April/May 2013
Dear Pastor and Praying Friends,
Something special for your birthday! On May 28, I celebrated my 33rd my birthday in Lima, Peru. I had an important meeting that morning that I couldn’t miss. However, that afternoon I received a bombardment of hugs and kisses mixed with a “Happy birthday to you . . .” as I walked through my decorated apartment door. It was very heartwarming. There I stood with my book bag on my shoulder and team business on my mind surrounded by loving family. My mind drifted away to one thought, How did I get so blessed? I spent the remainder of the afternoon being lazy with my kiddos. Talk about fun!
I was sweetly and sincerely asked a question as I lay on the living room floor with my kiddos: “Daddy, when are we going to the store?” “What do you mean, Joaquin?” “Yeah, Dad, aren’t we going to buy you your toy?” What? “No, Lani, Daddy doesn’t need any toys.” “C’mon, Dad, I have money left over from my birthday. Let’s go!” “Thank you, Marco, but I think you should save your money.” “It’s okay, Dad. I want you to have it. You should have something special for your birthday.” “Oh, but I do, guys; I have my family with me.”
My family and I had been walking back home from a Bible study when we were stopped by our apartment complex security guard Peter. “You have a beautiful family!” “Thank you.” “No, for real, your kids are very respectable and obedient” “Really?!? Ummm, I mean thank you.” “You don’t understand. Not one child here has ever shaken my hand. Your children always greet me with a handshake. I also love how you don’t have to yell or chase them down when it’s time for them to stop playing at the park. All you do is call them and make a hand gesture.” “Thank you, thank you very much. Peter, can I tell you what has made a difference in our family?” Needless to say, I was able to witness to Peter on that brisk Peruvian evening. Praise the Lord!
I’d like to thank you for your continued prayers and support. We really couldn’t do what we do without you. Please know that you are also being prayed for by our family. We love and appreciate you very much.
Praises:
- One more church has taken us on for support: Open Door Baptist Church, Mesquite, Texas (Pastor Francisco J. Mendoza)
Prayer Requests:
- Safety for our family, our team leader Dan Hubbard, and the other families of Team Peru
- Additional monthly financial support
New Contact Information:
Abraham Avila (To avoid problems with our courier, correspondence must state my name and not “Avila family.”)
Caminos del Inca 2780, Block-C (Street name and house number)
Departamento #504 (Apartment number)
Urb. Prolongación Benavides (Residential zone)
Surco, Lima 15039 Perú (District, city, zip code, country)
219-378-8617
Thank you once again for your prayers and support.
Your co-laborers to Peru,
Abraham, Fabiola, Marco, Leilani, & Joaquin Avila
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
Monday, June 10, 2013
May Prayer Letter from the Martin Family
Dear Praying Friends,
Wow, does time fly by! In less than two weeks, we will have been here in Perú for one year. This has been the most amazing year of our lives. It is amazing to look back at all that God has done for us over these last 11 months. This is a special time for us and we have a lot to be thankful for.
Today, was also a very special day for us personally. Tonight, we had our normal mid-week service at our San Genaro church plant. This service marked the one month anniversary of our church. I am so thrilled for the work that God has begun to do on our hill. God has blessed us with an amazing team that has jumped in and done a fantastic job. I do not know what has been the biggest blessing…the way that God is growing our church or the way that God is working in the lives of our workers. I truly believe the latter.
However, God is blessing IBI San Genaro in an amazing way. We have been averaging 40 in our Saturday night service and 20 in our mid-week service. To date, God has allowed us to see 22 people saved in our church services. God is so good to us! As an added blessing, I also was able to baptize one of our first converts at our Villa Marina church.
Three weeks ago, two of our ladies Ana and Alexandra, started our children’s program on Saturday night. This area is overflowing with children and gives us a great opportunity to reach not only these kids, but also their families. The last two weeks these ladies have had over 20 kids in their class and many saved! It is such a blessing to witness both the growth of this ministry and of these ladies.
