Jun 30, 2011 | Prayer Letters
Dear Friends and Family,
Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength.
– Nehemiah 8:10
Truly the Joy of the Lord is the strength of God’s people. When the Word of God is proclaimed as it was in the day of Nehemiah; the same joy can be experienced as we bring the Word of God to a lost and dying world. The ministry with all of its difficulties brings incredible joy as we see God work in and through us!
Ministry News
What a busy few months it has been. We have had some very wonderful days here at Efata. On May 22nd we had our church’s 34th anniversary. My pastor, Matt Booher of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Fort Myers, Florida, was our special speaker. What a joy it was to finally have him come and be a part of our ministry. It was a wonderful day with several saved.
Last week we had our annual Mission Conference. Missionary to the Deaf, Jim Sloan came in and was our special speaker. Jim has been a friend of this ministry and of mine personally for many years. He was very influential in my confirmation to the call to missions here in Peru. We had three people saved during the conference, and on Monday, a hearing son of one of our deaf leaders was saved after hearing a very clear presentation of the Gospel on Sunday.
Our church met our faith promise goal for last year and so far the commitments for this coming mission year exceeded last year by 20%. We as a church are thrilled at what the Lord is doing here at Efata. The church also pledged over $3300.00 for the continued work on the construction of the new church in the jungle town of Pucallpa of which over half has already come in. What a blessing to see our national people sacrificially giving to the Lord’s work. This month the school also celebrated its 41st year here in Peru.
Last week I had the opportunity to preach a Mission Conference for Missionary Markos Lindsey in Huancayo. That was a tremendous blessing. During that time I was able to visit the deaf work that we started two years ago and preach for them. It was a blessing to see Pastor Jorge, a Deaf missionary sent out of our church doing a wonderful work in that mountain city.
Next week I will be going to Mexico to participate in a Mission Conference with Pastor Luis Ramos in San Luis Potosi. While there I will have the privilege of visiting another dear pastor friend, Antonio Gomez in Torreon, Mexico. Both men are part of the preaching team of Fires of Evangelism which is based out of Northwest Bible Baptist Church in Elgin, IL. Fires of Evangelism has conferences all over Latin America to encourage preachers and laymen regarding soul winning, leadership training and family issues. Pastor Elmer Fernandez heads up this very vital ministry which is a tremendous blessing to us every year when we host the Fires Conference here in Lima.
When I return from Mexico, I will be going to the coastal town of Chiclayo to preach in a conference with Gil Torres, Spanish Pastor from Lighthouse Baptist Church in Lemon Grove, CA. I am thrilled for these opportunities to preach and encourage people about missions and ministry (especially with the Deaf). Please pray for God’s provision and safety as I travel and preach His Word.
Family News
It is so exciting having our oldest son Joseph home for the summer from college. It is always a thrill to have the whole family home. I know as the kids get older and God leads them in their future lives, these times will become fewer and farther between. Lisa and I are grateful to God for the family He has given us and what a thrill it is to see our children serving the Lord.
During the Mission Conference I was blessed to have all of my older children helping and serving, James led the choir and helped with the interpreting, Julianne played the violin and interpreted, Joseph helped with interpreting and special music, Jared and Judson sang in the choir, Joy and John sang a special in their Patch group and quoted scripture. What a joy!
What a privilege to serve the Lord together as a family and to be your partners in Peru and beyond.
Thank you for your continued prayers and commitments to us. We, like many missionaries have lost a great deal of support during these difficult times. However, we marvel at how God continually provides for our needs in miraculous ways. He continues to do so by using you, our supporters as channels of blessing through your prayers and sacrificial giving. Thank you for being an instrument in God’s hand on our behalf.
Joe & Lisa,
Joseph, Julianne, James, Jared, Judson, Joy, John, Joel, Jessica, Jennifer
Mar 30, 2011 | Prayer Letters
Dear Friends and Family,
I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.
– John 9:4
These past three months have flown by. It is hard to keep track of the time. There is much work to do and we can see the night is coming fast upon us!
Ministry News
In January we had another wonderful conference with Fires of Evangelism. Many people were saved during the week, and several made decisions. It was a great blessing. We had more local pastors this year than before, even though the crowd was smaller. Elmer Fernandez, Kevin Wynne and Antonio Gomez were our special speakers this year. We look forward to next year’s conference, where we will be focusing on the family.
Henry Vasquez & Family
Pastor Henry, our assistant pastor for the hearing has resigned to become a missionary in the jungle city of Pucallpa. We had the privilege of commissioning him and his family to go and start a ministry to the hearing as they begin the watch-care of the deaf work that is already there. We are looking forward to what the Lord is going to do through him and his wonderful family. We will miss them greatly here at Efata. The hearing ministry has grown tremendously under his leadership and labors.
