“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing i do; Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:12-14. (NIV)

Now as of last Saturday I finished the book of Philippians with the Youth Group. Which going through the book has been a great blessing and a growing experience. The exact thing I taught on it seemed like I went through that same week. It was like the Lord was testing me to see if I was truly living what I preached. In the context of each teaching I saw that I was going through a similar thing like Paul was going through. Even though I know it wasn’t as intense as what he went through but; the Lord was showing me how to apply it to my life personally and see Him do it through me. I have learned that no matter what, that I need to continue to run the race that is set before me. Always looking to Jesus!

Now the cool thing about this is for the past 2 1/2 weeks I have been training for a short 8k run in lima. Which I just ran on Sunday, no I didn’t win 1st place but I had a great time. It’s cool because in training and even running a race you can so easily apply it to our Christian walks. Even though it is hard and so many times you want to give up, even when you are so close to the finish line you feel you just want to stop. They say and even from experience the last mile of a marathon (Full marathon 26.2 miles) can be the hardest but when running it you always look to the finish line; the goal! And even not placing doesn’t matter to you all that matters is finishing, and what great joy there is when doing that, to say I finished, I did it, I did the best I could. And in a marathon no matter what place you get you get a medal. So enough on that what I was going to say is…….

You are probably wondering, “what are you doing in Lima, I thought you were in Iquitos.” Well Albert and I have decided to take a short break, well sort of. Albert is taking a class at the Bible College and I am just visiting friends, helping out with various things at the College and going to different ministry’s. And so far it has been a blessing being here seeing old and new faces and being apart of what is going on here. We will be here in Lima will almost 3 weeks and head back to Iquitos on the 8th of Oct. just in time to get in the routine of things again and get ready for the students to come for there mission trip.

Also one of the cool things about me leaving was that I asked two of the youthes to help take over while I was. Jesus will be teaching this Saturday for the first time with the youth, and Julio is taking over all of the Sunday night prayer meetings and leading worship for that and the youth group. As well Pastor Jose will be teaching the other two Saturdays that I will miss. But it is such a blessing to see the Lord work and raise up leaders in the youth. I know it is just a start but the Lord is going to do great things through it and even through them as they put there trust in the Lord.

Prayer Request:

1. Our time in Lima to be
2. The ministry in general in Iquitos (We are not there for 3 weeks)
3. Continual provision for the church in Panguana

Praise Reports:

1. Veronica is out of the hospital and is doing good.
2. Soon I will be an Uncle 10 times (next year) Wow thats a lot!!!!!

PS. Don’t forget to check out my recent pictures I put new ones up.

To whom it may concern:

We heard creation groaning last week in the 8.0
earthquake that hit the coast of central Peru.
Tragically, hundreds lost their lives, thousands are
wounded, and thousands more are homeless.  The Lord
has presented us with a wonderful opportunity to serve
Him at such a time as this.

  Nearly each day since the August 15th quake, we have
sent busloads of volunteers to help in the work of
evangelism and the relief effort.  We have been
concentrating in two hard hit areas: Cañete, where
pastor Jaime Inga oversees a Calvary Chapel outreach,
and Pisco, further south.  Both regions are
spiritually dark areas.

  God has been faithfully providing for us to minister
to the physical needs of many victims.  We have
delivered much needed tents, food, water, blankets,
clothing and medicines.  We have also been able to
meet spiritual needs through works of compassion,
music, mimes, puppets, and the free distribution of
Bibles.  Dozens from the church and Bible College have
worked extremely long days, and have shared many
touching reports.

  Our hearts have been warmed by the phone calls and
letters of concern many have expressed, and also from
those wanting to help.  Several church teams have
already come to work with us, and several more have
expressed interest in helping in the weeks and months
ahead to help the people rebuild their lives.  Leo
Maestre, my assistant pastor, is helping to organize
the relief effort, and he can be reached at the
following special email:
ccbc_peru_earthquakerelief@yahoo.com.

  Thank you for your prayers at this time.  We are
extremely busy with our new semester beginning
tomorrow, and a packed house of students, interns,
staff and missionaries.  We need God's wisdom, and
super-human strength that the Spirit promises!  It is
reassuring to know you are interceding for us before
the Throne of Grace.

  Meet You There!

  John Bonner

Ps. This is an update from the director at the Bible College.
Just to let everyone know I am not in lima but in Iquitos.
There might have been a mix up with the updates i have been sending.

Love to all,
Jeremy

Hey Everyone,

Just before my mission trip i just wanted to give you an update on the new things the Lord is doing here in Peru. As you know i am leaving for Iquitos this Saturday with a team of 10. We will be there from March 31st-April 1st. If you could please pray for us as we are there. I will let you all know how it goes when returning and pictures as well.

John 15:1-12, this past week i did a teaching on this passage for Chapel it was such a blessing to study and see the Lord show me the importance of abiding in Him. Also i was able to look up info. on how a vinedresser grafts a branch into the vine, and it was very cool to see how it applied to this passage so much in how God is our Vinedresser and Jesus is the Vine and we are the branches and all the little details in how to have a successful graft. We have such an AWESOME God and loves us so much.

So the Lord is teaching me to abide in Him and that is a everyday thing, and not just when we feel like it. I gave the example of love, love is not just a feeling or emotions, but it is a choice. We have a choice to abide in Christ or not. It is up to us what are we going to do? Apart from Him we can do nothing that has lasting or eternal value.

Well i could go on but i will stop there and let you search the rest out and allow the Lord to speak to you. One more thing, if you could pray for a church building for the english and, spanish service, and a building for the children’s ministry. Thanks so much for all your prayers and support for me as i have been here in Peru.

Dios te Bendiga,

Jeremy

Update:

Just a quick update, as you can see i have a new webpage. Something a little different but i hope it helps with showing you guys whats going on in my life here in Peru. So far it has been a great semester, i am enjoying it a lot and getting to know the new students has been awesome as well.

One of the things the Lord has blessed me with is being the Dean of Men here on campus. Some of the things i am and will be doing is discipling the men, giving a bible studying once a week, spending time with them, and well pretty much what Jesus did to His disciple’s, disciple them. My one prayer is to be like Christ b/c of the responsiblility the Lord has given me. And it is cool b/c it causes me to guard my heart from the things of this world, b/c i know that if i fall into things that the world has to offer i hinder the ministry the Lord has given me. A verse the Lord has put on my heart a lot this month is Proverbs 8:12-13, you should check it out.

Up coming events:

The Surf camp for the youth group will be the 18-24th of February, if you could please pray for that and that the Lord would use all of us, and that hearts would be soften to the word of God.

Prayer request:

Please pray for direction in where the Lord might have me after this semester. Right now i am praying about going to Iquitos and serving there. But not sure, just praying and seeing what the Lord does.

Discipleship with the men

Pray for a Church building

ICPNA- English speaking ministry with the Peruvians, open doors for the gospel to be brought forth.