April 2020 Prayer Letter

April 22, 2020

Dear Friends and Family,

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:38-39

The Coronavirus pandemic has rapidly transformed life as we know it for millions of people all over the world. In the midst of uncertainties and fears, there is only One who can give us peace and hope – Jesus Christ.

On March 15, 2020 the government of Peru declared a 15 day quarantine. At midnight March 16 the country’s borders and air travel were closed down. On March 18, the government tightened the measures of quarantine, implementing a curfew from 8 P.M. until 5 A.M. daily, preventing citizens from leaving their homes. Peru will be in quarantine until April 30. By God’s grace, our conference speaker, Ron Rushton, was able to travel to Lima. Unfortunately he was unable to get on his scheduled flight at 12:10 A.M. March 17 due to the curfew. He remained in Lima for the next fifteen days in a hotel room until a flight to the U.S.A. became available.

The days leading up to the conference were crazy with finalizing the preparations. Finally, we headed up Rio Pastaza River into the Chapuri River not far from the border of Ecuador. It was getting dark before reaching our destination. The darkness combined with the bends and turns in the river made navigation very treacherous. Around 9 P.M. we pitched our tents in the darkness and rested to prepare for the following day’s travel.
The next day we left at 6:30 A.M. arriving in Village Barranquillo 8:30 A.M. where the Conference was to be held. We had been invited to this village by the church elders who oversee about 30 village churches in the area. These churches were planted by a mission organization called Amazon Outreach. At least nine of the villages came together from an area of thirty square miles. Those that attended were primarily local believers. Some attendees traveled six hours by a peki-peki boat which is basically a motorized canoe.

GLORY TO GOD! The Conference was a huge success! The people attending Loved it!! The “Conference on the Family” included the biblical role of the husband, father, mother, and children. All the teachings were focused on:
*the sufficiency of the scriptures
*the call of church leaders
*the difficulty of ministry hardships
*teaching of hope and salvation.
Ron did the teaching and it was well received. I (Clif) did the translating from English to Spanish, a third person translated from Spanish to the indigenous native language. The translations were incredibly time consuming.

The conference consisted of two full days of teaching sessions. Following each session there was adequate time allotted to Q&A. Ron and I both thought that the ministry aspect went really well. We were in awe how the Lord moved throughout.

We did run into some opposition from the enemy in the days before, during and after the conference. No time for details now. BUT, we are continually assured we serve an awesome God. (AND WE NEED TO BE FLEXIBLE!!)

Staying focused on Him will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you. Isaiah 26:3.

How desperately we always need your prayers.

Thank you for all your love and support, and for taking the time to read about what God is doing in Peru.

IN HIS BLESSED SERVICE,
CLIF

As the Lord leads, pray with us….
*For any anxieties that the COVID-19 virus brings and it’s many changes in life that are happening around the world
*For the citizens of San Lorenzo and Estrecho to be lifted in prayer
*For continued prays for my safety and any health concerns that may arise
*For fruit in the people’s lives that attended the conference
*For victory over all spiritual warfare
*For continued financial support
*PRAISE ~ That my health has been good
*PRAISE ~ That we were able to distribute more of the DAVOR solar powered audio devices to the local pastors. What a huge blessing that was

~Ways to Partner with the Lord’s work in Peru~

Prayer support
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Join us August 2020 in the field

Here are some conference pictures:

My first picture shows a view of the village from up river. That is a government sign that every indigenous Indian group has. This village is the main village of the Kandoshi people.

The next picture shows a view of the boat docking area. Many of the small canoes are made from one solid piece of wood. They wash their clothes in these boats and then go into the river to wash themselves. Our boat was to the right and out of view. There are steps cut into the side of the hill that these boys are standing on top of. Very treacherous.

The above picture is of the village from the river.

Finally this shows a picture of a typical house in the village. Note, no walls. No grass. Cooking and sleeping take place in this area. Some may have one wall to block rain. There might be 40 of these in any one village. They follow the river pretty close.