Dear Friends and Family,
“Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ”
– Philippians 1:6
I apologize for the tardiness of this letter. I pray all is well in your place of service and God is moving and working in this new COVID reality. As the verse above states, God will perform His good work in us until Jesus comes. Nothing is going to delay or change His expected return on His timetable. We may very well go through difficult times ahead, but this always works to refine his church, not hinder it.
It has been an incredible seven months of doctors’ appointments, surgeries, procedures, and recoveries for me. As we have been in the States for all of this, I have also filled pulpits for weeks for different pastors in churches in the Fort Myers area. In August I flew to Peru for a few days, and after that, took our daughter Joy to Bible College. Now we are home! We returned to Peru on October 13th, and we are excited to get back to work.
My surgical fusion for my lower spine, therapy for my cervical spine and procedures for upper arm pain in both arms all successful. I am still recovering from the spinal surgery, but I am doing well.
Joy is now several weeks into college and is adjusting well. She also just turned 21 and is quite a young lady. We are so proud of her and thankful to the Lord that she had the honor of growing up on the mission field.
As we return to Peru with our four youngest children–John, Joel, Jessica and Jennifer–we look forward to all that the Lord has for us here.
Peru is still dealing with COVID and the political uncertainties that lie ahead. We pray for the new president as he makes changes in Peru regarding immigration, vaccinations, and more. We pray that this will not have any negative effects for us. It will, however, affect visitors. The government plans to require vaccinations for all who come into the country. They still require double masks outside. The economy is still struggling, and inflation is on the rise.
We ask you to pray for wisdom, open doors and fruit as we continue to work towards an expanded Bible Institute for the Deaf to replace our school ministry that was shut down. Through a circuit riding ministry for Deaf throughout Peru, our desire is to see more Deaf saved and discipled and to find hearing who will learn sign language and even surrender to work with the Deaf. We pray we will find Deaf who would themselves surrender to the Lord’s work and be willing to be trained.
I also hope to do more in international work with the Deaf as the Lord gives opportunity. Our first international conference live stream was well viewed and received, and we hope to do that more.
Please pray that God will give me and our Peruvian leadership team wisdom and discernment as we move forward.
There are other ministries that we hope to re-establish or renew as restrictions lift from COVID.
In September, our missionary friends of Team Peru from Hammond, Indiana hosted a Pastor’s school, and we were honored to partner with them again this year by providing logistical support and space. Hundreds came and attended the preaching and classes. Many were saved, and others surrendered to full-time service for the Lord.
This month, Joseph organized a special day for the Deaf and we had over 60 Deaf come that Sunday. That was the most Deaf we have seen come to church since COVID shut everything down. We feel like we are making progress to the normalization of our services again. The hearing side of our ministry is doing very well. Our attendance has returned to near pre-COVID numbers with many new converts and attendees. Praise God!
Thank you all once again for your continued support and care for our family and the work with the Deaf and hearing in Lima, Peru and beyond.
Blessings,
Bro. Joe & Lisa,
John, Joel, Jessica, and Jennifer