February 5, 2013

Dear friends,

Anita and I arrived back in Peru, safe and sound on January the 9^th.  It was a long day with several memorable events.  First, our commuter flight from Lexington to Chicago almost collided with a bus on the tarmac at the Chicago airport.  I did not know airplanes had brakes that could stop so fast.  Never unbuckle your seatbelt before the plane is completely stopped at the terminal.   For our next memorable event we flew from Chicago to Houston and only had a forty minute layover to catch our international flight to Lima, Peru.  We did not know what gate had been assigned for our next flight.  We knew we had to hustle to get to the next gate (thinking we would probably have to go through a security check again).  So we get off the plane in Houston and quickly check the large “departure board” and found that the assigned gate was E21.  It was then we realized we had arrived in Houston at gate E20, the gate for our departure flight was right behind us!  How often does that happen?  First time for us.

Our last unforgettable experience was when we arrived in Peru, and while going through immigration I realized I had lost my wallet on the plane.  Though I had our passports, the wallet contained our Peruvian visas.  I was not allowed to go back to the plane and could not go through immigrations without the visas.  So the airline agreed to search around the area where our seats where and thankfully they found my wallet.  This ordeal took about an hour but worked out okay because all the luggage from the plane arrived at the carousel five minutes after we finally cleared immigrations.  All the other passengers were hopping mad wondering if their luggage would ever arrive. It seems the truck that pulls the luggage carts had broken down and it took them an hour to replace it.  Then, the icing on the cake was that we got the “green light” going through customs; nice finish for a long day.  Thanks for all your prayers.

About a week after arriving in Huanuco I travelled down to the small jungle town of Cayumba Grande.  We helped the mission work there buy some property before we left for furlough in April of 2012.  While we were in the States they had begun building their meeting house.  When Anita and I arrived back in Peru we helped them with funds to finish the first floor and pay off some small building loans they had pending.  On the 19^th of January we celebrated the building dedication together with their missionary pastor, Roosevelt Hermitaño.  Seven preachers brought messages including myself.  It was a great time to be reacquainted with many of the other pastors.

[Click here to view a video of Bro. Stanton introducing 3 missionary pastors in Peru]

Several days ago, a young Peruvian police officer came to my house and asked to speak with me.  His wife used to be a member of a church I had pastored before.  His name is Paolo and he serves his country in a very dangerous capacity.  He had vacation time and asked to come every day and let me teach him about the Bible.  On the fourth day of teaching him through the course “Basic Bible Truths”, he trusted Christ as his Savior.  Paolo is a very quiet person and shows little emotion, but when he said with great confidence, “Yes, I believe Christ died for me, was buried, and rose again the third day,” the biggest smile broke out on his face.  He told me that now he knows if he is killed in the jungle fighting the drug cartels, he knows he will go to heaven.  Please pray for this young police officer, Paolo, serving his country.

SPECIAL PRAYER REQUESTS

• Hilda Bayhi (Anita’s sister) continues to battle with brain cancer and is now home with Hospice Care.
• For the Calvary Baptist Mission of Huánuco, Peru and all the churches and pastors of Peru

Sheridan and Anita Stanton

Apartado Postal 860
Huanuco, Peru
South America
(614) 500-8823 – Internet Number

sestantonperu[at]hotmail.com – Sheridan
arstantonperu[at]gmail.com – Anita

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