We are in the States!

Perez Family

We had a lot of reasons to celebrate during the month of June . Everyone except me (Max) had a birthday. We also celebrated Saraí's graduation with family in Panama and on Zoom for our US family and friends. We are so proud of what God has done in her life. We are excited about what God has in store for her future. This past week while I was driving, I looked in the rear view mirror and I used to see a little girl but now I see a smart, funny, beatiful young woman who loves to serve God. We want to share some pictures of her with y'all. Please pray for her. This year she will have a gap year. During the year we are planning many things for her. She wants to be a missionary nurse and study many languages. There are so many people that have influenced her in a Godly way. Thank you!!!

On the right is a picture with my brothers and sisters.

On the left is a picture with some of her On the right is a picture with some of her

cousins. They have about twenty-four second cousins. They have about twenty-

five second cousins.

My kids are proud of their big family!

Last month was also a mix of emotions because of loved ones we miss. Verna's birthday is the same day my mom died. Then it was Father's Day and I still miss my dad. Also, Pastor Roosevelt's birthday was in June. His wife Ines's birthday was July 2nd, the same day as Clara's.

There were a lot of mixed emotions and I know some of you have gone through that too. I praise God that they all knew and had a relationship with God and that gives me peace. I pray that if you have a love one that does not know Christ that God will open their eye of their need of the Savior Jesus Christ.

We are now in Texas although we had some challenges during our flights over. Because customs took so long, we missed our connecting flight. We had to be divided to get another flight out.Then Max and Misael's flight was canceled so they had to sleep in the Miami airport.

Praise God we are now with Clara and Verna's sister. We are planning to stay here in the Orange area until the end of the month. During the month of August, we will be in the DFW area and part of September we will be in Valley.

Be in prayer for us as we share what God is doing in Panama.

We thank God for our team in Panama as they are making disciples even with us being here. Thank you again for your support. Your financial support helps us to make disciples and to train new believers to make disciples.

Puerto Gavilana's Church!

This is our new church that was built by the brothers from the church. We want to thank those of you who have helped us build the church. We are still in need of some items to complete the inside: benches, mosquito net, lights, solar panels and a battery.

As you know, ministry is not always pretty and happy. We have seen the enemy trying to divide the church in the village. It is especially frustrating and discouraging when other churches come to the village to cause confusion in the community. They have tried to build a church while knowing we have been there for years. The chief almost kicked us out of the village along with the other church who came. Because of our many years of friendship with them the community wanted us to stay. The chief allowed us to stay.

Another challenge has been knowing that there are still children dying in the village. Although only two babies have died in the last few months; its still sad. Because of Covid they do not want to bring a doctor into their village. Why are the children dying? We are not sure, but it has been sad to go back to the village and not see some of the beautiful babies.

May

During May, we had our first training in the city for a couple from the village. They stayed at a team member's house. We had the training at our pastor's church house. We taught them about God, His word, and of course about Jesus. They had a questions about God. One interesting question was, why did God make it confusing about God and Jesus. So are both God? We know they are by faith but if we try to reason or make sense of it, then it gets confusing. It was of course hard to answer the question. This is why I enjoy teaching new believers! Their questions are pure and hard. It gives us a new perspective about how new believers see God.

It has always been part of our vision to bring groups from the villages to train so they can stay in our Mission House Center (when we get one). This will allow us to help them where they are. We will be able to train them and they can focus on learning God's word.

PEREZ FAMILY

We are here in the States for three months! We will be there from July-September. We are still making plans on when we will be in each area. Other news about our family. Misael now is a Panamanian, but still also a USA citizen. Now we need to start Verna's paper work.

Matthew 16:18

Since we arrived in Panama in November 2018 and started discipleling the new Christians in Puerto Gavilana there has been so many challenges. We have been teaching them basic doctrine, but most importantly we are emphasizing the importance of making disciples. Of course in 2020 God had another plan.

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We have been waiting for the right time to build a temple for them. Because of challenges in the beginning of this year, the new Christians are more encouraged and ready to build a church building. They have started going to the mountains to collect and bring back wood. Last Friday, I decided to go with them with my son to “help them”. It was a great experience to be with them and my son. When we finished we stopped and prayed. I shared about God’s word in Mathew 16:18 “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.”

We have seen the growth from the believers in the village, especially from a couple named Valeriano and Tenilda. God has used this couple to be a blessing not only to

the village but to our team in the city too. God is bringing more people to His Kingdom. We are looking forward to the new temple, however, we are more excited that God is preparing His church for His glory.