“… la misericordia de Dios es continua….” Salmos 52:1
Primeramente, quiero pedir perdón por la tardanza de este carta. Estuve muy ocupada, y pensé que ya había mandado una carta para Julio y Agosto. Gracias por su paciencia y comprensión. Los acontecimientos en esta carta reflejan la misericordia y bondad de Dios.
En Setiembre, tuvimos en Efata la escuela de Pastores dirigida por nuestros buenos amigos de la Iglesia Bautista Internacional. Asistieron más de 600 personas por las noches. Estamos tan agradecidos por los avances en la construcción y transformación de nuestra cancha de fútbol en un auditorio principal para la iglesia, permitiéndonos acomodar esa cantidad de personas. Varias recibieron a CRISTO y muchas jóvenes se entregaron al servicio tiempo completo del SEÑOR. ¡Que gozo! Seguimos orando para poder acabar el piso por el auditorio. Por favor oren por los fondos para esto.
El viaje misionero a Pucallpa fue de bendición. Por favor oren por esa misión; tuvimos que hacer un cambio en el liderazgo allí y todavía no tenemos un pastor permanente para asumir ese cargo. Algunos de nuestros pastores y seminaristas viajan semanalmente para predicar y mantener a ese ministerio. Oren que Dios nos dé una líder más permanente para esa ciudad.
Este mes de noviembre tenemos planificada nuestra conferencia Bíblica anual. Dos predicadores vendrán—evangelista sordo Bill Schutt y Pastor Wayne Van Gelderen de Falls Baptist Church. Oren por favor por fruto y crecimiento en la Iglesia.
La misión en Tablada gracias a Dios ha encontrado un buen local donde reunirse y están levantando su auditorio, poniendo un techo y alistando para sus cultos. Están bien y Dios está bendiciendo. Nuestra misión en Callao hace poco celebró un día muy especial con una asistencia récord.
Noticias de familia
Mi familia y yo fuimos a los EE.UU. en Julio por unas meses para atención y descanso médico. Me operaron el hombro. El tratamiento y la recuperación fueron de éxito gracias a Dios. Estos últimas dos años han sido muy interesantes para mí en cuanto a mi salud. Sigo en tratamiento para mi espalda, y mi hombro izquierdo aún necesita una cirugía por un desgarro de manguito rotatorio y por incremento de calcio que no disuelve aun después de 3 tratamientos. Tengo cirugía programada para enero, pero si puedo aguantarlo por un poco lo voy a postergar para ir más adelante con toda la familia para un viaje más extenso. Va a necesitar la cirugía si o si, y cuando termino, los dos hombros Dios mediante estarán bien.
Nuestro hijo Judson se casó en Octubre. Fue una bendición ir y participar en la boda. Le damos la bienvenida a Valeria como nueva hija en la familia. Su querida familia son amigos nuestros por muchas años. Su padre Darío Balcázar es un pastor en Chiclayo, Perú. Gracias a Dios estaban presentes todas nuestras hijos y nietos en la boda.
El día después de la boda, la bomba de agua en nuestro carro malogró en plena carretera. Dios nos cuidó a pesar que estuvimos en un lugar extraño con toda la familia. Un mecánico cristiana nos ayudó a arreglarlo la mañana siguiente, y mientras tanto una hermana en Cristo nos ayudó a movilizarnos y nos invitó a almorzar. Tuvimos un buen compañerismo con ella y sus hijos y encima el costo de arreglar el carro fue cubierto anónimamente. Que Dios le bendiga grandemente a cada persona a quien El usó para ayudarnos. ¡Dios es muy bueno!
Lisa ha estado muy ocupada ayudando en el ministerio. Tuvimos una boda en Efata la semana después de nuestra retorno a Lima. Hemos podido pasar mucho tiempo en consejos prematrimoniales y matrimoniales en nuestra iglesia. Es un gozo ayudar a las personas a unirse más los unos a los otros y a Dios. Agradecemos a Dios por las almas salvadas cada semana.
Muchas gracias por sus oraciones, su amistad, y su apoyo económico.
“…the goodness of God endureth continually.” – Psalm 52:1
First of all, let me apologize for the lateness of this letter. I have been extremely busy and honestly thought I had sent out a letter for July – August. Thank you for your patience and understanding. As you will see in this letter, the passage above says it all!
