Vol. 6

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=17.5% BGCOLOR="#003333" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="267a2a22dduajq.png"> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="047842b0.png" border=0 width="132" height="43" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <A HREF="may___dec__2000.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Vol. 1"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ccffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Vol. 1</B></U></A></div> <div> May - Dec, 2000</div> <div> <A HREF="1st_quarter_2001.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Vol. 2"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ccffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Vol. 2</B></U></A></div> <div> 1st Quarter 2001</div> <div> <A HREF="2nd_quarter_2001.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Vol. 3"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ccffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Vol. 3</B></U></A></div> <div> 2nd Quarter 2001</div> <div> <A HREF="3rd_quarter_2001.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Vol. 4"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ccffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Vol. 4</B></U></A></div> <div> 3rd Quarter 2001</div> <div> <A HREF="4th_quarter_2001.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Vol. 5"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ccffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Vol. 5</B></U></A></div> <div> 4th Quarter 2001</div> <div> <B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ccffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Vol. 6</B></div> <div> 1st Quarter 2002</div> <div> <A HREF="2nd_quarter_2002.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Vol 7"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ccffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Vol 7</B></U></A></div> <div> 2nd Quarter 2002</div> <div> <A HREF="3rd_quarter_2002.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Vol. 8"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ccffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Vol. 8</B></U></A></div> <div> 3rd Quarter 2002</div> <div> <A HREF="4th_quarter_2002.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Vol. 9"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ccffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Vol. 9</B></U></A></div> <div> 4th Quarter 2002</div> <div> <A HREF="1st_quarter_2003.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Vol.10"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ccffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Vol.10</B></U></A></div> <div> 1st Quarter 2003</div> <div> <A HREF="2nd_quarter_2003.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Vol.11"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ccffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Vol.11</B></U></A></div> <div> 2nd Quarter 2003</div> <div> <A HREF="3rd_quarter_2003.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Vol.12"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ccffff00.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Vol.12</B></U></A></div> <div> 3rd Quarter 2003</div> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#FFFBF0" TEXT="#080000"> <div>     |   <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="home"><U>home</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id17.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="newsletter."><U>newsletter.</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id97.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="photos"><U>photos</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id19.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="updates / prayers."><U>updates / prayers.</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id21.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="contact us. "><U>contact us. </U></A>   |   <A HREF="id80.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Lost in the Andes"><U>Lost in the Andes</U></A></div> <div> <IMG SRC="15c02110.jpg" border=0 width="770" height="17" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <IMG SRC="3b308540.png" border=0 width="264" height="84" ALT="Micrografx Windows Draw 6.0 Drawing" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div>  <A NAME="__january___february___march__"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>~<A HREF="#jan" TITLE="Vol. 6"><U> January</U></A> ~ <A HREF="#feb" TITLE="Vol. 6"><U>February</U></A> ~ <A HREF="#mar" TITLE="Vol. 6"><U>March</U></A> ~</div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="25" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="628" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 761 WIDTH="570"><div>  <A NAME="jan"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>Lost in the Andes </div> <div> <U>No.</U><B>18</B><I><B> January</B></I> 2001</div> <bR> <div> Thanks to all of you who remembered us during the week of Christmas and prayed for us.   The Lord answered prayers beyond what we ever expected.  </div> <div> <B><U>Birthday Party</U></B> Our Christmas week started Sunday afternoon at Sunday school with a birthday party for Jesus, complete with the piñatas the kids made and a chocolate cake.  The kids have been anticipating this day all month as they have been learning about God's plan to reconcile His relationship with man by sending His Son to the earth to be our Savior.  We had a fun time celebrating Jesus' birth.</div> <div> <B><U>Christmas Eve</U></B>  We spent a quiet day at home and that evening the two of us had a worship service to praise our Lord for sending Jesus.  It was a sweet time with the Lord as we were touched by His goodness and grace in our lives. </div> <div> <B><U>Christmas Day</U></B>  This was the day we had been waiting for and anticipating all month.  We had no idea how it was going to turn out, as far as the celebration at the church, but we were trusting that the Lord would work.  Pete left in the morning to round up the church members to get ready for the Christmas play.   For the past month we have been encouraging the church to celebrate Christmas by coming together and reenacting Jesus' birth.  They had read through the script a couple of times, but they had yet to practice outside.  