March/April 2012
Dear Pastor and Praying Friends,
Since we have been back, we have had much happen in our lives. In March we went to Connecticut to have the opportunity to meet
Fred Bambico’s parents. Fred and Danica-Lee had been getting more serious. They had told each other they loved each other, and
they we wanted to use Spring Break as an opportunity for the two families to get to know each other.
During the course of the week, Fred asked for my permission for Danica-Lee’s hand in marriage. So 23 years to the day that I
proposed to her mother, Fred proposed to Danica-Lee in his parent’s backyard. He had a beautiful white gold, diamond encrusted ring with a solitaire setting. Andrea’s sister Faith Ann, my brother in-law Wes, and our niece Dyanna were there to witness the happy occasion.
We headed out to Jeannette, Pennsylvania, and visited with one of our supporting churches, Heritage Baptist Church. They are always very good to us. I taught the Adult Sunday School Class. During the main service, a teenager by the name of Randy came forward for salvation, and I had the honor of leading him to the Lord. In between services, Andrea asked me to come into Josiah’s room. He was in tears. He said that for so many years he had felt like a liar because at service time he always raised his hand during the altar call when the preacher asked if everyone was a 100% sure they were saved. We thought he had gotten saved at the age of six, but it had just been a prayer to him. Then as he became a pastor’s kid and then a missionary’s kid, he felt ashamed and kept up appearances. But at the Youth Rally at Northeast Baptist Church on March 16, he could not stand the guilt anymore. He said he felt like his head was going to explode. He went to the men’s room and asked for salvation, asking Jesus to become his Saviour. I am so glad you can have an altar anywhere. I was so proud of him.
That night I preached “What Kind of Man Are You?” and many decisions were made. Heritage voted to increase our support, and they were so kind to us. We stayed at the Bjunes’ home while we were there, and if you have never met them, you are missing out!
We went next to Bible Baptist Church in Tyrone, Pennsylvania. We had been introduced to Pastor Patterson through DL. Kimmy, one of her good friends, had invited DL to her home during the Christmas break, and from that we had been given an invitation to come and present our ministry in Peru. I taught the Adult Sunday School and in the main service. They had a morning attendance of around 105 people. This was amazing! Just two years earlier, they had 9 people, and they had been without a pastor for three years before Pastor Patterson came. During the altar call, one of the young men who had been raised in the church came forward for salvation. He said he had questioned his salvation for many years and wanted to put it to rest. In the evening I preached again, and there were 53 in the service. During the altar call, many of the young men came forward and made decisions for Christ. We had a great time there and made many good friends. Last week Pastor Patterson called and told us they had voted to
take us on for support.
This past Sunday was a big day for us. Josiah had spoken with Pastor Schaap and told him he had gotten his salvation settled and wanted to be baptized. Pastor Schaap told Josiah how proud he was of him. So on Sunday night Pastor Schaap baptized him. During that same altar call, Fred and Danica-Lee came forward to publically dedicate their engagement to the Lord. As parents we were
so proud of both our children, and we felt like we were floating on Cloud 9!
For the rest of this month, we will be staying around Northwest Indiana. I have some projects I am getting ready for the team, and then in May the team will be having meetings as we plan out our team launch that begins in June. The Foust family will be the first family departing for Peru at the end of May. Please keep them in your prayers. We know what it is like to leave your home for another continent, and it can be scary and exciting at the same time.
We want to thank you for your continued prayers, support, and love. With the upcoming team launch in June and the upcoming wedding in December, there is much to get done, and I could sure use a couple more hours added to each day.
Our prayer requests are as follows:
Some have asked how they can be of assistance to us. We are scheduled to head back to Peru around the 17th of July and we need to procure tickets. They will cost around $2000 for the three of us and any assistance you can give would be greatly appreciated.
We have personal possessions in Alberta we would like to get so we can send them to Peru in the container. Please pray that we can either go to get them or somehow they are sent to us here in NWI.
