Stanton Mission Report, April 2009
The apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthian Christians these words: “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.” Anita and I have been busy in the Lord’s work during the month of May. I started the month off with a revival meeting in the mountain town of Huariaca. Only the Lord knows if revival was accomplished in this small mission work we helped get started several years ago. There were many rededications, two asking for baptism and one young woman trusting Christ as her Savior. We give the Lord thanks for his graciousness to those dear saints that live high up in the Andes mountains where the air is cold and crisp.
The next week-end I preached two nights for the youth group of the Calvary Baptist mission church here in Huánuco. It was not as well attended as I would have liked but I did have a good time with the kids that came. Brother Enrique Castillo is our youth minister and he does a tremendous job with these young folks. We had four trust Christ as their Savior during the month and they are now in discipleship training. We had hoped to baptize these four but their parents are not in favor of their being baptized at this time. These kids come from a rough area of Huánuco and their parents do not attend church.
Since these youths are between thirteen and seventeen we ask the parents for permission. This shows respect for the parents and helps keep the door open for continued witnessing to them.
On the fourth week-end I traveled to the high jungle town of Oxapampa where Brother Carlos Gonzales is the mission pastor. It takes eleven hours on the bus, over terrible roads to get to this town. But the Lord blessed and we saw the church strengthened, evidenced by the decisions made. You might remember that Carlos lost his wife to cancer a few years ago and he is now in need of an operation to remove a large gall stone. Please remember to pray for him and the work in Oxapampa.
June the fourth, Anita and I were in the capital city of Lima in order to receive, Andy Norris; a young university student from the States that has come down to work and help us for a few months. He has already been a great blessing to us. Andy has designed a template in Microsoft Access for a library data base. He is in the process of cataloging and organizing my entire library and when his is finished I will be able to search all my books, pamphlets, microfiche, and electronic books just by typing any word, topic, or author. Pastors, he is good, maybe some of you in the States would like to have him come and do the same for you!
This past Sunday, the seventh of June, Anita and I celebrated thirty-five years of marriage. We had a wonderful day rejoicing in the Lord by reminding ourselves of the many, many wonderful things HE has done for us over the years. The Calvary Church surprised us on Sunday night with a special gift and anniversary cake. Sunday morning I also had the joy of baptizing a young man, Alan, into the fellowship of the Calvary mission church.
Andy and I will be traveling to Lima this weekend to receive a mission group from the Berea Baptist Church of Hiddenite, North Carolina. The group will be coming to help us build a security wall around the property of the Grace Baptist church here in Huanuco. Anita and I are staying very busy, making the preparations for this group. They will be in Peru for two weeks and we pray the Lord will greatly bless their time here with us.
We were saddened this past month to hear of the passing of Brother Wallace York and Sister Betty Creiglow. They both were great examples of service to our Lord and they will be greatly missed by all who knew them. Write us or call, we always enjoy hearing from those we love.
In HIM by HIS grace,
Sheridan and Anita Stanton