Ready or Not...

Preparation (essentials for the skimmers):

• We have just completed our 8-week "orientation" in Rockville VA with our sending company.
• We have 4 days in Tobaccoville NC with friends and family.
• We move to West Africa on December 14, sooner than expected.
• Introducing for the first time ever, our video update series! See below.
• Please send all snail mail to our new address. Email me if you want it.
• PrayeRequests below.

Perspiration (extras for the readers):

Dear Bride,

What a time! The last two months of orientation have been really special. It is evident that God is preparing us for what lies ahead. We have been mentored by a couple here at the Learning Center who have really poured themselves into us. They usually are incharge of all the missionaries during a given season that are going to Sub-Saharan Africa. However, Rach and i are all that's going this time. It's bad because we wish more would/could go, but wonderful because we have received some intensely focused discipleship from a couple who have been in West Africa for many years.

Fisher is growing fast! He's past walking now and can run fast. (Many of you just thought to yourself, "Huh-oh, better put that on my prayer list.") He's talking a few words too. He can say things that are important to 14-month-olds like "ball," "no," "Bible," and "doo doo."

We've been thinking about a way to get churches (particularly our sending denomination) involved with what God is doing among the "S" people of West Africa. We've decided one of those avenues will be a periodic video update. We hope to produce a five-minute video update every two to three months. This, the first episode, is one of our first attempts at video editing, so bear with us and save your booing 'til the end. ;^)

Click here to view: Episode 1 :: Ready or Not...

PrayeRequests:

• Ask God for good use of precious time with friends and family while in the States.
• Praise the Lord of the Harvest for the harvest that's about to happen. The fields are looking ripe among our people group.
• Thanks for praying during the video, particularly for the peace from violence in our country! Knowing that you would pray in the future, God has already answered your prayers before we could post the video. Since the results of the recent presidential election there has been a miracle and the violency (as far as the news tells us) has significantly declined or halted!

Praise, praise the Father, praise the Son, and praise Spirit, Three in ONE!

'til the whole world hears,

kori & Rach

Orientation

Meat (essentials for the skimmers):

• We were appointed by the IMB September 15 in Brandon FL
• In one week of being back in NC we've had a "Welcome Home" party, Fisher's 1st birthday party, and a "Going Away" party.
• My sister, Bea, is engaged! Go congratulate her.
• Photos from the past 3 months are finally here! Email me if you would like the Yahoo! ID and password to view them.
• After lots of hard work, we have shiped our crate to ship to West Africa.
• We arrived at Field Personel Orientation on Oct 10 in Rockville VA. Then on December 19, it's off to West Africa.
• PrayeRequests below.

Potatoes (extras for the readers):

Dear people under grace,

As we neared the checkered flag on our Garmin GPS i realized that we were almost "home." However, no checkered flag seems to be in site for the Penderg-s to our true Home, the New Jerusalem. Between Tobaccoville, Hatteras, Lima, Iquitos, Puerto Orlando, Cusco, Key West, Rockville, and soon to come West Africa...we've realized to hold very loosely to the term "home." I think back to Paul with his travels with Barnabus and Silas: Tarsus, Arabia, Damascus, Jerusalem, Syria, Cilicia, Antioch, Caesarea, Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, Derbe, Phillipi, Thessalonica, Corinth, Ephesus, and Rome. After his murder he got to go home Home. May i always consider this life a temporary passing, but that my true citizenship lies in the Kingdom of Jesus.

At this point, please join us in prayer as we have yet another temporary place. We are at the Learning Center in Rockville VA. We're mostly in classes and seminars and workshops on how to prepare for the field of West Africa. We are surrounded by some 100 people going all over the globe. It is a crucial time of preparation. As we recognize that the church started on the day of Pentecost in the upperroom and has continually spread since that we are simply the next link in the chain as the Gospel is carried to the ends of the earth. Yet some 6,426 people groups have yet to hear of my Savior. That's some 41% of the globe's population! Church get on your knees! The Great Commission in 2000 years has become the Great Dissappointment. Oh if we had only believed in Hell, how we would not be satified with our disobedience.

We feel like the Lord is now, Fall-Winter 2010, reaching into His bag of seeds called the International Learning Center and is getting ready to scatter us over the face of the earth. Pray that we would fall on good soil.