Thank-you again for all that you do on our behalf,
Paul, Andrea, & Josiah Szabatin
Ezra 8:21-23
Friday, April 27, 2012
Thursday, April 26, 2012
March and April Prayer Letter for the Hubbard Family
March-April 2012
Dear Praying Friends,
Just one more house, I thought, while Junior Martin and I were out knocking on doors. As we approached the last door, I really wondered if we would get to see someone saved. Praise the Lord! The last door we knocked on, we got to win a teenaged young lady to Christ. Is that not how the Christian life is sometimes? How often we give up too soon. Jesus told us to ask, seek, and knock to which we would receive, find, and have opened unto us. That has been our deputation experience. It is rapidly coming to a close. We have asked for many to participate with us. We have sought His will. We have knocked on the door of moving to Peru. Many have decided to partner with us; His will is laid out before us. We have knocked on the door and are now standing at the threshold, ready to walk through.
It has been a flurry of activity for the Hubbard family since I arrived home from my last trip to Peru. We have been busy with doctor appointments, packing belongings, and itemizing those things to be shipped in our container. We’ve been blessed with an early spring in Indiana, which facilitated packing so much. We are roughly nine weeks away from launching the team and moving our family to Peru. What exciting days these are!
In addition to caring for details for our family, I am “full-throttle” in preparations for the month of May. We have set aside
the entire month to meet all together as a team for the first time. It will be a month of preparing heart, mind, and soul for
the task ahead of us. We will spend much time working out every detail of our plan once we arrive in Peru. We will need to get documents legalized to process our residence status in Peru, and we will load our container with our belongings. It will be a busy month but one to which I’m really looking forward.
I just finished my annual checkup at Mayo Clinic to monitor my cancer. The reports were good overall. My heart is fully healed from damage caused by the cancer prior to my third surgery, and there are no new developments. The largest of remaining lesions has grown slightly, so I received a bone- strengthening therapy to help my vertebrae withstand the cancer a little better. Many of our supporting churches have expressed their love and prayers. I appreciate so much the prayers of God’s people on my behalf.
Some have asked what is needed for the Hubbard family to actually get to Peru. We are looking at a need of about $5,000 for our airfare alone for the six of us to travel. Since the price of oil has surged, traveling to Peru has become quite expensive. We are so grateful to everyone who has invested in our ministry thus far. We are on the threshold of realizing much with that with which you’ve entrusted to us. Please pray with us about this need.
We count it a privilege to be your representatives to the people of Lima and all of South America. We enjoy keeping in touch via e-mail, mail, and Facebook. Please know you are in our thoughts and prayers.
For His glory,
Dan Hubbard
Dear Praying Friends,
Just one more house, I thought, while Junior Martin and I were out knocking on doors. As we approached the last door, I really wondered if we would get to see someone saved. Praise the Lord! The last door we knocked on, we got to win a teenaged young lady to Christ. Is that not how the Christian life is sometimes? How often we give up too soon. Jesus told us to ask, seek, and knock to which we would receive, find, and have opened unto us. That has been our deputation experience. It is rapidly coming to a close. We have asked for many to participate with us. We have sought His will. We have knocked on the door of moving to Peru. Many have decided to partner with us; His will is laid out before us. We have knocked on the door and are now standing at the threshold, ready to walk through.
It has been a flurry of activity for the Hubbard family since I arrived home from my last trip to Peru. We have been busy with doctor appointments, packing belongings, and itemizing those things to be shipped in our container. We’ve been blessed with an early spring in Indiana, which facilitated packing so much. We are roughly nine weeks away from launching the team and moving our family to Peru. What exciting days these are!
In addition to caring for details for our family, I am “full-throttle” in preparations for the month of May. We have set aside
the entire month to meet all together as a team for the first time. It will be a month of preparing heart, mind, and soul for
the task ahead of us. We will spend much time working out every detail of our plan once we arrive in Peru. We will need to get documents legalized to process our residence status in Peru, and we will load our container with our belongings. It will be a busy month but one to which I’m really looking forward.
I just finished my annual checkup at Mayo Clinic to monitor my cancer. The reports were good overall. My heart is fully healed from damage caused by the cancer prior to my third surgery, and there are no new developments. The largest of remaining lesions has grown slightly, so I received a bone- strengthening therapy to help my vertebrae withstand the cancer a little better. Many of our supporting churches have expressed their love and prayers. I appreciate so much the prayers of God’s people on my behalf.