We are thankful that we were recently able to build a new home on the property for the missionary and his family. We have about $3500.00 available to begin the construction of the new church building as well, because the old one is about to fall apart because of jungle rains and termites. Please pray for this, as we need about $4000.00 more to be able to complete that project. Thank you so much to those who have given to this need.
The new school year is upon us, and we have several new deaf children in the school. We are so excited to be able to start from the beginning with these children. We have had much greater success in reaching the parents of these new deaf children. Several have accepted Christ as Saviour. Just this afternoon, Pastor Victor was able to lead the parents of a new deaf child in our school to the Lord. We are thrilled about these blessings.
Family News
Jennifer is growing fast. All the kids are doing well. I traveled to Ft. Myers for my doctor’s appointment at the VA clinic, and the doctor advised that I was doing well and would not need to come back for a year. I was thrilled with that news. The blood pressure is a bit high, but we are working on that. While there, I had reward points and was able to book a free flight to Pastor’s School in Hammond, IN. What a blessing and time of spiritual refreshing about the Cross. I was also able to meet and coordinate with the mission team they are sending to Peru next year to begin a work here. We are excited about this new mission effort to reach the Spanish-speaking world from Peru!
I was able to see Joseph while I was home as well. It was good to see him and to know that he is doing well. We look forward to having him home for the summer. He will be graduating, Lord willing, in May of 2012. We are planning to coordinate a short furlough to coincide with his graduation.
Please continue to pray for us as we serve here in Peru. We are blessed to have a wonderful team of Americans and Nationals working together to do our part to evangelize the Deaf and hearing world.
Thank you for partnering with us!
Joe & Lisa,
Joseph, Julianne, James, Jared, Judson, Joy, John, Joel, Jessica, Jennifer
Jan 30, 2011 | Prayer Letters
Dear friends and family,
What an incredible year 2010 was. So much happened and we rejoice in the Lord for His manifold blessings. As with all years, 2010 was filled with its share of difficulties and challenges. What thrills me is to see how the Lord used these times to mold and mature us as a family, as a church, and as individuals. I still wonder at how people who do not have a solid relationship with the Lord cope with everything that this sinful world throws at them.
We would like to thank all of our supporting churches and friends for all they did for us last year. Many of you gave special offerings for projects during the year as well as special Christmas offerings for our family and the children here at Efata. Thank you to all of you who were able to have a part.
We have lost a considerable amount of support during 2010. Many of our partnering friends and churches have had to reevaluate their mission budgets and as one pastor said, “You are one of the casualties”. Many individuals are no longer able to continue their support for the child they were sponsoring. These are our friends and I know each one who had to stop or reduce their support did not make those decisions lightly. We love them and pray God will abundantly bless their efforts to continue effectively in New Testament World-wide Missions.
What God has done is proved that He is still in control. He has not left us one day when we could not provide food on the table for the many who depend on us here at Efata. Soul- winning efforts continue, the support of national missionaries continues, the care for the deaf children goes on, the bills get paid and the overall plan of God continues. Many of our churches and friends are suffering in these economic times, but that has not hindered God from providing in miraculous ways.
This year we have seen our missionary friends around the world struggle with serious issues of health, safety and financial needs. We have read their prayer requests and have prayed with them. We know that God never forgets about any of us, no matter where we serve, whether stateside or abroad, God intimately cares about each and every one of us.
We have rejoiced with many new births, including our little Jennifer and we have been comforted in our losses which include our dear sister in Christ, Mrs. Joyce Riley, my former pastor’s wife.
Overall, we had a tremendously blessed 2010 and we look forward with expectation to 2011. There are no limits to what God can and will do. “ For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him…” 1 Chronicles 16:9.
From January 25th – 27th we will be hosting our annual “Fires of Evangelism” Conference. In my last prayer letter I mentioned that we need to try to raise $2000.00 to help some of the national pastors be able to come and benefit from this very impacting conference. We try to pay for half their bus fare. Without these funds many will not be able to come. This conference has changed many lives and ministries over the years. Please pray with us that God will provide these funds for this year.
We thank you for all that you do in prayer and financial support for our family and Efata Ministries. God bless and grant all of you a productive and impacting 2011 for the Lord.
Bro. Joe & Lisa,
Joseph, Julianne, James, Jared, Judson, Joy, John, Joel, Jessica, & Jennifer
Nov 30, 2010 | Prayer Letters
Dear friends and family,
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. 1 Corinthians 15:58
It has been an extra busy couple of months. The busyness never stops. That’s how we like it!
Ministry News
Church has been steady. We continue to see people saved and baptized and are blessed to see spiritual growth in our people.