If you would like to write us, please feel free to do so at:

16492 MLC Lane
Rockville VA 23146

PrayeRequests:

• Ask God for good use of precious time with friends and family while in the States.
• Praise the Lord of the Harvest for the harvest that's about to happen. The fields are looking ripe among our people group.
  

Thanks for reading,

'til the whole world hears,

kori

Back in FL

A Job Well Done (essentials for the skimmers):

• Xtreme Training is over. All 5 boys graduated and some are praying about committing to the Team for 2 years.
• Machu Picchu is truly a world wonder, especially when it's your second wedding anniversary.
• We are officially back in the US of A. We're with Rach's folks for 1.5 weeks in Key West.
• We'll have our Appointment ceremony on September 15 in Brandon, FL (near Tampa). If you're in the area, we'd love to see you.
• "From the Penderosa to the Ends of the Earth" going-away party will be September 25 in Tobaccoville.
• Photos coming soon.

Getting to Throw the TP in the Toilet After a Job Well Done (extras for the readers):

Dear people under grace,

Did you know that you have to throw your toilet paper in the trash can in Peru? Though it's not a big deal, it's nice to experience the luxury of the USA of flushing one's toilet paper. Food for thought.

First, we want thank again those of you who participated in this Xtreme Training from afar. Juan, Eliseo, Felix, Nestor, and Pedro all finished their training very strong. Praise God for these young men. It was a pleasure discipling them and learning from them as well.

After we left Iquitos, we made our way southward to the city of Cusco, the ancient captital of the Incan impire. We spent a few days there observing the modern city built on the stone foundations of former temples and palaces of the Incas. From Cusco, we caught the 3-hour train to Aguas Calientes. The following morning we took the bus to the mountain-top fortress of Machu Picchu, one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. We were among the few visitors allowed to climb the montain behind the city, Wayna Picchu. To attempt to describe the beauty of this place would be in vain: not merely the man-made 550-year-old structures, but much more so the natural majesty of the high jungle.

From Machu Picchu we made our way to Key West, FL via Cusco, Lima, Bogota, San Jose, and Miami. It's been a wirlwind journey, but we are glad to be able to pause for a couple weeks with family in FL. We look forward to sharing our son with his grandparents during this time and taking advantage of some killer cooking. Pray for our precious time with them as we will likely not see them for years to come.

On September 11 we will begin a few days of meetings with the trustees of our mission board. At the end we will have an appointment ceremony on the 15th to begin our term of service that will lead us to West Africa. Please join us at the worship center of Bell Shoals Baptist Church at 6:30pm if you are nearby. We'd love to see you one last time before we leave the country.

For those of you a little farther north, my folks are throwing a going away party at their house on September 25 at 5pm. Please contact my mother, Jennifer, if you would like to attend and find out what to bring.

PrayeRequests:

• Juan, Pedro, Eliseo, Nestor, and Felix - to have wisdom in deciding how God wants to use them to reach the lost
• Praise God for the Peru trip that grew our family so very much in prepartion for West Africa.
• Ask God for good use of precious time with friends and family while in the States.

Thanks for reading,

'til the whole world hears,

kori

Up the Tigre River

Coco Helado (Cold coconut milk) for the Skimmers:

• Family is doing great, all healthy and going strong
• The Natives of the Tigre river have striked against the oil company and are not allowing any boats to pass, we have been unable to get to Paiche Playa and time is running short.
• Kori and I will have been married for two years this Monday the 9th!
• The first democratic elections are going on in our country in West Africa. Please pray for their future president.
• Susan Taliaferro we need your phone numbers. We're in Nauta waiting for the Parro again, read details below.

Boiled Fish and Green dry plantain's for the Interested Reader:
Parro Strike/Blockade:
Its long, but you have gotta hear this!

