The Stover Family

More news

2009-07-22T16:12:00.002-04:00

Just wanted to update everyone on how Suhjey wife of Pastor Wilber Hallasi is doing. She is doing somewhat better today but please continue to pray that her body will be able to fight off the infection that is attacking her lungs. Their baby girl, Pamela, seems to be doing better in ICU. Thank you for praying; I know that this dear family appreciates it. In Christ, Robert

Update

2009-07-21T00:02:00.002-04:00

Thank you for praying. The baby girl that was delivered last night is doing well as far as the doctors can tell (Thank the Lord for that!) However, Suhjey, the mom and wife is being given a 70/30 chance of surviving; the 70 meaning that she won't survive. Please continue to pray for Pastor Wilber and his family as they go through this difficult time. God bless. Robert

Update on Sujey

2009-07-20T10:25:00.002-04:00

Wanted to write and let you know that Sujey, Pastor Wilber's wife, made it through the night. Thank you for your prayers. They did the C section and got the baby out as well. The baby has been intubated and needs our prayers. Will know more about the situation at 1:00 EST. God bless. Robert

Urgent Prayer

2009-07-19T23:01:00.002-04:00

Just wanted to inform everyone of a very urgent prayer request. One of the young pastors that works with us here in Peru has a wife that is very seriously ill. She is expecting a baby and developed pneumonia during the last couple of weeks. We just received news that she (the wife) may not make it through the night. Please pray that the doctors would be able to stabilize her condition and that she would begin to recover. THIS IS VERY SERIOUS. PLEASE PRAY WITH US. God bless. Robert

More Pictures from Chivay

2009-05-18T16:12:00.002-04:00

The Church

Sunday School

Chivay

2009-05-18T14:59:00.006-04:00

Thank you so much for your prayers for us during our trip to Chivay this past weekend! The Lord truly worked in a marvelous way. On Saturday afternoon, we held a children's Bible club in La Iglesia Bautista "La Esperanza" (Hope Baptist Church). We started out with just a few, but by the end had close to 40 children and mothers. There were no decisions made, but the gospel was clearly presented. Sara had the opportunity to teach them Romans 10:13. We pray that the message they heard was understood and that many of them will "call on the name of the Lord" soon.

Robert had a chance to share his testimony during the youth meeting at the church on Saturday night. We were excited to see several new teenagers come. There were about 25 teens there. The Lord worked during the invitation time, and 4 young ladies were saved. Several young men also raised their hands during the invitation, but did not make a decision. The Lord was working on the hearts though, because they returned Sunday morning. During the invitation time that morning, Robert had the opportunity to lead 5 young men to the Lord. How exciting to be able to lead someone to the Lord in Spanish for the first time! In total, there were 12 people to accept the Lord this weeked. Praise His Name!

Youth Meeting (Several of the young men in the background were saved the next day.)

Children's Rally

There is much to be done in Chivay. The Hope Baptist Church is the only Baptist church in the town of 10,000. Right now, they are without a pastor. There is a young man, Braulio, a seminary student, who travels there each weekend to fill in. Please pray that the Lord would give them a full-time pastor soon.

Trip to Chivay

2009-05-15T16:11:00.003-04:00

We will be leaving in about an hour or so to go the city of Chivay; Chivay is located about three hours outside the city of Arequipa (the city that we live in). A group of about a dozen or so people will be making the trip including Sara and I and our two boys. During our time there , we will be helping with a children's rally, a young people's rally, as well as participating in the services of the church on Sunday. I will have the opportunity to preach on Sunday night. Please be much in prayer for us as we travel and minister in Chivay. Pray that people would be saved and that lives would be changed for the glory of God. God bless you all. Robert

Preaching Opportunity

2009-05-03T22:50:00.003-04:00

I had the opportunity to preach at the Victory Baptist Church in Arequipa tonight. Pastor Pablo Villegas invited me to come and preach the last service of his missions conference. The service went well with hearty singing and fellowship. The Lord allowed me to bring a message out of John 9 concerning the blind man that Jesus made whole; I was able to preach about the power of a personal testimony for Christ no matter what others say. There was definitely a good spirit in the meeting as right about 50 people were in the service. Thank you for your prayers as well concerning the preaching at the birthday party of the 100 year-old man. The Gospel was preached and the seed was sown. Please pray that the Holy Spirit would continue to deal with those that are without Christ. Thank you for praying. It makes a difference in eternity. Everybody here is well and growing by leaps and bounds (Josiah and Caleb). In Christ, Robert

