Come and see what God is doing in the jungles of the Amazon basin! We feel humbled and honored that He has chosen and enabled us to serve Him in this beautiful place.
Fire.
This was another dry season that brought wildfires our way, and one more season in the books that we can record God’s faithfulness and goodness in His protection of this base! Thank you to all the saints that knew about the fires and prayed for our safety and that of the houses and camp buildings. He hears our prayers! On the first day it was burning straight towards the camp, but the winds died down at dusk and were still all night. Then in the morning the winds picked up again but God shifted it 90 degrees to blow south and it burned almost all of the way down the property towards the dirt road – away from all of the buildings and houses. Vann and I had just that morning been talking about a way to clear that side of the property and realized that it would cost more than we’re able to pay for a tractor to come and bulldoze it, so God sent a fire and directed the winds so that only that side of our property burned as a blessing in disguise!
Vann finished piping the water supply in the new house and the windows are installed! The camp bathrooms are being tiled and the materials for the camp kitchen roof were just delivered. He is also building a cistern for a friend in town so that they have water for more than a few hours a day. God is strengthening and blessing the work of his hands. He just keeps giving everything he has in him every day, pouring out his life as a living sacrifice in obedience to the calling that God has so lovingly placed on us.
I am still doing well! I feel like I am slowly getting stronger and can participate in life more every month. I can cook a meal and clean a bit and have a conversation or visit with someone all in one day and still be well the next day! I was even able to visit a dear friend in the hospital with homemade cookies and garden flowers that I prepared! Our friend could use your prayers – it will be a long recovery from a horrible motorcycle accident that he is very lucky to have survived. But oh, the joy it is to be able to go and see/visit/minister/love on others for a change! Suffering for long, long periods of time changes a person. When we love Jesus, he uses the refining fires of suffering to deepen our dependance on him and to teach us that the love of God is better than life!
The school year has started with a bang for all three of our kiddos! Corynn is beginning her “super senior” year of pre-med classes at Cedarville University – she could use your prayers for strength and endurance to finish well!
Ethan is already loving his engineering classes at Kennesaw State University. We are so incredibly grateful for the healing that God has given him from his concussion and for the provision of such a lovely and safe place for him to live!
Clara is officially a full-time college student at home with her dual enrollment classes online – it’s been a bit of an adjustment, but she is really enjoying the challenge and change of pace. We have got to be the most blessed parents. Ever.
We were thrilled to have Mikey come and visit us for a few all-too-brief days! He brought us some urgently needed tools and equipment, and a whole bunch of goodies that bless us so, but time with him is the real gift. We pray God’s hand of blessing and protection over his precious life!
We pray for each of you – that God would draw your hearts closer to Him and that He would lovingly guide you through your own refining fires so that He gets all the glory for all things!
“Life in the refiner’s fire is a life of trust in the unchanging purifying love of God” – John Piper
Winter.
It is the dead of winter here in the southern hemisphere, and in the jungle, it is dry season. That means dusty dirt roads, low rivers and lakes, 90+ degree days, and slightly fewer mosquitos - which makes the pool extra inviting for everyone and makes for excellent conditions for construction!
The interior walls in the Round Robin house are all built, and the exterior molding is being installed. We’ve been talking to God about providing further funding to continue with the construction of this mission house and several other base infrastructure projects that Vann is working on. This update was going to be a petition for project funds, but instead it is a call to praise God with us for his provision for the next steps before we could even write to ask! While we are in awe and humbled by his omniscience and greatness we are not surprised. These many years of walking by faith and following Jesus has proved his faithfulness every single step of the way! We trust that He knows there are hardworking, church-planting missionary families that are needing this house as soon as possible, and He’s got it – God is in control!
Our church’s youth group has enjoyed coming out here for games, worship, and swimming, and the apartment has been able to bless a few people that have needed a quiet retreat and rest. We are delighted when the facilities here serve our local church and missionary community!
We have immensely enjoyed having one of my closest friends and her daughter here for a quick visit! Their family moved back to Switzerland two years ago after having served here for seventeen years as missionaries with the Swiss mission – our neighbors. She is my sister in Christ, dear friend, and guardian angel – she came nearly every day to care for me and my family during my severe illness after covid when most people couldn’t come or wouldn’t enter someone else’s house. Her selfless ministry to me has left an indelible imprint on my heart that is a reminder of Jesus’ care for me. Goodbyes are hard, but the sweet fellowship of these last few days has made me even more thankful for our hope of heaven in Christ Jesus.
