April 1, 2001

Dear Friends,

Anita and I thought it might be good to give you a general run down of our work here in Peru. We are in good health and enjoying the blessings of the Lord. Please pray for the political situation here in this country. We are once again in the process of new presidential elections, and in the past this has led to violence and riots. Peru has somewhat of a "temporary government." Please pray for a peaceful transfer of power. The following is a summary of the different works we are involved with at present.

Huanuco. Here in Huanuco, I am helping out the Central Baptist Church as Pastor. We have an average attendance of about 220 on Sunday mornings. They are a great and loving group of God's choicest Saints. Anita and I love them dearly. We are in the midst of an extensive building program here with the construction of two story buildings to be used for Sunday School and Church fellowship building. As funds come in we hope to finish it by the time we come home for furlough in October of this year. At present the work is stopped for lack of funds.

Chasqui. This is the newest mission work we are involved with. It is about three hours from Huanuco up in the Andes Mountains. It is a village of folks that are mainly poor potato farmers. But we've seen the Lord working in this area. I've already baptized thirteen and have about ten more waiting for baptism. The mission pastor there is Brother Marcelino Cierto. He is from our church here in Huanuco. He and his wife (Cunicunda) are two very dedicated saints of the Lord. The construction there is much cheaper than in the cities. We build with adobe (mud) bricks made right at the construction site. However, we do need help for the roof, floor, doors and windows. I calculate it will cost around $2000.00 to get this work into their building. They need help and I'm sure funds will come in to help with this construction project.

Huaral. This is the mission work out of my home church, the Jordan Missionary Baptist Church of Sanford, Florida, Pastor George Sledd. Brother Carlos Gonzales is the mission pastor and doing a great job. I am financially supporting him until the work can be independent. We are also in a huge building project there. Last year the Lord provided the funds for us to buy the lots for the new work and one lot for a parsonage. This work is using a temporary structure now for a meeting house: dirt floor, with the roof and walls made of straw mats. The parsonage is under partial construction. I wanted to build the parsonage first so we could have someone living there to oversee and protect while we build the meeting house. I am planning a large building for this area. It should be able to hold about 400 or 500 when it is finished. At present the work runs a little over 100 in attendance. I try to give them at least $1000.00 (one thousand dollars) each month to help with the construction, but some months it is less.

Baptist Institute of Biblical Studies. This is the Institute that I started several years ago. It is not a "normal" center of Studies where young people come to live and study for three or four years. No, this Institute was designed to help the pastors and preachers that are already in the ministry to have the opportunity to study. The majority of these men never had the opportunity to study in a Bible college or Seminary. I have found such great acceptance for this work. At present I have 140 pastors and preachers participating. We have classes three to four times each year. I have two locations where I hold the classes: one is here in Huanuco with men coming from all over Peru (Cajamarca, Lima, Tingo Maria, Pucallpa, Yurimagaus, Huaral, JauJa, and of course Huanuco). We study for one week, eight hours each day. It helps these Men of God to strengthen their own beliefs and pastoral skills and provides an excellent opportunity for them to fellowship with each other. I've seen our fellowship of churches grow stronger as a result of these times together. Anita and I provide the meals and lodging and materials for each class. The men that study pay for their transportation to and from. This is a real financial sacrifice for so many of them.

The other location for classes is in the North Jungle town of Iquitos (where the Amazon begins). This is my largest class with about 80 to 85 men coming for studies. Iquitos is where BFM started years ago in 1935 with Missionary Hallum. Directly or indirectly through the efforts of BFM we have churches and missions all up and down the rivers for hundreds of miles around Iquitos with about twelve different churches in the city itself. I have men that paddle canoes for three days just to get to study in these classes. Some times I have men from the United States come down and teach classes while I translate for them. It's very tiring but also very rewarding. Please remember the Institute in your prayers. It takes a lot of time to prepare the courses and print the materials, but I've seen great progress in many of our churches as a result of the teaching and materials.

Hope this report will help you to be able to pray more effectively for the Lord's work here in Peru. Until next month.

Serving Jesus in Peru,

Sheridan and Anita Stanton