About a month ago we said good-bye to the villages, our local church and all of our friends in the Tarapoto area and we slowly headed over the mountains and down to the Peruvian coast. These were our first steps in taking our two oldest sons to the USA where they will begin their "own" lives. A few days previous, Javen and Cullen had each preached at their "going away service" where they exhorted everyone to be faithful to the Lord. They have become honorable young men of whom Amy and I are very proud. It will be exciting to see how the Lord will use them in the years to come! They were one and two years old when we went to Peru as missionaries, so Peru has been "home" to them for their whole lives. We ask that you would pray for them in this time of transition. We have a lot to do before we leave them off at college at the end of August, so we really want to take advantage of our last few months together as we try to get their "feet on the ground" in the States. They need to get high-school diplomas, take SAT tests, get jobs, get USA drivers licenses, open bank accounts, apply for scholarships, apply for college entry and many other things.

Leading up to our departure it felt like we were dashing to a finish line of sorts. I preached 20 times in 20 days in a variety of contexts (open air, churches, schools, radio and villages). In our Tarapoto assembly we had a flurry of missions activities and evangelistic meetings just before we left. The believers planned a going away "despedida" event for Javen and Cullen which was good and bad and sad and joyful all at the same time. The church is stronger than ever before and is doing very well with newly named elders and deacons. And as far as the Bible institute goes there was a lot to do in getting our building ready for next years group of students. There were walls to build, rooms to paint, wires to pull, doors to fix, boards to varnish and many other projects but now things are mostly in place for "IBEM Selva" which Jesse and Janel Mattix will be directing in our absence. We thank the Lord for His provision in being able to get the infrastructure ready for another round of classes which will start at the beginning of March. Please pray for the institute, the church and the believers in the villages!


Last month Amy and I celebrated 20 years of marriage! How time flies! It seems like only yesterday that we were 19 year-old newly weds with no kids. The Lord has blessed us greatly, not to mention numerically:) Twenty years ago God entrusted me with one of His precious daughters and I knew that when I said "Yes" to Amy I was saying "No" to every other woman in the world. Saying "Yes" to Amy was the second greatest decision I have ever made! She has helped me and encourage me and challenge me and loved me much more than I deserve. I thank God for His good gifts! And as if an excellent wife wasn't enough, God has given me six fabulous kids too! We have reason to celebrate! So that's what we did for about a week at the beginning of December. We went with the whole family on a trip to the Peruvian beach town of "Mancora" where we were able to rest and relax and reflect and recoup from the pandemonium of the previous months of endless ministry activities. The ocean was blue and the sand was white and the palm trees were beautiful and our family was blessed!


From Mancora we traveled on to Lima where I was scheduled to preach at a couple of the assemblies in the "big city". It was a great time with the brethren and also very encouraging to see many of our good friends who live there. While in the capital we ended up having to do an amazing amount of paperwork to prepare for our flight to the USA. For a while there it seemed like Josiah would have to stay in Peru because of serious complications with his Peruvian passport. It's a long story but we praise God for doing miracles at immigrations. In the midst of waiting for all the paper-work to come through we took a trip up into the mountains to the historic Inca city of Cusco. We were able to visit some of the believers up there and tried to encourage them in the Lord as I preached at a few meetings that week.

There are incredible ancient Incan ruins all around Cusco including the famous "Machu Picchu" which is one of the 7 wonders of the world. It was a exciting and an educational experience for the whole family to see these places as we studied some of their rich history. Incan history is shrouded in a lot of mystery and myth and visiting what used to be the center of that civilization was eye-opening and helpful to understanding the Peruvian culture and some of the religious confusion that exists.


Last week we safely flew into Newark NJ and we are now enjoying the hospitality of everyone at the Christian Missions in Many Lands guest home in Wall Township NJ. We will be here for about two months visiting churches, encouraging the brethren and sharing about the Lord's work in Peru. After our time here on the east-coast we will travel to the midwest during the months of April, May and June and then finally, we plan to visit the west-coast and Canada for the months of July and August. The Lord has opened many doors for us to preach His word at several different events and conferences across the country and we are excited to try to make Christ's name great wherever we go. Please pray for our family as we have a lot of driving to do, homeschool to apply, people to see and meetings to preach at.

This is not an exhaustive list but here are some of the bigger events that we will be participating in during the next few months:

The 26 below youth conference in Spectator NY on January 13-15.
The 26 below youth conference in Dayton Iowa on February 24-26.
South Florida missions conference in Miami on March 3-5.
Missions conference in Rochester NY on March 24-26.
Lima Peru on March 28 - April 5.
Missions conference in Baltimore MD on April 7-9.
Regional youth rally in Raleigh NC on April 21-23.
Missions conference in Murfreesboro Tennessee on April 28-30.
Indian conference in Denton TX on June 9-11.
Hispanic brethren conference in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic on June 21 through 25.

If you want to contact us by phone we just got USA cell numbers: Micah (609) 933-6576. Amy (609) 933-6575. Of course our e-mail didn't change: majctuttle@yahoo.com


Missions quote of the day by Jim Elliot: "Forgive me for being so ordinary while claiming to know a God so extraordinary."

Micah for the Tuttle's