July 2003 prayer letter
Dear Friends and Family,
Romans 8:28And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
I have to say that this is our families rallying verse right now. Personally and ministry wise this has been a tough month. We know God is in control, As a child of God, we are never alone. Jesus Himself told us that he would never leave us nor forsake us! This is a great comfort and truth from God’s Holy Word.
This month we lost two of our deaf pastors due to wicked sins. In addition we had to dismiss one of our deaf teachers for infidelity to her husband. This has caused great damage in the deaf ministry here in Peru. It is never easy to confront pastors, especially your friends. However, the Bible is clear about what must be done. This has taken a great toll on me personally.
Along with these issues, on July 10th my family and I were in an accident when a car pulled out in front of us. To avoid hitting the car, I struck the curb which disabled my van, breaking the windshield and strut. Thank the Lord, no one was injured. After having my van towed to the shop, I borrowed a friend’s car to go to the airport. While en route we stopped at a stop light and a thief, with his fists, smashed in the window mere inches from Lisa’s face trying to steal her purse, I was able to stop him, however, when I went after him, while Lisa was calling the police, another thief came up and stole my cell phone right out of her hand; this in front of several people who did nothing to help (normal for here). As you know, Lisa is pregnant and this was a very stressful time for her. Again, God was protecting and Lisa only had a few minor cuts from the glass. A few days later, Lisa was in the grocery store and a thief stole her purse with all of her documents and her cell phone. Just another day on the mission field! We believe the devil is not pleased and is trying to discourage us from the work. However, God had intervened and has given us protection and safety throughout it all.
Now, some blessings! For the past three weeks we have averaged 125 on Sunday morning here at Efata Baptist Church. Two weeks ago, in our Callao church annex, we had 41 deaf show up Sunday evening. A deaf young man died of AIDS and this impacted several deaf and they came to church seeking answers. I was already prepared to preach a straight clear salvation message and God brought me an audience to listen. 8 deaf were saved that Sunday night. The next Sunday, almost all came back again, with several wanting to re-dedicate their lives to the Lord.
As I mentioned in my previous prayer letters we are involved in planting a new hearing Baptist church at our annex deaf church facility in Callao. I am working with Peruvian pastor Rubén Effio who has a wife and two small children. They are doing a great job and I would ask you to pray that God would provide for this man of God and his family as they labor where there is no other Fundamental Baptist Church. They need about 200 dollars more a month income to meet their needs. If you would like to help, Please contact me, my Pastor Richard Riley at Emmanuel Baptist Church or H.E.L.P. Ministries to inquire as to how you can designate support for Pastor Effio and the ministry there in Callao.
I feel the ministry of Efata is going through “house cleaning” and I believe God is working and we will see much greater things ahead. We are seeing wonderful fruit in many areas of our ministry. We are praying for our Bible Conference in September. Our theme will be “A Consecrated Life”. We are looking forward to this being the greatest conference ever.
We covet your prayers for our work. Financially things are difficult. For the past several months we have been paying over $500 a month for water. We are working on a solution for this and God has turned “kings hearts”. The ministry needs have grown as well with much more traveling required to our annex works and gas prices are high. Also this month of July, we must pay a bonus to all of our 21 workers and teachers by law.
Thank you all personally who give and pray in support of this ministry. Several of you have given love offerings that without which we would not have been able to keep going. I know God has the resources that we need in His people. God WILL provide according to His will. Please pray that we stay right in the center of His will.
In Christ’s Service – In Peru
Joe & Lisa
Joseph, Julianne, James, Jared, Judson, Joy, ?