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| Tacna, Peru |
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| Send Donations To: IberoAmerican Ministries P.O. Box 1493 Monroe, WA 98272 *write "Brian Ridenour" on the note |
| Newsletters |
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| Next Newsletter |
| February 2006 |
| Chiqui and I have been focusing ourselves and putting almost all our time into the youth in Ciudad Nueva. We beg your prayers for this ministry for we are lacking leaders, musicians, and a core group of faithful youth. God has been answering our prayers and we will continue to place all things in His hands. This summer (January-March) we have been opening up the church during the afternoons with games and music. This provides the youth a safe place to go and have fun and/or come and talk with us. Chiqui and I have been able to spend these afternoons getting to know the kids better and allowing them to know their God better. God has provided us with three guys who made decisions(2 of them so far) who know how to play the guitar. We are not planning on giving them resposibilities yet, but they are very interested in learning more and more about God and also about learning how to play the songs. Two of the three are Enrique and Cristofer whom I mentioned earlier. Our goals this year are to have a youth group of at least 50 solid youth, youth leaders to be examples and disciple, and musicians to lead us in singing to the Lord. We want God to change Ciudad Nueva from a dangerous place filled with drugs, alcohol, broken families, in other words, sin, to a place filled with His glory and His children shining brightly in that darkness. |
| What a great couple of months it has been since the last newsletter. We are now pretty much comfortable and moved in to our new apartment. Things are going very good and God is moving in many ways in His church here in Tacna. In December we had a very busy month with many church activities and presentations throughout the city. Since then we have put a lot of thought into the reasons why we do what we do. We have been putting a lot of thought into new creative ways to reach the people here, and we ask that you join us in the same spirit of prayer to our God. Missions is a very important part of the Tacna church, both sending and recieving, and we want God to move here and direct us in the steps that we should be taking to follow Him. We have made little changes to things like how we can present information about the church, where we do presentations, and other strategies into how to do things more effectively and efficiently. In January we were blessed to have a very special wedding between a missionary here, Alvaro and Ula, Pastor Tito's daughter. It was a very beautiful wedding and I was blessed to be able to take the photos(my first professional photos). We had a great time eating, dancing, and celebrating that most blessed day in their lives. Please pray for them as well, for their financial support which is very low, and the beginning of their new adventure in life. Days after the wedding we began a time in missions. Every January we are able to host a large team from the mother church in Santiago, Chile. Whenever we are able to host spanish speaking teams we try to take advantage of their ability to speak spanish and we make many visits to the elderly, former church members, and contacts and new decisions made at presentations. This is one of our favorite times and one of the things in which God blesses and gets most blessed. House visits has always proved very effective in the Ciudad Nueva and Nueva Jerusalen sectors of Tacna. The team was with us nearly three weeks and to finish off their time here we had the opportunity to participate in the baptism of four youth, two from Ciudad Nueva and two from Culto.com. Please keep them in your prayers and ask the Lord to give them discipline and strength to take the first steps in their new walk. Their names are Vanessa and Carlos(from Culto) and Enrique and Cristofer(from Ciudad Nueva). |
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| February has also been busy due to a few of the leaders being on vacation. I was blessed with the opportunity to preach a few weeks ago in Ciudad Nueva and I am humbled to be told that it went well, praise God. It was a very nervous time and again this Sunday, March 5th, I will need your prayers because I am going to preach again. The people have really taken great steps since some of the leaders went on vacation and it has given me much encouragement to see their willingness and desire. It also allows me to see that they are waiting and wanting to serve. In all it has been a very busy 2-3 months in Tacna for us. We have been blessed over and over again to be a part of His wonderful work. Please pray that we find rest in Him in these spiritually wanting times...when we pour ourselves out to the people we are in need of spiritual nourrishment, or currently a drowning. Ciudad Nueva is a place filled with much violence, poverty, and sin. This week we have had two youth sleep at our house because of domestic violence. It is emotionally painful and draining to continually witness these things week in and week out. We can only humbly come before the Lord and ask and ask and ask for change, for Him to use us at His disposition, and that He would glorify Himself through His powerful love which changes eternities. We beg your prayers as we confront the gates of hell...we are the Resistance and we will prevail. The war is won, that is foreknown, but the battle continues on daily for us and we seek your prayers. Thank you. May each of you find the peace and joy of the Father in your hearts. |
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| Noverim le, noverim me, Brian and Francesca Ridenour |
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