Birthday Party

2009-04-03T13:57:00.002-04:00

Just wanted to write and ask you all to be praying for me. There is a man in the church whose dad is turning 100 years old and we are celebrating his birthday today. He has asked me to come over and start the party with prayer and also to share something from the Word of God. Please pray that the Lord will speak to hearts as there will be people attending who do not know Christ as their Savior. The party will start at 3:00 (4:00 EST). God bless you all. Robert

Busy Days

2009-04-01T15:45:00.002-04:00

Just wanted to let everyone know what is going here in Arequipa, Peru. I started teaching in the Bible College three weeks ago; the classes are going well as I teach about Missions and Islam. I have ten students in my class. The discipleship classes that I have been teaching in the church are going well; we should be finishing up our series of lessons in two weeks or so. Many of the folks in the class are very faithful and are excited about putting into practice the important concepts that we are learning from God's Word (serving in the church, tithing, witnessing, etc.). The Bible study in the house on Fridays is going well and people are being encouraged by the teaching of God's Word as well as fellowship with the brethren. Also, on Tuesday and Thursday nights, I have the opportunity to teach English classes in the church. This has been a great tool in the past to reach people with the Gospel and get them into church. We have consistent groups of 30 people or more in every class. I have the opportunity to give them Bible verses to learn every week and the verses that they are learning right now are verses from the Roman's Road (Rom. 3:10, 3:23, 10:13). Each class, I try to take the time to emphasize the Gospel message. Please pray that the Holy Spirit would convict these people as they memorize these verses in English. As can be expected, things are very busy for Sara especially with our new baby Caleb. He eats well and continues to grow; he is definitely a joy to have around. Josiah is doing well as he goes through the adjustment period of having a new little brother. Thank you for your prayers and support of the ministry here in Peru. In Christ, Robert

Pictures of Caleb

2009-03-11T11:48:00.004-04:00

2009-03-07T18:48:00.002-05:00

We wanted to let everyone know that our baby boy has arrived. He was born on March 6 at 4:44 P.M. ; he weighed 6lbs. 9.5 oz. and was 20 inches long. The Lord blessed the delivery in a special way as he was born very quickly once the labor started. Mother and baby are doing fine. We feel so very blessed to have another son to train up in the way of the Lord. Thank you so much for each and every one of your prayers on our behalf. In Christ, Robert

2009-03-06T11:57:00.002-05:00

Greetings to all. Praise the Lord for his goodness to us every day. Thank you for your prayers as I preached this past Sunday. The service went well as I challenged the people from the Word of God in Ephesians 5. I preached about our submission, sacrifice and solidification for and with the Lord Jesus. There was a good spirit in the service and God blessed in a special way. Our Bible study in the house continues to go well; it has been a good source of fellowship and learning from the Word of God. Please pray as I continue to prepare for the missions class that I will be teaching in the seminary starting on March 17. We thank God for your continued prayers on our behalf. Keep up the "good fight". In Christ, Robert

Preaching

2009-02-28T17:44:00.002-05:00

Good evening to everyone. Hope that all is well with you in your place of service. I just wanted to ask that you would be much in prayer for me tomorrow as I will be preaching Sunday morning at a church here in Arequipa. The pastor will be out of town and he invited me to fill his pulpit for the morning service. I am looking forward to this opportunity. Please also remember Sara in prayer as she comes down the home stretch with Caleb (our new little one who is due in 2 weeks or so). Have a great evening, Robert

Good Trip and Good Class

2009-02-17T21:41:00.002-05:00

What a busy last two days it has been. Monday, we went to Chile to get more time for Josiah because his visa recently ran out. We took a 6 hour bus ride to Tacna, Peru, which is the border city with Chile. Then, we took a taxi across the border into Chile. We thank the Lord that we were able to get the maximum time for Josiah's visa of six months. Because the process to get the residence paper takes so long, we wanted to get the maximum time possible. Thank the Lord that we simply asked for the time and they gave it to us (it doesn't always happen that way)! After we had crossed back into Peru, we asked the taxi driver to hurry to the bus station because our bus was to leave at 5:00 p.m.. We got there right at 5:00 and managed to get on the bus with 2-3 minutes to spare. Needless to say, we were quite exhausted after we arrived back in Arequipa at 11:30 at night. But it was 14 hours of travel well-worth it as the Lord allowed us to get the whole process done in one day. Tonight, we had our first English class on the church and 44 people attended. We were thrilled to have this number of people because it was such a wet and rainy night tonight. There were a number of visitors there tonight that do not attend the church. Please pray that we could form relationships and share the Gospel with these people. The classes will be every Tuesday and Thursday night for one hour.