The women arrived early to start making the buñuelos(fried bread) that they would serve later, and they also made soup for everyone for lunch.  Finally, the church members were all present who were participating in the play, and we had our first outside practice. There was only time enough for one practice before lunch and the performance.  After lunch, we looked off in the near distance and saw rain quickly approaching so we had a short prayer time and started the pageant.  The Lord performed a miracle because within a few minutes the threatening rain clouds had taken a different route and rays of sunlight illuminated the valley. The church did an excellent job performing the play and it gave the people a better understanding of the events surrounding Christ's birth.  For us, it was the most real pageant we had ever seen because we were outside, using live animals (donkey and sheep) and a real corral.  A visiting FHI staff member explained the significance of Jesus' birth following the pageant.  Next, Lori took the guitar and her Sunday school kids up front to sing a couple of songs, followed by the church singing praise songs.  A puppet show about Jesus' birth was performed by FHI staff who were visiting communities on Christmas and afterward they handed out gifts to the children.  The party ended with the church people serving everyone (approximately 150 people) hot chocolate and buñuelos that the women had made that morning.  We soon walked back to our home and rested, and we were later told that many people stayed inside the church and sang worship songs until 11 PM.  The people were so happy and for the first time there was a celebration on Christmas day for Jesus.  It was beautiful!  We were completely blessed this Christmas and it is a Christmas that we will never forget.  It was hard to be away from our families, but we are thankful that the Lord allowed us to experience Christmas in this way this year.  </div> <bR> <div> We pray that each of you have also experienced the Lord's blessings this Christmas season and that you were truly able to worship Him and praise Him for sending Jesus.  </div> <bR> <div> God's Peace,</div> <div> Pete and Lori</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <A HREF="#__january___february___march__" TITLE="Vol. 6"><U>TOP</U></A></div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="25" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="628" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 730 WIDTH="570"><div>  <A NAME="feb"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>Lost in the Andes </div> <div> <U>No.</U><B>15</B><I><B> </B></I><I><B>February</B></I> 2001</div> <bR> <div> <U>Feed my sheep</U>  "The third time he said to him, 'Simon son of John, do you love me?'  Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, 'Do you love me?"' He said, 'Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.'   Jesus said, 'Feed my sheep.'"  (John 21:17).  This passage has been running through my mind for a couple of months.   I have struggled lately with my usefulness here and what my purpose is here in the short time that we have.  The Lord has given me vision and purpose with the children for Sunday School and I am building friendships with a couple of women, but beyond that what should I do?   I asked the Lord, "what do you want me to do here?" and He gave me these verses found in John 21.   I began to think about the three words, "feed my sheep", when I would visit friends or when people came to our home. How can I share with them the love of Christ in a way that they can understand?  In order to feed sheep I need to know what kind of food they need.  When Jesus was on earth He talked to people on their own level.  He didn't talk to the woman at the well the same way he talked to the teachers of the Law in the synagogue.   I can learn from Jesus about how to feed His sheep.   These three words have helped me put life in perspective here in Sorocoto.  The Lord has simply asked me to feed His sheep here and He is the one who will do it through me.  If I am teaching Sunday school, or visiting a friend, or caring for a hurt foot, or talking to a group of women in their health meeting I need to remember only one thing:  feed His sheep.  My struggles with usefulness are being resolved in Jesus' words and my obedience, which is useful work in His Kingdom.   Are you feeding the sheep that the Lord has put in your care?  Remember He is the One living in you and He will help you feed His sheep.       </div> <bR> <div> <U>Hunger</U>   As we are talking about feeding sheep, we can be reminded that the Lord is the one who will put the hunger in the people's hearts to know more about Him.  As He puts the hunger, we need to be obedient and give the food to the people.  Lately we have seen a hunger in some of the people to know God personally.   In Sunday school, we recently prayed with the kids to follow Jesus and many of them made decisions to give their lives to God.  One boy in particular, Dayler, has a new desire to know the Lord and His Word.  He comes every week for Sunday school and he has started to ask us about going to church, too.  He told us the other day that he wants to learn more about the Bible.   Another man, Leonardo was visiting us in our home the other day and started talking about God and the church.  He said he previously attended the church but he stopped going a while ago.  He has a new interest now to know God and to study the Bible and he said he was going to start coming to the Saturday night Bible study.   Another teenager, Genuario, talked to us the other day about wanting to learn more about God and the Bible.   He happened to be in our home on a Saturday evening to have an injury washed and men started to come for the Saturday night Bible study, so Genuario stayed and studied the Word with the men.  The next day he told us that he was going to start coming every Saturday night  (It might have helped that Lori serves coffee and banana bread at the Bible study).  The Lord is faithful and He wants people to know Him.  We are witnessing His faithfulness in bringing people to His side.   </div> <bR> <div> Thank you for your continued prayers and support.  God's blessings.