In September, Efata hosted a Pastor’s school in our installations for our good friends at International Baptist Church here in Lima. There were over 600 people present each night of the conference. We are so thankful for all of the hard work in the continued construction and transformation of our soccer court to our main auditorium in order to accommodate so many. Several people were saved during the week and many young people were called of God to full-time service. What a joy! We are still praying for sufficient funds to renovate the floor for this auditorium, so please continue to pray for this with us.
The mission trip to Pucallpa went well. Please pray for that mission as we are having to change leadership there and as of yet do not have a permanent pastor to assume that work at this time. One of our assistant pastors or seminary students travels there every week to preach and maintain that ministry until God gives us a permanent leader.
This month we will be having our Annual Bible Conference. We will have two special speakers—Deaf Evangelist Bill Schutt for our Deaf ministry side and Pastor Wayne Van Gelderen from Falls Baptist Church for our hearing ministry side of the church.
Our Mission in Tablada has finally found a good location to meet and they are currently renovating the location for services. They are doing well, and God is blessing. Our Callao Mission just had a special day and had a record attendance.
Family News
I and my family went to the States in July for a few months for a short medical furlough. I had surgery on my right shoulder and all of the follow-up treatment. It is doing a great deal better and I am thankful to the Lord. These past couple of years have been interesting for me health-wise. I am still under treatment for my lower back, and my left shoulder is going to need surgery as well for a torn rotator cuff and calcium buildup that will not dissolve even after three treatments for that purpose. My surgery is scheduled for January of next year. However. if I can deal with the pain for a while, I will hold off for when I can come back home for an official furlough and take care of it then. It will inevitably need to be done, and once it is taken care of, I should have no more problems with my shoulders, barring any unforeseen accidents.
Our son Judson was married in October. It was a blessing to be able to go and participate in the wedding ceremony. He is now a sergeant in the Marine Corps, stationed in Virginia. We welcome our new daughter-in-law Valeria into our family. Her dear family have been our friends for many years. Her father is a pastor in Peru. Thankfully, all our children and grandchildren were able to be there.
The day after the wedding, the water pump went out on my car on I-95 in North Carolina. We were only 30 miles from one of our supporting churches. I was unable to reach the pastor at the moment as he was out of town. (He did contact me right away once he got the message. Thankfully everything had already been worked out.) However, another friend in the area, whose son had visited us at Efata on a missions trip, was able to contact a mechanic from our supporting church who was able to coordinate with me to fix it the next morning. To add blessing on top of blessing, the cost was taken care of anonymously. May God richly bless all those who had a part in this “ox in the ditch” blessing. We could have broken down in a much worse area with no help, but God gave us a “handful of purpose” and our supporting church and friends an opportunity to be a blessing by having us break down at the closest point on the interstate to those who helped us. The goodness of God!
Lisa and I have spent a great deal of time in pre-marital and marital counseling for our folks here at Efata. We so enjoy bringing people closer to each other and closer to God. We praise God for souls being saved each week.
Thank you for your prayers, friendship and financial support.
“Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.”
– Proverbs 27:1
We have been very busy during these last couple of months. The work continues to move forward for the Lord. We do not presume that we have tomorrow, thus, we work today for “thenight cometh, when no man can work”!
We have seen several saved and baptized during these past two months. Services have been steady post COVID. Of course, we are dealing with the current wave of COVID fear etc.
I have been preaching some Sunday Evenings in one of our mission churches in Callao near the airport. It is an hour and a half away from Efata. We needed to rework the leadership in the mission and I am excited about what the Lord is going to do there.
Missions Conference 2022
In June we had our Missions Conference for the first time since 2020. What a great spirit and blessing it was. We had great participation for our international banquet. We are currently taking our Faith Promise commitments and hope to increase our missions giving and add two more missionaries to our support.
We have been preparing for a mission trip with our church to our mission work in Pucallpa in the jungle. This is the first time that we have done this as a church. Our Deaf and young people have been saving for several months for this special trip.
After the Missions Conference, we hosted a ladies’ conference directed by our missionary friends of International Baptist Church. That was a great blessing; several ladies made commitments to be greater lights in their families and churches. Several were saved as well.
