Dear Friends and Family,
For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile: 11 Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it. – 1 Peter 3:10-11
It has been a very busy last couple of months. God continues to work in lives and we are thankful for the honor to serve Him here in Peru. We are loving life and serving our God!
Ministry News
The work in Tablada is going well. In our Christmas children’s activity we had over 100 children and adults attend. They had a wonderful time. A general invitation was given and 20 people raised their hands for salvation. We are working with those who made decisions to ensure that they clearly understand the Gospel, and that they grow in Christ.
December is when our school year ends and with that comes a great deal of activities. We had four graduates this year from school, one graduate from our Bible institute and four Bible College students advanced. We are grateful for the rest for our school and teaching staff. The teachers return to prepare their classes for the new year in Feb. Please pray as we will be losing two teachers this year. Joseph has begun deputation to raise support as a full-time missionary and one other teacher is moving to Argentina to work with our missionaries there. It is a monumental task trying to replace our teachers as they must learn sign language and learn how to teach the Deaf.
The church is doing well and we are seeing steady growth and blessing. I am working with one couple that was on the verge of divorce. They had already separated and their families were pushing for divorce. Thank the Lord they are responding to Biblical counseling and are now saved and back together and doing well. Please pray for this couple Maximo & Gisella, that God will continue to strengthen their relationship with Him and each other.
It has been a great year for salvation decisions and baptisms as well as Christian growth at Efata. We are rejoicing in what the Lord has in store for 2014.
We do have some pressing needs that I would like to briefly share with you for prayer and consideration.
- We have an annex ministry in Callao 1 hour away near the airport. We have been working hard to resolve the land title issue for that property. We have an active hearing and Deaf church there but have never been able to get the title for the property. Finally this year we have some direction and are working with the government agency that holds the title to try to get them to work with us on this. We do not know how much they are going to charge for the land so pray that the Lord will turn “kings’ hearts” in our favor.
- We still need to replace and redo most of the very old and outdated electrical wiring in our Efata complex. This will be a laborious and expensive task. We are set to do it in stages. It will cost approximately $30,000 for the entire job. Please pray for this very vital need. We must do this to come up to Civil Defence codes and to stop wasting electricity through the walls.
- We have plans to begin a new church mission plant in an area called Jose Galvez during the first half of this year. Please pray for wisdom in this new church plant work.
Family News
We are currently in the States until Feb. 11th for my daughter Julianne’s wedding. As I mentioned in our previous prayer letter, she is marrying a fine young man named Frank Miller. The wedding will be in our home church at Emmanuel Baptist Church, Ft. Myers Fl. We would love for all of you who can come to attend.
All the family is doing great and we enjoyed our first Christmas and New Year together with our families for the first time in the States in many years. Lisa and Julianne are very busy with wedding planning and details.
James has returned to Bible College at Baptist College of Ministry in Wisconsin. Please pray for his financial needs there. He is having a difficult time getting enough hours to pay his school bill. God is providing and we were able to come up with the funds to catch him up to enter the new semester. Pray for good work for him so he can continue to pay his school bill. We desire for him not to have to sit out a semester to pay for his bill.
God Bless,
Bro. Joe & Lisa,
Joseph, Julianne, James, Jared, Judson,
Joy, John, Joel, Jessica, Jennifer