Dear Supporting Churches and Praying Friends,
God has been so good to us since our last prayer letter that it is hard to sum it all up! When we stop to consider the ways in which God has been working, we come to the realization that He is all-powerful and all-knowing, and we rejoice that He has allowed us to be a part of His kingdom work here in South America. We also realize the power of prayer, and we are reminded to be grateful to you, our prayer partners.
I spoke to you in our last prayer letter of my upcoming trip to Moquegua, about twenty hours from Lima. I was excited to discover that the young men who had trained here with us in January and February had returned to their home area and had already started new churches under the leadership of their home pastor. I was able to preach in each of their churches and some others during my brief time in the area. Another pastor has decided to send two of his young men to us for further training next January as well. We are excited about the part we had in starting these new churches and look forward to working with two more young men soon.
IBI of San Gabriel is growing steadily. We are thrilled to see salvations every Sunday! We have had several new families begin attending, and many are bringing their family members and friends as visitors. We have recently started a men’s singing group, organized ushers, and trained children’s workers. We also had our first men’s meeting this month. Twelve men from San Gabriel joined me and expressed their desire to advance the ministry of our church, learn how to conduct Bible studies, and become soul winners. I am planning now to begin an intensive training of these men and others who will join us. Please pray with me that I can effectively use the time I have with these men to further God’s plan for their lives. We also had a ladies’ meeting this month. My wife taught on our need for prayer in our lives, and then she divided the ladies into prayer partners who will be praying for each other over the next year.
We recently spent a Saturday in the area next to San Gabriel named Vallecito. While only a few blocks from our church, it is an entirely different world. We saw several saved while visiting there and also met a family who invited us to have a Bible study there. We will be starting this soon; please pray that God will work there. We hope to start a church in that area soon as well. We have another area (La Chancheria) where we will be starting a church very soon. A family has offered part of their property to build the church on, and we are making plans to start improving that property. It is fun to see the people of IBI San Gabriel excited about starting new churches!
We also took a brief trip to the States since our last letter. My in-laws celebrated their 50 wedding anniversary, and we were pleased to be able to attend the celebration. While I made a quick trip there and back, my wife and boys were able to spend a couple weeks with the family in Michigan. Thank you to the Beth Haven Baptist Church in Sheridan, Michigan, for helping us to feel at home while we were there. And congratulations once again to my in-laws, Ken and Sandy Rahn! My wife truly has a goodly heritage.
Please continue to pray for us here in Lima, Peru. We are thrilled to represent you all here in South America.
His for souls,
Zach and Karin Foust, Zachary, C.J., and Logan
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