Running full-speed ahead, on May 19, our fourth church started in the neighboring district of Surco. This was a huge answer to prayer. Ezequiel Martinez has been doing a great job with our group from Surco and now with the church. On their first Sunday, they had 28 in attendance, with two saved. Please continue to pray for this growing work.
Of course, God is still blessing our main church in Villa Marina. With all of the changes being implemented, our people have remained faithful and our numbers have been stable. We are looking to start new Bible studies in the upcoming weeks and are now preparing for our fourth week of Bible Institute that will be starting next week. Mark Rader, along with many of our church men, has continued the work of building and improving our current property in order for us to have a beautiful, first-class church.
Please continue to pray for our ministry, especially now as we are intensifying the training of our church people to fill in the voids created by the starting of these churches. God has blessed us with some amazing families with enormous potential. I am excited to see what the future holds for them.
With our eyes on the future, I do not want to forget about the present. God allowed us to see a total of 179 people saved in the month of May! This is an incredible blessing but we still have a lot of work to do. Thank you to each and everyone of you who make all we do possible through your prayers and support. Thank you for being part of our team. God bless you all!
Your ambassadors to Perú,
Junior and Jessica Martin
Romans 9:3
Wow, does time fly by! In less than two weeks, we will have been here in Perú for one year. This has been the most amazing year of our lives. It is amazing to look back at all that God has done for us over these last 11 months. This is a special time for us and we have a lot to be thankful for.
Today, was also a very special day for us personally. Tonight, we had our normal mid-week service at our San Genaro church plant. This service marked the one month anniversary of our church. I am so thrilled for the work that God has begun to do on our hill. God has blessed us with an amazing team that has jumped in and done a fantastic job. I do not know what has been the biggest blessing…the way that God is growing our church or the way that God is working in the lives of our workers. I truly believe the latter.
However, God is blessing IBI San Genaro in an amazing way. We have been averaging 40 in our Saturday night service and 20 in our mid-week service. To date, God has allowed us to see 22 people saved in our church services. God is so good to us! As an added blessing, I also was able to baptize one of our first converts at our Villa Marina church.
Three weeks ago, two of our ladies Ana and Alexandra, started our children’s program on Saturday night. This area is overflowing with children and gives us a great opportunity to reach not only these kids, but also their families. The last two weeks these ladies have had over 20 kids in their class and many saved! It is such a blessing to witness both the growth of this ministry and of these ladies.
Running full-speed ahead, on May 19, our fourth church started in the neighboring district of Surco. This was a huge answer to prayer. Ezequiel Martinez has been doing a great job with our group from Surco and now with the church. On their first Sunday, they had 28 in attendance, with two saved. Please continue to pray for this growing work.
Of course, God is still blessing our main church in Villa Marina. With all of the changes being implemented, our people have remained faithful and our numbers have been stable. We are looking to start new Bible studies in the upcoming weeks and are now preparing for our fourth week of Bible Institute that will be starting next week. Mark Rader, along with many of our church men, has continued the work of building and improving our current property in order for us to have a beautiful, first-class church.
Please continue to pray for our ministry, especially now as we are intensifying the training of our church people to fill in the voids created by the starting of these churches. God has blessed us with some amazing families with enormous potential. I am excited to see what the future holds for them.
With our eyes on the future, I do not want to forget about the present. God allowed us to see a total of 179 people saved in the month of May! This is an incredible blessing but we still have a lot of work to do. Thank you to each and everyone of you who make all we do possible through your prayers and support. Thank you for being part of our team. God bless you all!
Your ambassadors to Perú,
Junior and Jessica Martin
Romans 9:3
Thursday, June 6, 2013
May Prayer Letter from the Kokubun Family
Dear Friends,
Since the name of the game Dodge Ball in English isn't thrilling enough, someone decided to spice it up in Spanish and call it "Kill people." The young people love it here and one Friday night this month we had 30 teenagers to show up in the park to play. The kids not only had a good time, but they got to taste "Mexican nachos" for the first time. My wife made all the fixings, and after several hours of play, we invited many of the new kids to the church to eat with us.