Residence Papers Secured

2009-02-13T10:05:00.002-05:00

Well, it has certainly been a busy week this past week or so. We went to Lima, the capital city in Peru, to pick up my mother-in-law last week. Everything went well and she arrived in good time with our field director Chris Gardner and his family; she will have the opportunity to visit us for six weeks. We are very thankful that Bro. Chris and his family are now back living permanently here in the country. Also during the time in Lima, I went to have the LASEK eye surgery performed. I have worn glasses since the sixth grade and had checked out the possiblity of my eyes being corrected back to normal. It is a procedure that can be done here in Peru at a tremendously lower price than in the States. My vision is now back to "perfect" and I am loving it. We also have been trying to get our residence papers so that we would not have to be constantly going out of the country every three months. We had been expecting to get a date sometime in the March or April, but we were pleasantly surprised to learn on this past Tuesday that we had gotten a date for yesterday to get the papers done. Thus, we went to Lima yesterday and got everything situated. Thank the Lord we got everything done in one day (which here in Peru that is saying something) in Lima and were able to fly back to Arequipa in the evening. Thank you for your prayers concerning these things. Please continue to pray because we still have to get Josiah's papers done and this process could possibly take a long while On another side note, I think that I mentioned that the exchange rate for the dollar and sole was at right about 2.80 when we arrived back in July. As of yesterday, the rate had gone up to 3.21 soles on the dollar; this is a tremendous blessing to all the missionaries here. Praise the Lord and thank you for prayers. May the Lord bless you with a wonderful day. Robert

Great Camp Time

2009-01-22T14:48:00.002-05:00

I had a great time at youth camp this past week. We had a group of about 100 teens that attended the camp along several pastors as well. The pastors taught classes in the mornings and preached during the evenings. I had the privilege of teaching two classes and thank the Lord for the help that He gave me in the language. Thank you for your prayers concerning this. Many decisions were made as young people responded to the messages by giving their lives more fully to the Lord. Also, this past Sunday, I had the opportunity to begin teaching a discipleship class in the church. The Lord blessed as we saw more than 20 people attend the class. I taught on the subject of becoming a member of the church, believer's baptism, and how a member of the church should behave himself both in the church and outside of the church. The Lord loosed my tongue as I taught and I definitely praise him for that. Please pray that the people in the class would continue to grow in their Christian lives. Sara is doing well carrying our new little one. She has now passed seven months of expectancy and both baby and mom are doing great according to the doctor. Josiah is now walking very well by himself and talking up a storm, too. We thank you for your prayers and faithfulness to the Lord of the Harvest. In Christ, Robert

Teen Camp

2009-01-12T15:11:00.002-05:00

Today I'll be going with a group of teens from our church for a week of camp in Canama, a city about 3 hours from Arequipa. Please pray for safety in travel and that the Lord would bless mightily in the week. Camp is always a great time for teens to get away and let the Lord speak to their hearts. I have the opportunity to teach on Thursday and Friday and am excited about the opportunity to be using my Spanish. God is really helping Sara and I both to be able to communicate more and more every day. Thank you so much for praying for our family! Our trip to Lima went very well. We have to go back again in about 2 weeks to complete some more things. Please pray that all our visa matters will be able to be settled before Baby Caleb arrives in March. We were excited to welcome a new missionary here this week. Beth Homan arrived on Wednesday. We know she will be a great asset to the ministry here. Please pray she would be able to find an apartment soon and that God would help her as she gets settled and begins to study Spanish.

