa. The Covid-19 infection levels are lower then they ever have been. The government has allowed gatherings since the first of the year and yet the fear and caution among the believers, even in the leadership is troubling. But there is good news! The leadership of José Olaya met for the first time in person in August! It was an emotional time as we talked about the blessing that we are all alive and could meet together.

We have noticed that many are hungry for fellowship. One of the reasons for our move was so that we could open our home for hospitality to others. Since we have moved, hardly a week goes by that someone does not stop in. We have also restarted a game afternoon where we interact with people playing games and are considering a video teaching night.

We were invited to a church that IS meeting in a house right across the road from us. It was a REALLY special time for us to meet together for worship with other Peruvian believers for the first time in over 1.5 years!

They already are involving us in teaching and preaching. My first thoughts were “Lord, I can’t speak the language well enough”, and God immediately brought to my mind the story of Moses and how that he made a similar statement. So when I do, the Holy Spirit is definitely going to need to anoint my tongue because on my own I really can’t do it.

Pray with us:

• that God would use our home for encouraging others and diminishing their fears
• for the believers and leaders of the churches of Christians in Action that they would focus more on Jesus and less on the troubled waters around them
• for the new church start-up across the road from us, La Esperanza de Vida, that it truly would bring the Hope of Life to this neighborhood

Blessings,

Stan & Ruth Schrock