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!
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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

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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