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Dear Friends and Family,
Greetings from warm and sunny Lima! We hope you have had a good month.
We are very thankful for your commitment to pray for us each month. Here
are some items for praise and prayer. Thanks for lifting them up to the
Father on our behalf.
Praise
- Great summer break for the kids from mid December to this week
when they started school. Emmett grew in his Spanish with his tutor Miss
Monica (he struggled a great deal last year with his grades in Spanish and
History which is taught in Spanish) and Anna, Taylor and Abigail grew by
leaps and bounds in their swimming as they all three took lessons.
- A restful, much needed two weeks vacation at the end of the summer
in which Mark’s sister Ashley came to visit and we traveled to the mountains
(Tarma) and the south coast (Paracas), and just rested and spent time as a
family. It was wonderful and we feel rejuvenated as we return to work this
week.
- Successfully getting uniforms, school supplies and 3 kids into
school on March 5 for the first day of school.
- Fruitful evangelism training event in Urubamba through Evangelism
Explosion. Mark co-taught with Fabio Padilla, Peru’s EE director. 4
trainers from our Presbyterian churches went with us, as well as 6 from
Fabio’s 4 Square Church. 18 leaders from the Urubamba Christian community
were trained.
- For Juana Espinoza, her Mom Marcelina, her sister Mercedes, and
Mercedes’ daughter Kiara who put their faith in Christ in Salamanca in
February.
Prayer
- Salamanca church plant
- For a church planting coach/mentor for Mark. This is my first church
plant and I am anxious for wise input.
- Juana Espinoza—new believer with terminal cancer of the uterus
- Felipe Hervias—new believer with special needs
- For God to give us male converts who will become our elders, deacons
and male leadership
- Preparations necessary for first worship service in June 2007
- Thursday and Saturday nights 7pm new believers’ discipleship studies
Mark is teaching
- Development of a solid core group that gets on board with our vision
and begins to share responsibilities in various ministries
- New locale for our afternoon Sunday school to underprivileged kids in
the neighborhood. The facility we were renting began to make things
difficult for us, indicating that they wanted us to leave, so we are now
meeting in the park with the kids. We need a locale for the SS as well as
for the other ministries of the church, especially as we look to open
worship services in June.
- Church planting partnership with Jesus el Buen Pastor
Presbyterian Church (Huaycán)
- Mark is meeting every Tuesday night with the session to hammer out a
written agreement between our team/mission and their session covering all
aspects of our church planting partnership (finances, timetables, roles of
missionaries, what’s a healthy church?). It’s a needed development for our
church planting ministry and we are hopeful that it is going to enable us to
be more effective in our church plants in Santa Anita and Amauta as a
result.
- Church plants in Amauta and Santa Anita—spiritual health and growth
and leadership development
- Pastoral care/counseling situations that Mark will be dealing with
over the next months in which he needs much wisdom and compassion
- Missionary team
- Jeremy and Amanda Ross arrived Feb. 1 and are getting settled in.
Pray for Lori and I to have wisdom getting them oriented to the work in
Lima, and pray for them as they begin work on the development of a ministry
to street children.
- Michael and Laura Salvatierra arrive this Thursday for a two year term
of service. They’ll be in language school for 3-6 months before coming to
Lima, but will spend this coming weekend with us getting to know Lima en
route to language school in Arequipa. Pray for them as they travel and
transition into life on the mission field.
- Keep praying for Jim and Sara Ward to get all their support raised.
They are at about 50%. Please pray if God would have you support them on a
monthly basis.
- Our Spanish. Lori and I want to grow in our language
skills. The Lord has been so faithful, and we continue to look to him to
help us improve.
- Latino friends for Lori and myself.
- Wisdom for Lori as she assesses her responsibilities in
the home and decides where among the myriad of needs in the ministry she
should focus her limited time.
Thank you, friends, for your partnership in the gospel.
In Christ,
Mark and Lori Berry
Lima, Peru
Contact information:
mberry@mtwla.org
http://limanewcity.mtwla.org/
Support information:
Mission to the World
P.O. Box 116284
Atlanta, GA 30368
Support Acct #10541
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