January 20, 2009


Dear Friends,


First of all Happy New Year! We have started the New Year off well and are beginning to settle in here at the YWAM center in Denmark. We are really enjoying being back in Denmark again and it’s been good to be near friends and family as well as our work in Eastern Europe.


I have divided this email into to parts. One with answers to prayer and the other with prayer requests (we would be very grateful for your prayers!). Then I have also just written a few thoughts and experiences I would like to share with you.


Answers to Prayer:

• CammiAnn began going to a private Danish school in Randers where Peter’s uncle is the principle. She has already made lots of friends and she told us last week that she can’t believe it, but she’s thinking in Danish! Picture: CammiAnn at her class “pirate party”.

• Amanda is doing wonderful in Mozambique, where she is on her DTS outreach. She has been experiencing a new level of the release of the miraculous and they have seen many healings and deliverances while they have been ministering! We spoke to Amanda on Saturday and she was very excited because she was going to be preaching on Sunday! We can’t wait to hear how it went. If you’d like to get Amanda’s updates you can send an email to her at cheri@kkee.dk and ask her to add you to her newsletter list. Picture: Amanda on her way to a little island off the coast to Mozambique.

• We have a wonderful home here at the YWAM center (4 hrs. from my family in Copenhagen) and God has provided everything we needed!

• I AM ALIVE! It is exactly one year ago that I was diagnosed with cancer and the oncologist in the states “gave me” a year to live. He said my immune system was shot and that my liver was barely functioning. He told us that I would get more and more sick and that my body would not be able to fight infections. Well, here I am one year later and this past year I have been healthier than ever before in my life. That in itself is a miracle! I am so thankful to God for the strength that He has given me and for every day that He gives me. My time is not in the hands of doctors, but in the hands of God Himself!


Prayer Points:

• Elizabeth has broken off her engagement to Matt and has gone through a very difficult process of working through her feelings and coming to this conclusion. We are very proud of her for the way she has walked out this process and sought God and made the most difficult decision of her life. Although it was very hard for her she has no doubt that she made the right decision and she has a great deal of peace in spite of the pain of broken dreams. Last week Shanie and Elizabeth went back to England to pack up her things and conclude her time there. Elizabeth is now living with us here in Denmark and will work part time with us and our ministry as well as helping out at the YWAM center and she will work part time as a substitute teacher at CammiAnn’s school. She is going to take time to heal and to prepare to continue her education in the field of media and communications. Picture: Elizabeth on New Years Eve.

• We still have not found a car. Up to now we have been able to borrow a few different cars, which has been a real blessing, however we really do need our own car, especially now with CammiAnn going to school in the city (we are out on the country side) and Elizabeth working in there as well.

• Today (Monday) we went to the hospital where I had blood work done and met with the oncologist there. He was quite surprised by the path we have chosen as it is almost unheard of here in Denmark (although it is becoming more and more known as there has been quite a few testimonies in the news lately about people going to other countries for alternative treatment). He listened to us and was very open to respect our wishes and still do the tests that we need done. On Thursday I will have another CT scan done (the last one was in July) and we will get all of the results on the 30th. We did get a few results of some of the blood work and it looked good. Please pray that this next scan will show improvement and that God will give our doctor wisdom and understanding and that we would be a blessing to him and that the Glory of God would be revealed through our lives. We will write once we have the results of the tests.


God has been speaking to me quite a bit about endurance lately and about the importance of not giving up. The other day I was watching the movie “Rocky Balboa” with Sylvester Stallone and at one point he said something to his son that really spoke to me! He said, “It’s not about how hard you can punch. It’s about how hard you can GET punched and keep going.” I really feel like I’ve been taking a lot of punches lately, especially at night when the itching is at its worst. It’s hard. Sometimes I feel so defeated and consider “throwing in the towel”, but it is in the darkest and most difficult hours that the battle rages and it is in those hours that our faith and character are tested. It is there that we grow and mature if we don’t give up, but look to God who is our hope and who gives us strength for the battle.


I believe that many people give up too easily or too early, never realizing how close they actually were to a breakthrough. Albert Einstein said, “It's not that I'm so smart; it's just that I stay with problems longer.” Thomas Edison said, “Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”


When everything within me screams, “I can’t do this any more!” “I give up!” That’s when things like “self discipline” and “the will to endure” come into play. It’s there that I have to continue to put one foot in front of the other, and keep moving forward one step at a time. God has promised us that in our weakness His strength is made complete and that His grace is sufficient. In the worst hours I have found that thanksgiving and worship are key. Remembering all that God has done, thanking & praising Him for who He is. And God has really challenged us to turn our pain and suffering into something constructive. So instead of lying there all night crying out to God in frustration or focusing on our own needs, Shanie and I have begun to cry out to God for the nation of Denmark and for those who don’t know Him, for our friends and family that are sick, suffering or lost. Sometimes it’s hard to get started when you are so miserable, but we have been amazed at the transformation that has come to our prayer life and the change that comes over us as we take the focus off of ourselves and feel HIS pain for this hurting world. We have been experiencing a greater sense of authority and power as we pray and we have come so much closer to the heart of God!


Below are some quotes and some scriptures that have really spoken to us recently.


Thank you so much for your prayers and your friendship. We send you warm greetings from a very cold Denmark!


Peter (and Shanie)




The rewards for those who persevere far exceed the pain that must precede the victory. Ted W. Engstrom


When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hang on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn. Harriet Beecher Stowe


Never, never, never, never give up. Winston Churchill


You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it. Margaret Thatcher


The person who wins may have been counted out several times, but didn't hear the referee. Source Unknown




James 1:12
Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.


Romans 5:2-4
And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.


Hebrews 10:36
You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.


Romans 12:12
Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.


1 Peter 4:1
Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin.


Philippians 4:12
I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.