December 2008 Newsletter

Hi everyone, you can click on these images to make them larger for easier reading. Enjoy!

Medical Clinic at Sector 3 Church

These are pictures from the medical clinic the team held last week at the Sector 3 church in San Juan de Lurigancho. They had general medicine, dental, and vision clinics. Unfortunately, Alex and I were so busy, we didn't get to take many pictures. The team saw 160 patients the first day and 290 patients on the second day! They worked incredibly efficiently and with great love and care for each person! Well done, faithful servants of the Lord!

Nov-08 Women's Conference

God inspired the theme in me "A Way to Peace" a month or so before we held this conference, but I really didn't know why. I didn't think I was going to do more than introduce the other speakers because I didn't have anything to say. Then the night before the conference (during the men's conference night), He led me to this scripture in Matthew and told me what the women battle most is their own minds! God tells us not to worry, and if we do, we are in fact sinning! I struggle greatly in the battlefield of my mind, so it's something I had personal experience with and can empathize with these women. I told them there are three things we must do: First, we must repent and confess our sin of worrying to the Lord. Second, we must seek first His kingdom--meaning we must spend time with Him, read the Word, worship Him, and put Him first above all else in our lives. And third, we must trust that He will "give" us all that we need, as the scripture says. We don't have to earn the things we need; we don't have strive for them; we don't have to wonder if we are enough or if we do enough. Jesus says we ARE ENOUGH in Him! And so in front of them all, I got down on my knees, confessed my sin of worrying to the Lord, and told Him I wanted Him to consume my thoughts, my feelings and my life! I told Him I wanted lasting change for myself and for all the women there that night. And when I stood up and invited them to come forward for prayer with the team to do the same, they leapt from their chairs and rushed forward! Nearly every woman came forward. There wasn't a dry eye left! Praise God that He loves us and meets all our needs!

Nov-08 Missions Team Photos

This is the team in their new hats (I forgot again what they're called in Spanish) just before they flew back to the U.S. They are an awesome and joyful bunch of people whom we love dearly!






These are pictures of the Medical Clinic that the team held last week; they saw about 450 patients in just two days! That's a record!







These are pictures of the Peruvian Home Makeover described in our newsletter below. I'm hoping that some friends of ours will send us a few more than we were able to get of the rest of the house.

November 2008 Newsletter

Click on the images to enlarge for easy reading.

We're Moving Back to Atlanta! (Oct-08 Newsletter)

We know it's sooner than expected, but we are, in fact, moving back to Atlanta this December! As you know, we have both had a recent position change within the ministry. Alex now serves as the President, and Holly, as the Director of Public Relations. We have come to realize that our efforts in these roles would accomplish more if we were living in Atlanta.

This was a difficult decision to make, as we have made many friends here in Peru. And in many ways, we still feel like we're just settling in. However, through much prayer and consideration, we believe this change of direction is a necessary step in God's will for New Covenant Ministries (NCM) and all the work that NCM is doing for the Kingdom.

Initially as President, Alex has been traveling back to the States once a month for a week or longer to address ministry needs. Beginning in January, he will do the opposite and return to Peru for an extended weekend every month to address the needs of our projects here. Before we leave in December, we will be completing our current Peruvian Home Makeover and the Phase 1 construction of our Medical/Sports Complex & Church. Next year, Alex will oversee the continual development of the Complex & Church, as well as our abused women's shelter, Pat's Place, and our girls' orphanage, Hope House.

Holly's first year of teaching ESOL is quickly coming to a conclusion. She has really enjoyed being in the classroom and seeing her students improve week by week. She is going to miss them all terribly. However, she is very excited about supporting NCM with her gifts in writing, editing and design back in the U.S. She will be assisting with mission trip planning and recruiting through regular rallies and email communication. She will also assist with general ministry fundraising for the projects and facilities described above.

We will post more updates as our plans progress. We do know we will be traveling most of December, but we hope to move into an apartment at the end of the month. Since we sold all our furniture before moving to Peru, we will have to furnish the whole apartment again! Thankfully, the Lord led us to keep our bedroom suite, so we know at least one room will be ready for us! Please pray that God provides for everything else just as He provided for our move to Peru!

Thank you for your faithful support during our year in Peru. You have been a great blessing to us and to all the people God has touched through us. We welcome your prayers and your questions, should you have any. We love and appreciate you and your families. We look forward to sharing in God's blessings with you in 2009!

In His service,
Alex & Holly

Build NCM Peru Headquarters!

We currently live in an apartment that is one of three in a former factory in San Juan de Lurigancho, Lima, Peru. The owner of the building has decided to sell it, which falls in line with the vision God gave us for making this building the NCM Peru Headquarters! This very large building can be used for so many things, such as offices, library, computer lab, classrooms, meeting space, prayer rooms, and apartments for long-term missionaries (like us) or women coming out of NCM's abused women's shelter or girl's orphanage.

Check out our cause at: http://apps.new.facebook.com/causes/110080?recruiter_id=17596722
and see what you can do to help us buy this building! God bless!