Dear friends,

This verse from Isaiah 43 is fitting in several ways for this month. Of course it’s Valentine month, but it also is the theme verse of the first episode of the series “The Chosen”. He has called us, intimately, by the special name He has given us, and claims us for His own!  

We started showing these movies as a way to occupy some of the youth that were hanging out in the church that is in our house on Sunday evening. Now it has developed into a mini-service where we have a time of worship, a discussion on the Bible characters and the story presented in the movie, and then of course the movie and the popcorn. This makes our Sundays really full as we have a service at 11am in our house, a service at 4:30 pm at the church in Jose Olaya, and then back to our house for the movie service at 7:00 pm. 

In December we celebrated our 27^th wedding anniversary. Willie & Nancy, the local pastor and his wife, took us out for lunch to celebrate. Nancy is from an Andean mountain village several hours away. She brought her dress outfit for special occasions along and had Ruth dress up in it. Several days later Ruth and I took a small get-a-way trip to the same area, Colca Canyon to celebrate our 25^th as we had not been able to celebrate it in 2019. Colca Canyon is one of the world’s deepest canyons – over twice as deep as the Grand Canyon, and a well known place to see the world’s largest flying bird, the Andean Condor. What a blessing to have a beautiful place like this literally at our back door!

We finished up our marriage classes at the end of January, a little later than we had planned. Covid Omicron variant swept through Arequipa in mid January and into February along with the regular colds and flu that comes along with the rainy season here. Ruth and I both got sick with something so that pushed the class ending back. Many people in our neighborhood were sick, too,  but wouldn’t get tested because that would force them into quarantine and they would not be able to work. While many churches closed again for several weeks, the church in our house remained open. It’s a blessing to see this group’s faith, advancing the kingdom in spite of Covid.

Baby Eliot Samuel was born in late January to Efraín and Mariel, our “adopted” children from Venezuela. They migrated to Arequipa the same year we came to Peru and don’t have any family here so we have become close friends. I made them a changing table/dresser for the baby as well as a crib that came from our workshop. Armond had made this crib for another family, but they ended up moving away before they needed it.

Thank you for your interest in the ministry here. Some things you can join us in prayer about:

• Our paperwork from the states that we need to extend our visa is being delayed. Pray that it will come through so we don’t have to make an extra trip to the states next month.
• Another church has asked for the marriage seminar. Pray for wisdom and the ability to communicate the message clearly.
• Pray that God would supply a speaker from the states for special meetings in September.

Blessings, Stan & Ruth