Some have asked what is needed for the Hubbard family to actually get to Peru. We are looking at a need of about $5,000 for our airfare alone for the six of us to travel. Since the price of oil has surged, traveling to Peru has become quite expensive. We are so grateful to everyone who has invested in our ministry thus far. We are on the threshold of realizing much with that with which you’ve entrusted to us. Please pray with us about this need.
We count it a privilege to be your representatives to the people of Lima and all of South America. We enjoy keeping in touch via e-mail, mail, and Facebook. Please know you are in our thoughts and prayers.
For His glory,
Dan Hubbard
Thursday, April 19, 2012
February and March Prayer Letter for the Rader family
Dear Praying Friends,
HE’S HERE! Paul Anthony Rader arrived March 13th, 2012, at 12:01p.m. He weighed in at 9lbs.2oz. He and his triumphant mother are doing very well. Savannah and Daddy could not be more proud of them. To make time for baby Paul’s arrival we had to reschedule a few weeks worth of meetings. In spite of all this in the past two months we still had 12 meetings in five different states. In addition to this we have re-visited 10 churches while tending to mother and baby. One great blessing while re-visiting
these churches was to see how people remembered what we taught on our previous visit. Carlos, a junior-age boy in Douglasville, GA, remembered four illustrations seven months later. April, a lady from Nebo, NC, came up to me and with a smile said, “Macedonia” in reference to a lesson taught six months earlier. What an encouragement!
Just days before Paul was born I had the privilege to visit a man that I had led to Christ last April. He immediately invited me in to pray for Joan, his wife, and her health. After we prayed I began to witness to Joan. After witnessing for about thirty minutes, Joan had a bad seizure which even prevented her from breathing at intervals. We waited there for about half an hour more until she was able to converse again. I said to Joan, “I do want to continue our conversation but I can come back another time
if you would like for us to leave now.” She answered, “No, I’m okay, I want to continue.” Moments later Joan trusted Christ as her only hope for eternity. Praise God!
What a thrill it has been for us to see God rise to meet each and every need that has come our way. There’s been new grace at every mile-marker. For example, our van was overheating on our way to church one Sunday evening. At church that same evening we met a mechanic named Ivan. Ivan told us to bring our van by the shop. Without a charge, he fixed our radiator, put on two new tires, and balanced and rotated the tires. What a great and awesome God we serve!
We cannot thank you enough for all your prayers. We are certainly seeing them answered day by day. As of April 1st, we have now been on full-time deputation for one year. After being in over 100 churches, we currently have about 30% of the monthly support we need to raise. Please pray that we can get to Peru with the good news in time. We thank the Lord for His kindness and His love shown through you by love, support, and prayers. Please continue to pray for God to show His greatness and protection to us on our deputation trail and in Peru. God bless you.
His For Souls,
Mark, Sarah,
Savannah, and Paul Rader
HE’S HERE! Paul Anthony Rader arrived March 13th, 2012, at 12:01p.m. He weighed in at 9lbs.2oz. He and his triumphant mother are doing very well. Savannah and Daddy could not be more proud of them. To make time for baby Paul’s arrival we had to reschedule a few weeks worth of meetings. In spite of all this in the past two months we still had 12 meetings in five different states. In addition to this we have re-visited 10 churches while tending to mother and baby. One great blessing while re-visiting
these churches was to see how people remembered what we taught on our previous visit. Carlos, a junior-age boy in Douglasville, GA, remembered four illustrations seven months later. April, a lady from Nebo, NC, came up to me and with a smile said, “Macedonia” in reference to a lesson taught six months earlier. What an encouragement!
Just days before Paul was born I had the privilege to visit a man that I had led to Christ last April. He immediately invited me in to pray for Joan, his wife, and her health. After we prayed I began to witness to Joan. After witnessing for about thirty minutes, Joan had a bad seizure which even prevented her from breathing at intervals. We waited there for about half an hour more until she was able to converse again. I said to Joan, “I do want to continue our conversation but I can come back another time
if you would like for us to leave now.” She answered, “No, I’m okay, I want to continue.” Moments later Joan trusted Christ as her only hope for eternity. Praise God!
What a thrill it has been for us to see God rise to meet each and every need that has come our way. There’s been new grace at every mile-marker. For example, our van was overheating on our way to church one Sunday evening. At church that same evening we met a mechanic named Ivan. Ivan told us to bring our van by the shop. Without a charge, he fixed our radiator, put on two new tires, and balanced and rotated the tires. What a great and awesome God we serve!