Angel & Carmen and their family are examples of the miracle life- changing power of the Lord in lives. Carmen was saved and began coming to church and God began to work. After some time of resistance, Angel was saved. They had been living together for years and they wanted to be right and were married. They now come faithfully to church and Carmen sings in our choir. I had the privilege of counseling with them for several months and they are being discipled by one of our assistant pastors. God can and does change lives.
Ronald is another blessing. He was working on the road in front of Efata several months ago and was led to the Lord by one of our workers. He is a complete sponge for the things of God. He tells me almost every Sunday, “Muy corto la predicación. ¡Me edifica!” (The preaching was too short. It builds me up!)
Sunday November 7th we had our third annual “Family Day” at Efata. We always take pictures of all the families who come and give a prize to the largest family. We also have dinner on the grounds. What a wonderful day this was! We did not have anyone saved, but there were over 361 people in attendance with a great deal of new prospects. The altar was full. Our special speaker was Pastor Victor Paez from Caracas, Venezuela.
In a few weeks we will have graduation and then begin our summer months here. Many of the students will be going home and our orphans will be with us. We also use this time to prepare for our “Fires of Evangelism Conference”. This is a tremendous conference with pastors who come from all over Peru and other countries. This is the last week of January. Please pray with us that God would provide $2000 in a miraculous way to help pay the passage for many pastors who otherwise will not be able to come. Every year God has provided these extra funds and we pray He will touch His people to help in the investment in pastors this year as well.
We have opened a small snack shop to the public to help generate funds for Efata and as an outreach effort to the community. We have seen over seventeen ladies saved through the Crisis Pregnancy Center since May! Pray for this ministry. God is GOOD!
[br]Angel, Carmen, & Family
[br]Ronald
[br]The Snack Shop
Family News
Wow! Jennifer is growing! She is such a doll. I just love having little ones in the house; especially when there are others to take care of the changing and feeding! Jessica has me wrapped fairly tight. Joel is growing and becoming quite an escape artist! We have to keep several eyes on him. He loves to get up early and “bake”! It is always interesting to go into the kitchen when he gets up before anyone else. Joseph is doing great in college and all of the other kids are doing well.
Thank you once again for allowing us to represent you here in Peru.
Joe & Lisa,
Joseph, Julianne, James, Jared, Judson, Joy, John, Joel, Jessica, & Jennifer
P.S. EFATA on FACEBOOK – Visit our page! Most things posted are posted bilingually. Just look in the comments to a post for the translation. This the best way to keep up with the daily “do das” of Efata Ministries.
Of course we still have our blog. I am not much of a blogger but we do post our prayer letters there and other updates from time to time.
Aug 30, 2010 | Prayer Letters
Dear friends and family,
What a blessing it is to be in the service of the Lord!
In May we had our 33rd anniversary of the church here at Efata and had over 500 in attendance. The expanded auditorium was packed.
Pastor Robert Sutton, the Associate Pastor at Winkler Road Baptist Church in Fort Myers, FL, was our guest speaker. He did a tremendous job. Several were saved and baptized.
We were blessed to have a mission group from Bethel Baptist Church from Hampton, VA come down in June. They were such a tremendous blessing to all of us here at Efata. Some wonderful relationships were forged. They were a great help in many areas of our ministry.
In May I wrote of our need and desire to build a new home and church building for our Deaf missionary and Church in the jungle city of Pucallpa. I would like to thank the churches that have responded to this need and which have given towards it. Pastor Sutton as well has be visiting some of our supporting churches and some new ones and sharing the need and helping to raise some funds for the project. He has been a blessing. Thank you to those churches that have been able to respond through him.
My son James and I with a mission team from Efata just returned from Pucallpa and we were able to begin the first phase of the project which was to build the home for the missionary and bathrooms for the church. Our goal is to be able to return in November to complete the project and get the new church building built. During the mission trip we were able to see eight deaf people and one hearing person saved while we were there.
We are building the home to be able to add a second story with another apt. so we have a place for another missionary/national pastor to live. Our desire is to start a hearing church there as well so that we can better reach the people of that city. There are other Baptist churches in the area but most of them are in outlying parts. Our property in right smack in the middle of the city and easy to access.
If you have been keeping up with our blogs on our website you know that God has blessed us with a new baby girl. Jennifer Rose was born on July 22nd at 8:30am. She weighed 8.5 lbs. and was 20.5 inches long. Re rejoice in this new precious life that God has given us.
Our oldest son Joseph was able to spend a month with us recently from college. It was great to have all the kids home. We will be getting a new family picture updated on the website soon.
Thank you all for your prayers and support. Continue to pray for us as we seek to represent you on the field of Peru South America and beyond!
Joe & Lisa,
Joseph, Julianne, James, Jared, Judson, Joy, John, Jenny, Joel, Jessica & Jennifer!
