June - August 2002 Prayer Letter

Dear friends in Christ,

“Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.”

God is blessing as He always does and we thank Him for the opportunity to serve Him as Ambassadors of the Kingdom of God amongst the deaf here in Peru.

It is wintertime here and the winters in Lima are cloudy, cool and damp. It stays that way most of the winter months with very little sunshine. Thankfully, the spiritual weather does not always match the physical weather. I am very much enjoying the opportunity that the Lord has allowed me to personally disciple two of our members in the basics of the Word of God. One deaf man named Hugo, has been saved for some time. A few months ago, God got his attention through sickness. He made a vow to return to God and be faithful. He is doing very well, was baptized and is now being discipled. This is wonderful progress for him and I would ask that you please pray for him, as he desires so much to serve the lord. His great burden is for a job to help take care of his brothers and help his mother who also was recently saved. He was working for us here but we were unable to keep him due to financial reasons.

The second man that I have the pleasure of discipling is José. He is a hearing man who is a carpenter whom I contracted to make some doors for us. During this time several of our staff men and I witnessed to him. Finally, one Wednesday night after the service, I and another brother shared with Him once again God’s great love for him. That night he bowed his head and trusted Christ as his Savior. What Joy! He was baptized the next Sunday. The blessing is that we needed a full time carpenter who could help us with work that we needed done and who could teach it our Christian school. God raised just the man up for us in José. I am extremely enjoying my personal discipleship time with him. He is a former Catholic who has many good questions and a tremendous desire to know the truth. Unfortunately, his wife has not been so ready to make that eternal change from bondage to freedom in Christ. Please pray for José and his family.

We have a very busy two months ahead of us. Our first annual Bible conference will be Sept. 9-13. Pastor Steve Houghton, Pastor to the deaf at Heritage Baptist Church in St. Augustine, FL and his wife Joyce; as well as Missionary to the deaf in Mexico, David Peach and his wife Stephanie will be our special speakers for the week. We are praying that God will really touch the hearts and lives of the deaf through this conference. Deaf from all over the country of Peru will be coming.

In addition, the end of August I will be flying to Iquitos, Peru to preach a three-day meeting for one of our national deaf pastors, Serafin Ramirez. I am praying God will use me during this meeting as well to make a much-needed difference in the lives of the deaf through Bible preaching. In October, I will be preaching/teaching in a leadership conference in a hearing church here in Lima. This will be my first conference for hearing people in Spanish and I am grateful for the opportunity.

There are still many struggles and battles to fight. However, I know that God is already the Victor and we are on the winning side. Sometimes we do get weary in well doing, however, we shall reap if we faint not. We are doing a great deal of personal and ministry-level review to ensure that we are moving in the direction that God would have us go. Please pray for us that we make wise decisions that will honor Him and advance the cause of Christ here in Peru.

Please be in prayer with us concerning the following:

The land Efata occupies - that the Lord will allow us to finally obtain a free and clear title. This has been a very frustrating and delicate situation. The land now belongs to the government and could be sold out from under us if we are not careful. Thankfully, we have options. We only wish to proceed with caution, the right spirit and wisdom.
New workers amongst the Deaf here in Efata and all of Peru. We have a great need for Christian schoolteachers who are dedicated to working with the deaf.
Our financial needs. They are great but God is Greater! We would like to finish our current repair & remodeling projects. This summer we would like to put a new roof on the kitchen and dining hall and expand its size. We have a need for new closets and bunk beds for the Children’s dorms. Also we continue to need support for the children.
Please continue to pray for deaf souls to be saved, discipled, and become ACTIVE participants in the Lord’s work.

In Christ's Service - In Peru

Bro. Joe

www.geocities.com/perukotvas/

toperu@infonegocio.com.pe

Ps. 25:12