June/ July Prayer Letter from the Hubbard Family

July 2012

Dear Praying Friends,

A lady approached one the ladies on Team Peru before our Wednesday night service and asked, “Is this THE church? The Baptist Church? The church everyone is talking about?” Well, “Amen” to that! We have been seeing the hand of God moving mightily on
behalf of Team Peru.

We’ve had a jam-packed, busy time since the wheels of our airplane touched down! We’ve been going day and night working to transition and settle five of our nine team families. It has been amazing to watch God open door after door and care for thousands of little details.

We were able to rent a small storefront for our church to meet in—about as centrally located in the district of Chorrillos that you could be! We’ve had visitors and souls saved at every service since we began meeting there. This Sunday we will begin a children’s Sunday school class, meeting in a micro-bus parked across the street!
Last Saturday and Sunday, we passed out 1,000 tracts, invited people to come visit, and witnessed. I personally have seen many souls trust Christ as Saviour as I’m out and about. The fields are white unto harvest!!

In addition to the present church building, we are preparing to begin the groundwork for the larger property that will become ours for a church in December. We also are looking to begin a third church in another area in the near future! It’s full-speed ahead for 10,000 churches!

Our family is well. We had a rough transition, as we arrived with a flu bug going through the family. However, we’ve worked through that and are enjoying greatly the mild temperatures and abundant, inexpensive produce. Our son Timothy has given us two “scares” in our short time here. He was bit by a spider six times our first Wednesday here in Peru when it got trapped in his shirt collar. It concerned us being unfamiliar with what is dangerous and what is not. He proved to be fine after an antihistamine and cortisone treatment. Then this past Sunday he was playing with our neighbor’s dog when the dog bit him on the left cheek. It was not a deep wound, but it did bleed a lot. Fortunately, it is a healthy dog and current with its shots. He is healing well once again. We are consistently reminded of the importance of the prayer support of our Christian brothers and sisters.

We are ever aware of you, our co-laborers in the ministry. We know that every dollar of support is a representation of long hours and sacrifice on the part of God’s people. We live our lives to be a worthy investment of your time, money, and sacrifice. Thank you for seeing, by faith, what was not seen. Thank you for your support. We are daily seeing the fruit of your faith as it is translated into Peruvian souls saved.

We are excited to see what the Lord has in store for the months to come.

For his Glory,

Dan Hubbard

June Prayer Letter from the Rader Family

June 2012

Dear Praying Friends,

June has been jammed full of blessings and infallible proofs of God’s grace. We must begin by thanking David Norton of Williamsburg, IA, for buying us a radiator. We also would like to thank Brother Steve Herrmann of Merrilville, IN for helping us to replace the radiator and fix a tail light. In addition, we owe thanks to Brother Ivan and Paul Baker for replacing our water pump and giving us date money to eat out while our van was in the shop. Thank you to the Joshua Kent Family for deciding to support us monthly. Thank you to the Bob Jones family not only for the place to stay, tire, oil change, alignment, and over-all car check-up, but also for your decision to support us monthly. Thank you to every church we visited this month for spoiling us rotten! These and so many other friends have helped us along the way. Our God is AWESOME! His servants are wonderful people.

During the month of June we were able to present our work at nine churches in seven different states. Our mission board did an excellent job this month providing a full week of vital teaching and training of need to know facts for missionaries during Missionary Candidates’ School. What a pleasure to see old friends while increasing in wisdom and knowledge.

We were blessed to see four saved this month. One afternoon Sarah flagged a young Hispanic man down who was out selling popsicles. After purchasing a popsicle and inviting him to church, she was able to share salvation’s story with Christian. Now that he has invited Christ into his life, living up to his name will be possible. The profit he made from that stop was much greater than what he got from selling a popsicle. Amen! Another one of those saved this month was a fourteen year old mother living in a shelter with her son. My heart melted while hearing her story because my grandmother also stayed in a shelter with my Dad when he was a small baby. So many people of our country need the Lord and His wisdom. God bless you as you reach out to them.

Please pray for our vehicle and safety. We will be driving many miles in July. We are truly traveling on the grace of God. We are partakers of the profits of your prayers. Please pray for our teammates already in Peru, and those preparing to depart shortly. Please continue to pray. We need you. Thank you for your prayers, support, and love. God bless you.

