That's our theme for the our AMA Diocesan retreat. During this week, Susan will be with a team from Texas helping lead the AMA (Association of Anglican Women) retreat starting tonight.
Please pray for -- --That this may be a time of refreshment and learning for these women, most of whom are from the shanty towns. They have made sacrifices to be there, both in terms of family as well as finances. Some are coming from as far away as Arequipa, a 16 hour bus journey, to be here. --Safe travel for the 10 women coming to join us from Texas. Dr Deborah Newman (It's Tea Time for Your Soul) will be leading the meditations on the weekend. We are blessed to have her with us. --The AMA executive committee as we lead and direct 100 women. We give thanks for a new SAMS intern, Christopher Easley. He will be spending a school year in Peru, the first semester in Lima working with the Diocesan Youth and the Cathedral and the second semester in Arequipa working with our Casa Hogar (orphanage) and San Lucas School and Church.
Thanks to Christopher, we are finally getting our Cathedral website up and running. Pittsburgh Tech Ministries has done a lot of behind the scenes getting the "skeleton" set up and now Christopher is putting "clothes" on it for us. Give us a few more weeks and then check out GoodShepherdLima.org
Please pray for--
--Christopher as he helps set up the website and works through all the glitches that invariably show up.
--The content, that it might help people know who and where we are so that those seeking fellowship in the Lord will come.
--The work that the cathedral hopes to set up with "tweens" (8-12 year olds)
Alpha is going strongly each Wednesday night. Several new people, neighbors of some of the congregation have been coming. Each week they have a soup supper, a video (in Spanish with English subtitles so all can participate) and then break into discussion groups according to language preference to discuss what the theme was. Next weekend, will be the Alpha retreat.
Please pray for--
--Fr Juan Carlos Marces who leads the Alpha program
--The participants, especially that all will be able to attend the retreat which is an integral part of the program.
--That those who are coming might be deepened in their faith in the Lord.
We have a new suffragan bishop, Bp Mike (Miguel) Chapman. In a glorious two and half hour service at the cathedral, Bp Mike was consecrated by Bp Frank Lyons of Bolivia, Bp Miguel Tamayo of Uruguay, and our own Bp Bill Godfrey. Representatives from SAMS-USA and SAMS-Great Britain, ambassadors, and people from churches all over the diocese joined us here at the cathedral for the celebration. We were blessed to have Bp Mike's mother and friends stay with us. (Actually, over the space of a month, our ministry of hospitality was stretched with 17 separate visits of people all staying in our house!) John spent many behind-the-scenes hours helping with all the preparations.
Please pray for --
--Bp Mike as he begins his ministry and learns about being a bishop.
--His wife Linda as she learns Spanish.
--The area of Ica and Ayacucho where they will be ministering.
We just had our municipal elections on Sunday. Voting is obligatory and a person is not allowed to do any legal transaction if he has not voted or paid the fine for not voting. Women gained the vote in 1956. At that time women over 21 who could read and write were allowed to vote. A woman over 18 could vote if she were married and could read and write. Now, our ballots have not only the names, but the photos of the candidates and there have been posters all over the city for the last several months. Also each party has a symbol, similar to the elephant/donkey in the US to help identify to which party a candidate belongs as there are over 20 different parties to choose from.
As Lima is a huge city of 10 million people, it is divided into districts. Each district elects its own mayor, with one overall mayor which all people vote for. Each mayor trying to get re-elected has been doing all the improvements to his district over the last couple of months, meaning roads are torn up everywhere and traffic is horrible with all the detours and holes. For the first time in Lima's history, a woman will be elected as mayor. The race is extremely close with less than 1% separating the top two candidates (both of whom are women) and they are still counting and recounting the ballots from Sunday's election.
Please pray for--
--Honest results from the people who are doing the counting
--Calm transfer of power from one party to another in the Lima districts
This month we celebrate 25 years! On October 24th we will be having a combined service to celebrate the 25th anniversary of John's ordination to the priesthood and our 25 years of missionary service. It's hard to believe that time has flown by so quickly. When John first asked me to go to Honduras I said, "Three years, six maximum!" Little did we know that the Lord would laugh so heartily at our plans.
Our missionary fund is in the red right now and we were not able to receive a paycheck last month. We do so appreciate all of you who keep us in prayer and who donate regularly. We know that this is a tough time right now and that many of you are already sacrificial givers. Would those of you who can, consider giving an anniversary gift to our mission fund? We give thanks and pray for each of you on a regular basis. Please know how important each of you is to the work that we do here. We couldn't do it without you!
Please pray for--
--God to raise up the funds for us to continue our work here.
--Our supporters who are so faithful.
--Us as we give thanks for 25 years in the Lord's service.
Blessings,
Susan for the family
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
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The Park Family in Peru |
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