God continues to do great things...

Here are some reports from the past few weeks...

• The team from Grace in Kentucky did a medical clinic as their way of beginning relationships in the Santa Cruz de Andamarca region. This love shown by members of this team for each other and for the people was evident enough to the people that in more than one pueblo, they were asked if they were Christians. Just their service to the people gave opportunities to share the love of Jesus with some in the communities and helped lay a foundation that will be useful for other trips in that area. And, the good name that was created on this first trip will hopefully bring benefits in the future.

• Bryan Baptist Association sent a team down to work in Atalaya, San Antonio and Ungurahual. They did house to house witnessing.

• One of our translators was asked to lead the Saturday service for the church on the Nanay river one day. He storied and I think that it was great to have a Peruvian lead the service and there were 4 adults that came forward to accept Christ and several children.

• The school children of Tucna sang the Peruvian national anthem for us. They then wanted me to sing the Star Spangled Banner. Another team member and I did, then we sang Jesus Loves Me. We then shared the gospel with them and several said they had accepted Christ. (It is reported that 20 kids accepted Christ.)

Please continue to pray for the work of the REAP North Peru Strategy Coordinator Churches and our team of missionaries.

Reunion and See You Later's....

We met in Lima tonight with three of our Journeygirls who are headed back to U.S. as they complete their terms of service. All of us in the photo met at Orientation in Virginia in 2007 and were all in the same small group.

Liesa is feeling much better...

The doctor told us today that all looks good. We'll have another sonogram next week just to check on everything but Liesa is doing better today. Still a little sore and tired but all is better. Thank you for praying.

Updated Prayer Request...

After a long night and an early morning in the Emergency Room we have discovered Liesa has a kidney stone. She has finally gotten some relief for the pain and now we're praying the stone will make its way out soon. Please pray for healing and a speedy recovery!

Thank you for praying for the Vision Conference...

The 2009 REAP North Peru Fall Vision Conference went very well.  We had churches from all over the U.S. who came to research the possibility of working with the people of Peru.  Thank you for all of you who spent time praying for this week.  The week was a tremendous success!

We are blessed to have an outstanding team working together to honor Christ.  God is so good and is working in great ways through our Strategy Coordinator churches and our REAP North Peru team.

Please continue to pray for these churches as they return to the U.S. tonight and begin some days of prayer and seeking God's plan as it relates to working here with the people of Peru.

Update from down here...SEPT 27, 2009.

Hey to all of you out there,

Thank you so much for praying and supporting the work here. Your prayers are such a blessing in so many ways. September has been a good month with some time to catch our breath from a busy 'winter'...that's summer in the United States. We've had a good month of work and we're getting ready for things to get turned up a notch as October and November are looking to be busy months for teams coming to Peru.

Please pray for our Vision Conference this week. This is a new idea where we invite churches to come to Peru for training and to go on a Vision Trip. We have groups headed to the Amazon region and to the mountain areas. We have churches coming from Texas, Kansas, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, Colorado, and Florida. This is going to require a lot of work but we are excited about the possibilities.

Please pray for:

• The serious budget shortfall at the IMB.


• Wisdom for the church leaders attending the Vision Conference.


• Safety for our REAP North Peru personnel and the leaders from U.S. churches who will be traveling thousands of miles this week.


• Haylee and Jackson as they grow up here in Peru.


• Wisdom for Jeff and Liesa as we make decisions for our family and our REAP North Peru team.

Update for this week...

Bendiciones to all of you out there!

Thank you for your prayer support for our family and the work here in Peru. We've had a good, somewhat normal week. September is one of the months when we don't have a large number of ministry teams coming to Peru. However, there's still plenty of work to do as we're busy answering the phone and sending emails to all the teams coming to work in October, November, and December. So far, we've had 94 mission teams work with us this year. We'll probably end up with about 110 different groups making ministry visits to Peru this year with around 700 volunteers working with us this year. Your prayers have been instrumental in the work here.

Your prayers are especially needed for the next few weeks. In the next three weeks we'll have 8 churches come to research areas of Peru where they are praying about beginning work. Please pray that we'll be able to work out the details for all of these Vision Trips.

Also, would you please pray for our team members by name. Here are our team members...

