Blog Title with Boarder

Blog Updates as the Smiths minister the Gospel in Peru

Friday, September 08, 2006

1st Annual Spiritual Life Conference

Taken from the Desktop of Allen Bradford....

We were all blessed abundantly at our 1st Annual Spiritual Life Conference this past weekend in Trujillo.

We enjoyed Dr. and Mrs. Knox Chamblin immensely – they are a great source of inspiration to us. All of the men, and several of the wives, were privileged to study under Knox while at Reformed Theological Seminary. This weekend, all of us were impacted and encouraged by his gift of practically applying his vast knowledge of the Scriptures, especially his understanding of Greek, as we looked at Luke 10-11; Revelation 22; and Colossians 2. The women were also blessed to share separate time with Ginger, gleaning much from her wisdom and encouragement in "Our Journey", as they focused on Ephesians 4.

We also enjoyed precious fellowship, enjoying the rarity of having the entire team together in one place. We even took an afternoon off with all our families to enjoy a recreation center in the countryside. During our conversations and reminiscences throughout the weekend, we were reminded anew of God's faithful work among us as a team since Peru Mission began meeting together in Jackson, MS, in 1995.

During one of our breaks, we also enjoyed a lively game of Peru Mission Feud, a spin-off of Family Feud based on email surveys sent in by various friends of Peru Mission. We played guys versus the girls, and had to state the most popular answers for questions like:

1. The best thing about living in Peru is: (#1 answer: The Peruvian people).
2. A frustrating thing about living in Peru is: (#1 answer: The language barrier).
3. Name what you miss least about the USA: (#1 answer: The hectic pace of life).
4. Name what you miss most about the USA: (#1 answer: Family and friends).

The weekend ended with an English worship service, followed by lunch and an especially fervent singing time during our traditional Sunday singing, praising our precious Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

We want to share with you a slideshow of the weekend, which we've set to "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" beautifully sung by Knox and Ginger's daughter, Claire Holley, with backup vocals by Knox himself . . .

New Group of Interns

Allen is enjoying one his new roles as Intern Director. Alex Sherling served with Peru Mission for a year and a half as the Director of San Agustin Language Institute (SALI). The Lord greatly used him to organize and grow the language institute to over 100 students.

Nine new interns have recently joined the ranks of Peru Mision's SALI. We also are pleased to have Patrick Kelly, son of Douglas Kelly, back with us back after going home for knee surgery and a medical school interview. Charlie Wright, who has been with us since January, has agreed to stay until May '07 as team administrator. Caleb Sutton has returned to Peru for the third time. This time he will labor with us for two years as the Director of SALI Curriculum. Please pray that God would use the new staff at SALI in their labors to extend Christ's kingdom.



Free Hit Counter