Prayer Mail from Father Shaw

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Peace be with you.

This is this week's prayer mail, and it is a public prayer mail.

Praise reports:

1) Despite all the changes (large and small) that needed to be made in our apartment this week, we apparently are on very good terms with our landlady. I pray for her and her husband, daily.

2) After a couple of false starts, our communications system is up and going, and it is working really well.

3) If the normal schedule of adjustment fits our situation, we are on the cusp of "chaos," which would likely begin next week. However, on Pentecost in the church service, I had an unusual special blessing of God's peace and in one sense, it was more like I am coming home to Lima, to a place that the Lord has been preparing me for a great part of my life. So rather than look ahead at chaos, I seem to be sensing the cusp of belonging. Please keep our adjustment phases in your prayers.

4) Mail service to our apartment is great and appears to be very secure. Jerry Carroll sent us a letter from the Diocesan Office that was postmarked on May 28 (Thursday), and we received it on June 1 (Monday).

5) We are getting to know the Diocesan Clergy rather well.

6) Lydia has found a great youth group of "ex-pat youth," and she has become a kind of big sister to a Peruvian girl a few floors down from us. They plan to see a movie together on Saturday. Julie is helping the other girl with her English. The girl's mother helped us buy appliances this week.

Prayer requests:

1) "What's in a name?" If a Peruvian only speaks Spanish, the person has a very difficult time pronouncing either my first or my last name; it's a good conversation piece, though. On the other hand, Quechua speakers and those who know English do reasonably well. So, pray that a suitable solution to this interesting situation would be found for our Peruvian friends and acquaintances who only speak Spanish.

2) We are settling into what our normal budget looks like. Please cover that in prayer. It's like praying for the diocesan budget. We want to be doing what Jesus wants us to do.

3) I am looking for a book on house/apartment repairs in Spanish, and a book about typical events in Peruvian life in Spanish. Please keep this in prayer. If I go to a US bookstore, these kinds of book for the US are readily available, but not in many bookstores here, at least not in the same way.

4) Bp. Godfrey would like Julie and I to help out with a Life in the Spirit seminar, perhaps beginning this Thursday; the seminar is intended to train people how to lead Life in the Spirit seminars, and one way to do that is by having people go through the program as part of the training.

5) A few people have said that our Spanish has improved a lot since we arrived. This is very good news. Please keep us in prayer on this. Lydia enters the pre-Intermediate class this week, and Julie and I enter the Advanced class. Spanish is spoken in different ways here in Lima by all sorts of people and at varying speeds; we still have difficulty understanding what some are saying. Please pray for our listening skills. We pray for our witness to the others in our class. Please keep them in prayer.

6) The Dean of the seminary and Julie and I are planning to get together in the next week or two, to plan for what happens after language school ends. Please keep that important meeting in prayer.

7) Hopefully, we are in the final phase of moving in, this week. Our books are scheduled to arrive on Friday. We plan to hook up appliances this week (stove and washing machine and dryer). Furniture may in fact arrive this week. It's all on Peruvian time, which is ultimately controlled by the Lord's timing. Please keep this in prayer.

Have a great week, and a great Diocesan Convention, and Happy Birthday to our daughter Hannah (her birthday is on Saturday).

God bless you. I pray for you daily, and I thank you for your prayers.

In Christ,

Shaw, and on behalf of Julie and Lydia.