February 27, 2003

Dear Friends,

Please note the new phone number above. The country has changed all of its area codes and we are now 62 instead of 64. Hope to hear from all of you!!

Last month I reported about a 16 year old girl from our church named Danitza. She had her open heart surgery on the 20th of February and she is to come out of the ICU unit tomorrow. The three hour surgery we expected turned into nine! They found more problems with her heart and were able to repair them. This is why her recovery is taking longer than expected. Anita and I thank each of you that had part in helping financially and with your prayers. The Lord always knows what He is doing. The figure I stated we needed for her surgery has more than doubled due to the complications and extra hospital stay. But you all gave almost twice as much as I said we needed. This just proves again how the Lord leads and directs in our lives. After the doctor found the other problem in her heart he had to close the wound with a latex (Gortex) patch. It so happened that the patch they used was the only one they had in their supplies of donated things from the United States. The doctor told me you can't get them here in Peru. The patch was also the perfect size and thickness for the doctor's purposes. If he had not had the patch we would have lost Danitza! She will be in the hospital for about one more week and then to a hotel here in Lima for about another week after that and then hopefully back to Huanuco to be with her twin sister, Sofia, and her mother and brothers. Again, thank you all for your prayers for Danitza. I want to give a special thanks to brother Jim Miller who made an all out effort to help in raising the funds for the operation. Many individuals and several churches responded also. Thanks to each of you.

I traveled north to Huaral the other day and finally got the construction under way there for their new church building. It has been a long time waiting on plans and other red tape. But the Lord has His own timetable. I also managed to make a trip out to Pucallpa over the week end to preach a meeting for the Liberty Baptist Church. We had several saved and a few getting right with the Lord (or at least I hope so!). In Huanuco I have been preaching a series of messages on the Family and we have seen some very positive results. The Lord is healing families and strengthening relationships. Thanks to all of you for your prayers and financial support. May God continue to bless you as you remain faithful to Him.

Serving Jesus in Peru,

Sheridan and Anita Stanton