After a time of fellowship, I divided up several of my teenage young men and we witnessed to the visitors who had been attracted by our game of "Kill people." That night, seven young men bowed their heads and received Christ as their personal Savior. One of our faithful teenage boys, Josel, (Who I wrote about in our last letter) got to lead his first two souls to Christ that day. Our teenagers got pumped that night, and between Friday night and Saturday, our group was able to see 24 people get saved! It's amazing what God is doing here.
We're excited to announce that church number four began several weeks ago in a district nearby named Surco! Bro. Ezekiel Martinez is pastoring there, and for their first service they had 28 in attendance with two people saved. We have a solid group of people from our church who come from Surco each week, so there is a good core of people who are attending this church and helping Bro. Martinez!
Our church in Chorrillos is continuing to grow! Construction is constantly underway. We now have an all purpose room we are able to use for our children on Sunday mornings, and a nursery upstairs. Previously, we have been renting locations at places nearby. It's a blessing to have both of these new rooms on site with our church. Because Lima is such a night city, Sunday
evenings are usually when our biggest crowd shows up. It's exciting to see our building fill up with people! Last Sunday night, we had 4 visitors. The Peruvians we have trained to soul win are now turning around and training other Peruvians to soul win. So when it came time for invitation, we had them separated in groups of three: the visitor, soul winner, and trainee. What a blessing it is to see growth in the lives of these new Peruvian believers.
We just recently finished our third in home Bible study. We are excited to begin our fourth in just a couple of weeks. On a personal note, we have been very busy packing up boxes and preparing for a move! God recently opened up the door for us to move into the city. The most exciting part of this move is that it will allow us to be closer to the people; the people we came here to reach.
Thank you for your continued prayers concerning our ministry. We could not do what we do without each of you.
Serving Him,
Daniel and Heather
Since the name of the game Dodge Ball in English isn't thrilling enough, someone decided to spice it up in Spanish and call it "Kill people." The young people love it here and one Friday night this month we had 30 teenagers to show up in the park to play. The kids not only had a good time, but they got to taste "Mexican nachos" for the first time. My wife made all the fixings, and after several hours of play, we invited many of the new kids to the church to eat with us.
After a time of fellowship, I divided up several of my teenage young men and we witnessed to the visitors who had been attracted by our game of "Kill people." That night, seven young men bowed their heads and received Christ as their personal Savior. One of our faithful teenage boys, Josel, (Who I wrote about in our last letter) got to lead his first two souls to Christ that day. Our teenagers got pumped that night, and between Friday night and Saturday, our group was able to see 24 people get saved! It's amazing what God is doing here.
We're excited to announce that church number four began several weeks ago in a district nearby named Surco! Bro. Ezekiel Martinez is pastoring there, and for their first service they had 28 in attendance with two people saved. We have a solid group of people from our church who come from Surco each week, so there is a good core of people who are attending this church and helping Bro. Martinez!
Our church in Chorrillos is continuing to grow! Construction is constantly underway. We now have an all purpose room we are able to use for our children on Sunday mornings, and a nursery upstairs. Previously, we have been renting locations at places nearby. It's a blessing to have both of these new rooms on site with our church. Because Lima is such a night city, Sunday
evenings are usually when our biggest crowd shows up. It's exciting to see our building fill up with people! Last Sunday night, we had 4 visitors. The Peruvians we have trained to soul win are now turning around and training other Peruvians to soul win. So when it came time for invitation, we had them separated in groups of three: the visitor, soul winner, and trainee. What a blessing it is to see growth in the lives of these new Peruvian believers.
We just recently finished our third in home Bible study. We are excited to begin our fourth in just a couple of weeks. On a personal note, we have been very busy packing up boxes and preparing for a move! God recently opened up the door for us to move into the city. The most exciting part of this move is that it will allow us to be closer to the people; the people we came here to reach.
