It was just one month ago that we were anticipating the completion of a successful leadership transition from Founding Director John Hendee to a newly hired Executive Director and preparing for an exciting 2014. Dustin Patrick planned on starting with PNHI this month, but in December accepted an opportunity that he decided that he could not pass up. We are excited for Dustin as he pursues a new marketplace career in Arizona. I am sure he will continue to be personally involved in global missions, but he made the very tough decision to withdraw as PNHIs next Executive Director. Read more
Peru & Ecuador Update – Mike & Dani Bukta
We hope everyone had a blessed Christmas. We know the month of December is a busy time filled with lots Christmas activities and family. We appreciate you taking the time to read our update from South America. PERU: In the beginning of December, Mike and I (Danell) went to Peru to see how the work in Trujillo is progressing. We are very proud of the local leaders who have taken ownership of building God’s church. The team is starting to work in two new barrios that are very poor. People have only recently moved into these areas. They are living in straw houses with no running water, no electricity, and dirt floors. We were visiting people in one of these barrios and witnessed a verbal fight between two neighbors. The disagreement was over garbage. Right behind the straw houses is a big ditch full of garbage. Most of the residents dump their garbage there. One of the neighbors involved in the argument quickly retreated to her house, but we were able to introduce ourselves to the other and her family. We spoke with them about the garbage problem and offered to help in any way we could. They were very grateful that we wanted to help them. After we spent some time together, we encouraged them to make amends with their neighbor and they did! We also suggested getting the neighbors together – with our help – and having a garbage clean up day. They were so enthusiastic about the idea they went around that day and the rest of the week to inform their neighbors about the event. Getting the neighbors together to solve a problem is the first step to unity in the community. More to come next month! Read more
