(Man proposes and God arranges.)

January 2025

This is common saying here and depending on the version you use, its Proverbs 16:1. We can make all the plans we want but in the end we need to remember that it is “God who works in [us], both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”

We were reminded recently why it is so important to always say “if the Lord wills” we will do this or that. We had plans to return to the states December 26th, the day right after Christmas. Early Sunday morning, the 22nd, my co-leader at José Olaya, Juan Sanz, suffered a heart attack. They got him to the hospital right away and the experts said that because of their promptness, he would be fine. They stabilized him and Monday morning he went into surgery for a procedure that the doctors said was very low risk- “one in a million have side effects,” they said. During the procedure he went into heart failure and passed away soon after.

Juan was a 68 year old man that did all the right things health-wise. He ate right, often walked several kilometers a day instead of taking public transportation and was active in the community. He was ordained with me mid August as elder/pastor to take the place of missionaries Dennis and Ruth. Though we were ordained together, I leaned on him in many ways to connect with the local people. We buried him on the 26th, the day that we were planning to return to the United States.

The church at José Olaya has been through a lot this past year. Dennis and Ruth, life-time missionaries, retired and returned to Canada. They had a complete change of leadership with Juan and I being ordained in August. And now Juan past away suddenly from a heart attack.

For these reasons, we changed our plans on returning to the states. The past weeks have been full with reorganizing and putting leaders in place to carry on the work. Who knows, maybe at least part of God’s purpose is so that local leaders step forward and shoulder the work that needs to be done.

We now plan, Lord willing, to return to the states on the 20th of this month. We also are shortening our time in the states. We are not changing our return date to Peru on the 27th of March.

Please pray for:

       🙏🏻 Glendy, the widow, and her 2 sons Jairo and Benjamín

      🙏🏻 For the church at José Olaya as they regroup

        🙏🏻 For the new leaders that are stepping into the gap