• BOOTS AND KATIE HOLDER
  Leaders for REAP work in North Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia


• JEFF AND LIESA HOLEMAN
  Leaders for REAP work in North Peru


• JEREMY AND CRYSTAL NELSON
  Iquitos / Amazon Region


• TOMMY SMITH
  Huaraz / Huaylas Valley Region


• DAVID AND CAMERON OLSON
  Huanaco Region


• JOHN WILSON
  Huancayo / Mantaro Valley Region


• MINDY McCORD
  Lima / Student Ministry


• CHRISTINE JACKSON
  Lima / Research and Logistics


• JESSICA DOOLEY
  Lima / Media


• SANDI BRIDGES
  Lima / Interpreters


• And pray for Amber Smith, Jake and Dodie Glover, and Brian and Felicia Henderson who are in language school in Central America.

We will be losing many of our team members in the coming months because of their terms ending and because of funding shortfalls. Additionally, no new personnel will be coming our way because of decreased funding. So, we especially need your prayers as our Strategy Coordinator churches learn to do more logistical arrangements on their own.

Thank you so much for your love and support.

New REAP North Peru Newsletter posted below...

Just scroll down the page to read the latest news from Peru. Please print and share as you have opportunity!

Two years...

This weekend we passed a milestone... two years serving as missionaries.

Most of you who know us well know that our journey to serve as missionaries has been a lengthy one. It was several years ago that we first began to sense God's leading to serve Him in this way. We can look back and see how God has provided for our every need and has given us strength to overcome the challenges that we face. Your prayers for us have been so important in this journey. Thank you for praying.

As we've said all along...even to those hiring us as missionaries...we don't have long range plans. We stopped doing that several years ago when we didn't really have a clue as to where our Father was leading us. We are simply taking one day at a time...seeking to be faithful to the One who is the definition of faithfulness. We are very fortunate to work with some great people in a very blessed mission agency but our commitment is to our Lord. We are always praying for God to show us where He wants us to serve. As we pass two years of mission service we want to continue to seek His plan and to obey it at all costs.

We are so blessed to have so many praying for us. Thank you for your partnership with the work here in Peru. Your prayers are much more important than any work we can do. There are so many people more qualified and could be so much more effective at doing what we are doing. Your prayers fill the gap between our inadequacies, fears, and failures and what the work here actually requires. Thank you so much.

From Haylee's Birthday Party...

Happy Birthday to Haylee!

Happy 13th Birthday!

We love you.

Dad, Mom, and Jackson!

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

After many long weeks of helping our mission teams do their work we enjoyed a weekend of REAL football. The blessings of SLINGBOX are too numerous to count, but, the biggest was seeing the Ole Miss Rebels defeat Tiger High on Sunday afternoon. We even pulled out the box of Velveeta we had been saving for a special occasion and made Ro-tel cheese dip this weekend. Fun times!

This week was a busy week as we have been preparing for an upcoming conference here with churches from the United States who are interesting in working here in Peru. We also were blessed to have the folks from International World Changers here to do some site visits for ministry projects in 2010. The summer of 2010 is looking to be huge summer for students here in Peru.

We are excited to have completed our second phase of language learning requirements. Kaleidoscope is finished! Our fellow IMB missionaries serving in the Americas Affinity will know what that means.

Haylee and Jackson have had a busy week at school. Haylee is looking forward to her 13th birthday this Friday. Jackson is continuing to learn the value of school...well, not really, but we plan on helping him with that.

We are so thankful for those of you who are praying for us. During September we have 4 mission teams from the U.S. coming to work in Northern Peru. We also are preparing for our Vision Conference on October 1 when 7 churches will be coming to investigate Peru. Please continue to pray!

Update for this week...

Thank you so much for your prayers for each one of us. We've finished up another good week here in Peru.

Jeff traveled to the Tarma, Peru area with a representative from a church in California so that they could investigate an area where churches might be planted in the future. They traveled mountain roads for 3 days searching for villages that were looking for help in starting churches. They found people hungry to know more about the story of Jesus and the hope He brings to life. Many of these people live within the shadow of decades old Catholic church buildings that are open only once or twice per year. Many have no copy of God's Word, and if they do, they don't know how to study it. Pray for them.

Liesa has been busy working here at the house in the office. Her job involves coordinating the logistics for the teams that are working here in Peru. She makes sure they have all they need to get their work done. Pray for her as she has so many things to keep up with.

