JOHN
John will be having surgery to repair a hernia on Monday 24 January in the evening. Please keep him in prayer that all may go well and for the surgeon. He will be staying overnight at the Good Hope Clinic before coming home to recuperate for a two-week recovery time. Pray that we can keep him on bed rest until he recuperates. I will send an update after he returns home.
He has spent a lot of time over the last six weeks helping with the diocesan budget as the treasurer for the diocese. Thank God for the extra help at the cathedral with Fr Ian Montgomery and Rev Juan Carlos Marces. These two men have jumped in to help with many of the activities.
CATHEDRAL
Each Sunday we have more visitors. We've even had to scramble to find enough prayer books and hymnals. What a great problem to have! Several families with young children have started to come. Susan has been able to step away from the Sunday School work as SAMS missionary Polly Montgomery introduces Godly Play this year. Many thanks to Penny Marces, who so ably taught the children over the last several months using our left-over David Cook materials. This has freed Susan up to devote more time to the websites, the teams, and the interns.
Our new Adult Forum between the two English eucharists on Sunday is going great guns. We've used two different video series to get us going and stimulate discussion. Now we are taking a look at the Sunday scripture readings with different members of the group leading the studies. Please pray for this new way of connecting with each other.
SUSAN
Planning for the teams which will arrive this year is already in full swing. Plus we have individuals who come as well to teach in the seminary, or do sabbaticals, or learn Spanish. Pray as I juggle who needs what information that people don't fall through the cracks. It can get overwhelming at times.
Susan continues to work with Women's ministries through AMA (Anglican Women's Association). We just had our opening service at the diocesan center in which Bishop Godfrey celebrated the eucharist for us. There were over 60 women there from around Lima. I'm hoping to get the photos up on the website, but that's still something I'm learning to master.
WEBSITES
Our Good Shepherd Cathedral website (www.GoodShepherdLima.org) is up and running on a regular basis. Susan keeps it updated while having members of the Spanish speaking congregation help with translating portions of it into Spanish. Special thanks go to Christopher Easley, SAMS-USA Bridger who helped us get it all up and to Liz Delgado of Pittsburgh Tech Ministries for hosting and all the web design work, especially as it is a bilingual site having matching pages in English and in Spanish which can cause their own sets of problems. This is where you'll find a lot of bits about the church and the activities that are going on.
Our own website, Park Peru is also active. Many of you have commented on the recipes in our newsletters in the past. Now on the website, you can see pictures of the foods and a bit more about how to make them in the section called A Taste of Peru. Also on the web page, is a section called That's Life! where we highlight all the little things that make living in Peru different from anywhere else. Some things are good, some bad, and some are just different. We also maintain a Prayer requests column to keep you informed about people who need prayers. Stop by and take a look.
I've tried to do something a bit different in this newsletter by making some of the words that are in color into active links so you can click on them to go to the websites and read more. Hope it works!
Thank you all so much for your prayers and donations. We love our life and ministry here in Peru. Working for God is the greatest job there is. You make it possible. May God continue to uphold you and bless you in this New Year!
Blessings,
Susan (for both of us)
John+ & Susan Park
johnpark@sams-usa.org
susanpark@sams-usa.org
www.ParkPeru.org
Tax-deductible contributions to our ministry in Peru may be made on line at http://samsusa.org/support-frames.html or by sending a check payable to SAMS (with Park in the memo line) to
SAMS
PO Box 399
Ambridge PA 15003
You can also arrange for automatic deductions from your bank account or for automatic charges to your credit card. If you wish to do so, please call SAMS at 724-266-0669.
In Canada, tax deductible contributions may be online at
http://www.samscanada.ca
Or you may send cheques to:
SAMS-Canada
PO Box 21082
Barrie, ON L4M 6J1
If you wish to change your e-mail address or unsubscribe to the Park Prayer Letter, please send an e-mail to johnpark@sams-usa.org
