The Eatons: Robbed

We were robbed again last night. Not us personally, although some of our personal things were taken, but the orphanage. In case you hadn't known, the orphanage has been broken into twice before. The first time they took a lawn mower and weed eater (it was right after we moved to Peru and there was nothing else of value there). The second time they got caught in the act and escaped but didn't get away with anything.

This time... pretty much everything of value is gone. Table saw, chop saw, nail gun, power tools, refrigerator, stove, clothes, silverware, cooking utensils... I don't have a complete list, but there's not much left of value. The vacuum cleaner was left by the gate, as was a tote full of donated school supplies (I guess they didn't have room). The lock on the garage was broken, but they got into the house through the one second-story window that hadn't been installed yet.

Justin's estimate is that between $8000 and $10000 worth of stuff is gone. (That's an estimate.) I don't really know what else to say. We're discouraged and frustrated. Please pray for us. For wisdom, for peace, and that this wouldn't slow down the opening of the orphanage yet again. Thank you!

The Eatons

Update from Pastor John Bonner

Dear Praying Friends,
Last night, our oh-so-close-to-be-open orphanage was broken in to by thieves, and they took just about everything. We are so sad, as this is a major setback for us.

Justin and Sarah Eaton, our orphanage directors, placed some pictures and the robbery details on their blog site: http://www.eatonsinperu.blogspot.com/ We estimate that more than $8,000 worth of tools, equipment and furniture were stolen.

We are not disheartened. The enemy is obviously displeased with this project as this is the most recent in a series of attacks to stop us from opening this home to Peru's precious children. This only shows us that we are a threat to the kingdom of darkness, and we are resolved to continue to trust the Lord and move ahead in this important ministry.

Thank you for praying for us. Pray also that the criminals might be apprehended, or at least convicted of this horrible sin, and that the orphanage belongings might somehow be returned.
Gratefully Yours,

John & Pilar Bonner
Field Address: Jr Trujillo #456, Magdalena del Mar, Lima 17, Peru, South America
Support Address: "Friends of CCBC-Peru" 1771 E. Palomar St., Chula Vista, CA 91913
www.CalvaryChapelLima.com

HT: Pedro

4 Cruces: Dry!!!

Well, our daily life has been much more at a subsistence level lately than at any time since we arrived. We are still basically out of water and have a month and a half to go of dry season. Fortunately, it rained last night and we were able to capture some water in barrels. Amy and I were running around in the dark putting jugs and a barrel under a tarp so that we could collect rainwater. Several episodes of "Survivor" went through my mind. At least we could laugh about it. The worst thing is not having enough water to flush. That gets old very quickly. Between this situation and the need to be present at our construction site, we have very little time for anything else. For those of you that prefer to receive newsletters... I am far behind on sending out a new one but we have been so busy trying to get by that it has been all but impossible. Please bear with us and we'll be back on track eventually.

Latest view of the house as the walls begin to go up. We are using steel construction with walls made of Styrofoam and concrete. Hopefully, this will help us avoid the termite problems that are so prevalent here.

This past Saturday night, we had a guest speaker join us to give a presentation at the end of the skate session. His name is Jacob and he is a professional yo-yo'er. He put on a great show and used the yo yo to present the gospel. Many of the smaller kids stayed to see the show and really enjoyed themselves.
I also just returned from San Jose a couple of days ago from picking up Whit Hazleton. Whit is joining our team for the long haul and will be working with me in the youth program and I am sure, with our house church. We are happy to have him with us and are looking forward to working and serving with him. Please continue to pray for our team as we look to add three more members over the next few months.

One last note... Costa Rica celebrated it's independence from Spain on the 15th. Because she attends the public school, Makena participated (partially) in the celebration. Both she and Maili made torches to carry in the night-time parade that takes place on the evening before Independence day and they both marched through town with all of the other children and families. The next day, there were traditional dances, food and hang out time at the school and Makena was on hand in the traditional dress. Here's a couple of photos from Independence Day. It was a fun time and something we look forward to each year.

4 Cruces: Dry!!!

Robin & Tracy Shelley: Ica

 

The Ica Bible study is going well. This is the most current picture we have our Ica family. Because Ica is almost 5 hours away, I have to take a break until the baby comes. We are within the last fews days until the date arrives, but as always the baby has a mind of its own and will come when it is good and ready. We are hoping sooner than later. Brian and Jaime are covering the Bible studies for me, please pray for them.

Robin & Tracy Shelley: Ica

Re-entry Essentials

Pastor Jeff Jackson discusses the issues surrounding missionaries' return home.

Online Videos by Veoh.com

57 min.

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Culture Matters Part Two

Jeff Jackson continues his talk on culture.

Online Videos by Veoh.com

 

77 min.

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Culture Matters Part One

Pastor Jeff Jackson gives a talk culture and why it matters in the first part of this video series.

Online Videos by Veoh.com

 

Pastor Jeff Pastors a cross-cultural church in Phoenix, AZ, and is mentor to many missionaries bot abroad and here at home.

47 min.

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Mission Network News: Rescue continues in Texas; believers meet needs

USA (MNN) ― Texas weathered Hurricane Ike, and now people are taking stock of the damages and rebuilding. 

Initial damage assessments from the recent storm estimates repairs in the tens of billions.

The Christian Reformed World Relief Committee is looking to raise $1 million to assist low income families trying to recover from this latest tragedy.

CRWRC's Bill Adams, Director of Disaster Response Services, says their teams already know what they need to do. "Our role in this early stage is to help with the cleanup and to support our partners wherever we can."    

They'll arrive on-site today. Disaster work teams that were scheduled to arrive in Port Arthur and Lake Charles, Texas, this week to continue reconstruction from Hurricane Rita will expand their work to cover reparations from Hurricane Ike. 

