Tuttle Tidbits Archives - 2005
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(2004 Tuttle Tidbits - Click here)

2005 Tuttle Tidbits over the last few months, click on the appropriate month:

Hello Everybody!

We want to update you on what's happening with us now, since the next month will be a whirlwind for sure! There aren't "for sure" answers for everything, but we didn't want to wait until we know or God only knows (literally) when you'd hear from us! :)

Amy just got back from 3 weeks in Dubuque looking for a house and setting everything up there for when we are there this fall. She found a house that will work out well and serve as a base for the future when we are in the States. Now, we're packing up our stuff and we'll be flying to the States August 17th. You can reach us at our phone number until August 12th. We'll be all over the place until August 30th or so. See our itinerary below for details.

Our plans for the upcoming year are tentative as follows:
We will be in the States for the fall semester at Emmaus. We plan to come back to Peru in February. We had mentioned we would like to be involved in the Bible Institute here in Peru for the month of February, those plans have changed and Micah is tentatively planning to teach at the Institute in July, 2006. We will of course update you as soon as we know more confidently what our plans are.

Our itinerary:

August (*approximate dates)
12-15th - Leave Cajamarca
17th - Fly to Miami
18-20th - Drive to Houston (20hrs)
*20th-25th - Houston, TX visiting First Colony Bible Chapel
*25-26th - Drive to Dubuque (20hrs)
29th - Dubuque, IA Emmaus Bible College - First day of classes
30-31st - Move in to house

September
23ish - Portland, OR - Eastgate Bible Chapel Retreat at Eagle Fern Camp (Micah is speaking)

October
15th - Boise, ID for Steven Tuttle's wedding
*16-17th - Portland, OR (hopefully at Eastgate on Sunday)
22nd - Des Moines, IA - Cornerstone Community Ladies Missionary Conference (Amy is speaking)

November: *Thanksgiving in Omaha, NB

December: *Christmas in Portland, OR

Prayer requests:
1)Smooth packing, traveling and transition to the States.
2)That we would remain healthy once we leave Peru, because we won't have health insurance in the States.
3)For many opportunities to build up the Kingdom in all of this craziness.
4)That the Lord would use us and that He'd give us wisdom and courage to make decisions.

We are rooted in the Lord and depend on His strength, thank you for your prayer, love and support.

Micah & Amy Tuttle (Javen, Cullen, Bria and Josiah too)

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Dear Friends and Family,
Last Tuesday at 4:30 in the morning, myself and 3 other men from our assembly left for a small town called Chugur. The journey took us higher and higher into the Andes as we reached an altitude of 12,000 ft before we began to descend toward our destination. We drove past lava flows that had been pretrified into well-defined tiers with crystal clear, glass-like water running right over the top of them. We also saw several pristine mountain lakes all of them filled with brillant blue, freezing cold water. Probably the most spectacular sight was a rock forest that covered about a hundred acres. It consisted of thousands of big rocks standing on end and eroded into amazing shapes and peculiar configurations. Praise the Lord for His wonderful creation!

While the surrounding view was quite heavenly the people were quite hellish. Upon our arrival we were informed that a murder had taken place just the day before. This asassination was nothing new to the locals who have accepted murder as a normal way to take care of differences (we were told that 1 in every 10 Chugurano dies as a murder victim). Chugur, along with it's surrounding towns, is known for it's drunkeness, fornication, violence and high murder rate. Why is it like this??? I'm convinced it's because there are no known believers and no evangelistic works in the entire region...... until recently.

Ruben and Miriam (a couple from our assembly) arrived in the area about 2 years ago to do medical work. They started a Bible study in their home almost immediatly and now see a regular attendance of about 14. They have recieved several threats that if they continue with the studies they will have to deal with the "ronda" (a group of men in ski masks that act as the law and do their work by night only- remind you of anyone?). Despite the threats Ruben and Miriam have continued with the studies and have seen a few people take some promising steps toward faith in Christ.

On Tuesday night we saw about 50 people cram into a small house to watch the Jesus film and then listen to a gospel message. 3 of those that attended were murderers and 4 more had been widowed by murder. Everyone was completely attentive as I preached and you could see the people were seriously thinking about the message. Please pray for the new work that may be starting in Chugur.

-Micah Tuttle

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Dear friends!

Thanks for praying for 1st National Workers' Conference that took place here in Cajamarca two weeks ago. About 100 full-time national workers and missionaries came from all over the country. We were also blessed by a team of musicians from Colombia that led us in some great worship times.

