Dear Praying Friends,

My name is Gerry Gutierrez and I was the victim of the aggressive love of our Lord Jesus.

Prompted by our Lord and sensing our need of encouragement, a group of fellow believers, whose names are written in the Book of the Lamb, called us to an all-expense-paid long weekend of missionary conference and R & R in Maryland.

Eager to know the real state of Ruthie’s health (as she had been coughing for months and had been told by a doctor in Peru to see her oncologist), we accepted the invitation gratefully.

My supervisor gladly granted his permission for us to travel to the USA that include other visits to supporting churches preaching and an MTW conference in Atlanta on church planting. I was even able to have a small preaching campaign in a Spanish congregation and baptized my grandson, Jeremiah Nathaniel Gutierrez.

Ruthie was submitted to a battery of exams, which included blood tests, a CAT scan (bone scan), etc… The results were a “clean bill of health” - “Praise the Lord”

Since we were there with the doctors, I wanted to know the reason of my extreme weight loss, loss of appetite, stomach problems, lack of eyesight as well as skin, liver and heart problems. The result can be described by the proverbial phrase “I just went for wool and I was sheared”.  (Looking now like a skinny goat).

This is what the doctors found out: Runaway diabetes (blood sugar over 400), skin cancer -cataracts and astigmatism, -H pylori and stomach bugs, -high cholesterol and triglycerides, -abnormal EKG, -sick liver, chronically pancreatitis, high blood pressure etc.

My fear as I write this letter is that you will think of me as a toothless dog who can’t even bark or a three-legged race horse, good only for making glue or for fertilizer.

So I am forced to say a word on my own behalf.

As my boss Bill Yarbrough said: “I am being cradled by the pierced hands of our Lord Jesus Himself”.  Yes, I seem to feel my head resting next to His heart near his wounded side. “By his wounds being healed”.  Even my sins and an indiscipline life are being used by God to draw me nearer to him to learn dependence. Sickness alone has not put an end to anyone’s life; it is he who numbers the number of our days who determines the hour of our departure.

So while Ruthie is now stronger (I think she is made out of shoe leather), I am reluctantly discovering again the humbling truth regarding my own limitations in the flesh, but I am confident and stronger in the inner man. As much as these past months were very difficult, I would not change a day for anything. Our Lord whom I serve is the blessed controller of all things and he has chosen to aggressively love me in his own way by overhauling me a little.

After looking like a Rwandan refugee with skinny legs and big bony knees, I am now 175 pounds with a good appetite and no more unquenchable thirst due to excessive sugar in my blood. The glucose level is now between 94 and 125, the treatment for my H pylori is completed, a piece of cancerous skin has been removed from my legs, there is better vision in my right eye through cataract and astigmatism surgery –but there still is need of surgery on the left eye and I am hoping to see a cardiologist soon and a neuropathology’s. Over all I am on the way to recovery and still looking forward the best years of my ministry with eager anticipation. My greatest hour is yet to come. The last two Sundays after our return we have a full house and we had communion and are getting ready for the ordinations of five elders and five deacons early next year.

On Christmas we will be able to put a real warm smile in the faces of many of our poor little children of the churches above the timberline. We hope to take about four thousand dollars worth of heavy blankets. The cold and the rain are killing many little children with pneumonia.

Please pray for the repentance of those who have been caught in adultery and have been disciplined; so they may return to complete restoration.

Pray that we may focus in the supernatural aspect of the gospel of our Lord and not to be afraid to seek His certification as we confront so many with demon possession sickness and unbelief.

Pray for our health that we may glorify our Lord by life or death.

Help us to pray for you by providing admonitions to pray for specific and big prayers worth his size and power so we both may rejoice as he answers our prayer and increase our faith and trust and love him more.

We humbly and joyfully thank our Lord for our children and even grand children who are walking with our beloved Lord Jesus.

May you have a joyful Christmas