Aug. 15, 2008
Dear Prayer Warriors,
Thank you for your faithful prayers. As always, God is faithful in hearing and answering according to His perfect will. In His mercy, all my July cancer tests came out negative. Praise Him! A bone density test showed no change in that area so I can continue with just taking extra calcium and keeping active.
I also went to an ophthalmologist, Dr. Sally Mellgren, because of some vision problems in my right eye. She discovered a fast-growing cataract and wanted to operate immediately. Since I had some urgency in returning to Iquitos to teach starting Aug. 4th, we decided the surgery could wait until next year. Lord willing, I will be going home in May or June to have more time for that operation and healing. This year I am turning 50, which means I have a colonoscopy coming up. <:-o My twin nieces, Gloria and Praise, will be graduating from high school, so I do have something great to look forward to.
J
As always, spending time with my family in Vista was special. It seemed like we were always busy, though. I only read 465 pages of the 1000+ pages I was hoping to read for the History of Christianity course. Once I made a quick trip to visit supporters and family in the L.A. area. Then one week I was privileged to help Pastor Terry Yoder and his family in a 5-day front yard Bible club they held in their neighborhood. We had an interesting mix of 5 or 6 10-13 year-old boys and 5 or 6 1-6 year-old little ones. One boy, Geraldo, accepted the Lord Jesus as his Savior with Pastor Terry. Pray for his spiritual growth and for the salvation of the other boys. I enjoyed using my Spanish to get to know some of the parents and to interpret for the Yoders to help them get better acquainted with their neighbors.
Praise the Lord my trip home July 31 – Aug. 1 went well! I ended up on the doorstep of my home in Iquitos at 7:00 a.m., 5+ hours earlier than expected and was able to spend the extra time sleeping there instead of in the Lima airport. Things have been busy since then. J
IBBI (Iquitos Baptist Bible Institute) – The second semester started Aug. 4, and we are now two weeks into the 16 weeks of classes. The History of Christianity course was canceled because only one student signed up. Praise the Lord I did get the extra copies of the books I needed and will be donating them to the Institute library in Iquitos. There are four students in the History of Missions course, and Rocio is helping teach the class. We meet on Mondays 7:30 – 8:15 p.m. It is a short hour so we are trying to keep on schedule so we can learn all we can from great missionaries in the past and the great revivals that sent them out. In looking for information in my files for the class, I came across a real treasure – the history of missionary work here in the Peruvian jungle from 1908-48, written by William Scherer, the first ABWE missionary here. It is written in Spanish, so all I have to do is get copies made for my students. Here we are 100 years later, with the opportunity to look back and see all that the Lord has done for His glory.
The IBBI choir lost a number of their contraltos including their teacher, so I have been asked to help teach them their music. Our regular choir practice time is on Thursdays, 7:30 – 9:00 p.m. Pray for Armando Traverso, our choir director, for wisdom in putting together a program and for the IBBI administration in setting up a schedule of church visits.
Betsán Baptist Church – Betsán means “house of rest” according to Pastor Enrique. The past two Sundays there have been a good number of kids in my Sunday School class. Lord willing, tomorrow (8/16) I will be going to Betsán and spending the weekend, returning early Monday morning. This will give me time to do some visitation in the town of Trece de Febrero and to help in the Saturday night kids’ program Pastor Enrique and his wife, María, have started. The “prophet’s chamber” built next door to the church is ready for occupancy. Praise the Lord! The plan right now is to spend extra time there every other weekend. There is another new church plant in Iquitos, Torre Fuerte Baptist Church, that is also asking for my help on some Saturdays.
Source of Light – Praise the Lord for Ketty and her help in correcting the Bible lessons! A number of churches are using them, and it took me half a day just to put them in order and make up certificates. Correcting them would have taken another two days I really don’t have. Ketty is one of five possible graduates at IBBI this December.
The Deaf – It’s great to see my deaf friends again and have classes with them after two months off. Please pray for true Holy Spirit revival in their lives. Pray for me to be a true example of a Spirit-led Christian in the way I live my life before them. One of the girls who canceled our classes together may be wanting to meet again. Lord willing, I will see her next Wednesday. The way the IBBI schedule has worked out, I am free on Tuesday nights and able to interpret chapel services for the Deaf who come for Bible lessons that night. Please pray that they will come. Efata Baptist Church is celebrating their 23rd anniversary August 31. I have been invited and plan to attend that evening.
Pastor George – He is home and slowly gaining strength. When I visited him yesterday, he was working with a young man from his church who is to preach on Sunday, teaching him how to make up an outline and study the background of a passage in a commentary. Talk about a crash course in homiletics! Pray about sufficient funds to continue his rehabilitation. His doctor is amazed at how quickly he is healing and listens when Pastor George shares the gospel with him.
This is quite a long letter. Thank you for your patience and prayers. Keep looking up!
Your sister in Christ,
Lynn Porter