Dear Friends and Family,

Bonnie and I have been in Arequipa, Peru, for a couple of weeks.  As most of you know we have been coming here for two or three months a year since we became "Bridger" missionaries of the Society of Anglican Missionaries and Senders (SAMS) in 2008.  I am teaching several intensive courses at el Seminario Santos Agustin, the diocesan seminary named in honor of the great 5th century bishop and theologian St Augustine of Hippo; and the 6th century bishop and missionary Augustine, the first Archbishop of Canterbury.  Bonnie is a teaching assistant at el Colegio Anglicana de San Lucas, a K-12 church school.

We arrived in Arequipa on Sunday, June 3, after a brief stay in Lima where we had a meeting with Fr Allen Hill, a full time SAMS missionary who is the director of the seminary.  I have evening classes Monday through Friday, and a class on Saturday afternoon.  All of the seminarians have day jobs or are full time university students.  Bonnie teaches at San Lucas four days a week, and we worship, preach, and teach on Sundays as invited by the local clergy.

On the Friday before Fathers' Day there was wonderful school assembly at San Lucas.  The Padre Juan Carlos Revilla, the school chaplain, preached a homily on the parable of the Prodigal Son (St Luke 15:11-32) which he said might well be called the parable of the Loving Father.  The students presented a program of dances and skits.  Some of the good natured fathers participated in silly games like the race with raw eggs in a spoon held in the teeth, and a multiple choice quiz which involved getting a cream pie in the face if you lost.

On this day I remember and give thanks for my father.  In a recent class in apologetical theology we discussed St Thomas Aquina's five demonstrations of the existence of God, and St Anselm's ontological proof of the existence of God.  Marvin Bowers' demonstration and proof of the existence of God is:  my father believed in God.  My father loved me and would not have believed something that isn't true.  Therefore, God exists.  Thank you Dad.  I love you.

Thanks to all of you who have supported Bonnie and me in this ministry with prayer and generous gifts.

Your servant in Christ,

Marvin