The biggest news as of late is our journey to Paiche Playa (the village kori lived in while he was a single missionary to Peru). We left Iquitos at 6am on the first of August headed towards Nauta by taxi then on to Paiche Playa via Launcha (river boat). We arrived in Nauta and met the rest of the Xtreme team who were headed out to different communities along the river to share stories from scripture with the people. We all took the same launcha packed with 30 other people up to a village called Puerto Orlando. In the night the launcha passed one of the town a team of guys were going to and they had to wait with us in Peurto Orlando and get a peki-peki down river to Nueva Mira Flores. We arrived in the village at 930 pm. The village was silent and the stars were more beautiful than any I have ever seen. I followed the guys with Fisher in his wrap across me chest, a bucket on my head and a bag filled with our stuff in my left hand. As we ascended up the muddy, slippery bank i thought to myself, please Lord don't let me fall with Fisher like this. We safely got up to the top and I followed the guys to a fairly large hut. They began to yell for someone to come out and with no prior notice this family opened their house to us in the middle of the night. Eight of us crammed in the front room of the hut and slept well until morning. The guys went on their way and kori and I stayed with the family waiting for the next Lancha up River. The week before there had been a strike on the Tigre River that lasted for 10 days but we had recieved information that the Parro had been lifted (which it had) so we anticipated a launcha any day up river.
Our first full day in Puerto Orlando a helicopter came to the village and dropped off a 3 months supply of food and water for the people. It was a gift from the oil company to the people to either buy their silence for destroying their land and polluting the river or to keep their silence. Am I allowed to say that? Well... we worked all day bringing food and water from the shore to the center of the village as the people distributed it evenly to each family. Kori hopped on a boat to help bring in water to different surrounding villages.
The next morning i awoke to the CB radio (or something like one) to the peoples of Santa Cruz proclaiming to all the launchas and towns that the Parro was in place again with greater force. The Natives of Santa Cruz were infuriated by the oil company trying to buy their silence and declared that the parro would persist for another month. I was so discouraged. Paiche Playa is a 2.5 day trip up the Tigre River and if the strike were to last a month we would not be able to encourage the believer "Lapiz" in Paiche or share the gospel with the others. We waited in Puerto Orlando for three days. Praying for God to break through this barrier.
In my mind i thought, well it would have been nice, but there is no way now. I had given up, not anticipating the power of God through prayer. As i prayed I realized I did not believe God would lift the Parro. Why would He, for us to spend a week with the people? Kori's faith challenged me during this time. As i prepared a departure plan back to Nauta, kori was convinced we would have a launcha up river. I didn't understand his thought process. That night after having listened to the radio for hours waiting for the parro to be lifted we realized that only 5 lanchas go up the tigre river. Three of them had passed the point of the parro when it had been lifted (and could not return down river) and another one had passed us going down river. We knew that if we did not catch the fifth Lancha we would be stuck their for a week at the least. We decided to catch the next lancha that came by going back to Nauta. We talked through the situation and decided to go back until it had been lifted. That night we slept waiting for the 9am boat.
At 7pm we were abruptly woken up by a woman yelling "aren't you going to Paiche? The boats here!" I was so disoriented i couldnt really understand what was going on. We got on the boat after dragging our half packed luggage to the launcha and kori said "We're going to Doce de Octubre" That didn't mean much to me because i had no clue where the villages on the river are. He looked at me with disappointment as though i should be excited. So realizing i didn't understand he said "This boat is passing Paiche through the parro!" I couldn't believe it. I didn't have an ounce of expectation for God to take us to Paiche after hearing the discussions on the CB radio. God made me realize the little faith i truly have that He will establish His plans. I was convicted hard.
We spent the next two days on the lancha sitting in our hammocks reading and journaling. After a while its hard not being able to get up and walk around. And boiled green plantains... please Lord, I've had enough. Its like eating chalk. And the ladies would not leave me until i sucked the eye balls and brains out of the fishes head. ( i had thrown the first head over board not realizing and they were so offended) whoops. As we headed up river the boat was full of hope. Kori got to share Christ with four different people and I got to know the intimate parts of Edith's heart. She says shes so close to giving her heart and life to God but she's not ready yet. Please prayer for Señora Edith.
Two days passed as we traveled farther up river as we approached the town right before the village where the strike had been set, the people had fear in their eyes and urged the Duña (or owner of the Lancha) not to go. Edith was close to the owner and knew she had to get more passengers if she were going to return to Nauta, but she was determined to pass through. As we approached Santa Cruz 30 native women lined the bank in full indigenous wear (Grass tops and skirts) with their spears in hand. It was like something out of a book. The only woman I have ever seen that mad is my own mama when i would disobey. Up until this point I didn't realize the gravity of what a "parro" really was. These Peruvians mean business. As we got closer kori and I looked at each other and thought "surely she is not going to dock this boat". As we got closer to shore the Duña came to us and said "stay out of site, we'll only have more trouble if they know there are tourists on board." This was the only time i have ever seen kori truly concerned about any form of danger. I was running through scenarios in my mind of how to defend my family. “Machete… to dangerous. I could throw luggage at them… ineffective. Solid wooden indigenous paddle… perfect!” We sat still but ready as the Duña had the workers on board lock up the openings. She went to the bow of the boat and stood behind a half door (you know the ones that open at the bottom or top). The native women yelled and yelled and refused to listed to a word she said. She kept asking them to let her pass because she was a Peruvian and this is her land too. But because she was a “Mestizo” or half breed they did not consider this her land.
After about 30 minutes of intense arguing they explained she was not allowed take any passengers and was not allowed to leave! Apparently the “Apo” of village chief had banned the people from playing futbol and all had to be ready to fight if someone dared pass the cable they had set across the river. An hour passed as we sat there not knowing what was going to happen. Then four women snuck on the boat and explained that we had to take them with us because they had a small baby and the mother was unable to breast feed due to HIV. They explained to food was running out and it was urgent that they got out of there. So the Duña told them not to tell anyone and at 6pm we would sneak down river. “This woman is crazy” I thought. “She’s gonna get us killed”. By 6pm the entire launcha was filled with women and at 7 all lights were turned off and the men pushed us off shore as we slowly drifted down river. I have only prayed this hard once in my life. 45 minutes passed with no alarm, no one was following us. After two hours of complete silence the engines were turned on and we began our descent back to Nauta.
We are here in Nauta until Monday and if the Parro has not been lifted by then we will return back to Iquitos.

