A huge and heart-felt
to each of you who has written (email or card)/sent flowers/prayed about my transition and/or about Mom’s promotion to glory. I have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and caring. It’s going to take a long time to answer each one, so I’m sending this report to keep in touch. Please be patient!
I let you know that I left Peru the end of February, but I didn’t have the photos ready to show you some of the farewell parties. 
Around the group that sent me off at the Piura airport are photos of invitations out with groups and with a couple who saw me off at the Lima airport. I don’t have photos of the invitations from individuals, but I thoroughly enjoyed the time spent with each of these friends and am grateful for the four years of ministry in Peru and the friendships the Lord blessed me with there – including new ones in the last few weeks there.
I’m also grateful for the good friends back home. Among them are Cathy and Bruce who have welcomed me to their home again. I’m in Paris, Ontario, and my contact info is at the end (please note the new cell #). It’s been cold (below freezing) with plenty of snow and even a snow storm, but we’ve been able to enjoy it – at least some of the time!
And it makes for beautiful scenery. With the exception of the roadside snow bank, all these photos were taken from “home”. The central one shows the wind blowing the snow horizontally outside my window during the storm.
I am currently on a health-care leave which is a time of healing and refreshment (so the Home Assignment will begin in May). The Care Plan states that it is a time to “replenish, heal, and be ready for her next ministry assignment”. I’m enjoying spending unhurried time in the Word communing with my Lord. In Isaiah 30:15, the Lord stresses that we need to be quiet before Him and place our confidence in Him:
This is what the Sovereign Lord,
the Holy One of Israel, says:
“Only in returning to me
and resting in me will you be saved.
In quietness and confidence is your strength. (New Living Translation)
I need to build more of that quietness and resting in His presence into my life. Vs. 18 tells us the benefits of doing so:
So the Lord must wait for you to come to him
so he can show you his love and compassion.
For the Lord is a faithful God.
Blessed are those who wait for his help. (NLT)
There are more promises in the following verses. And Psalm 37, especially vss. 3-7, also invite us to be still in the Lord’s presence and put our trust and confidence totally in Him:
Trust in the Lord and do good.
Then you will live safely in the land and prosper.
Take delight in the Lord,
and he will give you your heart’s desires.
Commit everything you do to the Lord.
Trust him, and he will help you.
He will make your innocence radiate like the dawn,
and the justice of your cause will shine like the noonday sun.
Be still in the presence of the Lord,
and wait patiently for him to act. (NLT)
So, one way you could pray for me is that I learn to be quiet and to wait patiently on the Lord.
That’s long enough for the prayer letter, but I’d also like to share some pictures from an activity that requires patience!
Here are several birds that are rather common until the last one. It might be hard for you to see the Brown Creeper. It’s a tiny bird in the centre of the photo on the edge of the trunk. The birds are: Robin, Chipping or Tree Sparrow?, House Sparrows, Starlings, female Junko, male Junko, Blue Jay, Boat-tailed Grackle, Canada Goose, Mourning Dove, Cowbird, Brown Creeper.
For a splash of colour, a pair of Cardinals.
The Chickadee is one of my favorite birds up here.
The day after seeing this female Hairy Woodpecker, I spotted the Downy Woodpecker with it’s red cap, but couldn’t get a picture. It’s pretty much identical but smaller.
Thanks for your patience with me and please remember to pray for me to wait patiently on the Lord.
Patiently waiting for spring to arrive!
Brenda
