We are so super grateful to you for your involvement in God’s work here in the jungle. There is no greater joy for us than to be here investing in the expansion of God’s kingdom, and your faithful giving and prayers make that possible!
Most of our days are full of hosting visitors coming to the Petra pool. We are really enjoying building relationships with so many people. What a neat ministry! Pray that God will continue to give us opportunities to speak His love to so many. Some of the neighboring missions have chosen to have mission-wide events here as well. We love being able to serve them.
We are steadily progressing in the work here. The house now has second story walls and we are finally beginning to build the roof trusses. We have finished the electrical installation to the back of the property including most of the repairs needed from our last lightning strike.
Marc Dumitru, a Romanian missionary and his family who work with a local tribal group, is building his home here on Petra Mission base. He now has a roof on his house, and will soon need water and electricity. We are grateful for their presence here, and for being able to see part of the completion of the vision for supporting tribal missionaries that God has given us for this property.
Home-schooling is going well, but alas, this will probably be our last year. This type of training has worked well for us to this point, but our children are ready for a more formal type of schooling. We are hoping to be able to send the children to SAM Academy – a missionary kid’s school here in Pucallpa. The cost will be around 300 dollars per month for the 3 children. Vanessa will now have to get her Peruvian driver’s license and we will need something dependable for her to drive. The vehicles we have now are 20 and 30 years old respectively, and either one of them cost almost 15 dollars in fuel for a trip to town, plus frequent repairs. A good used vehicle will cost around 15 to 20 thousand dollars, which seems very unattainable to us – oh we of little faith - but we know that God will supply our needs in His time and in His way. We appreciate your help in praying for both of these needs.
Vanessa’s mother was here again for an extended stay over the holidays, and was such a blessing to us! As for Vanessa’s health, she is doing so much better since she’s been able to exercise in the pool every day. It has made a tremendous difference for her health! She still has to be careful not to overdo, and still needs a nap most days, but is better than she has been in two years. Praise God, and thank you to all of you who have prayed for us through this long-term trial!
We are looking forward to having some teams come and visit this year and help with construction. If you are interested in a trip, let us know so that we can help coordinate things for you. Thank you once again for allowing us to be your representatives here in Peru. We are truly blessed.
~Vann, Vanessa, Corynn, Ethan, and Clara