Some of the important topics discussed were, missions strategies, unity and identity of the assemblies in Peru, financial support of Peruvian full-time workers, the formation of a Bible school with emphasis on missionary training, and many other subjects concerning how we can more effectively reach all of Peru with the gospel. It was an excellent time and a very important step forward for the assemblies in Peru. There was a lot of enthusiasm and desire to work together unified and motivated by our mutual love of Jesus Christ.

Thank you for your prayers! Keep praying for the Lord's work in Peru.

AND NOW THE REALLY BIG NEWS... at the end of August, we will be in the States!

Our goals for the 6 months are as follows:

#1: A Bible Institute for missionary training here in Peru is in the works. We want to be involved in these plans and I feel that if I am going to teach at this higher level, more Bible training would be very useful. Lord willing, I will study at Emmaus Bible College for the fall semester, September-December.

#2: We are looking forward to some spiritual refreshment for our family.

#3: We would like to be in Idaho at my brother Steven's wedding in October.

You may ask, "Why now?"

#1: While much of the airfare we looked at was very high, we found cheap plane tickets.

#2: Because of a change of focus in our ministry, we feel that now is a very good time for us to leave the leadership in our assembly here in Cajamarca. There are mature Peruvians who are able, but seem reluctant. For them to step up, I feel that it is time for me to step out for a while.

Here is the basic plan:
Amy will travel to Dubuque at the end of June to find a house close to Emmaus for us. She'll get back July 21st and will start packing up and on August 17th all of us will fly from Lima to Miami. We'll drive from Miami to Houston where we hope to spend about a week with First Colony Bible Chapel. August 25th or so, we will drive to Dubuque, Iowa in order to arrive and begin classes at Emmaus Bible College the 29th.

In mid-October my brother Steven gets married in Idaho, so we hope to fly to Portland for a short 5-day weekend and see as many friends and family as possible during that time. We'll run back to Iowa and finish up the semester of studies at Emmaus. When the term is over (Dec 20ish?) we'll head to Portland and be there for about a month.
The Bible Institute for Missionary training (IBEM) will begin February 11, 2006 in Trujillo, Peru - I and a Peruvian brother are on the roster to teach the course on Evangelism and Ministry. We are praying about our involvement in this new ministry.

Thank you for your prayers and loving support of our family. We look forward to being able to visit with many of you soon while we are there in the States.
Love,
Micah for all.
Picture attached: Micah preaching in the market with a sketch board
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It's May, and that means the 1st National Worker's Congress is just around the corner. Please pray that this would be a time of refreshment for the elders/leaders of the churches in Peru, and that they would be challenged to go back to their churches with a fresh fire for service. Please pray that the time would be unifying and that the Lord would use it to impact His work in Peru on a national level. The dates again for the conference are May 24-29.

Last month we had an outing with the youth group, and we walked 20 miles!!!! Not just any walk either, we climbed a mountain! A 1,500+ ft. climb! (Some would categorize it as a really big hill, but when you're the one climbing it, you know better!) We started out at 7am from the church at 2,750meters and walked uphill to Cumbemayo. We carried Josiah with us as well, trading off with kids who volunteered. We finally got there at noon, at around 3,200m, and had a real mountain-top experience! We ate lunch, had a devotional time and played soccer on the mountain top for a couple hours. It was a good thing the ball didn't go over the edge or it would have rolled all the way back down to Cajamarca! Then we walked/limped home, and honestly, we're only 27 & 28 years old, but we felt like we were at least 80! Our knees and joints hurt SO much. Everyone here said the cold must have gotten into our bones! When we got down the mountain that evening, we had the weekly youth group meeting in our house and served soup. The meeting was open format where the youth could share how the Lord was teaching them and working in their lives. This type of meeting was a new experience for most and we'll most likely do it again.

As most of you know, when we originally came to work with the church here in Cajamarca, we made a commitment to stay and work here with Centro Biblico Cajamarca for one year. Over the last year and 5 months we've been praying that the Lord would show us clearly where we ought to be, whether that means stay or make a change. We are continuing to pray that way, will you pray with us especially in this area, especially during this month? We are open to the Lord. We pray that he would make the way obvious to us, as he has so faithfully done in the past.

"The power of prayer is not in the one praying but in the One who hears our prayers" - Max Lucado

Thank you for praying,
Love,
Micah & Amy
Javen, Cullen, Bria and Josiah
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The early morning light began to creep into the valley below as we found our way along the rough trail that would take us to Chonta Baja. Two Peruvian friends and myself had begun our journey at 4:00 a.m. in a mini-bus where we preached to a captive audience of 18 people for about an hour's time. The bus took us as far as it could and that's where the 3 hour walk began. Huge, towering mountains rose up on both sides as we made our way past gurgling streams, spectacular waterfalls, and shear cliffs. The last stars disappeared and the vibrant colors of the landscape became mesmerizing. When the sun had risen just a little bit more, bright shafts of light began to shoot out of the thick fog in the valley. It was hard to keep at the task of walking while all this drama of God's creation played itself out before our eyes.

