D&BPetersen Newsletter (Fall 2025)

Dear Family and Friends,

Greetings from warm Florida. It is with thanksgiving in our hearts that we share a bit about family, health, and ministry around the world. Time has been flying by. The US Boot Camp is over, the teams returned for their Debrief, and are all safely home. We always praise the Lord for the safety and ministry that has been invested into their lives. We continue to pray for them to keep moving forward in their Christian walk and that they will truly follow Jesus all of their days. The Teen Missions headquarters has been praying for next year's program. Plans for teams are going forward, and we pray for God’s open doors around the world and that He would reveal His plans and His purposes to be accomplished.

Teen Missions in Zambia is still continually on our minds, also. Doug speaks nearly every day with their finance department and is still doing some finance books here in preparation for the final turn over. The finance department in the Zambia office is doing a great job. Soon Doug will no longer be involved. This will hopefully be done by the end of the year. Oscar Chama and his right hand man, Thomas Kabwata, are administrating and serving wholeheartedly. Doug is blessed to be in Zoom meetings with them almost weekly. It is a joy to continue to support them and pray for them and hear their updates. 

The Zambia base will host an upcoming “African Summit” just down the highway from our base there. The other African bases will be sending their country coordinators and they will meet in a hired venue. This will allow them to concentrate fully on the program without outside distraction. It is ironic that it is so close to where we lived for so long, yet we will not be able to travel and attend. We will be in the meetings via Zoom. Steve and Gay will both be there. There will be seven countries in all. Steve will be overseeing this African Summit. I am sure we will have pictures in our next newsletter.

A brief update on family news—Sarah and Rob are empty nesters. Three of their children are out of state. Courtney and Sam Rohde and their two children are in Texas. Chad and Cristina Codding and their two children are in Virginia. Jessica Lena and her husband Travis Rohde are also in Virginia. (Yes, you may have noticed correctly that two Rohde brothers married two Codding sisters.) Joshua Codding is living in Cocoa, Florida. We enjoy seeing him often. He is still receiving medical help from the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, FL for a Brachial Plexus injury which caused a paralyzed arm. This happened from a motorcycle accident in 2022.

Steve and Gay Petersen have watched their two children move from home. Tim and Ellie Petersen are serving the Lord together at Teen Missions. Now three Petersen couples are living on Heavenly Street. It is a blessing to be all together; however, being with Teen Missions means they do travel often. Tim and Ellie led a team to Madagascar this past summer. Faith was helping lead a team to Rwanda, Africa. She just left this past week for her internship in Colombia, South America. She has finished her two years of Sojourners, a Teen Missions Bible School and plans to be back to the US to lead an American summer team in May of 2026.

An update on health is due next. Doug has been declared free of bone cancer. He still takes follow-up medicine and his doctor sees him for follow-up check-ups. We give God all of the Glory for this result and we really feel it is a miracle. It was diagnosed about one year ago, and we were told it is not curable, but it is treatable. God did more than just treatment. The doctor said the cancer is gone. Doug’s heart doctor just told him at the last exam that Doug’s heart is getting stronger. I asked him to say that again. I didn’t know that would even happen. Now they are working on his lungs. That has been a problem since he was a teen. We will see how God works with him again. As for me, I am doing well for “my age”, as doctors like to say.

Overseas, Steve has reported to us that he is finding that former leaders in various countries have wanted TMI to come and begin Boot Camps. Colombia is one place and they have been running for 25 years, doing everything just like it was set up in the US, seeking to get under the TMI umbrella whenever they might get official permission. Steve finally went down there to see the work. TMI USA has agreed to accept their work officially as part of our organization. They are thrilled. This is actually where Faith, our granddaughter, is now, as I mentioned above. Then Italy was launched by Colombia after Italian visitors saw what was going on in Colombia. Other South American countries are waiting in line, so you can imagine the direction and prayer that Steve and the Board need regarding all these doors that seem to be opening. 

The feeding program, thanks to supporters, has many testimonies. One is a mom with AIDS who couldn’t breast feed, but as food became available, the mom was able to sustain her baby who is getting stronger and catching up. In the future the little girl will be able to walk and have a much more normal life. Others are thankful for their families to be able to survive through the drought until the rains come next season. The ministry is also growing in numbers as the youngsters have the strength to go back to school and also attend the Teen Missions programs. 

We are including a picture of the finished Ablution Block. We have a “building crew” of TMI staffers that have become proficient and skilled. Steve and Gay’s team dug and poured the huge foundation for it several summers ago. Many thanks for digging through all that hard ground and pouring concrete. Thanks Team!

It seems that in many places in the world people are also hungry for God. Let's pray for America that we can still have another visitation and that it is not too late. I remember when Reinhard Bonnke prayed for a 'blood washed Africa,” and now it is our turn to pray for a blood washed America; from the north to the south, and the east to the west.

Again, we thank you for all of your prayers, support over the years, and for standing with us.

We thank God for all that is happening and ask you to join your hands with ours as we labor together,

In His Harvest,

Doug and Barb Petersen

251 Heavenly St. 

Merritt Island, FL

32953