Dear Praying Friends,

Belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all from Lima!

The weather here is warm as we head into the summer months here in the southern hemisphere. We will definitely have a warm Christmas!! A Peruvian tradition at Christmas is to drink a special hot chocolate and have Paneton which is a bread with dried fruit baked in it. We really enjoy this tradition and hope to share Paneton and hot chocolate with friends.

We wanted to update you on the two teaching weekends Mark asked you to pray for. He returned from 2 long weekend trips teaching sonship both exhausted and full of joy. The first was in Cusco teaching pastors and leaders who are working with our sister team. It was an incredible time of seeing brothers and sisters hungry to learn and grappling with the truths of the gospel. Your prayers were felt and were so strengthening to Mark. Thank you!

After Cuzco and two brief days in Lima devoted to Peru Leadership Team meetings, Mark traveled to Huaraz, which is about 7 hours by bus from Lima, where he also taught sonship to a group of pastors from farther up in the mountains. Some of them walked from 4-6 hours to come to the training time. These pastors have not had any training and were so hungry to learn and were grasping the grace of the gospel for the first time. Mark taught with fellow missionary Keith Powlison in Spanish which was then translated into Quechua because Quechua is the first language of these men. There were also some wives and other women there. It was incredible to see them understanding and explaining then to each other in preparation to teach in there pueblos. Mark and Keith will return in March to complete the series. It was an incredible time getting to know the hearts of these men and we look forward to seeing them grow.

Thank you for praying and now we can praise the Lord together for answered prayer. More than we could have imagined. The Lord is at work in a powerful way.

We as a family are doing pretty well. The children just finished their school year. We had Emmett's Kindergarten graduation last Friday along with the Christmas program where Anna's class where dressed as shepards and gazed upon the baby Jesus. Summer vacation is now upon us.

Please pray for our family as we are pretty tired and are in need of renewal physically and spiritually. We are rejoicing in the Lord and thankful for the things he is doing and know that he will renew us. It has just been a long stretch. Pray that we will rest in Jesus.

Please continue to pray for the pastors and leaders that Mark taught in Cusco and Huaraz that they will go deeper in their walk with the Lord and their understanding of Grace.

We have a new career missionary family who has joined us. Frank and Suzanne Matthews and their children Micah and Joshua arrived in Lima safely last night. Please pray for their transition to living and working in Peru. We are so excited that God has finally, after much prayer and sacrifice, placed them with our team to serve the Lord here in Lima.

We are so thankful for you and your prayers. We pray that you have a blessed Christmas and enjoy family and friends.

Love in Christ,
Lori Berry

Mark and Lori Berry  Apartado 1529  Lima 100, Peru  mberry@mtwla.org  011-511-435-6637