Prayer Requests:
• Please pray for Edith, that God would continue calling her to Himself and that she would accept His invitation of Salvation.
• Pray that the seeds God used kori to plant in the hearts of those people would take root.
• Pray for the peoples of Peru who are yet to hear the gospel of Jesus
• Intercede with us as we cry out to God for the peoples of West Africa as we prepare to serve there
• Bea is in FPO right now preparing for overseas service as well
• Continue to lift up the young men going through Training that God would continue to teach truth to their hearts and that they would be willing to live it for the rest of their lives
• PRAISE GOD for his faithfulness, provision and protection.

‘til the whole world hears,
Rach

At the training camp

Sideways Rain

• Had a great time at the family reunion at Hatteras, NC! Miss yáll!
• Rach got her root canal and everything is fine with it, but the lasic never got done.
• Xtreme team training is going well
• To date no one has sent letters to the guys in training. Please write letters to these guys. Your encouragement to them is crucial.
• Please pray for kori and Rach as they try to memorize stories in French (its not going so well)
• Rach and Fisher got stalked by a psycho French woman on Ayauascha (the halusinagenic drug used the the local shamans to see spirits)
• Fisher is doing great... he is healthy and growing fast. 4 teeth in two coming s we speak.
• Photos coming when we get back to the states.... sorry for the wait.

Big Ol' Fat Rain
(stories will be seperated by title for you convinience. if your not interested skip tp next topic)

Reunion:
We had a great time at the beach with the Penderg-s and the Roberts Clan. Got a ton of great pictures and enjoyed the fresh ocean air. Fisher gave most of us Laringitis...thanks fisher.

Surgeries:
Upon arriving in Lima we spent two days getting my surgeries done. The tooth was fixed via a root canal. I was sent to a Dr. Carlos who dug out the canal, then I had to walk 3 blocks down the street with a gaping whole in my tooth to get the temp cap put on by Dr burger. The next day he did the gold reconstruction. I am now officially a gangster, or a red neck one. We spent most of 18 hours trying to get my lasic surgery done. They sent us to over four different clinics spent hours getting tests done and then having them tell us they did the wrong tests. i was so frustrated. The best we could tell is that they were afraid to do an imperfect surgery. Their technology could onlyfix up to -8 but my eyes are now -9 and -8.75 so i would have needed reading classes at the most but they were not willing to do it. So se la vie

First day of Training:
We arrived in Iquitos and spent the first 4 days with J and Susan. During that time we were building our hut at the land and sleeping at their house which has all the modern commenities. The day we began building our roof J ( the leader of the Xtreme Team) decided that that was the day our training began. Suprise! I was unaware that we would be going through training) That afternoon a 1/4 of our roof was finished before we ran out of supplies. J, having said that our training had begun that day decided to "make us deal". Praise God Adam (the leader in training) was able to go out and by the rest of the materials for us to finish our roof. At least the "A" frame (not the sides) was finished. That night it poured (as it does most nights). Fisher and I slept together in my hammock and were woken up by what seemed to be a flood of water from the sky. The rain swept throught the hut as though we were standing right under th cloud in open space. Kori and I weighed whether it would be better to hike out in the storm to the closest home or wait in the hut. So we wrapped Fisher in every blanket we had and wrapped our rain jackets on the outside to protect him as much as possible we laid their sleepless, wet and freezing until dawn came and we could hail a moto tax. We decided to go speak to the powers that be and get a hostel until the roof and floor of the hut were finished. Well, we stayed two nights in a pat by the hour hostel( unless you pay 240 USD at one of the finer hotels , theyre all pay by the hour).