Thank you for your continued prayers concerning our ministry. We could not do what we do without each of you.
Serving Him,
Daniel and Heather
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
May Prayer Letter from the Foust Family
May 28, 2013
Dear Praying Friends and Supporting Churches,
It certainly has been a busy time here in Lima, Peru! What a blessing it is to be allowed the privilege of serving the King of kings here in South America! As our ministry grows here, we experience the increased workload and responsibilities of caring for a great number of people, mostly new Christians. We thank God for these responsibilities and ask that you continue to pray for that we would walk worthy of our calling and that we would care for these precious ones as Christ would do.
IBI of Chorrillos has continued to grow week by week. We have now reached the stage where the Peruvian people are training more Peruvian people how to win souls to Christ. This is very exciting to watch, as it strengthens the faith of both and encourages us all to reach more for Him! Additionally, the institute has been going well. This past month we taught a class on “Teaching,” and many in the church are now showing interest in teaching Sunday school and Bible studies.
Our church in San Gabriel continues to grow. We are especially encouraged to see that the people have an appetite for winning souls. Some are now helping in the invitation time and witnessing to family, friends, and coworkers! Additionally, we are now ready to sign the contract to rent a very nice building only a block away from the house in which we now meet! We will have plenty of space to grow in our new place, and the children and nursery will have a separate room. We are praising the Lord for this great opportunity. The landlords met with us recently, and while we were viewing the building, some of our teens who were soul winning nearby came up to check out the new place. They began to sing a special that they have been practicing, “I Will Serve Thee.” Their song touched the hearts of the couple, and they came to the service that evening,
where they both trusted Christ!
Our family continues to do well. We feel the effects of homesickness at times, but we rejoice that God has allowed us to be a part of this great undertaking. The boys are doing very well. Their Spanish is coming along; they all communicate with friends here with little trouble. Logan was excited to lead his first 2 souls to Christ this month! We are happy to be serving the Lord here with our family!
Please continue to pray for us. We need your prayers each day.
His for souls,
Zach and Karin Foust, Zachary, C.J., and Logan
Dear Praying Friends and Supporting Churches,
It certainly has been a busy time here in Lima, Peru! What a blessing it is to be allowed the privilege of serving the King of kings here in South America! As our ministry grows here, we experience the increased workload and responsibilities of caring for a great number of people, mostly new Christians. We thank God for these responsibilities and ask that you continue to pray for that we would walk worthy of our calling and that we would care for these precious ones as Christ would do.
IBI of Chorrillos has continued to grow week by week. We have now reached the stage where the Peruvian people are training more Peruvian people how to win souls to Christ. This is very exciting to watch, as it strengthens the faith of both and encourages us all to reach more for Him! Additionally, the institute has been going well. This past month we taught a class on “Teaching,” and many in the church are now showing interest in teaching Sunday school and Bible studies.
Our church in San Gabriel continues to grow. We are especially encouraged to see that the people have an appetite for winning souls. Some are now helping in the invitation time and witnessing to family, friends, and coworkers! Additionally, we are now ready to sign the contract to rent a very nice building only a block away from the house in which we now meet! We will have plenty of space to grow in our new place, and the children and nursery will have a separate room. We are praising the Lord for this great opportunity. The landlords met with us recently, and while we were viewing the building, some of our teens who were soul winning nearby came up to check out the new place. They began to sing a special that they have been practicing, “I Will Serve Thee.” Their song touched the hearts of the couple, and they came to the service that evening,
where they both trusted Christ!
Our family continues to do well. We feel the effects of homesickness at times, but we rejoice that God has allowed us to be a part of this great undertaking. The boys are doing very well. Their Spanish is coming along; they all communicate with friends here with little trouble. Logan was excited to lead his first 2 souls to Christ this month! We are happy to be serving the Lord here with our family!
Please continue to pray for us. We need your prayers each day.
His for souls,
Zach and Karin Foust, Zachary, C.J., and Logan
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