We continue to work on transforming our soccer court into our main auditorium. We have completed platform construction and have built a separation wall dividing the nursery and bathrooms from the auditorium. The right side mezzanine is built, but we need to finish building the chair levels for the seats. That will take some time and funds to build.
We are in the process of transforming our soccer court into an auditorium
We are thankful to our supporters who have given to help redo the floor of the auditorium. We are far from what we need, but we are grateful to begin putting the funds aside to do this. Thank you for giving. Please do not forget to designate special offerings to “floor project.”
Family News
Lisa and the kids are doing well. We enjoyed a 4th of July celebration with Joseph’s family with chicken on the grill. Our good friends and missionary family Markos Lindsey were visiting Efata to pick up their daughter from the airport, and we enjoyed an American celebration. We are thankful to God for our country. Even though it is in great need spiritually, it is still the greatest nation on the earth.
I returned to the States on the 6th of July for medical care. It looks like I will have to have surgery on my right shoulder due to a torn rotator cuff. Please pray for this and those that help care for me. If I have the surgery, I will be delayed for a few weeks before I can go back to Peru due to follow-up and recovery.
Thank you for your prayers, friendship and financial support.
Han sido dos meses rápidos desde nuestra última carta. Dios ha estado obrando grandemente, como siempre lo hace. Qué alegría estar en Su servicio y voluntad.
Hemos tenido varios cambios en el ministerio de Efata. En marzo comenzamos con un nuevo formato de grupos pequeños en Escuela Dominical. Realizamos varias capacitaciones para preparar a nuestros maestros. Desde la pandemia veníamos haciendo Escuela Dominical de manera virtual, pero ahora todo es presencial. También regresamos a nuestro horario original de cultos. Esto ha sido una gran bendición, y nuestra asistencia ha aumentado con un promedio mayor que antes de la pandemia.
La nueva Escuela Dominical ha sido recibida con emoción y entusiasmo. Es maravilloso ver cómo se desarrollan los líderes de grupo y cómo se involucran más miembros. Hemos recibido a muchos visitantes nuevos y varios han sido salvos y bautizados durante estos maravillosos meses.
Paseo con las familias de la iglesia
Los sordos tuvieron un paseo maravilloso, y tuvimos un gran día familiar con toda la iglesia en Semana Santa. Joseph y un equipo de líderes misioneros para sordos fueron a Iquitos para ayudar a una iglesia con su nuevo ministerio. Así empezamos nuestro nuevo ministerio de “circuito” para capacitar y establecer nuevas obras para sordos en todo el Perú.
Alumnos en el seminario
Nuestro Seminario, Instituto Bíblico para Oyentes y nuevo Instituto Bíblico para Sordos han iniciado su año académico. El Instituto para Sordos se ha ampliado para ayudar a compensar la falta de educación para sordos. Somos bendecidos por estos jóvenes quienes quieren aprender la obra de Dios y mejorar su lenguaje y lectura. También enseñamos oficios para ayudarlos en su futuro. Oramos para que una nueva generación de pastores, misioneros, líderes y obreros Sordos se capaciten para el ministerio a través de este nuevo instituto. El fruto tardará años en manifestarse, pero la inversión vale la pena.
Hay una necesidad de apoyo para los adultos jóvenes para ayudar a pagar la pensión completa y la educación. Si desea invertir en las vidas de estos jóvenes ayudando a apoyarlos, háganoslo saber y pueden hacerlo a través de nuestra Misión o iglesia local según lo dirija el Señor.
Noticias de la familia
Tocando para los servicios
Lisa y yo estuvimos en los Estados en el mes de abril para ayudar a John a instalarse y para varias citas médicas. Regresamos a Perú el 28 de abril. Todo está bien y tengo buenos resultados. Mi espalda ha mejorado al igual que mis hombros. Desafortunadamente, tuve una fuerte caída hace dos semanas y me lastimé mucho el manguito rotador derecho. Tuve que ir a la sala de emergencia. Afortunadamente, no se rompió nada, pero es posible que tenga un pequeño desgarro en mi rotador. Todavía tengo menos fuerza en el brazo. Parece estar sanando bien, pero no pude hacer que un cirujano ortopédico lo revisara. Otro médico lo miró y me aconsejó que tuviera cuidado. Lo estoy intentando.