We cannot thank you enough for all your prayers. We are certainly seeing them answered day by day. As of April 1st, we have now been on full-time deputation for one year. After being in over 100 churches, we currently have about 30% of the monthly support we need to raise. Please pray that we can get to Peru with the good news in time. We thank the Lord for His kindness and His love shown through you by love, support, and prayers. Please continue to pray for God to show His greatness and protection to us on our deputation trail and in Peru. God bless you.
His For Souls,
Mark, Sarah,
Savannah, and Paul Rader
Monday, April 16, 2012
April Prayer Letter from the Foust Family
Dear Praying Friends and Supporting Churches,
God is so good! We have just finished our last official meeting of deputation. We have spent the last two months traveling, presenting the work to Peru, soul winning, preaching, attending missions conferences, eating, and eating some more! We are very thankful to our heavenly Father for His watch care over us throughout all of our deputation travels. So far, our van has continued to hold up well despite the many miles we have put on it. Thankfully, we have all remained in good health, as well.
One of our meetings was in North Carolina with good friends Brian and Melissa Odham. After finishing canvassing for their church, we had just a few minutes left but didn’t want to go back early. Our son Logan, who is eight years old, and a boy from the church named Ronny, who was 10 years old, wanted to knock on the doors of houses in a cul-de-sac by themselves. While they were knocking on the doors, I saw a young man in a nice vehicle pull up to a nice house and decided to invite him to church.
He mentioned that he attended a Lutheran church faithfully, and it was like his second family. I asked him if he were sure he was going to Heaven, if he was saved, if he was born again. He said that he went to high school with a friend who is now a Baptist preacher, and all through high school his friend would ask him if he knew Jesus as his personal Saviour; but he wasn’t sure what that meant. I asked if he would like to know, and he excitedly said, “Yes!” A short time later, he gladly trusted Christ. He was so excited that he kept thanking me and had me post the picture on the internet. What a miracle to see your prayers opening hearts and doors before we arrive.
Please be in prayer for us as we wrap up our last couple of months in the States. We are planning to fly out on May 30 to begin our life’s work in Lima, Peru. This will be the first time the boys see Peru, so pray for their hearts to be ready. We will be looking at several places to live, vehicles, and making new connections. Through your prayers, God has worked and led amazingly so far, and we want to see this continue. Thank you for your sacrifice and faithfulness, which allow us to take His Gospel to
this country as we travel, to Lima as we start this work, and to the world as He continues to do great things. Please pray for the churches that have committed support to begin and remain faithful. There are churches still deciding about whether to join in support. Please pray, as this would help us near full support.
His for souls,
Zach, Karin, Zachary, Caleb, and Logan Foust
God is so good! We have just finished our last official meeting of deputation. We have spent the last two months traveling, presenting the work to Peru, soul winning, preaching, attending missions conferences, eating, and eating some more! We are very thankful to our heavenly Father for His watch care over us throughout all of our deputation travels. So far, our van has continued to hold up well despite the many miles we have put on it. Thankfully, we have all remained in good health, as well.
One of our meetings was in North Carolina with good friends Brian and Melissa Odham. After finishing canvassing for their church, we had just a few minutes left but didn’t want to go back early. Our son Logan, who is eight years old, and a boy from the church named Ronny, who was 10 years old, wanted to knock on the doors of houses in a cul-de-sac by themselves. While they were knocking on the doors, I saw a young man in a nice vehicle pull up to a nice house and decided to invite him to church.
He mentioned that he attended a Lutheran church faithfully, and it was like his second family. I asked him if he were sure he was going to Heaven, if he was saved, if he was born again. He said that he went to high school with a friend who is now a Baptist preacher, and all through high school his friend would ask him if he knew Jesus as his personal Saviour; but he wasn’t sure what that meant. I asked if he would like to know, and he excitedly said, “Yes!” A short time later, he gladly trusted Christ. He was so excited that he kept thanking me and had me post the picture on the internet. What a miracle to see your prayers opening hearts and doors before we arrive.