Finally we arrived at a small dirt church building seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Much to my surprise about 60 church leaders (I was expecting 10) had already beat us to the site and were eager to start our time of leaders’ Bible training. I was absolutely astonished to hear that in order to get to the conference some of them had walked for 10 hours... in bare feet! Needless to say they wanted to take advantage of every minute. I taught for 6 hours on hermeneutics, another brother taught for 2 hours on Hosea, and yet another brother taught on consecration for about an hour and a half. Several times we were going to stop and take a 15 minute break but the hungry believers didn't want to stop and begged us to keep on going. Even at meals I shared from the scriptures as we tried to take advantage of the time.

In the evening we had an evangelistic meeting where nearly the whole community came out. We started at 7:30 and went until midnight. It was a great time of sharing the gospel, singing and prayer. When it finally ended we all began to search out our sleeping spots on the dirt floor. Just as I was getting comfortable in my little corner they brought me four blankets and insisted that I use the only 2 good benches as my bed. I felt bad, being the only one with a descent bed and blankets but no one would allow me to share them. What could I do? "Thank you Lord for such hospitality."

The next day we were up and studying again by 6:30 a.m. Then for breakfast I had a wonderful sheep head soup that included the tongue, ears and lips! Yum! After several more hours of teaching time we finally ended our conference and everyone started off in their different directions. It wasn't until after several hours of hard walking and lots of sweat that we made it to the town where the mini-bus picked us up. This time the van was jammed with 22 people that listened attentively throughout the whole trip as we shared about a personal relationship with the Living God.

It was great to finally arrive home to my wonderful family. I eagerly explained to them about the sheep head soup, and they were quick to explain how I was crazy to eat it. All the kids got ready for bed, we sang, read a story, and prayed. Soon they were all asleep and Amy and I were able to sneak off to our favorite restaurant where we ate normal food and had a special date.

Micah for the Tuttles
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Church Growth:
Thanks to the Lord we are seeing growth, to a certain extent, in our local assembly (Centro Biblico Cajamarca). In 2004 our assembly saw 35 people come to faith in Christ and be baptized. So far this year we have had baptisms at the beginning of each month and the count is at 12 new believers for the year of 2005. Hopefully that number will continue to grow as there are nearly 60 very interested people who are involved in a discipleship program that leads them to a commitment with Christ and then to the decision for baptism. In addition to all this, the Lord has helped us to start an evangelistic Bible study in our home where 14 people have been coming regularly. Please pray for continued church growth, not only in number but also in maturity.

Missions Team:
Several weeks ago a missions team from Europe came to visit our assembly and I was the official translator. We preached "open air" in the market places, main square, villages, and universities. Several times we had groups of 500 or more people gather around to listen to the gospel. We handed out tracts, did dramas, sang, and encouraged the believers in the churches that we visited. We did lots of ministry but at the same time had a lot of fun hauling the group of young people all over the countryside and showing them some of the wonders of God's beautiful creation in this part of the world. Please pray that the Lord would put a heart for missions in each of those young people.

Men's retreat:
Last weekend, sixteen guys and I went on a men's retreat to the beach. On the way we stopped in Ucupe (a coastal town where Centro Biblico did a church plant 8 years ago). There I had the opportunity to preach on the radio for about 30 minutes and afterwards participated in a special Good Friday meeting in the assembly. The next day we loaded up and continued on to the beach where we set up camp. Then, on each of the 3 days myself and 2 other leaders taught on biblical manhood. We fished, played soccer, swam in the ocean, sang, studied the bible, and gathered around the campfire each night. It really seemed to be an impacting time for each one of the guys and our prayer is that they would carry that impact to their families.

Our Family:
Amy is looking extraordinarily beautiful these days! But the good looks are merely a special bonus that comes with whole package. The Lord has blessed me with an absolutely amazing wife who teaches our kids, administrates our home, coordinates activities, works on our web-site, keeps me in line and countless other important things....... We are all in good health, the kids are making great strides in their Spanish abilities and we are able to spend a good amount of time together as a family. Amy and I go on a special date every Friday night, Javen and Cullen constantly challenge me to wrestling matches, Bria frequently brings tears to our eyes as she practices her favorite phrase "I wuv yooo" and Josiah just sits there and smiles at everyone. Please pray that the Lord would continue to bless us as a family.

Micah, for the Tuttles

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