John ahora está solo. Cumplió 18 años en diciembre del año pasado y regresó a los EE.UU. Se quedará en el hospedaje de nuestra iglesia local por un mes más mientras trabaja y ahorra para conseguir su propio lugar. Tiene muchos retos por delante, así que por favor oren por él. También está considerando varias opciones para la universidad. Esto deja a tres niños en casa con nosotros en Perú. Joy está terminando su primer año en el seminario. Fue un año muy ocupado para ella. Pudo participar en representaciones teatrales para Navidad y Semana Santa, cantar en el grupo Coral y tomar clases de piano y clarinete. Gracias por sus oraciones por ella. A Jessica y Jennifer les ha ido muy bien en sus clases de piano con hermana Rebecca, y el Señor proporcionó una amiga para que les enseñara lecciones intensivas de violín. Han podido tocar los domingos acompañando al piano. Esta fue de mucha bendición y una respuesta a la oración.
Gracias a todos nuevamente por su cuidado y apoyo para con nosotros. Estamos verdaderamente agradecidos de que Dios los haya elegido a todos ustedes para ser nuestros colaboradores para difundir el Evangelio en Perú y más allá.
This has been a fast-moving two months since our last update. God has been working greatly as He always does. What a joy to be in His service and will.
We have had several developments in ministry here at Efata. In March we started Sunday School again with our new small group format. We held several training sessions to prepare our teachers for this new program. Since the pandemic, we had been doing Sunday School online, but everything is now in-person. We also have gone back to our original preaching service schedules as well. This has been a great blessing, and our attendance is up and averaging better than before the pandemic.
The new Sunday School has been received with excitement and enthusiasm. It is wonderful to see the group leaders being developed and more of the membership involved. We have had many new visitors, and several have been saved and baptized during these wonderful months.
Family Day
The Deaf had a wonderful picnic fellowship and we had a wonderful church-wide family day during the Easter holidays. Joseph and a team of our Deaf missionary leaders went to Iquitos to help a church there with their new Deaf ministry. This is the beginning of our new “Circuit riding” ministry to train and establish new deaf works throughout Peru.
Bible College Students
Our Bible College, hearing Bible Institute and new Deaf Bible Institute all have begun the new academic year. The Deaf Institute has been expanded to help compensate for the lack of deaf education. We are blessed by these young adults who want to be here to learn God’s work and improve their language and reading skills. We also are teaching trades to help them for their future. We pray a new generation of Deaf pastors, missionaries, leaders, and workers will be trained for ministry through this new institute. The fruit will take years to realize but the labor and investment is greatly worth it.
There is a need for support for the young adults to help pay for their room board and education. If you would like to invest in the lives of these young people by helping support them, please let us know and it can be done through our Mission or local church as the Lord leads.
Family News
Playing for Sunday Services
Lisa and I were in the States for the month of April to help John get settled and for several medical appointments. We returned to Peru on April 28th. All is well and I have had good results. My back has improved as have my shoulders. Unfortunately, I had a hard fall two weeks ago and really hurt my right rotator cuff. I had to go to the ER. Fortunately, nothing was broken, but I might have a slight tear in my rotator. I still have less strength in the arm. It seems to be healing well, but I was unable to have it looked at by an Orthopedic surgeon. I had another doctor look at it, and he advised just to be careful. I am trying.
John is now out on his own. He turned 18 in December of last year and moved back to the US. He is staying at our home church’s mission apartment for one more month while he works and saves up to get his own place. He has a long way to go, so please pray for him. He is looking at several options for college as well. This leaves three children still at home with us in Peru.
Joy is finishing her first year of Bible College. It was a very busy year for her, and she was able to participate in drama presentations for Christmas and Easter, sing in the Choral group and take classes on piano and clarinet. Thank you for your continued prayers for her. Jessica and Jennifer have been doing great in their piano lessons with Miss Rebecca, and the Lord provided a friend to teach them intensive violin lessons. They have been able to play in the services on Sunday accompanying the piano. This was a wonderful blessing and answer to prayer.
Thank you all again for your care and support for us. We are truly grateful that God has chosen all of you to be our partners together to spread the Gospel in Peru and Beyond.