2008-12-29T15:28:00.002-05:00

We're getting ready to head out on a long bus ride to Lima, the capital city of Peru, at 6:30 tonight; we will be returning, Lordwilling, on Tuesday night and should be back in Arequipa by Wednesday morning. The purpose of the trip is to begin the process to get our residence visas. Please pray that the Lord will keep us safe. I also would like to wish a very Happy New Year to each and every one of you. Thank you for all that you do for our Lord and Savior.

2008-12-24T12:30:00.004-05:00

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Greetings

2008-12-23T12:21:00.003-05:00

Just wanted to write a word and wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We thank you for all of your prayers and support throughout this past year and look forward to a wonderful year this coming year full of the Lord's blessings and lives changed by the power of the Gospel. I had the extreme blessing this past Sunday morning of preaching in a drug and alcohal rehabilitation center here in Arequipa. There were about thirty to forty men in attendance as I had the opportunity to preach about the "Greatest Gift Ever Given" speaking about Jesus Christ and his birth; but also, most importantly, his death on the cross. After the message, we distributed sweet bread to the men as a Christmas gift. Please pray that the seed of the Gospel would take root and cause these men to realize their need of a Savior. May the Lord bless you this Christmas season! The Stover Family

New Opportunities

2008-11-29T11:48:00.002-05:00

Just wanted to let everyone know how things are going here in Peru. Our family is doing well as Josiah continues to grow and is close to learning how to walk (he already knows how to climb the stairs Uh-oh). Sara is doing well carrying the new little one but she does get pretty tired with carrying a baby at the altitude that we are at (8,600 feet above sea level). I am doing well and getting accustomed to the schedule. A couple of weeks ago, a part of the roof on the church where we are working at fell in. Fortunately, no one was hurt but there were quite a few repairs to be done; including replacing almost the whole roof. We were very blessed to be able to find a place to meet very close to the church building. It is actually the municipal building in the district and the people have been letting us use it free of charge. What a blessing! Please be praying as we have a goal to be back in our regular building by December 7. This is the day of our 6th anniversary of the church and we are praying for 500 in attendance. Thank the Lord that even through the difficult times with the church roof, the attendance in the church has stayed very consistent and even increased on some Sundays. Pertaining to the languauge school, I was able to finish about a week and a half ago and Sara has just a couple more weeks until she will be finished as well. Thank you for your prayers during this important time of language learning because it seems that our worst struggles are now behind us as we become more and more comfortable in the language every day. Our Bible study group continues to go well as we had ten people that attended last night. We had a great time of food and fellowship and I was able to teach the Bible lesson as we started a series of lessons on Christmas out of Luke 2. Speaking of Christmas, my wife has done an outstanding job of decorating our house for the Christmas season. Even though we weren't in the States for Black Friday, we still have been able to find some good deals on Christmas gifts for one another here in Peru. I am so excited about this time of year. What a precious time it is to be able to celebrate the birth of our wonderful Lord and Savior. I am so thankful that Jesus was born to die on Calvary for my sins and that we can joyfully compel others to share in the faith that we have in Jesus Christ. In Christ, Robert

Travel

2008-09-23T17:48:00.002-04:00

Just wanted to write and thank you all for praying for the connection on this past Friday night. We had four people that came and we had a great time together. I had the opportunity to give my testimony and to share a few thoughts from the Word of God. Also, on Saturday night, I had the opportunity to go to another connection meeting at the house of one of the men of the church. I was able to share with them out of Genesis 18 how that Abraham interceded faithfully in prayer on the behalf of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. He had a burden that these men be saved even though they were very wicked people. We ourselves should desire to have an "intercessory prayer life" like that of Abraham. We are planning to go to Chile tomorrow so that we can get the necessary stamp in our passports so that we can stay for another 90 days. Lordwilling, we will go to Tacna, Peru on Wednesday where we will attend a church that is being pastored by a missionary friend of ours Jonathan Earnhardt. Thursday, Lordwilling, we will go to the border city of Arica, Chile. We then plan to return to Arequipa on Friday (hopefully in time for our connection meeting). Please pray that all will go well. Hasta el proximo (until the next time) Robert

It's Another Boy!

2008-09-22T22:35:00.003-04:00

An ultrasound today revealed what we were already suspecting...Josiah is going to have a little brother. The baby is doing very well, weighing in at a whopping 124 grams (3.6 ounces). Our due date was set for March 13th. We are thankful to the Lord for this blessing. Please continue to pray for Sara and the baby.