Please be in prayer for us as we wrap up our last couple of months in the States. We are planning to fly out on May 30 to begin our life’s work in Lima, Peru. This will be the first time the boys see Peru, so pray for their hearts to be ready. We will be looking at several places to live, vehicles, and making new connections. Through your prayers, God has worked and led amazingly so far, and we want to see this continue. Thank you for your sacrifice and faithfulness, which allow us to take His Gospel to
this country as we travel, to Lima as we start this work, and to the world as He continues to do great things. Please pray for the churches that have committed support to begin and remain faithful. There are churches still deciding about whether to join in support. Please pray, as this would help us near full support.
His for souls,
Zach, Karin, Zachary, Caleb, and Logan Foust
Monday, April 9, 2012
March Prayer Letter from the Kokubun Family
Dear Friends,
We started out the month of March at Gospel Light Baptist Church in Rio Rancho, New Mexico. In addition to seeing a young man called to preach, we saw many saved and baptized. I had the great honor of closing out the conference on Sunday evening before
heading across country to North Carolina the next day.
Thirty hours and hundreds of miles later, we found Grace Baptist Church in Cedar Grove, North Carolina and a pleasant surprise! Dr. Bob Bowen was attending the same conference! Bro. Bowen is one of my wife's heroes. When she was down in Mexico, he
preached a missions conference at her church. After the conference, Bro. Bowen asked if she would write her name down in the back of his Bible so he could pray for her. He told her that he was going to pray that God would give her a husband that would have the same passion for missions, and some day bring her back to the mission field. Now, years later, we stood before him very happily married and on our way to the mission field of Peru. God never ceases to amaze me.
God's kindness has especially overwhelmed me this month as He has constantly and proficiently gone above and beyond my expectations. He truly is worth serving. I never take for granted one prayer or dollar that God's people have so faithfully given on our behalf.
We are truly ready to hit the ground running this coming summer. As the launch approaches this coming June, please pray for us as we look for our future home and church locations. Thank you for all you do for us.
Serving Him,
Daniel and Heather Kokubun
We started out the month of March at Gospel Light Baptist Church in Rio Rancho, New Mexico. In addition to seeing a young man called to preach, we saw many saved and baptized. I had the great honor of closing out the conference on Sunday evening before
heading across country to North Carolina the next day.
Thirty hours and hundreds of miles later, we found Grace Baptist Church in Cedar Grove, North Carolina and a pleasant surprise! Dr. Bob Bowen was attending the same conference! Bro. Bowen is one of my wife's heroes. When she was down in Mexico, he
preached a missions conference at her church. After the conference, Bro. Bowen asked if she would write her name down in the back of his Bible so he could pray for her. He told her that he was going to pray that God would give her a husband that would have the same passion for missions, and some day bring her back to the mission field. Now, years later, we stood before him very happily married and on our way to the mission field of Peru. God never ceases to amaze me.
God's kindness has especially overwhelmed me this month as He has constantly and proficiently gone above and beyond my expectations. He truly is worth serving. I never take for granted one prayer or dollar that God's people have so faithfully given on our behalf.
We are truly ready to hit the ground running this coming summer. As the launch approaches this coming June, please pray for us as we look for our future home and church locations. Thank you for all you do for us.
Serving Him,
Daniel and Heather Kokubun
Thursday, April 5, 2012
March Prayer Letter for the Martin family
April 2, 2012
Dear Praying Friends,
“Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah.” (Psalm 68:19) How true this is! I must admit that when we began deputation, I really did not know what to expect. However, these last 15 months have been such a blessing. God has taught us so much, given us so many godly friends, and showered us with blessings. There is no doubt in my mind that His strong hand will continue to guide us and provide for us once in Peru.
March was quite an amazing month! Jessica and I were so excited to get back to some serious traveling, as well as be in several missions conferences. The whirlwind began the last week of February and continued through most of March. We spent a total of 22 nights in church! By both land and air, we were able to be in 6 different churches in Colorado, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Michigan.
Besides our busy travel schedule, God has continued to bless in my healing process. My weight-bearing therapy has been going very well, and I continue to heal ahead of schedule. Seven days ago I got off my crutches and “downsized” to a cane! It feels great to be able to walk again, and, Lord willing, I should be walking “normally” by May. God is so good.