Thank you for your prayers for my health – I can get up, work, and host people in between times of rest through my days. It is a slow process of finding a rhythm and balance of productivity within my limitations, but I praise God that I am still in the fight! We love serving here and we love you all so very much! May God be with you till we meet again.
“You should serve the Lord with intense delight, because of what he has done for you.” – Charles Spurgeon
Short&Sweet.
This update is short and sweet just to let you know that we are alive and well! Life is good, the work on the mission base continues and our children are all doing well. And……
My fevers have broken!!! I had a persistent low-grade fever (of unknown origin) for a full four months straight. I am thankful for the fever – it drove us to look for answers with a team of specialists, and because of that I am finally on life saving medication that should help me live a more full life even with a rare, chronic disease. My family is sending me a mitochondrial supplement that is helping me tremendously as well! I am still weak, but I am so grateful to finally be able to get up and take care of the house a bit which takes a little of the load off of my Vann’s shoulders.
He works hard in the sun every day - building, welding, mowing, and keeping this mission base camp running. Our missionary families that we serve are coming and going from their tribal communities and furloughs, and we are seeing the function and purpose of this mission working out so beautifully. Jesus is coming back soon! May we be found faithful.
“God is both the rewarder and the reward of his people.” – Charles Spurgeon
Care.
We have had the most wonderful honor to host a couple of local church’s events this month as well as a sending-away party for some dear missionary neighbors that have faithfully worked here for over thirty years. They will be dearly missed.
Vann has enjoyed working diligently as always and has found some dependable local workers to help progress more quickly – we thank God for good help! The siding on the Round Robin house is nearly finished and they are working on the exterior to “dry it in” before moving to work on the interior of the house. He has also been working on electrical maintenance, running a fiber line to the housing neighborhood, building new raised beds for our garden, and a gazillion other jobs to maintain this base, serve and care for the missionaries around us.
He is handling all of this while also running the house and caring for me while I’m still sick. He is a saint. Today is my 102nd day of persistent low-grade fevers. The cause is still unknown. My amazing team of doctors have done all the tests to rule out the big bad things, so now we wait and pray. God will heal me in his time, in his way, and for his glory!
Corynn is in Phoenix for her summer internship working in a Christian clinic to complete her Psychology degree. This is an amazing “full circle” kind of thing – the Psychiatrist who is her supervisor has known me all my life (and Corynn’s) since he is one of my dad’s best friends, has served us for years as our missionary caregiver, is for that reason the one to inspire Corynn to pursue this field of study, and has found her this internship. She is in good hands, the best hands. We serve an amazing God who cares about the minutest details of our lives and strings them together through the years and generations!
Ethan has transferred to the engineering program at Kennesaw State University in Marietta, Georgia. He made this move from Cedarville knowing that God was leading him to move but had no certain plans beforehand for housing or a job. We posted this need on Facebook, and the outpouring of offers for housing, job opportunities, appliances, and love and care from friends, family, and friends of friends was just astounding. Our boy can clearly see God’s hand in his life as he leads, guides, and provides through the body of Christ – it’s a beautiful thing!
Clara finished her sophomore year of high school and completed a couple of dual enrollment classes with Letourneau University. We are so very proud of her diligence and hard work! She also enjoyed going on a mission’s trip with her MK high school students to a community a few hours down river from Pucallpa. She has a sweet servant’s heart that cares for people and we are so thankful that we get to watch her grow in the Lord!
It is difficult for me to sufficiently put into words the incredible, humbling honor that it is for us to get to live here and do this job. To be sent, loved, supported, and cared for by you is what makes it all possible. May the Lord bless and keep us all as we eagerly await his return!
“To risk all with Jesus is to end all risk.” Charles Spurgeon
Risen Indeed.
Life is worth the living just because He lives! Resurrection Sunday and Ethan’s birthday are always highlights of April for us. He is 19 years old! This is the first birthday in our family that we have not all been together to celebrate, but Corynn and friends at school did a superb job of it for us!
