Send Donations To: IberoAmerican Ministries P.O. Box 1493 Monroe, WA 98272 *write "Brian Ridenour" on the memo |
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| May 2008 |
| IberoAmerican Ministries |
| Tacna, Peru |
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| Needs To see a complete list of needs, including prayer, and how you can help, click here. Projects To see a complete lists of projects we are currently raising support for and their decsription, click here. |
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| Since missions in January things have taken a new turn for us, especially for Chiqui and I. We are now dedicating our time to a new group of youth that has been divinely placed into our hands. As youth groups go, we have shipped out our first group after over four years of working with them. We are proud to say that one of them is now organizing an event with the municipality to promote a NO SMOKERS DAY. There will be rappers, gravity artists, and skaters all together performing for this new and possible annual day here in Tacna. If things go well he will probably be able to promote more events like these. Pray that all goes well and that he stays true to what he knows to be True. |
| Along with Edwin are many other teenagers that are coming to the Friday night study. Please keep these kids in your prayers these next few weeks because we are going to be presenting lessons on doctrine and we hope to do it in an interesting way that will allow them to understand them and come to a point where they make a decision. This group is mostly made of kids that were brought up in Sunday school, but none have been baptized. We hope to explain to them what it means and if all goes well have a special baptism day on Father's Day. This will bring many of the fathers to the church, we pray, so that we can present the gospel to them as well. These are going to be a few very important weeks for us and there will certainly be a strong spiritual battle going on, so please keep us and the youth in your prayers. Speaking with Edwin we know that he wants to be baptized and our hope is that he will be a leader among the students in the near future. The kids look up to him and it brings us joy to see that the work we are apart of is beginning to bear fruit after only a few months. |
| A couple weeks ago we celebrated mothers day with the youth and their mothers. It was a beautiful night at the church with over 25 mothers there with their sons and daughters. It nearly brought tears to my eyes seeing the kids sitting next to their moms, hugging their arms. There was joy in their eyes to be in the church together. Our goal is to reach out to the families through their teenagers and this event allowed us to have the mothers with us sharing together with their children the good message. We were able to share with them, eat with them, and get to know them better. God touched many of their hearts and over half of them accepted Jesus as their Lord. Pray with us that God will continue the work in them, and that they will continue to come to share and hear the word together with the church. Pray that there be unity and an ambient of love that only comes from the Lord. Pray for the Father's Day that many fathers will participate with their teenage children and us, and that they will come to know the love of our Saviour. |
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| Your servants, in Him, Brian and Chiqui Ridenour |
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| The new group of teenagers that we are working with are great. It gives us great pleasure to have this new wind beneath our wings moving us forward with encouragement (and trials) that the Lord brings through these kids. Today we were able to eat lunch with one of them and hear some more of his story. No one in his family has finished high school, including his parents, because of a lack of money to provide for basic needs. Edwin had to stop studying in fifth grade to help his mother prepare and sell lunch at the local market. He has had 4 jobs since fifth grade and just recently are things started to economically sustain themselves a little in their household. They are still not very well off, but they can survive. It is cases like Edwin's which make my desire for a scholarship program grow. At lunch today we spoke about how if his parents were to matriculate him in school that he would like to continue studying. It is our hope that this becomes a reality because we know that the path to success and out of poverty is through education. If there are people interested in seeing this ministry begun please write me and let me know. I attempted to get it started last year while visiting supporters, but God lead them to support other ministry opportunities. We ask that you pray over these opportunities to see where God leads you. And please contact us with your thoughts and answers to prayer...beit yes or no, we hope to hear from you all so that God may clear up our minds and thoughts as well. |
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| Thank you all for your support and prayers. You are all cherished. |