Dear Friends,
We trust this finds you all well and experiencing God's grace in your lives. You are all special to us and we covet the Lord's blessing for each one of you.
We started the New Year not sure exactly what the Lord had for us to do, but soon found out. As you know, we plan to be offically retied from MTW as career missionaries the end of March. This winds up 45 years of ministry related directly to missions. We were not sure what was going to happen but we soon found out.
We spent three weeks in Peru in February, the majority of time in Huaraz helping the Rockwells move from their rented house into the Training Center that we purchased from Wycliffe Bible Translators. It was necessary to remodel two small adjoining apartments to give them adequate living space for the family. We moved desks and book cases for the children's school room and set up a shop for mechanics and carpentry. It was a good test for Don's pacemaker as there was a lot of heavy lifting and moving. Good friends of many years, living in Lima, came up and helped for a couple of days.
We had planned to visit our missionaries, the Adams, in Cochabamba, Bolivia, but were unable to do so because of the riots and armed clashes that went on due to the political unrest. The sides have cooled off a bit, but the tension is still under the surface. Then torrential rains, the worst in 25 years have left 350,000 homless, destroying crops and cattle as well as homes. It will be years before Bolivia recovers from this catastrophe. We have rescheduled our trip for June 5th after we visit Pucallpa where Don will be speaking at the South America Mission Academy graduation. Our grandaughter, Whitney, will be one of the graduates.
We are waiting to hear if and when we will be needed to help out with summer teams coming to Huaraz. A planning session is scheduled for Huaraz about the middle of August and we will be there for that, along with the Peru Regional Director and the International Director for Latin America. We thank the Lord for any opportunity to encourage our missionaries and consult with the field leaders. We have also been asked to present a module at the MTW Global Mission Conference in Atlanta in November. So it seems our "retirement" will be continued activity for MTW.
However, we will need your continued support to fund our travels. We have been encouraged by the churches and supporters that are continuing to support us at a reduced amount. I am incluiding a letter from the Latin American International Director to help you understand our ministry needs. We appreciate all of you that are so faithful in praying for us and supporting us. Our account number stays the same, but is for travel related purposes only.
In Christ's Love,
Don and Sue Gahagen