Haylee and Jackson continue to grow up every day. They amaze us by the way they adapt to the challenges of living in a foreign place. We are thankful for those of you who make sure they are 'covered' in prayer each day.

We are approaching two years of service with the International Mission Board, working for our Southern Baptist Churches. We are thankful for your support through prayer and through giving to the Cooperative Program and the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. There have been some weary days as of late and the knowledge that so many are supporting us is a great reminder and a wonderful encouragement.

Run for your lives! Jackson is in the band!

Jackson chose the trombone as his instrument of choice. There sure are some interesting noises around the house tonight.

A great month of July...

You're going to need to take the time to read all of this. So many of you pray and never get to see what God does. Through these words of testimony you can SEE where YOUR WORK THROUGH PRAYER is having such an impact here in Peru...

From the Mantaro Valley...
We went to Huancayo with the NOBTS group and I was expecting to assist in small ways and teach my assigned class. However, God had a different plan that involved 14 plus hour days of buying food, watching the budget, delivering food to the church for about 30 people for breakfast, 50+ for lunch and around 200 for supper each day. That meant we shopped for supper for one day and breakfast and lunch for the next day after breakfast each morning. It required us to go to the “open air” market each day where everyone seemed to operate in a different “time” zone, then go to Plaza Vea for everything else each day.

Then we returned to the church and attempted to get everyone on the same page for preparing supper which was trying and sometimes funny as much of the help was not used to preparing for 200 people and they also seemed to operate in the same “time” zone as the people in the market, where one is not concerned with the clock, just concerned with finishing the task whenever it gets done. And, we were trying to do this with just one faucet that worked.

But, as the week progressed we were able to get a second faucet working, buy enough cups for all to have a drink at the same time, get some needed items for the kitchen, get dishes washed between the feeding of the two shifts, and, most important, by the end of the week we had learned to love one another and put aside differences for the sake of the cause/task God had laid before us and at the same time come to appreciate each other much more through mutual respect and the fact that we recognized each other as brothers and sisters in the same family, the Family of God.

And, with the efforts of all we were under budget and were able to give those involved in the conference very good meals and on the last day they were able to use that training to the joy of a large number who came to know Christ through God blessing the efforts of the attendees. And, each of us, once again, were amazed at how God puts the right people in the right place to get accomplished the tasks that need to be done.

From Chachapoyas...
We storied the story of Peter and John going to the temple and healing the paralytic and then we went over the questions and had good participation from the group of listeners in the pueblo joven. Before the prayer I asked that anyone who might want to have a relationship with Christ talk to the pastor’s wife and before we departed one woman asked to talk to the pastor’s wife and accepted Christ.

From the Amazon (Student Missionary from Ole Miss)…
A special memory for me while sharing the Bible came about when we came to a village that we knew did not have much knowledge of Jesus. This meant setting a foundation about God, so we started memorizing the Bible, yes the entire Bible. When the day came we went to a man's house and started telling stories starting with creation and ending with the ascension of Jesus. That was exhausting and I wasn’t even responsible for the majority of the stories. Nevertheless, God was at work and by the end of the day a man accepted Christ as his Savior.

From the Amazon Storying Team…
“On the first night in the village of Catalan Urco, when our team was explaining what we would be doing during our stay, a man in the village asked if we would share about repentance. Later in the week this man received Christ!”

“I really enjoyed going into a member of the community’s home and sharing our Bible Stories for hours. The men and their wives listened so intently and asked questions about what they had heard. We took a break and they came and found us later that night and asked to hear the rest of the stories. It was encouraging to me that they were so interested in hearing stories from the Bible.”

“The reception that we got in Vainilla was amazing. We were met at our boat by the community. They helped us load and unload all of our stuff. A girl named Caila would come to walk me to church every evening and then walk the “gingas” home. It was so refreshing to see the community welcome us with open arms, through their children as well as their adult church family. We were shown the pure love of God by them.”

“One of my most special moments was when we were in Vainilla at the church there and I got to share the Bible story about the fall of man and then later the gospel. I’ve never shared the gospel in front of a large group of people and especially not in relation to an Old Testament story. “

“I will never forget sharing the story of creation and other cherished Bible stories as well as the gospel of Christ to a people group (segment) who have never heard before while under a huge gorgeous sky of stars. It was amazing to directly share the goods news that has given me life, hope and purpose! I felt so confident and filled with joy because I was investing all that I had, every day into things that are eternal and of infinite worth and value.”