First Connection Meeting

2008-09-18T22:55:00.002-04:00

I had mentioned in our last blog that the Lord had opened up some doors of opportunity. Well, Friday night, we will begin to walk through that door as the Lord allows. In order for people from the church to get to know each other better and for them to be able to invite their unsaved friends, we have an informal time of fellowship which includes a Bible study, refreshments, and casual conversation. I had been attending the "connection" meeting that one of the other missionaries had started. This was a great opportunity for me to learn about how the meeting should be done and to get to know the people at the meetings. Now, I have the opportunity to carry on this meeting in my house starting on Friday night. As you can imagine, I am very excited and a little bit nervous about putting my Spanish to the first real test. I would ask that you pray for me as I teach and help to coordinate this meeting. We appreciate all of your prayers!

Exciting News

2008-09-07T11:15:00.002-04:00

Greetings to all. We are so excited about what the Lord is doing in our lives. God has showered us with so many blessings. Not the least of which is that Josiah had his first birthday yesterday. He had a great time tearing open his gifts (believe it or not the paper interested him more than the gifts; Imagine that!). We were able to have some of our missionary friends over to our house where we had a great time of celebration and fellowship. In the meantime, our Spanish language skills continue to increase. Don't be surprised if our blogs take on more of a "Spanish" flavor in the days ahead. We also would like to inform you that Sara is expecting our second child. The doctor was able to hear the baby's heartbeat loud and clear on Thursday, so we are glad to know that the baby is doing well. The approximate due date is set for sometime in the middle of March. Please keep Sara in your prayers in the days ahead as she deals with the sickness that has come with her expectancy. We thank you for praying. The Lord has given us some great opportunities; more about these in the days ahead. Have a great Lord's day.

Youth Congress

2008-08-05T14:01:00.002-04:00

We are certainly excited about all that God is doing here in Peru. On Tuesday evening, the Youth Congress will kick off. This is perhaps the biggest event of the year here in Arequipa as young people will be coming to the meeting from all over Peru, Chile, and Bolivia. Please pray that the Lord will use Missionary Jeff Bush as he preaches this week.

My wife and I continue to pick up more of the language each and every day. Sometimes it is frustrating to not only understand what people are saying but why they are doing what they are doing. A different culture and a different way of thinking are the two main things that contribute to things being done differently.

We are very excited to now have our table and chairs. We grew very accustomed to standing around the counter and, yes, sitting on the floor in the kitchen when we ate. Now, we have our table and chairs which were very well-made by a very good carpenter here in town.

Thank the Lord for all that He has done and continues to do in Arequipa, Peru.

A Cat or a Baby?

2008-07-22T09:10:00.002-04:00

Last night, in about 2 seconds, Josiah succeeded in somehow turning the display on the computer sideways. He was just banging happily away on the keyboard. We had no idea how to fix it and were trying all kinds of key combinations trying to right it. Finally, Sara searched online and found the keyboard shortcut to fix it. (Ctrl + alt + arrow key...just in case your child ever does the same thing) We were pretty amused that on the help engine where she found the answer it said..."This is a pretty common problem and usually involves a cat." A cat, or a very adventerous baby.

Starting Language School

2008-07-22T08:59:00.001-04:00

What a blessing to report that we are starting language school this morning. We are very excited about all that the Lord is going to do. Thank you so much for remembering us in your prayers.

Wrong Way

2008-07-08T11:20:00.003-04:00

Just before we left, Josiah was so very close to crawling. Since we've been here, he's figured it out...sort of. The problem is, he can only go backwards. We can't help but laugh at the poor guy as he gets farther and farther away from the toy he is trying so hard to get. Yesterday, this group of teenage girls chased Sara down in the store because they wanted to take a picture of Josiah with their cell phone. We decided we should charge for pictures of him. That way we can pay for all the stuff he's broken since we've been here. (He really likes to bang things together, and he's really quick.)

Moving In

2008-07-08T11:12:00.002-04:00

This morning we signed the contract to rent a house. God was so good to us to allow us to find a home in a good area. Our house is halfway between the church we'll be working in to start and the Bible College where we'll be in language school. Apparently since it is winter here, it is not a good time to find a house to rent, so this is a real blessing. We are in the process of buying the things we need to get settled in. Please pray we'll be able to find the things we need and get moved in and settled soon.