Vann finished the punch list for the Howe’s house and has happily spent a couple of weeks on some much-needed maintenance on base while also cranking up construction again on the “Round Robin” house – thus nicknamed since it will be shared by several tribal working families that will come and go on a schedule throughout the year. Vann is building a roof structure over the storage containers for a safe place for the missionary families to store their things while they’re out either in the bush or on furlough.
He also took me to Lima for a couple of days to run more tests that are not available in the jungle and to see my team of doctors. I am very grateful for some dear supporters that immediately helped us with the airfare, and for trusted friends on this side of the Andes to keep Clara at a moment’s notice (the endocrinologist had a last-minute opening for an appointment). The doctors are treating me with a steroid cocktail for Adrenal Insufficiency and are talking about how to safely proceed with further testing to figure out if it’s Addison’s Disease or not. I am also on antibiotics for a mostly asymptomatic kidney infection – which is hopefully the cause of the low-grade fevers that have lasted six weeks now.
As the end of the school year is coming up next week, each of our children have some big decisions ahead of them for the summer (classes/work/internships/housing) and need prayers for wisdom and provision. We trust God to bless and keep and guide them as they each figure out what path He has for them.
We are so very grateful for your precious prayer and financial support! You are the wind in our sails. It is just amazing to look around here and see the big, amazing things that God is doing through us – the broken vessels that we are. His great name is to be praised among the nations!
“We are secure, not because we hold tightly to Jesus, but because He holds tightly to us.” – R.C. Sproul
Muddy March.
It’s stormy for days with scorching sun shining through every now and then just long enough to turn the earth into a sauna. The big billowy clouds that make the sunsets look like paintings, and the most vivid rainbows we’ve ever seen really do make up for all the mud.
Great news - the Howe family has moved into their house!!! We are delighted to have them as neighbors and to support them in their tribal work. Vann is wrapping up the finishing touches - installing the garage doors and porch fans, but this precious family is happily installed in their new home! Watching the vision that God gave us for this mission base turn into a 3D, tangible reality is just astounding! Praise the Lord!
Thank you for your prayers for us.
· We are thankful for God’s watchful care over our children as they’re all well and busy with their studies and work.
· We would ask extra prayers for our national helpers-
· Milka’s youngest son broke his leg and needs surgery.
· Percy is slowly rebuilding his life with the few jobs that we can find him, but his greatest need is to surrender his life to Christ.
· Abraham’s wife has been diagnosed with cancer and will be needing treatment in Lima.
The needs that surround us seem to be so great sometimes, but we ask for wisdom and pray that God uses us as channels for his love and care.
· Vann hurt his back while moving furniture into the new house. It didn’t help that he was turning around on the seat of the tractor to build the new driveway, and twisting up under the kitchen cabinets to connect water fittings, gas, and power. There does seem to be improvement with ice and rest, and we are hopeful that he will heal soon.
· I am going on two weeks of running a persistent low-grade fever for no apparent reason, so I’m not feeling very well. The good news is that with the help of a dear friend, I have found a new doctor that is interested in my case. He is a neurologist and a specialist in internal medicine in Lima - my very own “Dr. House”, but he is extremely kind! Hope springs eternal, and we will keep searching for answers and praying for healing on this side of eternity.
Our family’s greatest desire and the object of our daily prayers is for the grace and work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts to hold us fast and glorify his great name through all that we say and do.
“Lord, send me anywhere, only go with me. Lay any burden on me, only sustain me. Sever any ties but the tie that binds me to thy service and to thy heart.” – David Livingston
Joy.
The countrywide strikes have settled down a bit and most of the roads are “restricted” instead of completely blocked off, so some food and gas is getting through – when the road is there. The one road that crosses the Andes and connects us to the capitol was washed out again (100 meters broke off into the river) when heavy rains hit earlier this month and caused landslides. The repairs are underway and some trucks with provisions were allowed through, so stores and gas stations are restocked. We praise God for his provision and constant care.
Vann has been putting in some long days this month working so hard to get the Howe family’s house ready to move in by the end of this month, but it’ll still be another week or so for the finishing touches to be completed. He has finished the electrical connections, water supply, installed the water heater, hooked up all the drainage, set the toilets, and is making sure that they’ll have internet up and working right away. It’s so close!