His for souls,

Mark, Sarah, Savannah, and Paul Rader

June Prayer Letter from the Martins

July 3, 2012

Dear Praying Friends,

It’s hard to believe June has come and gone! For months we had been counting down to our arrival in Peru, and it is almost surreal to think we have been here for exactly two weeks! God has been so very good to us in our journey. As much as we longed for the end of our deputation, our travels taught us so many invaluable lessons that will always be with us. The churches we visited and the friends we made will always be very near to our heart as well.

Our trip to Peru was almost seamless! Our fellow teammates, the Szabatins, were so gracious to drive us up to Toronto. The check-in process at the Toronto airport started off a little rough, as we were told none of our baggage (which was a lot) was going to make it to Peru (very long story)! God quickly intervened, and we, along with our six totes, three carry-ons, and dog made it onto the plane. I wish I had the time and space to share all the “I love yous” God gave us along the way. We had a very smooth flight and then a 7½-hour layover in Bogota, Colombia. We were not sure how we were going to care for our small dog, but security quickly fell in love with her, as did all the drug-sniffing dogs! Once again, God showed us He was watching out for us. We then made the short flight into Lima. Believe it or not, we breezed through customs without a single question, retrieved ALL of our luggage, and only one tote was searched! I think we must be in God’s will!! Around 1:00 Wednesday morning, we were greeted at the airport by Bro. Dan Hubbard, Bro. Zach Foust, and a cup of Starbucks! Thank you to each one of you who have been praying. Your prayers have truly made a difference.

Our two weeks in Lima have gone by so fast. After being in the staging home for only three days, we moved into a temporary apartment in Chorrillos. What a beautiful area! Chorrillos is the district where we will be permanently located and where our church will be. We have spent a lot of time searching for the right apartment and for a church building. Please pray that God continues to guide us and give us the wisdom needed to make the right decisions. We have three beautiful apartments we are looking at and trying to “negotiate.” The negotiation process is certainly different than in States, and we want to make sure we get what is best for our family. After being without a home of her own for over a year, I am eager to give Jessica a place she loves and can call her own.

Since our arrival, we have officially started the Iglesia Bautist Internacional! We are currently meeting in Bro. Hubbard’s apartment but are looking at an ideal piece of property. Please pray that God will open the door for us if this is His will. Having the church started is great, but in our current neighborhood, it is hard for the people to get to us. I am eager to get the church in a permanent location in the midst of the people, so we can begin bringing in multitudes of Peruvian people!

We have spent much time walking up and down the streets of Chorrillos, praying for and talking to the people. We have been able to give the Gospel to many and have over a dozen people and/or families interested in visiting our church. God also has already opened a door for us to begin a home Bible study next week. Please continue to pray for the people of Lima. I have such big dreams and aspirations, not only for our district but also for the rest of Lima and all of Peru. In a city of 9 million people and a district alone of 260,000 people, I cannot wait to see what God will allow us to do!

Thank you to each of you for your faithful prayers and support. Jessica and I are so thrilled to labor in Peru on your behalf. I cannot wait to get through this time of acclamation and transition and consume myself in the ministry. We have spent much time purchasing appliances, apartment hunting, ordering furniture, acquainting ourselves with the stores and public transportation, and working on our visas. Although all this is necessary, I long to turn my attention solely to reaching the people of Peru. The Peruvian money unit is called a sol. Everytime I am asked for “just one sol,” I cannot help but think of the countless souls around me who need to hear the Gospel. Thank you for believing in us and for praying for us. I can hardly wait to see what amazing things will happen in July!


Your ambassadors to Peru,

Junior and Jessica Martin
Romans 9:3

June Prayer Letter from the Foust Family

July 2012

Dear Praying Friends and Supporting Churches,

Wow! It is hard to believe that we have been in Peru for an entire month. The month of
June literally flew by while we started the journey of learning to live in Peru.

We have spent the month going about the business of setting up our team to live here in
Lima. It has been exciting and a learning process for us. So far, we have signed the lease on five apartments for the families of our team. All of the apartments are in one very secure neighborhood. The neighborhood is located in Chorrillos where we have our
church. God has been very good to us, and He has allowed us to find very nice
apartments in a beautiful location for a very good price within our budget. It is always exciting to see how God provides!

