It is wonderful to know that God is, and that He is a rewarder of those that diligently seek Him. This statement from Hebrews 11:6 has been a strong tower of strength to me and has helped me increase my foundational faith and confidence in my Bible and my Savior. I thank God for these “handfuls of purpose” that He gives us on our life-faith journey.
As of the writing of this letter, my family and I are preparing to leave to return to Peru after three months of a short but extremely busy furlough. By the time you read this letter, we will be home and wrapping up our Mission Conference at Efata. We are so thrilled to have Spanish Pastor Fabio Betancourth coming as our special speaker from Bible Baptist Church of Bradenton, FL.
During this short furlough we were able to accomplish several important goals.
We were able to participate and interpret the Servant’s Conference at First Baptist Church, Hammond’s Spanish church for a Deaf Mexican young man who attended.
We were able to see our two new grandsons that were born during this furlough.
We were able to go to Joy’s Graduation from Bible College.
We were able to see most of our kids and family in the US.
We traveled over 15,000 miles and visited many of our supporting churches and several new ones.
I was able to take care of all my medical appointments with the VA.
One of the most awesome goals we were able to fulfill is the raising of more funds for the new church we are building for our mission work in Chancay, Peru, two-and-a-half hours north of our Lima location.
My, how God has provided through you, our wonderful supporting churches and friends. We were able to raise the initial $25,000 for Phase 1 to build the church building which is under construction as I am writing this. This is going to relieve the pressure from the landlord taking back over half the building they currently rent.
Once the church auditorium is done, we will be working on the four classrooms and the bathrooms. If you would like to help us with this second phase, it would be a great blessing. In this letter, I have included some pictures so you can see the progress.
Regarding the Deaf school, we increased our students from 5 last year after we reopened to 23 this year. We plan to open our High School again next year, and we are working towards that goal. Please pray for this very necessary part of our ministry in Lima.
The mass evangelism outreaches in Piura and Arequipa have been delayed due to Customs issues for the containers with the Bibles – Typical Peru! Pray we can get the containers in and reschedule our dates for the events.
Family News
Our children are looking forward to going home. They love Peru much more than being in the States.
It was so wonderful to see our two new grandsons. Julianne & Frank’s seventh, Daniel Jedediah; and Judson and Valeria’s first, Joshua Ryan. Thus, so far 15 grandkids. WE ARE BLESSED!
Please know we truly are grateful for all of you, our supporting churches and individuals. Lord willing, on our next furlough, we will be able to see those we were not able to visit this time around. There just was not enough time. You are more than welcome to come and visit us.
Nos asombramos constantemente por la bondad y el cuidado de Dios por nuestro trabajo misionero y ministerio en Perú y por nuestra familia. El inicio de este año ha sido maravilloso.
En febrero, estuve en los Estados Unidos para una conferencia misionera y para asistir a mis citas médicas anuales con el seguro y con el oftalmólogo. Regresé a Perú y tuvimos una gran conferencia de Fuegos de Evangelismo donde varios jóvenes fueron salvos y tomaron decisiones.
El día después de la conferencia, toda la familia viajó a los Estados Unidos para comenzar el breve giro que mencioné en mi carta de oración anterior.
Uno de nuestros objetivos para este viaje es recaudar fondos para construir una iglesia dos horas al norte en una de nuestras misiones. El propietario le informó a nuestro pastor nacional que perderá uso de la mitad de su pequeño edificio en pocos días y que podría perder también la otra mitad. Compramos una propiedad para construir la iglesia y ahora estamos recaudando fondos para construir el edificio inicial de la iglesia cerca de donde han estado alquilando.
Hasta ahora, hemos recaudado $12,000 – ¡a Dios sea la gloria! Estamos buscando $20.000 iniciales para construir un auditorio de 200 asientos y otros $5.000 para equiparlo con agua, alcantarillado y mobiliario. Más adelante recaudaremos fondos para construir aulas para Escuela Dominical y salones multiuso, así como una casa pastoral. Planeamos comenzar de inmediato a medida que lleguen los fondos.
Por favor haga de esto un tema de oración. Si puede ayudar con este proyecto para el edificio inicial o para el futuro salón de clases y espacio para el hogar, sería una bendición. Por favor envíen el apoyo a Macedonia World Baptist Missions, designado al “Proyecto de Construcción Efata – Chancay”.
Estamos planeando otro evento de evangelismo masivo en la segunda y la tercera ciudad más grande del Perú – Arequipa y Piura – en mayo y junio. Oramos por una cosecha de almas en ambos lugares. Nosotros y las iglesias peruanas de nuestro compañerismo imprimiremos folletos, y pastor Mark Smith de Tacoma, Washington y otras iglesias en los Estados Unidos imprimirán y nos enviarán dos contenedores de Biblias y Nuevos Testamentos para distribuir en estas ciudades.
