Monday, October 11, 2010

Daddy's Testimony

Today would have been my father's 58th birthday. Here is his personal testimony of God's grace in his life regarding salvation. It was read during the funeral. I transcribed this from my father's hand written copy.

I went to church as a child. My mom was very active in church, and we went to church. As a teenager I would find excuses not to go. My mom would still get me there fairly often. As a college student I went on occasion. I was blessed to have a mom who never stopped praying for me to be saved would ask and confront me about my salvation.

After I got married, I decided it was time to get back in church. I joined Calvary Baptist Church in West Point, MS in 1975 by baptism, and from then until 1993, I attended church on a regular basis. We took our kids to church and taught them to honor God and worship him. They were also sent to Christian school. I was a good church member. I tithed, prayed, even taught a 5th grade Sunday school class. I was very good at playing church. (I was a classic hypocrite).

But on the inside, I always doubted whether I was saved. I could always look back at what I had done. I went forward in a church service and told the pastor I wanted to be saved and joined the church and was baptized. I could always convince myself I was OK because of what I had done. All of the doubting I realized later was the Holy Spirit working on me and drawing me.

In October 1993 during our fall revival with Bailey Smith, God through the preaching of the His Word and by the power of the Holy Spirit convicted me of how sinful and wretched I truly was. I felt totally lost and without hope. God revealed Himself to me in a way that I never knew was possible. I had only one hope, and that was that God by His mercy and grace and Him alone and nothing I could do or had done in the past could save me, only Him. I was totally aware of my sin and at His mercy. God had totally broken my flesh. All I could do was plead, “Dear Jesus, save me and forgive me as unworthy as I am; my only hope is in You!” I know that at that moment, God through His Spirit and by the completed work of Jesus, He saved me. I was born again and became a new creature with a new heart.

Since then there has never been any doubt about my salvation, and there has not been any question as to how my salvation was purchased. It was only by His blood, by His grace, and through the faith that He gave me that I am saved. He did it all; I did nothing. There are times when I feel totally unworthy, because I am, But God! saved me for himself, not by coincidence or my choice, but by His sovereignty and His power.

I have a different heart toward the things of God, because I have a different heart changed by Him. Amen.

David Plunk



And here is a Spurgeon quote used by Tex, one of my father's coworkers, when he spoke at the funeral:
What! weep! weep! for heads that are crowned with coronals of heaven? Weep, weep for hands that grasp the harps of gold? What, weep for eyes that see the Redeemer? What, weep for hearts that are washed from sin, and are throbbing with eternal bliss! What, weep for men that are in the Saviour's bosom?-No, weep for yourselves, that you are here. Weep that the mandate has not come which bids you to die. Weep that you must tarry. But weep not for them. I see them turning back on you with loving wonder, and they exclaim, "Why weepest thou?" What, weep for poverty that it is clothed in riches? What, weep for sickness, that it hath inherited eternal health? What, weep for shame, that it is glorified; and weep for sinful mortality, that it hath become immaculate? Oh, weep not, but rejoice.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Please pray for me and my family


Please pray for me and my family. Sunday evening, my father, David Plunk, 57, had a major heart attack. Monday afternoon, he went home to be with the Lord. I have travelled back to the States. All of this has been really sudden and hard. But God has been so good and gracious to us in all of this. God’s providence is wonderful. Though we grieve, we do not grieve as those who have no hope. And in our grieving, there is celebration.

The visitation/funeral will be Thursday evening at Grace Life Church, Muscle Shoals, AL.

Thank you.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

September Update

I appreciate your prayers. Please keep on praying for me and the work that God is doing among the Conchucos Quechua. I apologize for not posting an update in so long.

I have moved from Yanama to Pomabamba. I have settled in pretty well and gotten to meet many people. There are still few things that need to be done to the house. There is an IMB couple who have been in Pomabamba for five years, and I have helped them some with study groups they have started. Most of the people they have been working with live in the surrounding communities outside the town. It has been really exciting to see several people profess faith in Christ through baptism.

Due to fear of persecution (whether real or imagined), many who make some sort of profession of faith in Christ are hesitant to make that profession public through baptism as it would indicate a decisive break from Catholicism which is so ingrained in the culture. The people are very community-oriented and feel that they will be ostracized from the community should they make such a major change. But the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ can and will overcome any such fear in the heart of any rue believer. One man in particular for whom to pray with this regard is Magno. Pray for God to do a mighty work in his life.

I am also studying with Acasio. He seems interested in studying the Word. He was in an accident several years ago that left him paralyzed and in a wheel chair. Thus, he is unable to get out of the house much, so it is difficult to determine if his truly interested in studying or just wanting the company. Either way, pray that God will speak to his heart and do the work that only God can do to save him.

More Quechua is spoken here than Spanish. At the end of next month, the Conchucos Quechua Team will be having a meeting on learning indigenous languages. (There are no books available for learning Conchucos Quechua aside from reading the New Testament). Please pray that the team will be able to learn Quechua in order to more clearly communicate the gospel in the heart language. I have already learned several words and phrases, and the people really appreciate the effort of a gringo trying to speak Quechua. I believe it will be beneficial, but it will take a lot of hard work. We need your prayers.