Letters to the boys:
Unfortunately the boys have been in training for 6 weeks and have not recieved a single letter. We really desire for the body of Christ in the states to encourage their brothers who are suffering for the Gospel. Please do not neglect Gods invitation to encourage the universal body of Christ.
Xtreme team
Apartado 151
Iquitos
Peru

Rach and Fisher stalked by a drugged up French Tourist:

It was the craziest thing i have ever experienced (and thats saying a lot ). So... I was bathing Fisher, and because there is only cold water here he was screaming his little head off. All of a sudden i heard someone banging at the door yelling "Abre la Puerta" (Open the door). So it took me a second, but i opened the door half dressed with fisher covered in soap and butt naked. A red headed french woman made the owners wife open the door because she said that someone was hurting a child in on the the hostel rooms. When the owner saw it was me and Fisher she smiled at me and took her leave. The French woman stood there staring at me with crazy eyesa. I let her know that Fisher was fine and that she could leave. I basically closed the door in her face. Well i decided to wipe the soap off Fisher with a towel so he would scream and worry the poor french woman. At first i thought "well i can understand... this is a pay by the hour hostel and she heard a baby crying. I too would make sure the baby was safe. " But for the next hour she walked back and forth across my room passing the screaned window and glaring at me. She kept trying to give a message but she was speaking three languages at once. English, French and Spanish. I kept hearing pieces of information like "the two men in your room want to hurt your son" I looked around and said "No ones here". The next time she came by she yelled profanities at us saying "its fing bs" she kept saying in her borken English. I couldndecide whether i should walk outside and confront her and maker her leave or if i should stay in the room and wait for kori to get back from the hut with the things we needed for the night. I decided to stay in the room and spend time in prayer. After not having seen her for a while i went outside and spoke to the owner about the situation. He explained she had caused a lot of trouble and that she and her partner had been going up the Amazon and had been taking Ayuascha ( the hylusinagetic drug taken by the shamans or spiritual healers in the communities of the amazon jungle. It is said they take this drug to see spirits and these spirits tell them what is wrong with someone and the cure.) I can not help but wonder who or what she saw in my room.

Fisher:
Fisher is growing fast. He is babbling non-sense words and standing on his own for 10 seconds at a time. He has 2 top and 2 bottom teeth and two are cutting as we speak. His diareah has subsided and he entertains himself for hour plaing motorboat and indian with his mouth.

Quote of the month:
"Being on the Xtreme Team means youre going to be Xtremely hungery!" -Juan (Trainee)

´til the whole world hears,
kori and Rach

I Just Stepped in a Pile of Peru

Root Canal: (essentials for the skimmers)

• New photo albums (password required)!
  • Firsher's first visit to SWO
  • R&R Kayaking
  • Last Days at the Penderosa
  • The Roberts in Tobaccoville
  • OBX Fishing
  • OBX Family Fun
  A book Rach and i contributed to, Stories from the Ends of the Earth, is here! Please go to the SWO store and request one. I think the price is about $5-$10.
• We had a wonderful family reunion on the Outer Banks of NC with Rach's family and mine.
• Rach, Fisher, and i made it to Iquitos, Peru. Safe and sound.
• We have 5 students in the Xtreme Team training (2 more if you count Rach and i). Please write them a letter! Details below.
• Rach had plans to get a root canal and laser eye surgery in Lima, but were only able to do the root canal.
• PrayeRequests below.

Lasik: (extras for the readers)

Dear adopted children of God,

As many of you know, Rach and i (as well as several other SMOi missionaries) have contributed some stories from our overseas experience to a book called Stores from the Ends of the Earth. After over a hundred hours of work from othe

r contributors, designers, editors, photographers, and my wife (who did most of the work); we finally have produced a book. It is sold in the SWO store online and in the camp's Snack Shack. Special thanks goes to Le Print Express of Winston-Salem who donated 100% of the design time for the book and gave us a discount on the printing.

We have just spent a week with the Roberts family and the Penderg- family on the Outer Banks of NC. Highlights of the vacation included an evening at The Lost Colony drama, deep-sea fishing when my dad and i caught two white marlins at the same time, and my father-in-law teaching me to use a cast net. From their we drove to Miami and boarded a plane to Lima.

In Lima, Rach was planned to have a root canal and Lasik surgery on her eyes. She had the root canal, but still has sharp pain (please pray). After her eye exam for the Lasik surgery, we discovered that her prescription has regressed to a -8.5 and a -9.0. Unfortunately Lasik eye surgery can only correct vision down to a -8.0, meaning if she got it she would still need glasses. This comes at a huge disappointment because we had been saving for this for quite some time. This Lasik was to cost $300/eye! There is a more expensive type of Lasik that would have worked, but the cost was 5 times higher! We reluctantly ordered Rach a new set of contacts so she can see again.

Now, we are finally in Iquitos! The Xtreme Team training is underway and we've met the students and helped teach them one class so far. Rach and i will be teachers at times and students at times. Out hut is going to need a lot of work as three termite nests the size of basket balls are growing under the thatch roof. We're going to town today to get some supplies. Eliseo, Pedro, Felix, Nestor, and Juan are the Latino students in training to become missionaries in Peru and beyond. If you speak Spanish great, so-so, or not at all, please take twenty minutes this week and write some of them an encouraging letter. Though they come from Peruvian churches, many of those churches are unable to or unwilling to encourage their brothers in taking the Gospel to those who have never heard. Tell them you're praying for them. Tell them about yourself and how God is using you in the States. Share some Scripture with them. Expect replies!

Please mail those to:

Xtreme Team

Apartado 151

Iquitos

Peru

PrayeRequests:

• Praise God for getting us to Peru
• Praise the Lord for great friends in Peru
• Praise God for the 5 young men in training
• Pray that Rach's tooth pain would subside.

†il the whole world hears,
the penderg- family

Approved

A Trip to West Africa: (essentials for the skimmers)

• The board of trustees has approved us for service in West Africa!
• We leave for Peru in a few weeks.
• God met our goal for funds to support our Peru trip. Worship with us.
  
• Thomas Beck, a coworker who was a very hard agnostic, came to Christ Sunday! Praise the Father!
  
• New photos! Album: Last January in NC.
  
• Fisher is humongous.
• Racheal recently gave Instead of Ashes a web makeover with several new lines of jewelry.
  
• SMOi welcomes the Hoover family to the prayer site. Pray for them as they prepare for West Africa too.
• Coming soon! Stories from the Ends of the Earth, a book of a collection of stories from the SMOi missionaries' experiences overseas will be available around the end of May.
  
• PrayeRequests below.

A Trip to Peru: (extras for the readers)

Dear redeemed,

In the last month or so God has really touched people's hearts concerning our finances to go to Peru. Right now we're celebrating as God has abundantly provided our goal! Worship with us as God has been so generous.

So reign, please reign in us
Come purify our hearts
We need Your touch
Come cleanse us like a flood
And send us out
So the world may know You reign, You reign in us!

In Fisher Stone news, he is growing so fast! At five-months he was wearing 12-month clothes. He's almost eight-months-old now. He grew his first two teeth two weeks ago and should start walking or crawling any second.

On May 4 we received great news from the mission board that we'd been approved by the board of trustees for overseas service in West Africa. This simply means it's official now.

Many have asked us for our time line of our upcoming dates:

• May 19 :: Sharing requests at the prayer gathering of Center Grove Church in Clemmons NC, 6:30p
• May 23 :: Giving the teaching at the worship gathering of the River Church in Arcadia, 10:30a. Teaching series: The Ultimate Fighter (spiritual warfare, the armor of God, and the Sword of the Spirit)
  
• June 3-4 :: Racheal's family's reunion in Goshen KY
• June 5-12 :: Family vacation with Racheal's parents, her brother, my parents, and my sister to Hatteras.
  