With the beautiful March we have had, we have had many more opportunities to go out soul winning. Praise God for the 14 people we saw trust Christ this month! While door knocking in Metro Detroit, I met a teenage boy named Aaron. After talking about his plans to play football, I asked him if he knew for sure he was on his way to heaven. He said he did not and asked me if I could show him! After several minutes and a lot of yelling from the back of the trailer, Aaron bowed his head and trusted Christ. Some of the men from the church went back to visit Aaron the next week. When they did, they met his mother who went on to inform them that they were Jehovah’s Witnesses. Praise God Aaron was able to hear the truth and was spared from those awful lies!
I can hardly believe that we are commencing our last month of travel. After this month, it will be all preparation and training to transition to Peru. We have even begun to shop for plane tickets. At this time we will probably be leaving the second or third week of June. If you could please pray with us, we are needing to raise the money needed to fly to Peru. We have money set aside for furniture, housing, and to cover all of our “getting settled” needs. All we need to raise is enough for our plane tickets and for the baggage we will be taking with us. I have been shopping around, and currently it will cost us about $2,000. Please pray that we will find the best deal possible and that the funds will be raised.
God continues to validate His calling to us. There is no way that we could have done any of this in our own strength. God has truly prospered our deputation. I am grateful for each and every church that has adopted our vision for Peru and made it their own. To date God has allowed us to raise 88% of our needed to support! Praise the Lord! I would especially like to thank the Freedom Baptist Church in Arizona for partnering with us this month. I know I say it each month, but we could do nothing in Peru without you. We love and appreciate all of you.
Please continue to keep us and our team in your prayers. We try to keep everyone updated as much as possible. Please find us on Facebook and Twitter, or check out our blog or website to keep up to date with all that God is doing for us! Thank you for your prayers and God bless you!
Your ambassadors to Peru,
Junior and Jessica Martin
Romans 9:3
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
March Prayer Letter for the Martinez Family
Dear Praying Friends,
Some may think the hardest part of deputation is the financial stress. At times, yes; however, the hardest part of deputation for my family and me is saying goodbye to new friends we make in each church we visit. It is a great blessing to travel the states, see great sites, and make new friends and wonderful memories everywhere we go. We are grateful God has put many amazing people in our path on our deputation travels.
In the months of February and March, we enjoyed visiting 12 churches. Out of the 12 churches, we had the opportunity to be a part of 2 missions conferences. We enjoyed a four-day conference at the Iglesia Bautista Sublime Gracia with Pastor Mario Arjona in Douglasville, Georgia. This was an exciting Spanish conference to be a part of. Pastor Arjona gave me the opportunity to teach several children’s classes each day, preach a couple of times in the men’s split sessions, and translate for the guest speaker. Pastor Arjona also gave my wife the opportunity to play the piano for some of the services and teach a ladies’ split session. Many other members of our team were also part of this conference. It was great to see them all doing well and spend of
few days of fellowship with them. I am thrilled that I get to work alongside such a wonderful team.
A few men from our team spent two weeks in Lima, Peru, at the beginning of February. The purpose of their visit was to look for property and to start the process to be a church legally recognized by the Peruvian government. This process normally takes several months, but thanks to a Peruvian national who is a member of our church in Indiana, they were able to file the paperwork and complete the process in several days. We praise God that the Iglesia Bautista Internacional is now registered. Praise the Lord!!
Another great miracle that happened recently was one of our team members, Mark and Sarah Rader, had their second baby, Paul Anthony. This is my wife’s and my newest nephew. We are blessed to have a new family and team member. We also celebrated Ezequiel Jr.’s 2nd birthday on March 18.
Our team leader and his family are planning to leave for Peru in mid-summer, along with a couple other team families. Please pray as the rest of our team is preparing to leave for Peru within the year. Also, we ask that you would please pray for our traveling safety.
We are looking forward to getting to our destination in Peru, but in the meantime we are looking to help the lost change their eternal destination. While visiting in Georgia, I prayed for God to lead me to those who were willing and ready to be saved. God led my soul-winning partner and me to the home of an adult man named Efrain. When Efrian came to the door, he graciously allowed me to share with him the plan of salvation. As I was witnessing to him, I noticed he was very attentive. After Efrian prayed and accepted Christ into his heart, his eyes were red, and he looked as if he was about to cry. Although he did not cry, I could tell he was moved by the Holy Spirit.
