Updates
Thanksgiving
Friends and family,
As I was out working with the wood mill these past few weeks, I was reflecting on our life here in Peru and the lives and ministries God has allowed us to be a part of and thought how grateful I am to Him and to you for allowing us to be here, ministering in this part of the world. We have invested our time, sweat and blood – our lives really, but God and others have made it possible for us to maintain our life and ministry here. We have so very much to give thanks for.
Some have asked what’s going on with ministry these days? Since we returned, we have not cranked up several of the ministries we were involved in before, such as English classes or other outreach efforts. With the construction phase of the house now in full swing, we just don’t have the time to dedicate to new ministries. We still work with the natives, and still are doing Bible studies with our workers, and still work to support the missionaries around us, but many of the other ministries have been put on pause until we are able to finish the house.
Speaking of construction, I have had to learn what a sawmill is all about and how to run it. We bought 21 logs of Quinilla (Peruvian Cherry) from our local river port, and had it delivered out to the property. The logs were massive. Some of them were over 50 inches in diameter. As our little sawmill will only cut a maximum of 24 inches, we borrowed a chainsaw with a 36-inch bar to slice the logs lengthways. A fellow PIONEER missionary came and taught me how to make straight cuts down these 20 – 30 foot long logs. It takes a long time and really wears you out, but you seem to get used to the work. We now have a third of them cut into pieces I can manage with our awesome tractor (the tractor could not hardly roll them at full size). This week I have been cutting beams with the WoodMizer for the foundation. After almost 2 years, we now have boards sitting on top of the foundation. Needless to say, we are excited.
We were delighted to be able to host the second annual Pioneer’s retreat here on the property. How exciting to watch how God is allowing this property of His to be used for His purposes even without all of the planned infrastructure in place yet.
We hosted our second missionary thanksgiving out here on the property. We cooked the turkey and organized the event for 102 people, but everyone pitched in and helped. Almost all of the missionaries in the region were in attendance. How blessed we are to have such a team working together to reach this part of the world for Christ. Sometimes you lose sight of the big picture as you work in your little corner, and it really helps to be able to get a panoramic view of what God is doing.
There are a few prayer requests that I would like to share. This season before Christmas is always a little bit wilder. The incidents of robberies and invasions always go way up as folks are trying to steal themselves a better Christmas. Pray for our safety and the safety of the other missionaries in our area. A national State of emergency has been declared for Pucallpa as we have had many deaths from Hemorrhagic Dengue. The type of mosquito that transmits the disease is in populated areas, so we are not much at risk out here, but we have a lot of friends who are, so pray that these mosquitos can be controlled and the epidemic eradicated. Pray also for Vanessa’s health. Many of you know that she suffers from symptoms akin to Fibromyalgia and or Chronic Fatigue. After Thanksgiving, she crashed pretty hard and is still not back to full functionality. Pray that God will return her strength.
We are also planning the import for several items that were donated to us while we were in the States. While the donations were huge, such as whole-house generators and such, the imports costs are also going to be significant, so we need to raise the needed finances to bring them down. We put these prayer needs in the newsletter knowing already that our God will provide in ways we cannot even imagine. Isn’t it great to be in His service?
As I have already said, we are so very grateful to each of you who give so unselfishly to the ministry here. May God richly bless each of you as we continue to serve Him together.
~Vann for the Brocks in Peru