• June 14-September 1 :: Peru trip! We'll be teaching Latino and indigenous people how to be missionaries. Most of the time we will be in a jungle setting for classes. We hope to plan a visit to the village of Paiche Playa where i served in 2007-2008.
• Sept 2-14 :: Visit Racheal's hometown of Key West and see her parents one last time before West Africa.
• Sept 15 :: Appointment ceremony in Brandon, FL for the mission board
• Sept 16-17 :: Visit friends in eastern TN.
• Sept 18ish-Oct 10 :: Last days in Tobaccoville, NC
  
• Oct 11-Dec12 :: Training/orientation with the mission board
  
• Soon after Dec 12 :: Move to West Africa for 3-4 years

You might be thinking to yourself, Wait, does that mean you'll only be in Winston for two more weeks before Peru? Yes! And, only three more weeks before West Africa.

My friend and coworker, Thomas, was hardened to the gospel. He was an agnostic after growing in a rough family (to put it mildly) and working on a boat on the Mississippi. He was afraid that God, if He existed, had left him because of how many he had lead away from God by his reasoning. But, this past Sunday, May 16, 2010, the scales fell off Thomas' eyes and he found out what Paul meant in 1 Corinithians 1:18: "For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." He started to weep and ran outside as we sang "How He Loves" by The Glorious Unseen (popularized recently by The David Crowder Band). After i came out to find him he told me he had an epiphany that God loved him so much in spite of his lifetime of sin. So, let me write his obituary...

BECK - Mr. Thomas Beck, 38, died May 16, 2010, by taking his own life and laying it at the foot of the cross. However, he was in a moment born again as the new Thomas Beck, alive in Christ and filled with the Spirit of God. He is survived by his fiancee and three children who he is already sharing Christ with that they too might have a relationship with their Maker. A celebration ceremony is being planned for sometime within the next two weeks where he will be buried in baptism and raised to walk in the newness of life. Details to come!

PrayeRequests:

• Praise God for the money He's raised for Peru. Praise Him for the money that He's about to raise to reach the $4000 goal.
• Pray that God would send someone quickly to disciple Thomas in our absence.
  
• Pray for the Peru trip. May the missionaries that leave there tell thousands of the good news.
• Pray that we'd be good stewards of the short time we have in the States.
  

†il the whole world hears,
the pendergrass family

For Auld Lang Syne

Happy new year, from the Pendergrasses!

A Trip to West Africa: (essentials for the skimmers)

• Our interview conference in VA went great. Our new deployment date for West Africa is December 2010! Whoopee!
• Racheal graduated from the Baptist College of Florida. She is officially educated.
  
• New photos! Albums: Racheal Graduates, Petersburg and Richmond, Snowplay, and Presents.
  
• Racheal's handmade jewelry business has really taken off. Check her new products out at Instead of Ashes.
• PrayeRequests below.

A Trip to Peru: (extras for the readers)

Dear loved ones,

Congratulations to Racheal! She is a college grad! On a comical note, her degree was not given to her in Biblical Studies as we all expected. However, when they called "Racheal Pendergast" it was for the Bachelor of Arts in Ministry Studies. I didn't mind. It cost $40K, whatever it is.

In other news, the following week Racheal and i went to Rockville, VA (near Richmond) for our Candidate Interview Conference. We and about 50 missionaries were there finalizing our application process to the IMB. Though it's a little later than we had originally hoped, we are ecstatic to announce that we'll be appointed to the IMB in September 2010 and deployed to West Africa the following December! This is what we've been waiting a year and a half to hear. Praise the Lord. Seriously, take a minute and praise Him.

Like i said, December 2010 is a little later than the date we'd hoped for earlier (June 2010), but don't think for a second the Pendergrasses are going to suck their thumbs for another year waiting for December to roll around. We're planning a volunteer trip to Peru this summer to the Xtreme Team Training. The purpose of this trip will not be an evangelistic "crusade" (I despise that word.), but rather a time for us both to brush up and develop our oral storying skills for when we go to West Africa. Plus, we'd like to encourage the Body in Peru. Furthermore, i'll also be assisting in training Latino missionaries though teaching classes. Granted we'll have to raise our own support (since it's not through the IMB), so we'll check between our couch cushions to see if we miss placed about $3500 or so.

PrayeRequests:

• Praise God for an eventful and positive time in Richmond with the interview process.
• Pray for the "S" people. They need Jesus whether we'll be the vessel that brings the Gospel or not.
• Pray for the Peru trip. There's a lot to plan for. Praise God for the $250 flights we got!
  
• Thanks for praying for my wrestlers. It's working. Keep it up.
  

†il the whole world hears,
corey reid pendergrass