Letter from Hunter and Ruth Farrell in Peru
April 23, 2007
Dear Friends,
We wanted to share with you the news that the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has asked Hunter to serve as the director of World Mission, effective 1 August 2007.
This will be a surprise for many of you—it definitely came out of left field for our family, and it took some weeks of prayer and reflection for us to discern if this call fit into our understanding of God’s intention for our family’s life and ministry. We are confident it does. At this point, our plan is to complete our term here in Peru in late June, reconnect with our extended family in July, and for Hunter to begin work in August. Our kids are excited about the possibilities of the new chapter, as Billy and Ndaya head off for college in August. Ruth will continue to work with the Presbyterian Hunger Program this year to strengthen the Fair Trade Bridge project, which last year helped 160 Peruvian artisans to double or triple their income.
We have proudly served as missionaries of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) since the 1980s. Walt Shepard of my (Hunter’s) home church, Highland Park Presbyterian in Dallas, Texas, lovingly pushed me into mission service with our church in 1981, when I was 24 years old. His reading of the parable of the talents in Matthew 25 convinced me that anybody who speaks a few languages and has a passion for sharing their faith needs to sign up for international mission service with the Presbyterian Church!
Highland Park Church supported my Volunteer in Mission year in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) in 1981-82 and continued to support us as a couple during our years at Fuller Seminary. When we were in Zaire (1981-82 and 1986-90), while Hunter worked as PC(USA)’s area coordinator for east and west Africa (1991-97), and during our time in Peru (1998-2007), many of you have supported our ministry with prayer, letters of encouragement, and financial support. Without your partnership in our ministry—your friendship, your prayers, your encouragement—we would have thrown in the towel long ago.
As you know, the Presbyterian Church is facing some difficult days that will have a significant impact on our world mission effort. It will require tremendous faith, perseverance, and creativity to meet the challenges—definitely more than we have. Thus, we make a simple request for your prayers as we take up this new challenge.
The April issue of Christianity Today features the work our Joining Hands against Hunger Network is doing to protect children’s health in La Oroya, Peru, one of the most contaminated places on earth. In order for our work with the Joining Hands Network of Peru to continue, we urge you to increase the amount with which your church supports our work. World Mission staff is currently recruiting missionaries to replace Ruth and me, but the new missionaries must raise their full support for the first year before they can travel to Peru.
Thus, we need two things of you:
- refer potential missionary candidates to our Church’s World Mission recruiter, K.T. Ockels, and
- prayerfully consider increasing the Second Mile Missionary Support your church provides in general and, specifically, for the support of Ruth and my replacements. Designate to "Joining Hands Peru."
We look forward to seeing many of you soon.
With you, in Christ,
Hunter and Ruth Farrell
Lima, Peru
The 2007 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 45.