Vann is building a chicken coup and inclosure
I have struggled with my health spiraling out again, so my doctor had me double my steroid dose last week. It is miraculous how immediately it helps, and the heart failure whenever I stand or walk is gone! It takes effort, discipline and God’s grace to be thankful in the midst of suffering, but he blesses a thankful heart with his joy! Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!
The kids are all doing well, thank God. They are all three excelling in their classes. Ethan still has migraine headaches that come too frequently for comfort, but he soldiers on like his dad. He and Corynn enjoyed attending their international student’s formal gala, proudly wearing their Peruvian accessories! Clara is such a delightful help and companion for us as we all figure out how to live apart from her siblings – that has proven to be a more difficult adjustment since being all together again for Christmas. Their departure after such a wonderful visit for the holidays was hard – it just made the permanence of the separation sink in that much more.
Thank you all so very much for your precious prayers for us – you are holding our arms up like Aaron and Hur did for Moses. We feel so blessed to get to be here and do this work, but we couldn’t do it without you and we pray God’s abundant blessings on your lives!
“The secret is Christ in me, not me in a different set of circumstances.” – Elisabeth Elliot
Time.
The beginning of this year has been a rough one for Peru with country wide strikes and demonstrations protesting the fact that the president was impeached and arrested after he illegally dissolved congress. Peru is on her sixth president and third congress in five years. It’s a mess. We are under Martial law, again. There are soldiers posted in the airports and other public places. Most of the highways across the country are blocked. The one road that crosses the Andes to connect us (Pucallpa) to the outside world has metal welded across it to block all traffic. The most immediate difficulty from this is that the transportation of food and gas is at a standstill. Please pray for peace for Peru.
Despite the unrest, our family was finally able to go on our trip to Cuzco and Machu Picchu that we’d planned since 2020! Our kids have lived their whole lives in Peru and had never seen this Wonder of the World. God made a way - we were able to just barely get in and out safely, the kids caught their flight back to the States, and we made it home in time for Clara’s classes to begin. I am so grateful that I was able to go on this trip - I stayed behind for most dinners and only accompanied the family on tours that had places to sit. The effort has cost me more time than I thought would be needed for recovery, but I am still so very thankful!
Our beautiful Corynn turned 20 years old at the end of December! We are incredibly blessed to be her parents and are so excited to see the amazing ways that God will use her precious life for the glory of His great name! This is a photo of me at 20 years old with her at 3 months old in Pucallpa, Peru. Unreal how quickly time flies.
The finishing touches are all that lack on the Howe’s mission house! We are super excited for them to be able to move in soon and have them living on base! Our next big prayer request is for strength and finances to continue to work on the next mission house. There are other tribal working missionary families that are eagerly awaiting a place to live!
Thank you for your faithful prayers and support for us as a family and for our mission. It is astounding to look back and see the amazing, BIG things that God has done in the last couple of decades, and we cannot wait to see all the great things that He is going to do! Time is a gift. May we be found faithful.
“I must do the works of Him who sent Me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work.” John 9:4
Faith.
“He’s never failed me yet” are the fitting words to an old gospel song that is a continual anthem in this house as we speak of God’s faithfulness to us.
Ethan is recovering from his severe concussion, although it’s been a difficult journey. We are so very thankful for your prayers for him. He had constant migraines for over six weeks and had to withdraw from his classes, so he feels that his work and effort for the last semester is a complete scratch. He is enrolled in engineering classes again this upcoming semester, and we are hopeful that he will have the health and capacity to continue. We are so very grateful for the family, friends, and professors in his life that have helped and encouraged him through this difficult time in his young life.
Because of his accident, we had waited to purchase tickets for the kids to come home for Christmas – not knowing if Ethan would be able to travel. By the time he had healed up a bit, the ticket prices had jumped sky high. As a family, we had been talking to Jesus about how we couldn’t afford to bring them home, how much of a need this was for our boy’s mental health, and lifting up the overwhelming medical bills that had come in – which was all so far out of our reach, but nothing is beyond our Father in heaven.
Within a twelve-hour span, we received news that the Holy Spirit had already been at work in the hearts of a precious young family to provide the funds needed to bring our kiddos home for Christmas and that the hospital had already taken care of Ethan’s paperwork - he would not be billed. Praise God!!! He is faithful. Why are we still surprised by his provision and care for us? He is always good – even when our son is injured, and we are all so very far apart. God is still at work for the glory of his great name!
