Greetings from Chiclayo, Peru where it’s sunny and warm – well, most of the time anyway. As we move through spring we still have a few cool nights with some overcast skies in the mornings. The tree in front of our house is sprouting forth new leaves and the flowers are blooming here and there. We sincerely hope you all are enjoying the autumn experience with the cool nights and the art show provided by all the tree leaves. We have had a few rain showers, but northern Peru is still experiencing a drought which is creating hardship for many. November has arrived and with it an official opportunity to reflect upon the bountiful blessings that God has given us. There are no decorations or indications of this holiday around us in Peru, but we do get a lot of questions from our friends who are interested in the customs and culture of the USA. We are certainly grateful that our country still has the freedom to vote for our choice in leaders and we are reminded that God has told us to pray for all our leaders whether we agree with all their decisions or not; they are ultimately responsible to God and we are responsible to pray for them. One sour note for us after the elections was to find one of our absentee ballots returned to our mail box with no evidence of having gone anywhere outside of the post office in Chiclayo. This along with several packages that we know some of you dear friends have sent us, but have not arrived, lead us to ask you to pray for safe and trouble free arrival of our mail. Sometimes we are pleased with the arrival times and the cost for customs, at other times it takes 6 months if at all to arrive and the customs costs are greater than the actual package is worth. This is not to say we do not like getting mail from you - we do appreciate all the news from home. Thank-you. We are so thankful for God’s great love and mercies toward us which are new every morning; He is so faithful!
We had a fruitful meeting with our regional administrator in October and were able to map out a strategic plan for the ministry of ABWE in Northern Peru. As we have shared with you in our prayer letters this is a multifaceted ministry and there is room for more workers in this harvest field. We thank you for your prayers during this time and we trust God will provide continued wisdom as we face the daily battle.
Even as we make our plans, we continue to recognize that God is in control of the direction we take. We ask your continued prayers as we are waiting for news that tells us the bulldozer has actually arrived in Ingenio. We appreciate your prayers for this and we hope to take a trip to Ingenio when the machine does truly arrive. The airplane is in the final stages of checking before we give it a run! Pray for this ongoing process as once it is running, we will have to take a trip to Lima to work through several levels of regulatory paper work. We are counting on receiving several temporary permits which will allow flights around Chiclayo before the airplane, pilot and permanent permits are ready and flights to the mountains can commence. We ask for continued prayer and consideration of your part in providing the needed $3,500 for the replacement fuel tanks. These are being built as we speak and will be coming to Peru with Amy and Audra Budd in December. Would you please consider sending a special gift toward the aviation ministry to our account at ABWE? For online access follow this link: https://www.abwe.org/give/ways_to_give/online.asp Simply mention our name and that it is a special donation to the aviation ministry. This same web page will help you with information on giving by mail or phone. (If you wish to give in person, we will gladly meet you at the Lima, Peru airport!)
As we work diligently to be able to fly into the mountains we continue to minister to these dear people in other ways. Pastor Edgar was in Chiclayo this past week for a medical check up after struggling with a recurring illness for several months. We were encouraged by the test results which indicated that for now he has nothing that needs further medical attention; the latest round of antibiotics was able to clear the problem he had been having. We are stepping up our plans for a mountain camp for the youth and have set the new camp dates for February 14-19, 2005. This should eliminate the conflict with school schedules and we ask your prayers that it will be a week of good weather, clear of the rains more common in the months of January through April. We are also making plans to be in Ingenio March 14-18, 2005 for ladies and children’s camps.
October also was the month we hosted the Word of Life drama team from Lima. They did a great job again this year. The drama was presented to more than 7,000 youth and over 2,000 decision cards were collected. Please pray that the area churches would be motivated to follow up on these young people. We were able to get the group into several schools where young people of the business class attend, so we have some cards to follow up with ourselves. The drama is a reenactment of the true life story of a couple from Argentina, who through their own choices, contracted AIDS and died. Before their death they came in contact with Jesus Christ at a Word of Life Camp and were “born again to a Living Hope”. It was a full week but so rewarding and there were still a few smiles available at the end of it all. As you pray for the follow up efforts among the local area churches please keep the Chiclayo area pastors in your prayers. One way of hindering the gospel outreach in Chiclayo is for the spiritual forces of darkness to sow and encourage discord among the pastors and leaders. As we give council to these pastors we pray that they will remain humble before the throne of God and seek His Kingdom first.
We have the privilege of being involved with a special ministry from the USA for pastors who are establishing new churches. We ask your prayers as we are seeking to include two additional men to this program for the year 2005. This ministry is beneficial to pastors both in the Chiclayo area as well as the mountains. Pray with us that there will be a positive response for this growth.
We have seen some new faces in the Business Class ministry during the last few months and we ask you to continue to keep us in your prayers for this important area of ministry. Glenn Budd has been leading discussions on marriage and family relations. There are great needs among these people and we continue to plant seeds from the Word of God asking that the Lord of the Harvest will cause them to fall on receptive hearts. We are in the midst of planning a special Christmas outreach. Please pray as we plan and seek to clearly give the gospel and build more bridges into the homes and lives of these people. We also ask that you keep the Hoyos family in your prayers as we seek to spend some one on one time discipling them. This process has been hindered due to a very busy business and many related “problems” on their part. We can be assured that there are spiritual forces at work to prevent this follow-up time from occurring so we ask your prayers for us as well as them.
Jason and Hannah are continuing their education. Home schooling at times is an adventure and at others a chore. Jason is enjoying his basketball practices and opportunities to play with a team from the gym where he practices. Hannah knows most of the area children her age and takes opportunities to share her faith with them. She was very thrilled to talk with one of the girls from one of our Business Class families during the drama and lead her to Christ. Her name is Diana Hoyos, daughter of the family we are seeking to disciple.
Your Partners in proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ,
Tim, Virgie, Jason and Hannah Farley
