Download the printable letter here.
May 2014
Dear Pastors and Praying friends,
We have been encouraged by the many Pastors and friends that have called or wrote in support of our new move. It is not an easy decision but we are at peace that this is what God wants. We appreciate all of the encouragement.
When we surrendered to go to Italy, there were three things that needed to take place. 1. We have land here in Peru that must be sold. 2. We had a contract on the house we are living in until 2015. 3. We need a pastor for our church here. The land has sold! The house we are living in was sold, our deposit returned, and we were asked to be out by the end of June. Most people wouldn’t praise the Lord about having to leave their house, but in our case it is clear definite direction, and indication of timing from the Lord. Those are two ‘non-spiritual’ things that the Lord has worked out. I have no doubt that He will provide a pastor for His church as well. That is probably the most important of the three, so we are simply trusting Him to provide. We have had a few different people in, please pray that God will give us very clear direction in this matter.
We have a mountain of logistics to work out in returning to the USA. We don’t have tickets or a target date as of yet. We don’t feel comfortable setting a date until we are sure that all loose ends here in Peru are tied down. Until we have a pastor in place in the church, our schedule will continue to be ‘up in the air’ – Literally in the Lord’s hands! Once that is settled, we have a lot of preparations to put in order in order for us to move back to the USA. What are we going to drive? Where are we going to live? When are we taking a survey trip to Italy? The endless list of questions goes on and on, and constantly rings through my mind. Proverbs 3:5-6 has proven to be a constant reminder to “Trust in the Lord” and not lean on my own understanding. Serving the Lord has always proved to be exciting.
Please keep Kathy and the kids in your prayers. The kids are struggling to get homeschooling done before mid June so we can sell everything and get out. Kathy needs your prayers as she has a tremendous amount of pressure to finish school, sort everything we own and prepare for leaving.
In May we showed an open air movie in our area of our church and had 5 hands raised indicating they had been saved. Also Shane preached an anniversary service in Chiclayo (about 5 hours away) and also saw souls saved in that meeting. We continue to do all we can as we strive to wind down and tie up loose ends.
His Servants,
Shane & Kathy Rice
Rachel, Rebekah, Moriah, Micah, Charity & Christina
