Peterson's Prayer Guide - February 2007

Be earnest and disciplined in your prayers… Continue to show deep love for each other. Manage well the spiritual gifts God has given you so that God’s generosity can flow through you.

1 Peter 4:7-8,10

Esther at College

We have felt so supported in prayer over the past month as we’ve heard from a number of you telling us you were praying about our big decision regarding the future. Thank you for standing with us at a time when we really needed that partnership. It meant so much! We had promised our colleague, Sunny, that we’d try to give her an answer by mid January. It was an interesting process as we sought to discern God’s voice and leading in this big decision. We were very drawn to the job in some respects, but it became clear to us that this is not the right time for us to make such a move. There were a lot of things that God brought to our attention and we had valuable input from some people whom we highly respect. So we were able to come to a place of peace that we’d heard God on this and agreed to tell Sunny that we wouldn’t be coming. If you want to hear more detail about how we came to this conclusion, feel free to contact us, but it would take quite a bit of paper to document it all! We are excited to be able to dig in deep again here and know that we’re in the place that God wants us to be for this season of our lives. Thank you again for walking this journey with us.

Gary has had some wonderful and exciting opportunities in his role at Wordspring this month. The few items we wrote on the last schedule ended up being multiplied many times with new, last minute interactions with groups and individuals. Please continue to pray that Gary and his colleagues will be flexible, available and sensitive to God’s Spirit as they interact with all kinds of people who show up at the Wycliffe facility. Here is his known schedule for February:

2nd Special tour for students from Grace Evangelical Seminary
4th, 5th, 6th, 7th Teaching Perspectives Lesson 5 in Jacksonville, Gainesville,
Ocala & Orlando.
9th Tour for a school group
13th & 15th Promoting Wycliffe at Asbury Seminary
20th Another tour for a group visiting Wordspring

Gary’s foot problem was solved by replacing his running shoes, but he has since had problems with one calf muscle and hasn’t been able to run for a week or more. He’s riding a bicycle to stay in shape and still hopes to be able to run the half marathon on Feb. 4th.

Esther seems to be settling in well to her new life at Bible college. She’s making friends, finding her way around the campus and the town, connecting with several churches, and getting into study routines. She still needs to find a job that will fit her schedule and help to cover her costs (car, phone, incidentals…). We’ve been able to talk on the phone most days, which has helped all of us in this time of adjustment, and she’s already been home for one weekend - a bit different from when she was in Argentina! A missionary group on her campus is planning a trip to Costa Rica during Spring Break, and Esther would very much like to be a part of that. They’ll be ministering to youth and kids, and it’s a Spanish speaking country - all things that she loves. If you’d like to know more about it or would like to be part of her prayer or financial team for that trip, please e-mail her at: star-E19@juno.com

Josiah has begun his new Truth Project small group. He has put a lot of time, money and prayer into this already, and the first meeting (here at our house on Saturday nights) was very well attended! We haven’t seen him in a leadership role like this before, and we were very proud of him and convinced that God has His hand on Josiah and this effort. Please keep him (and us!) in your prayers as he leads this over the next 13 weeks. We’re conscious that we’re entering enemy territory and we need spiritual protection. Pray too that those attending will learn the things God wants them to as they go through this curriculum.

Both of our mothers have had some health crises in the last few weeks. We are grateful that things have settled down somewhat. My mother is in the midst of localized chemotherapy for her bladder cancer back in Australia. The last lot caused serious discomfort, so she’s not looking forward to the next three treatments. Please keep her in your prayers especially on Tuesdays when she has this. I know she would be very grateful.

On February 25th we will celebrate 23 years of marriage. We are so grateful to God for bringing us together and for the happiness He’s given us through these years.