Saying Goodbye

A few months ago a decision was made after much prayerful consideration, that Brenda and I and our girls would start to look for another mission organization here in Peru with which we could serve. Being here these past 4 years with Kids Alive, we have had the opportunity to meet hundreds of people who have greatly impacted our lives and helped us along the way as we have grown in our faith and maturity. These people have come from all over, some from the missionary community here in Peru, some from the dozens of service teams that come down every year to help us, some from the national staff that Kids Alive has in place here and some from the friends that we have made in the most unlikely places here in Peru. But wherever they came from, the impact they had on our lives, some greater than others, but they all were used together by God to help mould us and shape us into the family that we are today. Personally I have spent more of my time with the service teams and lately working in Pachacamac at the Juniper Tree home. I have made many great friends through both and would like to take this opportunity to that all of you who have come down here to help us build, to help us love the kids and just to encourage us. Without you we would not be able to provide the kids with the safety and love that they receive.

Brenda has spent most of her time here in Peru at the Oasis Care Center in Manchay. There she has been able to befriend hundreds of families over the years and they have allowed her to visit them in their homes, love their children and really become part of their lives. It is a great joy for us to see the changes in peoples lives during their time of contact with the Oasis. We have seen families be completly changed for the better because of the care given to their children or because of classes taught to the mom.

We would like to thank each and everyone of the people mentioned above. I know that only a small fraction of them actually has the resourses to read this blog but most of those who don't have, we have been able to spend time with over the past couple weeks and have personally thanked them. For those of you who do read this blog, please look in the next couple weeks for a link to my new blog once we get settled in to our new ministry. I guess I had better share a little bit with you about where we are going.

We have been accepted as missionaries with South America Mission in Pucallpa, Peru. They are an established mission with a very long history in the area. Their ministries are very diverse and the opportunities to be able to impact peoples lives with the love of Jesus Christ are many. Just to name a few of the ministries that SAM provides are their aviation ministry, church plants, a prenatal center, a seminary and an indigineous center. Our daughters will also be attending a missionary kids school that is run by SAM and is right on the property where I will be spending much of my time.

We will miss all of the people who are in the Kids Alive ministries here in Lima and Andahuaylas, but one bright note is that we will be very close to friends with Kids Alive in Pucallpa. We will miss all of the many friends we have made in Lima and Manchay but look forward to the opportunities that we will have to get back here and visit. We are also very excited about the future and to see the ways that God will use us to further His kingdom.