| 12 December 2022
Hi to you all,
Well, this December is a bit different. Starting with a topic I usually don't go into, if you watch or hear Peruvian news, we had a sort of "revolution" a couple days ago. Congress and others had spent most of their time trying to impeach the latest president and they finally succeeded. Pres. Castillo tried to close congress and escape to Mexico but he got caught and is held in custody awaiting trial.
So we "inherited" the first woman president in history (for Perú). She was the first veep so got the top office when Castillo was kicked out. Now most of the population wishes she would resign and call for new elections. We will see what happens. Some say she is more communist than Pres. Castillo was. So besides the World Cup soccer games the other excitement is the political scene. Please help us pray for continued freedom to teach and share Christ here. We sure have been blessed with this freedom so far.
However, it is not easy. There are protest marches, strikes and road blocks in several places. Bob is now heading for the Majes Valley with his car full of some of our youth, for a "convención" (special meetings) especially on the theme of the family and home. There are road blocks on the way and public transportation has been suspended, hopefully some private cars, like Bob's, will be allowed through, but we have no guarantee of that. Some more from here are scheduled to get there tomorrow and we do hope and pray they will make it through.
Julian and Paola are organizing these meetings and we do pray God will work in this valley, there is a real lack of committed Christians down there. The believers need encouragement to keep on for Christ. Next weekend Bob is scheduled to go back up to the mountain area of Espinar to help with some problems and encourage the believers there. It is finally raining here and snowing in the mountains so that trip too may be a bit difficult and cold, but it is necessary. The 3 volcanoes around Arequipa come out in the mornings with beautiful snow on all their tops. We need the rain so we are thankful, but we miss the sun too.
A few weeks ago we had a problem with our laptop computer, it just quit, would not open. Well,we have lots of believers here who can fix computers but they do not know how to fix Mac's. Finally Pepe found a friend who could and it was the transformer to the electricity. On that little charger was written the exact problem: "Made in China". We had to get a new charger, (also with limited life time they say, for the same reason) but anyway, it works.
The school year is coming to a close, we are in final exams. They had an "achievement day" in November, where each class presented a project on what they were studying in different areas. For Formación Cristiana, which I taught to 4th and 5th grades this year, my 4th grade class did an exposition on Creation. We studied the OT this year and next year I hope to teach the NT to these same grades, (will be 5th and 6th grades).
Anyway, they did pretty well, and again, we are thankful for the liberty to teach God's Word in school. This was our first year back to in person school which we really missed for the last two years. They say we are in a 5th wave of covid 19 though, as more cases are found. But not nearly as many hospitalizations nor deaths, thankfully. We surely hope we can continue next year in person and there will be no more plagues to close school and businesses, etc.
Tomorrow some of the youth and I will go to the state boy's home and then the Christian children's home we help with Christmas bags to distribute. We have this opportunity each year to preach the Gospel to the state boy's home. Pepe usually does that but with a skit and other illustrations. These boys are mostly street kids, some quite rough, but they need Christ. Please help us pray for this effort, that God's Word will take root in them.
Well, 2022 will soon be history. Thank you so very much for praying for us and for all you have shared with us too. May God give you a very JOYFUL CHRISTMAS season and a very fruitful 2023!
Our support address is:
Christian Missions in Many Lands, Inc.
P.O. Box 13,
Spring Lake, NJ, 07762-0013 with a note: for Bob Rich, Perú
We are so glad Jesus came! Christmas blessings for you, Noél for us