Adams says parts of Texas that were devastated by Rita three years ago are being slammed again. Many families are reliving a nightmare. However, he believes that "the  Lord allows these things to happen, but He does it so that His people can respond, so the prayers of God's people would be first and then financial contributions to support the ongoing work."

As community leaders begin to understand the full impact of Ike, additional volunteers will be sent to help plan the recovery and conduct "needs assessments."

A "needs assessment" is an interview process through which volunteers help the local long-term recovery organizations identify individuals in their community with the greatest need.

Though stretched thin by the number and magnitude of natural disasters in the last three years, Adams says, "Our people come in to bring physical relief; they come in to either help clean up a home, help repair or rebuild a house, but basically, what they're doing when they go in is ministering to the families. It's very common for our people to sit down and to pray with the homeowner. We see more restoration of people's lives come from that." 

Click here if you can help in this effort in any way.

Mission Network News

Samaritan's Purse: Responding to Hurricane Ike

Samaritan’s Purse volunteers, like these working in Donaldsonville, bring the hope of Christ in the aftermath of storms.

September 13, 2008

Responding to Hurricane Ike

Samaritan’s Purse staff and equipment arrive in Texas to help storm victims

Three Samaritan's Purse Disaster Relief Units along with a convoy of support vehicles and equipment rolled into Texas on Monday, ready to help people affected by Hurricane Ike.
We are setting bases of operation in the Galveston area, Friendswood, and Port Arthur, three areas that were hard hit by the massive storm. Staff and volunteers will begin removing felled trees from homes and yards, clearing debris, patching roofs with heavy-duty plastic, making emergency repairs, and cleaning out thick mud and debris from flooded homes.
Ike officially made landfall in the Galveston area just after 2 a.m. local time on Saturday as a powerful Category 2 storm. It slammed the Texas coast with 110 mph winds and towering waves, smashing houses, flooding thousands of homes, blowing out windows in Houston's skyscrapers, and cutting off power to more than 3 million people, perhaps for weeks.
The storm, nearly as big as Texas itself, blasted a 500-mile stretch of coastline in Louisiana and Texas. It breached levees, flooded roads and led more than 1 million people to evacuate and seek shelter inland. Hurricane winds battered the coast for hours before and after the storm's center came ashore.
As we begin to work in response to Hurricane Ike, Samaritan's Purse is continuing to help people who were impacted by Hurricane Gustav. We sent two Disaster Relief Units to Louisiana, and have been working in Baton Rouge and Donaldsonville since September 2.
One unit remains in Donaldsonville, where there is still a great need. We have helped some 300 families in Louisiana who were affected by Gustav.

WAYS YOU CAN HELP

PRAY:

Please pray for those affected by the storm. Pray for the volunteers who will be helping us with this response, and that people affected by the storm will see God’s care and concern as we work.

GIVE:

To support the ministry of Samaritan's Purse to the hurricane victims, please visit our donation page.

GET INVOLVED:

If your Christian group is interested in volunteering with our U.S. Disaster Relief Teams, please start by reading the information and filling out the questionnaire on our U.S. Disaster Relief page.

Samaritan's Purse

Prayer for Jason Bonner

Today our son Jason is traveling to Southern California to attend the
two-year program at the School of Ministry at Calvary Chapel of Costa
Mesa. We would be grateful for your prayers as he flies from Peru through
San Salvador for a late-night LAX arrival this evening.
Jason has been our youth minister as well as our worship leader for the
past two years. He has big shoes to fill, and will be greatly missed here
in Peru by so many!
Pray also for our daughter Michelle who will be returning to Peru from
Germany tomorrow and will land in Lima early Wednesday. She will be
serving in the ministry as an intern for the next several months before
returning to Europe as a missionary.
Thank you!

Awaiting His Reply,

John Bonner

Field Address: Jr Trujillo #456, Magdalena del Mar, Lima 17, Peru, South America
Support Address: "Friends of CCBC-Peru" 1771 E. Palomar St., Chula Vista, CA 91913

HT: Pedro Carrion

2008 Send the Message Conference

Keynote Speaker
K.P. Yohannan is the founder and president of Gospel for Asia, a Christian organization involved in evangelism and church planting in the unreached regions of Asia.

Guest Speaker
Gayle has spent forty years as a pastor, college teacher, evangelist, magazine creator and editor. He devotes his time now to teaching and writing about the nature of Jesus.

Guest Speaker
Ken Ortize is the Senior Pastor at Calvary Chapel Spokane. He has been a pastor since 1974. He served as the Marriage Pastor at Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa prior to taking the position of Senior Pastor in Spokane in 1983.

Guest Speaker
Bob Caldwell began Calvary Chapel Boise 26 years ago as home fellowship. He has seen their ministry expand to a growing church that has reached to over 6000 adults and children. God has given them an expanding outreach ministry both locally and internationally, with extensive church planting in India, Iran and Europe. Their media outreach includes Words of Life Radio and T.V. broadcasts. Bob and his wife Cathy work side by side on many of their church planting efforts. They have four children and five grandchildren.

Pastor John has been pasturing for 27 years in Las Vegas, Nevada. He is the Founding Pastor of Calvary Chapel Spring Valley and Send the Message. His heart for missions keeps him actively involved in many facets of mission work around the world.

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New Blog

Today we're launching the new Shepherd's Staff Mission Facilitator Blog. I finished designing the website a couple of weeks ago and today I finished up our new blog. Check it out. Bookmark it.

Free Online Missions Books

These two books are free for reading.

1. Neal Pirolo's Serving as Senders
2. Gary Kusunoski's The 10/40 Window, Africa and Sudan

Pirolo's book is a must read for churches sending missionaries into the field. And few are as knowledgeable about the work, ministry, and politics of the Sudanese Mission Field.