</div> <div> Pete and Lori Newell</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <A HREF="#__january___february___march__" TITLE="Vol. 6"><U>TOP</U></A></div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="25" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="628" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 1185 WIDTH="570"><div>  <A NAME="mar"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>Lost in the Andes </div> <div> <U>No.</U><B>15</B><I><B> </B></I><I><B>March</B></I> 2001</div> <bR> <div> <B>the storm</B>. Lori and I were both home by the time the rain hit.  We kept ourselves busy catching new leaks and trying to keep the rain from coming in the front and back door.  It was at that time that there was a huge explosion outside and we smelled burning electronics.  The lightning bolt that fried our house and the radio next door was only the first wave of destruction that evening.  As I ran outside to check on our solar panels, 1/2-inch size hail began pelting me before I retreated back inside.  Lori and I huddled in the quietest part of our house, our bathroom, as the hail hammered our tin roof and our little garden for more than 20 minutes.  When it finally ended, it looked like it had snowed outside. Everything was white except the river that had quickly become muddy and raging.  Throughout that night it continued to rain, and by morning there were 5 inches sitting in the rain gauge.  </div> <bR> <div> I sat dumbfounded at my desk the next morning thinking about all the time spent trying to assemble the right equipment to power our solar home and how in one nanosecond it had been cooked with more than 6,000 amps. Thankfully our panels and batteries were spared.  Lori mourned the passing of our pleasant garden that was in its prime, producing vegetables daily for our meals.  The river continued to rage for 2 more days, eroding and flooding fields, dismantling water systems that bridged the river bed, and removing all traces of the road that passed through the river bed.  We sensed that this same storm had caused irreparable damage to our neighbors' fields and the surrounding communities.  A few days later there was a knock at the door by a group of men from the nearby community of K'asapata.  The storm had destroyed more than half of the community's crops and they needed to document the destruction before they sought aid from our organization (FHI) and the municipal government.  I took a roll of film and noted what I saw.  Fields of wheat could be seen with half of the grain knocked off the chaff, the corn was shredded, the potato plants had lost their blooms which stunts their growth, and whole fields had been mowed down with flash flood water. The destruction was amazing!  It was going to be a great harvest this year and in one night so many dreams were washed away in that storm.  All of a sudden our loss looked miniscule compared to their losses.  I wondered out loud to one of the men as to what they were going to do.  He responded as if he had been through it before, "we will just have to make the little food that we have last until next year, and hope for a better harvest next fall."  The campesinos use their harvest in three ways: 1) food for their families; 2) seed to be planted the following year; and 3) some profit to purchase clothes and additional food items for their families.  It is amazing to see how little the campesinos live off of and then to realize that they will be trying to do the same with half this year.  The hail can be counted on to fall at least once a year here in the altiplano of Bolivia, which is an incredible risk for the crops each year.  Our hearts go out to these people, as we understand more of their hard lives and the hard breaks that are dealt out to them.  </div> <bR> <div> <B>not ashamed</B>.  On a more encouraging note, I would like to share what the Lord has enabled Lori to do.  Last month she wrote about the Lord telling her to "Feed my sheep."  A very practical way that God showed her how she could do this was to start going to the monthly mother's health meetings and start telling the women about Jesus.   For the past year and a half if you had asked Lori to do this she would have said, "No way!"  The women's meetings have always been intimidating to her because they are all together speaking quechua and they are not the warmest women to be around.  After the Lord began to speak to Lori about the importance of telling these women about the love that He has for them, her attitude began to change toward these meetings.  She still had fear, but she knew that it would be the Lord speaking through her and that the women would see Jesus, not her.  The day came for the monthly meeting and Lori was ready to share the Gospel with the women.  A verse that fired her up was Romans 1:16, "I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile."  Please pray for Lori as she continues to share with the women on the 6<FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >th</FONT> of every month.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> Other News</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Pete started meeting with a group of men in the community to discover and catalogue medicinal plants</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">We visited the churches in Lecheka and Tomoyo to encourage and teach the believers.</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Last month included the raucous Carnaval party in Bolivia, but God was faithful and provided strength to many of the local Christians to withstand the temptations involved in the weeklong celebration.</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The Sunday school program is exploding, as new kids and some parents are coming each week.  The kids have been memorizing verses and enjoying their crafts that relate to the message of "New Life in Christ".</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Lori turns 28 this month and I am thankful for her life and the gift that she is to me.</div> <bR> <div> Thank you for your continued prayers and support in our ministry.</div> <bR> <div> God's blessings,</div> <div> Pete and Lori </div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <A HREF="#__january___february___march__" TITLE="Vol. 6"><U>TOP</U></A></div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="home"><U><IMG SRC="321292b0.png" border=0 width="41" height="43" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> </td> </tr></table></body>