A Quick Update

This month we will continue to do a lot of traveling. We enjoyed a few days of vacation with family over the Easter weekend. This week we are participating in a missions conference in Smithfield, Virginia. God continues to bless our family as we travel. We appreciate your prayers as we finish this busy month.

I wanted to update you all on the election results in Peru. We are still playing the "waiting game." At this time about 95 percent of the votes have been counted and certified. Here is the current status of the counting:

• Ollanta Humala-continues to lead with 30.84% of the votes.
• Alan Garcia-holds second place with 24.35%
• Lourdes Flores-trails by 90,000 votes with 23.56%

This is not the election results we had hoped for. The top two politicians do not seem to have the best plans for the future of Peru. Of course we continue to wait on God and His perfect plan. It looks like the run-off vote will not include the candidate we had hoped for. Keep praying!

Time for a Little Commercial

Take a look at the girl's blog. We recently updated it with some new pictures and a tiny update on their lives. Now, you wouldn't accuse us of being proud of them would you?

Hope you enjoy the PoeKids Blog!

The Waiting Game

Thanks to all of you have faithfully prayed for the elections in Peru. I wish we had great news to report, but we are still waiting to get the final results. It looks like it could be a good while before the final votes are counted. So far, 85 percent of the votes have been counted. No candidate received the 51 percent required to win. Therefore, a runoff vote will have to take place in late May or early June.

The situation seems a bit troubling at this time. Ollanta Humala, the most radical of the candidates has collected 30.3 percent of the vote. Alan Garcia a former president, with a poor track record is in second with about 24.9 percent of the vote. Lourdes Flores, is in a close race for second with 24 percent of the vote. A runoff between Humala and Garcia is what many Peruvians are fearing. A win by Humala would certainly turn the nation to the far left politically. Garcia is considered by many the worst president in Peru's history. During his administration, annual inflation increased by over 7000 percent!

The final votes may be slow to come in. Mudslides in the rural areas of Peru have slowed reporting from certain areas. Some officials have claimed it could take as much as 20 days to have the final results. Others are already talking of voter fraud and vote tampering. There is certainly many reasons to continue to pray for the situation in Peru.

Our co-workers in Peru were pleased that the election day went peacefully and there were no real problems.

Almost time to vote

Most of the campaigning has ceased in Peru. The elections on Sunday will be watched by folks around the globe. Many continue to worry about the political changes taking place in much of South America. Will Peru be the next nation with a major political revolution?

The final polls released today show the top three candidates for president in a statistical tie. Radical candidate Humala fell six percentage points in the final week. Much of his support comes from the rural voters. He is not popular in Lima or the other large cities.

Continue to pray. The outcome of the election is totally unpredictable at this point.

Leading Presidential Candidate Ollanta Humala

Now is the time to Pray!

We've been asking you for several weeks to pray for the elections in Peru. The elections will be held this Sunday, April 9th. We are trusting that the events that take place will be calm, and peaceful. We trust that God will leave the door wide-open for the Gospel to continue being preached in Peru.

Ollanta Humala now leads the polls in the presidential race by more than 5 percentage points. Humala is often compared to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. They are close friends and both distrust a free-market economy. Humala has been called by many a "modern day Robin Hood" His plans for helping the poor are exciting to the 54% of the citizens that live on less than $1.25 a day.

Members of Humala's family are calling for a Marxist revolution in Peru. His brother, now in prision in Peru for trying to overthrow the current government has called for Peru's current president and all 120 members of the current congress to be executed! To say he is "anti-American" would perhaps be an understatement.

Perhaps the most troubling news is found in other recent political polls. It found that 60 percent of Peruvians claim to not know what democracy is. 87 percent said they were not satisfied with democracy.

Pray that God will work in Peru this Sunday, Election Day. We want to go back this summer and continue unhindered in our ministry there.

Happy Birthday Elizabeth!

Today Elizabeth turned 5 years old. Here she enjoys a party with her friends from school. To see some recent pictures of Elizabeth and Olivia, visit our PoeKids BLOG!