Monday, January 10, 2011

January Update

Thank you for all of your prayers and joining me in my ministry by interceding before God on my behalf. In October, I went to the States for a few weeks upon my father’s death. It was a bittersweet time, remembering my father and grieving our loss of him. But as I wrote the last time, we do not grieve as those without hope for my father knew Christ and was trusting in the cross; furthermore, we have great confidence in the absolute sovereignty of an all-wise God who works all things together for his own glory and the good of his people. Christ is our God, our hope, and our joy.

After I returned to Peru, the Conchucos Quechua team had a workshop on how to learn an indigenous language. The team will be learning Quechua in order to communicate with our target people in their heart language. I believe this to be a wise decision as Spanish is a second language for the Conchucos Quechua and thus is limited in use (some do not any Spanish at all). Please, pray for the team as we learn Quechua and go through the challenging process of learning yet another language.

For Christmas, I went back to the States to spend time with my family. My mother and younger sister did not know I was coming. I was fun surprising them. It was a blessing to be able to see my family and share time with them. We even had a dusting of snow Christmas morning.

I am still studying with Acasio. Please pray that God would bless our time together and that God would do a work in his life. Juan will be away from Pomabamba for a couple of months. I have given him a copy of the Gospel of Mark in Quechua. He says he is going to read it. Please pray that he does read it and that God would give him a desire to study the Word with me when he returns to Pomabamba. Please also pray for other with whom I am speaking: Marcos, Antonio, Gustavo, Silvio, Florencio, and Victor.

Here are a few additional prayer concerns:
• That God would be glorified among the nations,
• That I would be totally dependent upon God in prayer and the Word,
• That I would be more conformed to Christ,
• That my conversations with people would be fruitful and gospel-focused,
• That my study of Quechua (and that of the team) would go well and enable me to more clearly communicate the gospel,
• That Bible study groups would be started in Pomabamba,
• That God would cause people in Pomabamba to be born again that they may respond to the gospel in genuine faith and godly repentance, and
• That God would cause these new believers to become biblical churches.


__________

Mission Passage:

Isaiah 12:4-5 — And you will say in that day: Give thanks to the LORD, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the peoples, proclaim that his name is exalted. Sing praises to the LORD, for he has done gloriously; let this be made known in all the earth.


Mission Quotes:

If there be any one point in which the Christian church ought to keep its fervor at a white heat, it is concerning missions. If there be anything about which we cannot tolerate lukewarmness, it is the matter of sending the gospel to a dying world. — Charles Haddon Spurgeon

The Great Commission is not an option to be considered, but a command to be obeyed. — J. Hudson Taylor