La escuela avanza con más alumnos sordos este año. Nuestro objetivo es aceptar nuevamente a estudiantes de secundaria. Estamos trabajando con el departamento jurídico del Ministerio de Educación en esto. Por favor oren para que tengamos éxito. Los sordos necesitan esto y necesitamos tener esta influencia en la generación futura para el Señor.
Noticias de la familia
¡Julianne y Frank tendrán un nuevo bebé! En cualquier día ya nacerá! Este será su séptimo hijo y nuestro decimocuarto nieto. En mayo, nuestro hijo Judson y su esposa Valeria esperan su primer hijo. Joy también se graduará del seminario en mayo. Estamos agradecidos de estar en los Estados Unidos por estos pocos meses para compartir estos maravillosos hitos, reportar a varias iglesias que nos apoyan y presentar nuestro ministerio a un par de iglesias nuevas.
Regresamos a Perú la primera semana de junio e inmediatamente tenemos nuestra Conferencia Misionera. Fabio Betancourth, pastor del ministerio hispano de la Iglesia Bíblica Bautista en Bradenton, FL, será nuestro predicador especial. Estamos encantados de que venga.
Como mencioné antes, realizaremos un viaje más largo y completo para reportar en 2026 o 2027, si Dios quiere. Joseph, nuestro hijo que trabaja con nosotros, hará lo mismo para 2025.
Gracias a todos y sentimos si no pudimos veros. Simplemente no hubo suficiente tiempo. Nos vemos la próxima vez y, como siempre, están más que bienvenido a venir a visitarnos.
We are constantly amazed at God’s goodness and care for our mission work and ministry in Peru and our family. The beginning of this year has been wonderful.
In February, I was in the States for a mission conference and to attend my yearly medical appointments at the VA and eye doctor. I returned to Peru, and we had a wonderful Fires of Evangelism conference where several young people made decisions and several were saved.
The day after the conference, the entire family flew to the States to begin the short furlough that I mentioned in my previous prayer letter.
One of our goals for this short furlough is to raise funds to build a church two hours north of us at one of our mission works. Our national pastor there was advised by his landlord that he would be losing the use of half of his small building in a couple of weeks and may lose the other half as well. We purchased property to build the church and are now raising funds to construct the initial church building for them nearby where they have been renting.
So far, we have raised $12,000 – to God be the glory! We are looking for an initial $20,000 to build a 200-seat auditorium and another $5000 to equip it with water, sewer and furniture. Later we will raise funds to build Sunday School and multiuse rooms as well as a pastor’s home. We plan to begin right away as funds come in.
Please make this a matter of prayer. If you can help with this project for the initial building or for the future classroom and home space, that would be a blessing. Please send the support to Macedonia World Baptist Missions designated “Efata Building Project – Chancay.”
We are planning another evangelism explosion for the second and third largest cities in Peru – Arequipa and Piura – around the middle of the year. We are praying for a soul harvest in both locations. We and the Peruvian churches that are partnering with us will be printing the tracts, and Pastor Mark Smith From Tacoma, Washington and partnering churches in the States will be printing and sending us two containers of Bibles and New Testaments to distribute in these two cities.
The school is moving forward with more Deaf students this year. Our goal is to be able to accept high school students again. We are working with the legal department of the Ministry of Education on this. Please pray that we will be successful. The Deaf need this, and we need to have this influence on the future generation for the Lord.
Family News
Julianne and Frank are having a new baby boy, to be born any day now! This will be their seventh child and our fourteenth grandchild. Then in May, our son Judson and he wife Valeria are expecting their first child. Joy will also be graduating from College in May. We are grateful we could be in the States for these few months to share in these wonderful milestones and report to several of our supporting churches and present our ministry to a couple of new churches.
We return to Peru the first week of June and immediately have our Mission Conference. Fabio Betancourth, Spanish Pastor from Bible Baptist Church in Bradenton, FL, will be our special speaker. We are thrilled that he is coming.
As I mentioned before, we will do a longer, more robust furlough of reporting in 2026 or 2027, the Lord willing. Joseph, our son who works with us, will be going on Furlough for 2025. Thanks you to all of you and we are sorry if we did not get by to see you. There just was not enough time. We will see you next time around, and, as always, you are more than welcome to come and visit us.
¡El nuevo año está aquí! Esperamos con ansias lo que traerá el 2024. A pesar de los desafíos políticos que enfrenta el mundo entero, las guerras, persecuciones y la anarquía de nuestros días, nuestra esperanza está en el Señor. El salmista claramente nos anima a esta esperanza en Salmo 42:5.