Meanwhile, it’s been busy down here! Thanksgiving was a blessing to host again. It always blesses our hearts to hear about God’s faithfulness and the amazing things that He is doing in the various works and missions in this jungle!
We had the particularly special honor of co-costing the Howe’s work-team as they came to help with the building project to try to get the Howes in their house as soon as possible. They worked so hard and accomplished so much!
At the end of November our hearts were crushed by the sudden death of a dear friend. John Hocking was a second-generation missionary to this area of the jungle. He was raised here and returned with his lovely wife to faithfully serve as missionaries for over fifty years, and now their daughter and her family also serve here as missionaries and are among our closest friends. Our kids called him “Papa John”. They loved him like a grandfather since they never knew either of their own grandfathers. He was one of our first friends here in Peru and we miss him dearly.
Please pray for Percy. He is the mason that has worked with Vann for several years now. Last month he was held up at gunpoint and robbed. He had been watched and this was planned just as he was carrying his life savings on his person. We are helping where we can, but our greatest hope is for his salvation. He has heard the truth as Vann has faithfully witnessed to him that Jesus is the only way.
Thank you so very much for holding us up in your prayers! "Therefore we always pray for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling and with power fulfill all your good desires and works done by faith, so that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.” – 2 Thes.1:11-12
“Faith is the deliberate confidence in the character of God whose ways you may not understand at the time.” – Oswald Chambers
Spring.
The rains have begun in earnest, and we are in mid-Spring here in the Southern Hemisphere. The flowers are all abloom and it is just beautiful! We are so delighted to be home and able to get back to work!
There were a few dry weeks left by the time we returned, and Vann has worked so hard to take advantage of the weather to complete some projects on base. He built a ramp for a car wash station that will serve the families on base. A new-to-us 40’ container has been put on pilings with an access ramp for missionary storage - as tribal working missionaries will be rotating in and out of these houses, they will need a place to store their things. The old 20’ storage container has been moved and put on pilings with a ramp for camp storage (some of the mattresses have already walked out of the cabins). The old wooden floor of the woodshop had rotted out and the machines had haphazardly sunk to the ground making them unusable, so he poured a concrete floor for the woodshop. Vann is also working on trimming out the plumbing and electrical, and finishing drywall in the house that needs to be finished as near to the end of the year as possible. May the Lord bless and multiply the work of his hands!
Thankful for the nationals that are willing to come and help with some of these projects. Pictured above is Alexis and his beautiful, new little family – he has been a faithful friend and help to us!
Ethan suffered a severe concussion while playing an intramural soccer game earlier this month. He was rushed to the ER twice and had a CT scan that thankfully showed no bleeding on his brain. We are so grateful for his attentive roommate whose father is a doctor and he came right away to help, that Corynn was with him through all of it, and for my precious brother and his wife for driving over and scooping Ethan up to take him to recover at their house instead of his dorm-room. Unfortunately, this accident happened just before his mid-terms, and he is now far behind on his class work. Having to catch up with a concussed brain and working 36 hours a week at two jobs to try to pay for school is all a bit much for his first semester. He still has a constant headache, and we have yet to see what his cognitive abilities are and if he can manage. Please pray for our boy.
This is a new test of faith for us. We’ve trusted for so long that God would care for our children while living with us on the mission field and he has proved to be capable and trustworthy every day until now. Why then is it now hard to let go and trust him with our children when they’re not in our presence – as if we were ever in control of anything? Jesus is the good shepherd, and he knows his own. Our children have always been and still are God’s to care for, and he is good.
He has other sheep that are not of this fold, and he must bring them also, so there will be one flock, one shepherd. It will be worth it all when we see Jesus!
Clara turned sixteen this month! Sweet sixteen. She is growing up into a beautiful, godly young woman who is so smart and kind, and she is an excellent photographer! Life as an only child at home and going off to school every day by herself has been an adjustment, but she has handled it all so gracefully. We are so thankful for the sunshine she brings to our life!
Thank you for your precious prayers for us – we do so need them! We pray for you as well, that God would bless and keep you; make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift his countenance upon you, and give you peace.
“It is our duty and our privilege to exhaust our lives for Jesus. We are not to be living specimens of men in fine preservation, but living sacrifices.” – Charles Spurgeon