Dear Praying Family,
The adventure continues here in Peru. We are constantly
amazed at God’s wonderful gifts. When we sent out a
letter titled “A Growing Family” last year some
of you thought we meant a baby was on the way. Not so that
time, we were just rejoicing in welcoming new believers into
God’s family. This time the news works both ways. God
has blessed us with a baby on the way! We expect the baby
should arrive around Christmas time. This is an exciting,
joyful time for us.
We also have much to report about the ministry.
Church Planting
After several months of searching and praying we believe
God has directed us to an area of Lima for a new church plant.
Four weeks ago we began midweek Bible studies at Aldo and
Frida’s house in the district of Lince (“leen-seh”)
in downtown Lima. God has brought together 4 key families
in addition to our two missionary families and our Peruvian
pastor’s family. We thank God for a great core group.
Sunday, May 28, will be the first Sunday service of the Living
Hope Baptist Church. Please pray that neighbors and friends
will come, that God would save them, and that this new church
would grow.
Needs: Printer, keyboard, sound system, projection screen,
chairs, partial salary (for a limited time) for our Peruvian
pastor, Ronald, so he can devote a majority of his time to
the ministry.
Seminary
I have 10 students in my Greek class at seminary. Most
of them are pastors from around the city. It’s been
very rewarding to see them learn to use resources for deeper
Bible
study. They are enthusiastic and dedicated to becoming
better equipped for ministry. Most of them stay for about
an hour
after class two days a week to review and practice.
Needs: Books! (The seminary has a very small library and
we need to purchase books.) The Bible software company Logos
produces several excellent electronic libraries in Spanish
with up to $3,000 worth of vital resources for Bible study.
These libraries will cost between $80-300. We would love
to provide partial scholarships to help the students purchase
these resources.
Medical Ministries
God used our second mobile clinic last month to bring over
25 new people into His kingdom. Praise the Lord!
I’m writing this letter from the city of Arequipa
in Southern Peru. We will be holding mobile clinics with
a team of doctors and med students from the US for the
next 2 weeks. This is the longest stretch all year for
the mobile
clinic ministry. Please pray for endurance, for the health
of the team members, and for fruit in the ministry. Pray
that at least 100 people will come to know the Lord as
their Savior. We will be working in poor areas around Arequipa
(this week) and Lima (next week).
Needs: Each mobile clinic costs $300-500 (primarily medicine
purchases). This is not directly budgeted and puts quite
a strain on our work funds.
Angela has been hard at work organizing software programs
to manage medicine and patient information for the mobile
clinics and the New Life Prenatal Center. Please pray that
God would provide a laptop specifically for recordkeeping
in medical ministries.
On a personal note: Please pray for Angela as she carries
our first child. The “morning sickness” has been
pretty rough and will be an added challenge during these
weeks of mobile clinics.
Looking over this long letter, I want to emphasize that
we don’t intend to present a “grocery list” of
needs. We are very grateful to you our faithful supporters.
Many of you give sacrificially so we can be here in Peru.
Please consider the items we’ve mentioned as an opportunity
to partner in some aspect of this ministry. We are confident
that God will provide according to His will as He always
does.
We also want to thank our newest supporting church, Peoples
Regular Baptist in Maybrook, New York, for joining the team.
Their generous support will go directly to meeting some of
these needs! God is already providing.
Isn’t it great serving our awesome God!?