¿Por qué te abates, oh alma mía, Y te turbas dentro de mí? Espera en Dios; porque aún he de alabarle, Salvación mía y Dios mío.
Terminamos el 2023 con algunos eventos increíbles. Primero, tuvimos una maravillosa cena navideña para aquellos que viven en Efata que deseaban participar y para aquellos de la iglesia que no tenían una familia con quien celebrar. Pudimos dar regalos a todos los niños que estuvieron presentes y la pasaron de maravilla. También tuvimos varios eventos para los niños y sus familias en Efata y en algunas de nuestras obras misioneras. Muchos confiaron en Cristo.
También pudimos ayudar a algunas familias necesitadas gracias a la generosidad de ustedes que nos apoyan.
A una querida anciana se le dio una nueva silla de ruedas que necesitaba desesperadamente, y está muy emocionada de venir a la iglesia en ella. A otra niña se le regaló un bonito teclado para que aprendiera a tocar el piano, uno de sus sueños.
Bautizamos a seis personas en las últimas dos semanas de 2023. Si Dios quiere, también tenemos tres bautismos esta primera semana de enero.
Sabemos que es el Señor quien da el aumento a medida que nuestra iglesia va y predica. Lo alabamos por el aumento de almas salvadas y bautismos. Muchas almas han llegado a conocer a Cristo a lo largo de 2023.
Noticias de la familia
En marzo, nuestra familia irá a los Estados Unidos para un breve viaje de tres meses. Aunque quisiéramos visitar a todos, tenemos demasiado por hacer como para estar fuera por más tiempo.
NOTA IMPORTANTE: Pastor, si desea que vengamos a reportar en su iglesia, POR FAVOR contácteme para coordinar la posibilidad de visitarles. Estoy priorizando a las iglesias donde no hemos ido por mucho tiempo y a las que están cerca de las áreas donde estaremos.
Aquí está nuestra información de contacto:
Phone: 813-675-4879 – Solo voz (Usar móvil después de marzo)
Móvil: 813-406-2838 – Voz, WhatsApp, Texto
Email: jkotvas@efata.org, jfkotvas@gmail.com
En marzo, nuestra hija Julianne espera su séptimo hijo, en abril, Valeria, la esposa de Judson, espera su primero, y en mayo, Joy se graduará del seminario. Hemos coordinado nuestra visita en torno a estos eventos.
Probablemente haremos un viaje más completo reportando a nuestras iglesias en 2026 o 2027, si Dios quiere, ya que Joseph, nuestro hijo que trabaja con nosotros, está planeando su licencia para 2025.
The new year is upon us. We look forward to what 2024 will bring. In spite of the political challenges that the entire world is facing, the wars, the persecutions and the lawlessness of the day, our hope is in the Lord. The Psalmist encourages us to this hope in Psalm 42:5.
Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.
We ended 2023 with some amazing events. First, we had a wonderful Christmas meal for those who live at Efata who wished to participate and for those of the church who did not have a family to celebrate with. We were able to give gifts to all the children that were present and had a wonderful time. We also had several events for children and their families at Efata and at some of our mission works. Many trusted Christ.
In addition, we were able to help a few families in need through the generous donations of you, our supporters.
One dear elderly member was given a new wheelchair which she desperately needed, and she is so excited coming to church in it. Another young girl was given a nice keyboard so she could learn to play the piano, which was one of her dreams.
We baptized six people in the last two weeks of 2023. Lord willing we have three baptisms this first week of January as well.
We know it is the Lord who gives the increase as our church is going and telling. We praise Him for the increase of souls saved and baptisms. Many souls have come to know Christ throughout 2023.
Family News
In March of this year our family will be coming to the States for a short three-month furlough. Though it will not be long enough to visit everyone, we have too much going on to be gone longer.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Pastor, if you would like to have us come and give an update, PLEASE contact me so I can see if we can come to you. I am prioritizing churches we have not been to for a long time and ones in the areas we will be in.
Here is our contact information:
Phone: 813-675-4879 – Voice Only (use Mobile after March)
Mobile: 813-406-2838 – Voice, WhatsApp, Text
Email: jkotvas@efata.org, jfkotvas@gmail.com
In March our daughter Julianne is expecting her seventh child. In April, Valeria, Judson’s wife, is expecting their first child, and in May, Joy will be graduating from Bible College. We have coordinated our visit around these events.
We will probably do a longer, more robust furlough of reporting in 2026 or 2027, the Lord willing, as Joseph, our son who works with us, is planning his furlough for 2025.