We're Here!

2008-07-03T16:38:00.002-04:00

Well, yesterday (Wednesday) just after lunch, our plane arrived in Arequipa, Peru. God truly gave us smooth travels here. We were glad to see that all of our luggage arrived with us as well. We attended our first church service last night at the Faith Baptist Church. Bro. Alonso Montenegro preached on how we can know true happiness out of Genesis chapter 2. The true happiness that we know is in God's will; we shouldn't desire things not in His will. Josiah initiated the nursery by throwing up all over the floor as soon as he got there. (I think his full belly just got squeezed to hard.) Today we ventured out into the city with Bro. Micah Smith and his wife Katie to do some shopping and look at some things for our house. Please pray that we will be able to find a place to live soon. We are very excited to be here and are anticipating beginning language school as soon as we get settled in. Thank you for your prayers for our family.

New Contact Information

2008-07-01T16:57:00.003-04:00

Once we get settled in Peru, our number will be changing to (330) 238-4944. This will be an Ohio number through Vonage that will ring into our home in Peru. As of later on today, my cell phone number (330) 205-4790 will no longer be in use. Also, we can always be reached by email at rstover22@yahoo.com. Our mailing address is P.O. Box 519, Braselton, GA 30517.

On the Way

2008-07-01T16:40:00.003-04:00

We are writing from the Atlanta airport. Yes, we are finally on our way to Peru. After years of praying and planning, the moment has come at last. Josiah did very well on our flight from Charlotte to here. He slept through the takeoff and thought the bumpy landing was fun. As we were travelling along, we discovered that his second tooth is coming through (so much excitement for just one day). Lordwilling, we will leave tonight at 11:30 to fly to Lima, the capital city of Peru. Then tomorrow morning, we will have our last flight to Arequipa. We praise the Lord for three new supporting churches this past month: Landis Baptist Church in Landis, NC; Liberty Ind. Baptist Church in Loudon, TN; and Promise Baptist Church in Ruffin, NC. This brings us up to about 95% of our support. Praise the Lord! Please continue to pray for us as we go. We know that many people have been praying for our safety and smoothness for the trip because everything has gone well so far.

Two Wonderful Years

2008-06-23T15:35:00.002-04:00

Praise the Lord for His many blessings to us! He has now given us two wonderful years of marriage. I praise His holy name for such a wonderful wife. She is always such a support and help to me in the ministry. We are so looking forward to serving the Lord together in the country of Peru. Just 8 more days until we leave. Please keep us in prayer as we get the loose ends tied up.

Whatever it takes

2008-06-22T16:05:00.004-04:00

We had a great time up in OH last weekend. It was good to fellowship with our extended family, home church, and some folks from other supporting churches in the area on Saturday at our "Goodbye Picnic." Sunday morning, we had our Commissioning Service, and the Lord blessed there in a special way. God has been meeting our specific needs in these past few weeks and we thank Him for that and for those of you who have so generously given. God allowed us to sell all our furniture and get rid of our car before we moved out of our apartment Friday. The timing of it all worked out well, so that the only time we would have been sitting on the floor, we were too busy packing and cleaning to sit down. We are now in NC for pretty much the rest of our time. Our hearts were blessed this morning during the first service of the Missions Revival at Currytown Baptist Church in Lexington, NC. We were surprised to see Bro. Tony Howeth there, and the Lord used him in a special way today. We feel like our spiritual batteries have been recharged, and it is the desire of our hearts to do "whatever it takes" to get the gospel to lost souls in Peru and around the world.

Birthday Wishes

2008-06-03T15:09:00.002-04:00

I just wanted to wish a very happy birthday to my beautiful wife Sara (her birthday was June 1). She is such an encouragement and help to me in the ministry. I would definitely wholeheartedly agree with the words of Proverbs 18:22 which says, "Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the Lord." Thank you, Honey, for putting up with me and being the most wonderful wife a man could have. I love you very much and look forward to all that the Lord has for us in the days ahead.