We would like to give a special thank you to the six churches that voted to take us on for support in February and March:
1. Trinity Baptist Church in Brandenton, Florida, Pastor Ron Jarvis
2. Gospel Light Baptist Church in Cottondale, Alabama, Pastor Steve Rimes
3. Landmark Baptist Church in Parkersburg, West Virginia, Pastor Mike Lamb
4. Iglesia Bautista Biblica el Faro in Haines City, Florida, Pastor José Armendáriz
5. Iglesia Bautista León de la Tribu de Judá in Lawrenceville, Georgia, Pastor Adán Pérez
6. Bethlehem Baptist Church in Old Fort, North Carolina, Pastor Charles Hughes
We owe a great debt of gratitude to our existing supporters and to these new supporting churches. We are grateful to be partners with you. My family and I pray for you, so please be sure to e-mail, text, or call us with any prayer request your church might have. May God bless you.
The Martinez Family
Some may think the hardest part of deputation is the financial stress. At times, yes; however, the hardest part of deputation for my family and me is saying goodbye to new friends we make in each church we visit. It is a great blessing to travel the states, see great sites, and make new friends and wonderful memories everywhere we go. We are grateful God has put many amazing people in our path on our deputation travels.
In the months of February and March, we enjoyed visiting 12 churches. Out of the 12 churches, we had the opportunity to be a part of 2 missions conferences. We enjoyed a four-day conference at the Iglesia Bautista Sublime Gracia with Pastor Mario Arjona in Douglasville, Georgia. This was an exciting Spanish conference to be a part of. Pastor Arjona gave me the opportunity to teach several children’s classes each day, preach a couple of times in the men’s split sessions, and translate for the guest speaker. Pastor Arjona also gave my wife the opportunity to play the piano for some of the services and teach a ladies’ split session. Many other members of our team were also part of this conference. It was great to see them all doing well and spend of
few days of fellowship with them. I am thrilled that I get to work alongside such a wonderful team.
A few men from our team spent two weeks in Lima, Peru, at the beginning of February. The purpose of their visit was to look for property and to start the process to be a church legally recognized by the Peruvian government. This process normally takes several months, but thanks to a Peruvian national who is a member of our church in Indiana, they were able to file the paperwork and complete the process in several days. We praise God that the Iglesia Bautista Internacional is now registered. Praise the Lord!!
Another great miracle that happened recently was one of our team members, Mark and Sarah Rader, had their second baby, Paul Anthony. This is my wife’s and my newest nephew. We are blessed to have a new family and team member. We also celebrated Ezequiel Jr.’s 2nd birthday on March 18.
Our team leader and his family are planning to leave for Peru in mid-summer, along with a couple other team families. Please pray as the rest of our team is preparing to leave for Peru within the year. Also, we ask that you would please pray for our traveling safety.
We are looking forward to getting to our destination in Peru, but in the meantime we are looking to help the lost change their eternal destination. While visiting in Georgia, I prayed for God to lead me to those who were willing and ready to be saved. God led my soul-winning partner and me to the home of an adult man named Efrain. When Efrian came to the door, he graciously allowed me to share with him the plan of salvation. As I was witnessing to him, I noticed he was very attentive. After Efrian prayed and accepted Christ into his heart, his eyes were red, and he looked as if he was about to cry. Although he did not cry, I could tell he was moved by the Holy Spirit.
We would like to give a special thank you to the six churches that voted to take us on for support in February and March:
1. Trinity Baptist Church in Brandenton, Florida, Pastor Ron Jarvis
2. Gospel Light Baptist Church in Cottondale, Alabama, Pastor Steve Rimes
3. Landmark Baptist Church in Parkersburg, West Virginia, Pastor Mike Lamb
4. Iglesia Bautista Biblica el Faro in Haines City, Florida, Pastor José Armendáriz
5. Iglesia Bautista León de la Tribu de Judá in Lawrenceville, Georgia, Pastor Adán Pérez
6. Bethlehem Baptist Church in Old Fort, North Carolina, Pastor Charles Hughes
We owe a great debt of gratitude to our existing supporters and to these new supporting churches. We are grateful to be partners with you. My family and I pray for you, so please be sure to e-mail, text, or call us with any prayer request your church might have. May God bless you.
The Martinez Family
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