September 30, 2002

Dear Friends,

September has been a month of travel for Anita and me. I started out the first week going to the North Jungle town of Iquitos to teach another Institute class out there. The class was down in number with only 65 attending. That class usually runs around 85 to 100. Any how it turned out to be a great class and a good spirit among the pastors attending. I know many of you were praying for me during that week.

After returning for a few days back home in Huanuco, Anita and I had a great time traveling around Peru with some good friends of ours from the States. Mike and Judy Adams and Dr. Gary Wallace and his wife Fernita traveled and asked us to accompany them to several different places in Peru. We went to several places we had been before but we also got to go up to the cities of Puno and Juliaca near the famous Lake Titicaca. It is the largest lake in South America and the highest navigable lake in the world. After twenty years of living in Peru we finally got to see the floating Uro Islands. It was quite a fascinating trip thanks to our friends.

The works here in Peru are going very well. I will be teaching another Institute class in Huanuco beginning the 9th of October. I will be traveling out to the city of Pucallpa for a revival meeting and then Anita and I will be traveling to the North mountain town of Cajamarca the end of the month where I have been asked to teach a course on Baptist History. So as you can see, October will be quite busy also.

The building project in Huaral has been stalled for a while due to "red tape" getting the building permit. It looks as though we will have to wait until after the Mayoral elections in November. Everything is politically motivated at this time and getting our permit will cost us a lot more than it should under normal circumstances. However, the Lord has presented us with a wonderful opportunity to buy a very nice piece of property in Huariaca where we have another of our mission works. The cost of the property is $2800.00. It has a nice house with plenty of room to grow for a growing mission work. This is a matter of prayer. If the Lord leads some of you to help us in this project mark the funds for Stanton Building Fund - Huariaca. Thank you for your prayers and help.

The Lord works in very mysterious ways sometimes. While Anita and I were in the city of Cuzco we took some mail to a young man living there. His Sister in Iquitos had asked me to look him up and give him the letters and a small present for his new baby. We found him working and he invited us to his house to meet his wife. His name is Alberto and his wifes name is Ruth. It turned out that they were having some serious marital problems and when he discovered that I was a Minister he asked us to intervene. It was a wonderful visit, and they now seem to be on the road to forgiveness and reconcilation. They both had trusted Christ a few years ago but had not been under any real teaching of the Word of God in order to grow spiritually. I'm sure Alberto's sister had no idea that writing a letter to her brother in Cuzco would put him in contact with the help he needed. Pray for Alberto and Ruth, their children and their marraige. This may just be the beginning of another mission work in the near future. Pray.

Serving Jesus in Peru,

Sheridan and Anita Stanton