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Onceavacarta
Onceavacarta
“One generation will commend your works to another; they will tell of your might acts.”
Psalm 145:4
The night of February 1, 1983, found us standing in Miami International Airport, giving
our last hugs to tearful family members before boarding a plane to a place God had called
us to but as yet we did not know—Lima, Peru. Now, 25 years later, that once unfamiliar
place has become our beloved home, the place of our children’s birth and upbringing, the
place of memories both joyful and painful, the place which forms the backdrop of God’s
shaping and using us for His glory. On this occasion of our 25th year in Peru—about a
generation—we take this opportunity to “commend His works” to those who have prayed
for and supported us over the years and to those of “the next generation,” that together we
may rejoice in His faithfulness.
We are humbled at how God has chosen to use us in the following ways:
But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that this all-surpassing power is from
God and not from us. 2 Corinthians 4:7
We have also seen our share of testing, which God has brought us through faithfully and
used to strengthen us:
• Tim’s 10-year history of kidney stones, including three major surgeries. Praise
God he has been free of these for three straight years!
• Four miscarriages of very much wanted children
• Two bouts of typhoid for Tim and one for Debbie
• A two-year struggle with major clinical depression (Debbie), with an eventual
diagnosis of bipolar disorder. God is using this experience of emotional pain to
minister to others suffering emotional and spiritual difficulties.
• A major conflict between missionaries and national workers in our association, in
which 3 missionary couples were recalled, one resigned, and 3 were redeployed,
leaving two of us to continue the work here
• National workers who have had to leave the ministry because of sin
• People we have discipled who have not continued with the Lord
• Stages of difficulty and feeling helpless to know how to parent our children
effectively
We have been hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair;
persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed....Fro our light and
momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
2 Corinthians 4:8-9, 17