Greetings in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, the Blessed King and Only Ruler over all creation, who has all authority, right now, in heaven and earth, and who is using it on behalf of the church, his body, for the establishment of his Kingdom on earth!

With world events after 9/11 focusing our attention on all that is unstable in our world, how good it is to read in God's Word of a presently reigning Lord and King of Love, Mercy, Justice and Truth who is Jesus Christ Himself, exalted right now at the right hand of the Father and commanding every power on earth, good or evil, so that they accomplish his will for the salvation of the world and the establishment of his Kingdom of Love on the earth! Here's what Jesus says in Matthew 28:18-20 - "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Wow! What a King!

If you're not a Bible reader and find yourself discouraged by world events, you can ask God to help you see them from his perspective, which he wants to give you as you read his Word, found in the Bible. Like "The Lord of the Rings" Trilogy, the Bible is all about a King returning to his Kingdom to re-establish his reign. In the Bible, we learn that the King's name is Jesus and his identity is Christ, Messiah, Anointed King, that his kingdom is the world, which he created, and that his subjects are all human beings on earth. His reign is established in your life when you accept his authority over your life by faith in his promise of love and forgiveness for your sins, a promise he fulfilled for all who would receive him, by dying on the Cross their sins. This is the message Jesus is carrying through us in our broken Spanish to the people of Costa Rica, it is the message he will carry through us to Perú, and it is the message he sends through us today to you, our support team.

This is my Tuesday night Bible study I've asked you to pray for, from l-r: me, Karen, Hugo, Susana, teammate Sean Galton, Angela, Natalia and Jamie. We're studying the Gospel of John. Pray for conversions and a national leader to take over the group when Sean and I leave in February.

We know many of you know the Lord as your King and Savior, and that is why you are supporting us with your prayers and money, because you want to see his Kingdom extended to Perú. We know others of you support us because you simply care about us as your friends and loved ones, but you have not given your lives to Jesus Christ in the way that we are talking about in this letter. It is our hope that you will understand more clearly from this letter what is the message you are supporting us to carry to Perú, and that one day it will be a message of new life and joy for you as well, as God desires.

LANGUAGE STUDY
At the end of last trimester (end of November), I tested out as advanced medium and Lori tested out as intermediate high (remember the scale has 4 main levels: novice-intermediate-advanced-superior, with sub-levels low-medium-high at each main level). We praise the Lord Jesus for his helping us learn this beautiful language. The more we learn the more we realize how much we have to learn, but nevertheless, we see progress, greater facility in communication, we're more relaxed talking to people. A real highlight is seeing the children becoming bilingual. Their pronunciation is perfect the first time they hear and repeat a word, its amazing, and they (I'm speaking of Emmett and Anna primarily, although Taylor's few words are also bilingual) are now going back and forth between English and Spanish, depending on the native language of the person to whom they're talking. Somehow they intuitively know what language to speak to which person. We got a big kick out of them when my (Mark) parents came, because our Spanish speaking friends, when we were not around, used the kids as translators to help them communicate with my parents, who don't know any Spanish. It was pretty neat.

PERU IN SIGHT! We have decided based on the good progress we have made here at language school to finish our studies here in Costa Rica at the end of the present quarter. That will be a total of 10 months of Spanish language study. Lord willing, we will return to the States February 21 to visit family, supporters and supporting churches in Florida, Arizona, Missouri and Tennessee. We plan to fly from Nashville to Peru on March 23 to begin our ministry there.

FAMILY NEWS
We are thrilled to announce that Lori is pregnant with our fourth child! She is due July 4. We had hoped to have a fourth child, and although we had a little different timing in mind, we are so thankful to the Lord for this new life. Lord willing, Lori will give birth in Lima, 3 months after our arrival there.

PRAYER WARRIORS
John 14:13-14 - "And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it."
John 15:16-17 - "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit-fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other."

Please pray these two verses for us and for our team (Santos and Norma Buendia, Frank and Suzanne Matthews, Julie Murphy, Sean Galton, Laura Deadwyler) this quarter. For those of you praying for our team needs, please use this letter for that purpose until further notice. One day I hope we can send out a team newsletter that will be more extensive, but until then, I'll include team prayer needs in our letter.

1. Pray that Jesus would produce fruit in our lives and personal character: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control (continue to pray for our parenting to be grace-centered)
2. and that he would produce fruit in our ministries: specifically pray for the conversions of the kids in my (Mark) Bible study (Susana, Karen, Natalia, Hugo, Jamie and Angela) and Ronald and Manuel on my (Mark) language route. Pray for opportunities to share Christ with our neighbors. Pray that we would finish strong here in CR.
3. Pray that Jesus would help us to be able to pray together as a team in his name, and that our prayers would be answered to the Father's glory by Jesus himself. Pray that he would use our team to support existing churches, plant new ones, and be a catalyst for the transformation of: communities within Lima, the city of Lima itself and Peru as a nation. Specifically pray for our team retreat here in San José January 11-13, for Santos' leadership and vision, for each team member to have a clear understanding of their role on the team with respect to the overall vision of the team, for the Spirit's leading in developing ministry to street children.
4. Pray that we would love each other and that we would love Lima as Jesus loved us, being willing to lay our lives down for one another, for Lima, and for Peru, that the love of Jesus Christ might be made known to these people.
5. For the Matthews, pray for Frank and Suzanne as Frank finishes seminary this spring, completes his ordination requirements, works full-time and as they travel with their two babies, Joshua and Micah, to raise their support.
6. For Julie and Laura, pray for their adjustment: to Peruvian culture (they arrived in November), to one another as roommates, and to their new responsibilities on the team in administration and discipleship.
7. For Sean, pray for him to finish strong here in Costa Rica with his language studies and relationships. Pray for two relationships in which he has been sowing seeds of the gospel, that new life might be produced by Jesus through Sean's witness.
8. For Santos and Norma, pray for Norma's pregnancy and the safe delivery of their first child. Pray for Santos' preaching and Norma's ministry to children and women within San Pablo church, and Perales and Manuel Correa church plants.

Thank you for your faithfulness as partners with us in this wonderful enterprise of following King Jesus into battle for the souls of men and nations. By his word and Spirit his Kingdom is invading the nations. May you experience the freeing conquest of his love in your own heart and life today.

In the Vine,

Mark and Lori, Emmett, Anna, Taylor and el/la bebé

NEW CONTACT INFORMATION: Personal Information: Send all correspondence from now       until further notice to: Mark and Lori Berry c/o Mission to the World 1600 North Brown Rd. Lawrenceville, GA 30043. Our phone # is 001-506-227-2562 here       in San Jose until Feb. 21, and our email is mberry@mtwla.org. Web page: www.mtwla.org/people/mberry.htm. Support Information: Our MTW board has a new address,       phone # and fax #. Please make a note of these and send       support checks to: Mission to the World (MTW) 1600 North Brown Rd. Lawrenceville, GA 30043, account #10541 on your memo line. To contact MTW directly with       support-related questions, call: 678-823-0004 or fax: 678-823-0027. Ask for Shirley McLean or Jill Milton.