More from the Amazon Basin…
“To be in such a remote area with the Iquito people and to see their friendly welcome was a fantastic blessing. They are a simple people with many needs. We planted many seeds of the gospel this trip that will come into fruition someday. The team did a wonderful job in working with the people. We saw some really encouraging results at this early stage in our ministry with the Iquito. We pray that we will see a mighty spiritual awakening take place among these unique people over the next five years.”

“ During the trip we went and talked to people daily and people came to church and we saw a lot of fruit after a couple of days of being there. We saw several people give their lives to Christ. Another lady was really sick and not able to move and we found out a little later that she is stable. Seeing one person healed and seeing a person accept Christ is enough. Praise the Lord for His plan and our roles in it.”

“Sunday morning was our first full day in the jungle. Before church, Scott Thomas, a summer missionary, gathered up all the children and played a game with them. Too see their smiling faces was something so simple but a huge blessing to me. All Scott did was invest a little bit of his time into their lives and attempt to show them a good time and to show them the love of Jesus. It paid off for the children and for us as well.”

“I was thrilled to see the light of Christ in the eyes of a new believer in the village of Nueva Atalaya. Several came forward the last night of our meetings in San Antonio but this new believer in Nueva Atalaya was special. This young lady, as I understand it, is the first new believer there in over 10 years.”

From riding around Lima in a taxi…
A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to converse with a taxi driver about the major differences between his Catholic beliefs and my relationship with Christ. He was very receptive and agreed that it is a relationship with Christ, yet he was still very proud of the mini saint shrine on the panel of his car and the importance of that to his faith. I pray the Holy Spirit will do a work in the feeble words I had to offer during that afternoon ride.

Keep praying. You are so important to the work here!

New REAP North Peru Newsletter...

is located below. Just scroll down and read it!

Update for this week...

Hey to all. Sorry so long since our last post. It has been a busy, busy past couple of weeks but things seem to be settling down to simply 'fast' instead of 'insane!"

We have been blessed with the arrival of Steve Griffin from Mississippi. Steve was in the youth group at First Baptist Oxford during our years there and Steve's mom and Liesa worked together at the Mississippi Tax Commission. Steve (and his buddy, Elliot) left on a bus yesterday for the mountains around the Mantaro Valley. They'll be there for two weeks teaching discipleship and loving on the people there. Hopefully he'll lose all of his Mississippi State shirts while he's up there.

We have said good-bye to all of our summer student missionaries. We had over 200 high school and college students serve with our team this summer. What a blessing! We are so grateful for the hard work they have done and the sacrifice these students made during their time here. Some were in some incredibly difficult situations and were able to do some great ministry work.

Haylee and Jackson have a few more days remaining in their winter break. They begin their new school year on August 12 with Haylee entering 7th grade and Jackson going into 5th grade. They are growing up fast! Pray for them as their new school year begins.

August is a 'SLOW' month with only 12 teams coming in to work with us. Pray that their work would be effective and multiplied.

As you may know, giving to the Cooperative Program and Lottie Moon Christmas Offering has seen a steep decline over the past year. Because of this many of our team members may be leaving us within the next few months. Please pray with us that more workers will be available for the harvest fields of Peru.

Haylee and Jackson's first jungle trip...

Thank you for praying! On this ministry trip...

• 27 kids responded to a clear presentation of the gospel. Their names are Sheila, Leonela, Matilde, Cani, Luci, Cacilda, Gladys, Borac, Victoria, Franklin, Oseas, Werener, Octilia, Marilia, Mayolixa, Jessica, Ibelia, Floripe, Bocio, Milca, Lurde, Yois, Edgar, Manger, Cleve, Malqui, and Elodia.
• Church leaders from 5 area villages were trained in Chronological Bible Storying from the books of 1 & 2 Samuel and 1 & 2 Kings. They do not have these books written in their native language.
• Medical help was provided to over 30 villagers for parasites and other various infections.
• Eyeglasses were provided for several villagers.

Thank you for praying for us and God's work here in Peru. Thank you for giving to the Cooperative Program and the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering.

We're back from the Jungle...

We'll post a video soon. Your prayers brought great results. Thank you for your help!