Florida

2008-06-03T14:40:00.006-04:00

We had a great time being able to visit with our family in Florida. God worked it out for us to be able to schedule a meeting down there at the last minute. It was definitely a blessing to be with Pastor Sheppard and the folks at Tri-City Baptist Church. Josiah's favorite part about Florida was probably the watermelon (which we enjoyed as well). In the past 2 weeks, we have managed to visit 8 churches, drive over 3500 miles, see 3 new supporters partner with us, see Sara's brother Jacob graduate from high school, celebrate Sara's 23rd birthday, and welcome in Josiah's first tooth (which he didn't need to eat the watermelon). Whew! It has definitely been a busy time. Please keep us in prayer as we work on packing things at home this week. We are so excited to be at over 90% of our support. Please help us pray for 7 more supporters.

Departure Interview

2008-05-22T21:25:00.002-04:00

Tuesday afternoon we had our departure interview at Macedonia World Baptist Missions. My dad (our sending pastor) flew in to be with us there. It is so exciting to see things coming to pass and the Lord bringing our support in. It was a VERY busy 2 days--driving down to Atlanta, back and forth to the airport to get Dad, up to MWBM, back to the airport, and back up to Sara's family's in NC. We travelled around 800 miles in those 2 days alone. We praise the Lord for keeping us safe as we drove through busy Atlanta. Josiah praises the Lord he did not have to ride in his carseat at all today. Please keep us in prayer as we travel down to FL this weekend. We will be visiting some churches down there and also seeing some family and saying our goodbyes to them.

10 to Go!

2008-05-02T22:08:00.004-04:00

This month on our statement, we were excited to see 2 new churches had taken us on for support. Thank you to Temple Baptist Church in Milan, TN and Philadelphia Baptist Chapel in Greensboro, NC. This means, there are just 10 more churches to go before we reach our goal. We are excited to be leaving for Peru in less than 2 months. Also today, Josiah said, "Da" which I think is the beginning of "Da-da." (We won't mention that he has already said "Ma-ma" several times.) He also has taken to saying, "Bye-bye-bye-bye-bye..." I guess that's typical for a deputation baby.

New Alternator and New Church

2008-04-23T23:11:00.003-04:00

On the way to our meeting for tonight at Grace Baptist Church in Urbana, OH, we heard our car make a loud popping sound. We knew something must be wrong since the battery light came on and the air stopped working. We kept on going, and our car didn't stop until we had pulled into the church parking lot. Good thing we hadn't stopped before, because it was definitely dead then. Pastor Riddell called up a man in the church who worked on the car the whole church service and had it ready with a new battery and a new alternator by time to head out. What a blessing! So while our car was being worked on, Robert had the opportunity to preach and present our work, and the church voted to take us on for support. That means only 12 more churches to go. We know folks are praying, and we are feeling so overwhelmed to see God meeting our needs.

Tickets Bought!

2008-04-22T21:20:00.003-04:00

Yesterday, we bought our plane tickets to Peru! We will be headed out from Charlotte on July 1st around lunch time, and arriving in Peru very early the next morning. We are so excited how the Lord continues to work and meet each need. We had been praying specifically for wisdom in getting a good price and getting decent flight times for Josiah. God answered both these prayers. A friend of ours, Don Tarvin, whose daughter is also a missionary in Peru, told us about a good price he got from Delta. Sure enough, it was about half of what we had been looking at with other carriers. As we were looking at different flights, several were selling out right then and there. When we went through to choose our seats, we saw that there were only a few left . Talk about good timing! That same evening, we learned of a new church that has taken us on for support. That leaves 13 more to go. Please keep praying!

Missions Conference

2008-03-19T15:40:00.002-04:00

We just returned home from a missions conference in western Tennessee. It was a blessing to see a lady accept Christ on the first night! We had a wonderful time of fellowship with the church members and other missionaries. While we were there, 2 churches called to say that had taken us on for support. The Lord is answering our prayers in a mighty way! Thank you so much for praying for us!

Sweet Potatoes

2008-03-15T12:54:00.000-04:00

Josiah has started eating baby food. So far, sweet potatoes are his favorite. Eating has become a much less messy process since he's figured out that he should open his mouth when he sees the spoon. We can't believe how much he has grown.

Here we go

2008-03-15T12:48:00.000-04:00

Well, this is our first blog. We are still figuring out how this all works and trying to enter into the world of the "technologically advanced." Hope this will be a good way to keep in contact with many of you and give more frequent updates on all God is doing in our life and ministry.