We're Here!!

Just wanted to catch you up on our travel status. We stayed in Miami overnight (courtesy of American). Our new flight was scheduled for 11:30 PM Sunday night. God had a reason for us being delayed. We were sitting in the terminal when a man asked if he could sit in the chair next to us. We started talking to him and it turns out he is a "completed Jew". He had been having a very rough walk with the Lord lately. He was filled with guilt. We were able to encourage him and talked about 1 or so. To hear him talk about his Messiah was so uplifting for us too.

We boarded the plane on time and even left the gate on time, however, as we readied to take off the pilot came on and said we were going to have to return to the gate and add more fuel because we might have to land at an alternative airport in Peru. We finally got off 1 1/2 hours late. We arrived around 7 AM in Lima w/o incident. When we got to customs there was virtually no wait and our luggage (Praise God) was sitting waiting for us. We even got a green light and by 745 we are in the hotel and now I'm taking a nap. So thank you all for praying!

Have Ticket WON'T Travel

Saturday we were picked up at 5 AM by Barry Gammel (Bless his heart). He was a great chauffer and we arrived at DIA early and got checked in without incident. We arrived in Dallas with a 5 hour layover. It went downhill from there. Just an hour before our flight was due to leave there was a gate change. We had to move from C concourse to D which is on the complete opposite side of the airport. We were told that the airplane was already at the gate so there (in our minds) should be no problem proceeding. However, at 5 PM (when we were due to leave) that maintenance hadn't released the plane to fly yet (obviously not a good sign). We were told that at 5:40 there would be an update on the situation. To fill in the spaces here, we had a scheduled 3 hour layover at Miami, so we figured that even if we left an hour or so late we'd still have plenty of time to make the flight. How naive we were. There were no available replacement planes until one in route from LA arrived and that would be at 8PM. Well, there went our 3 hours. We thought that maybe the plane would wait for us (there were 30 of us trying to catch that plane), but when we finally arrived at Miami at 1AM it had already left.

So, writing this update, we are "stuck" at Miami until 11:30 tonight. American Airlines did put us up in a hotel and provide vouchers for lunch and dinner (that's a whole story in itself). We hope to be in Lima tomorrow morning and get life back on track. Please pray for everything to go as planned tonight and that our luggage will arrive with us since we have nothing but the clothes on our backs.

Finally!

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas.

We also thank you for your continued partnership with us and the Chayahuita. You are all very vital to this ministry. Without you we would not be able to do what we do.

Please keep us in prayer as we finally head back to Peru on December 27th. While you enjoy the snow of winter we will once again be thawing out in the Amazon jungle. The Chayahuita annual conference will be held January 5th to the 12th. Pray for safety for all that will be attending.

We will update you once we get out of the jungle and into Tarapoto. May you have a blessed New Year!

Counting down the days

We apologize for not posting anything in over a month. We are still alive!

The date is fast approaching to return back to the jungle that we love so much. The Chayahuita annual conference is scheduled for January 5-13, so we leave on December 27. This time is one of our favorites since people from many villages converge on the host one allowing us to see lots of people without having to travel so much.

Please pray for the Chayahuita leadership as they prepare all the details of the teaching time coordinating with all the teachers involved. This year things will be done a bit differently. The decision was made to have the women have their own time all week for teaching as well as the new believers and of course the kids will have their own teaching as well. These are very exciting times and there is so much growth happening; both spiritually and in business development. (more on that at a later date)

Pray for the team from Grace that will be teaching:Ron Dalton, Brent Ward, Liz Hanson and Suzi Herbka as well as us. There will also be a couple from the Swiss Mission attending.

Thank you for your constant prayers and care for us and for the Chayahuita. Your partnership is crucial!