We have also spent much time on the process of getting our residency established in
Peru. We hope to have the much-needed residency cards soon. We have learned that there
is little one can do in the way of business and purchasing without permanent residency.
Thankfully, we have some friends here in Lima who have been kind enough to help us
with this process. While the process seems frustratingly slow at times, we have learned
to rely even more upon God, and we are certainly learning that valuable trait of patience!

God has allowed us many opportunities to witness and invite people to church as we go
about our business of getting settled. Please be in prayer that God would give us the
capacity to help the many people who come across our path each day.

His For Souls,

Zach and Karin Foust, Zachary, Caleb, and Logan

June Prayer Letter from the Szabatins

May/June 2012

Dear Pastor & Praying Friends,

My wife says I always work best while under pressure. Well, this week we will see.

On June 18, we will be leaving to go to Canada to visit with family before we head back to Peru (and hopefully pick up some work to pay for plane tickets). During this same time, our belongings from Western Canada are on their way down to us here in Indiana. We have not seen any of this stuff in three years. I just checked the Yellow/Roadway website; and as I write this, our belongings are in St. Paul,
Minnesota, on their cross docks waiting for their next move toward Chicago Heights. Right now the ETA is this Wednesday. We have four skids of things that we have to go through, separate, and list, because on Thursday we are preparing to finish packing the container.

We also have water-filtration systems coming from Missouri that are going to arrive on Thursday that have to be on the container on—you guessed it—Thursday. It would be great for them to get here Wednesday instead.

Thursday will be pressure time as well. If you do not have Facebook or you did not see the posting, we had some wonderful gifts given to the team. We had 360 folding chairs donated by First Baptist Church. Brother Wayne Holder gave us 90,000 books of Romans in Spanish, with the Romans Road outlined. B.E.A.M.S Bibles gave us 1,000 Spanish Bibles for those we win to the Lord, and a church in Michigan gave us 360,000 Spanish Gospel tracts. Almost all of these things, plus four skids of toys given to us by Brother George Ranft at Reformers Unanimous of First Baptist Church of Hammond, need to be put into the container with our four skids of items.

I may start praying for a 25-hour day to get everything accomplished before we leave!

While we are looking forward to going to Canada to see family (we haven’t been there in a year), we are also sad at saying goodbye to Danica-Lee. She is staying in the Chicago area for the summer and preparing for her senior year at Hyles-Anderson College. We don’t get much opportunity to see her right now, and those few times we do see her at church, her time is limited because she also wants to spend time with
Fred, her fiancé. When we see her next, she will be putting on a graduation cap and gown and then two weeks later putting on a wedding dress and veil. My mind is still trying to wrap itself around the whole “daddy’s little girl” to “she’s graduating college and getting married” space/time continuum thingy.

Josiah has also been coming into his own, both physically and spiritually. I keep checking to see if he is taller than I am yet. We can always tell when he is in a growing spurt because we have to keep restocking the fridge quicker than the national deficit keeps rising. A few weeks ago, I took him to McDonald’s around 1:00 p.m. He had several items off the dollar menu. About 3:30, he was asking to go back because
he was hungry, and once again he got a couple of burgers, some fries, and a Coke. We got home at around 6:00, and the Hopsons had gotten some Papa John’s pizza. Josiah had four pieces. Now we don’t eat like that all the time, but when he is hungry, it’s like feeding coals to a hot fire. It just gets consumed faster than you can blink.

This past month Josiah has had a great time soul winning. He saw 15 people saved, and 12 of those were on one day!

I am working away at my Spanish. My understanding continues, and I look forward to the day when I am as fluent in Spanish as I am in English. At church we had the ordination of the men on the team, as well as the Commissioning Service. A week later we had the Spanish-church send-off. Each of the men was asked to preach for about ten minutes. I started off in Spanish for the first couple of paragraphs. It was so funny, because when I did that, the Spanish people started cheering. This was my first attempt at preaching in Spanish, and while I flubbed some words, I was happy I tried.

We are looking forward to getting back to Peru and back to where home is. We are so thankful for your prayers and support.

Prayer Requests:

Travel mercies here and abroad

Transportation and customs clearance of our container

That our team tax number (RUC) would get approved

That our application for a permanent visa would go smoothly in Peru

Thank-you for all your support, love and prayers on our behalf,

Paul, Andrea & Josiah Szabatin

Ezra 8:21-23