Potatoes come from Peru

The potato has its origin in Peru and the Peruvians are very proud of that. Recently, Chile tried to hone in on the potato action, which generated the following press release for world-wide publication (from "livinginPeru.com"):

The Universidad Austral de Chile ratified their purpose to inscribe the potatoes cultivated in the Southern part of that country as national patrimony. The Minister of Foreign Affaires of Peru explained that the origin of the potato is in Peru were it is possible to find more than 4 thousands types potatoes, the Department of Agriculture of the US studied the DNA of 261 types of wild potatoes and 98 types of cultivatable potatoes and determined that the origin was in Peru!

God answers prayers

I visited my father today. He's been in a nursing home for a week, after spending 10 days in the hospital. His recovery is amazing. Ten days ago, I was preparing myself for what I thought was his inevitable demise. Today, he was sitting in a reading chair, fully dressed, working on a Sodoku puzzle. God has blessed me. My daily visits to my father in the hospital and nursing home have provided opportunities for meaningful discussions. There was a famous book out a few years ago, titled "Tuesdays with Morrie." It was about a reporters discussions with his dyeing professor. My dad's name is Morris, and my frequent visits to him in the hospital environment have brought that book to mind. But it separates dramatically from the book, since my dad is on the mend. I praise God for this wonderful news, and I thank all of those who prayed with me. Thank you!

Another area where God has answered our prayers is in regard to Lena's spiritual friends. She shared that very few women ask her the types of spiritual questions that encourage personal growth. She's famous for asking friends about their spiritual lives or what the Lord is saying to them, but very few do the same for her. We prayed about it and the next day, Lena had deep conversations with three friends! Two were friends she hadn't spoken with in a long time, who called out of the blue. It's important to journal about these occurrences, otherwise they are quickly forgotten. God answers prayers. We must do the work of remembering them and rejoicing in His faithfulness and love. What a shame to be sad and think that God doesn't care, when He is actually working overtime to show us his love!

Prayer Requests and Thoughts from Bill & Lena - Missionaries to Peru

Bienvenidos! (Welcome!)

Thanks for checking out our blog, where we periodically update our prayer requests and fill friends in on our progress. The call to Peru and our progress in raising the support needed to go has been a wonderful adventure. We've loved speaking in churches and home fellowship groups. We've met the most wonderful people and been blessed to see individuals touched as we prayed with them at the altar. God is so gracious to allow us to play on His team. We're feeling some strong feelings of gratitude!

Here's our first list of prayer requests. Thanks for joining us in conversation with our Savior.

1) My father, Morris (81), has emphysema and congestive heart failure. Recently, both my parents contracted the flu. Dad developed pneumonia and had to be rushed to the hospital. This past two weeks have been a frightening roller-coaster ride. Both of my parents are recovering, but could definitely use prayer.

2) My Doctor of Ministry classes. I’ve been approved for my final project with the title, “Select Components of Emotional Intelligence in Collegiate Discipleship.” As you can see, it’s going to be a bone chilling tale of drama and suspense. As dry as the title sounds, the topic is actually very interesting. I’m looking forward to doing the work. My struggle is getting the reading and writing done, while on the road. Please pray that God would grant me stamina and focus. My hope is to finish the class-work and begin writing the final project before we leave the country at the end of August.

3) That our budget would be fully raised prior to our end-of-August departure. For that to happen, we need churches where we’ve already done our presentation to partner with us. We also need to fill out our schedule with church services, home fellowship groups and private presentations. Sunday evenings and mid-week presentations are the hardest to fill.

4) That God would be glorified as people continue to get saved and refreshed in our services.

Thanks,

Bill