Prayer concerns:
• That God would be glorified among the nations
• That I would clearly and boldly proclaim the gospel to those in Pomabamba
• That God would change the lives of people through a supernatural work in their hearts that causes them to repent and believe the gospel and have no fear of persecution
• That I would be aware of my own inability and be totally dependent upon God
• That I would spend hours a day on my knees in the Word of God
• That I would be more conformed to Christ
• More Quechua is spoken here than Spanish; pray they I can learn Quechua.

• In addition to the ministry needs here in Peru, I also request pray for my father, David Plunk. Earlier this week, he was diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus. He will have chemotherapy to shrink the cancer before having surgery to remove it. Please pray that God will be glorified through this trying time in my father’s life and the life of our family. We have already seen the Lord be gracious to us this week. He is faithful!
__________

Mission Quotes:

“I would sooner bring one sinner to Jesus Christ than unravel all the mysteries of the divine Word, for salvation is the one thing we are to live for.”
— Charles Haddon Spurgeon

“Missionary work is church work. It is not a steady stream of glamorous and exciting events, but a slow and steady perseverance in preaching, teaching, evangelizing, and shepherding.”
— Brad White

__________

Mission Scripture Passage:
For I decided to know nothing among you, except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
—1 Corinthians 2:2-5

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Update

A little over a week ago, as I was walking home from town, I started talking with an older woman named Corina. She asked me if I would loan here a Bible. So I went home and got her a Spanish New Testament and gave it to her. Then we started to talk and read Scripture for over three hours. She had a lot of questions about Jesus and his deity, about Mary and the saints. She wants me to come back so we can read some more from the Bible.

▸ Please pray that my time reading and talking with her will go well and that the Spirit will do a work in her heart.

This week I found out that I will be moving to another town in Conchucos called Pomabamba. It is about 4½ hours north of Yanama. I do not yet know when this move will take place. It could be very soon. Pomabamba is a larger town in which I will have Internet access (dial up). So once there, I'll be able to make updates more frequently.

▸ Please pray that this transition to Pomabamba will go smoothly

▸ that relationships can be established in Pomabamba and the gospel proclaimed

▸ that God would call out for himself a true church in both Yanama and Pomabamba that will carry the gospel among their own people and beyond


As always, continue to pray:

▸ that the Name of the Lord be great among every tribe, people, nation, and tongue, including the northern Conchucos Quechua

▸ that I would walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, pleasing Him in every respect, bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God and His Word

▸ that I would grow in my understanding of my own unworthiness and be totally dependent upon Christ and His grace and power to work through me as I proclaim the excellencies of the gospel to the northern Conchucos Quechua

▸ that Lord of the Harvest would thrust out worker into the harvest field

▸ that I will be able to clearly communicate the gospel (in both Yanama and Pomabamba, people speak more Quechua than Spanish.)
________________

There are three phases
in most great tasks undertaken for God:
impossible, difficult, done.
— Hudson Taylor

For the earth will be filled
with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD
as the waters cover the sea.
— Hab 2:14

Thursday, March 18, 2010

I've been in Lima the past week to work on my carnet/visa. I also have Internet access there. I do not in Yanama. So now I can write something on my newsletter. Sunday, I was able to visit Iglesia Bautista del Salvador in Barranco and really enjoyed it.


Here is the plaza of Yanama.


I'm surrounded snow-capped mountains.


I have gotten settled in and am trying to build relationships with the people in the community. In January, I passed out calendars with Alvo (a believer from Chiclayo was in Yanama for a few weeks) into order to help introduce me to the community and meet people. The calendars have a bible verse for each day, so it also served to put some Scripture in the homes of the people.

I am meeting new people all the time. I have been able to share some with some. But they did not respond to the gospel. But the power of the Gospel is strong, and I am confident that people will believe as I proclaim it to people.

Please pray that I will be able to build relationships with the people of Yanama and that God will open doors the witness about Christ (Col 4:3) and that God will open hearts to receive the Gospel (Act 16:14).

Please pray that I would be devoted to prayer and the Word.

Please pray that I would grow in Christ-likeness.

The people of Yanama speak more northern Conchucos Quechua than Spanish, so pray that I can communicate clearly the Gospel. Most can speak Spanish, but they speak Quechua to one another and some speak only Quechua.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

New Prayer Card

Here is my prayer card. It no longer says "Bolivia" because I am no longer scheduled to go to Bolivia. The IMB is not going to continue work among the southern Bolivian Quechua. So now I could end up staying in Peru serving among the indigenous of the high jungle or going to the Quichua of Ecuador or possibly someplace else. So I change the word "Bolivia" to "South America". I also included my skype name. (Not that I have Internet in Yanama, but I can use it when I'm in Huaraz or Lima). 




Thursday, March 11, 2010

My house

Here are some pictures of my house. It is the second floor of an adobe house with a concrete floor. The bedrooms have wood flooring.





Saturday, March 6, 2010

Road to Yanama

Here are two videos of the road to Yanama. It's only about 70 miles or so between Huaraz and Yanama but it takes five to six hours to make the trip. You zig-zag up the mountains from ~10,000 feet to over 15,000 then back down to ~11,000. The mountains are absolutely beautiful. It takes you through Huascarán National Park (Huascarán is the highest peak in Peru and second highest in South America at 22,205 feet).








And here's a photo: