November - December
There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger.
- Luke 17:18
Dear friends and family,
There is so much to be thankful for as 2009 was wrapped up and we enter 2010. We do not wish to be remiss by not giving God the glory for all he has done, as is mentioned in the verse above where ten were healed and only one returned to give thanks.
These last two months have been no exception. Since our last prayer letter in October, we have been very busy. We had a wonderful Bible conference with one young man surrendering to full time Christian service. Two of our deaf students who were graduating this year were baptized. We have been working with them for a long time. One of them, Aleksei, is praying about returning to enter our Bible College next year.
We are still completing the work on the church renovations. We are so busy with everything that has been going on, and also the wood has to dry before we can build the doors. We look forward to having almost everything completed by the end of January in time for our Fires of Evangelism Conference the first week of February. The new road construction in front of Efata is moving very rapidly. We have changed the entrance location to a side road for safety.
We held our school graduation on the 15th of December. It was the best we have had. All of our graduates gave wonderful testimonies, and we are thankful that we are able to provide them a wonderful education both academically and, more importantly, spiritually.
Desafío
We would like to express our deepest thanks to all of the churches and individuals who have sent special Christmas love offerings for the children of Efata and the ministry overall. We have been able to purchase twenty-five used but fixed-up bicycles for the children in the home as well as other gifts and special holiday meals for the kids and staff here. In addition, we are in the process of establishing a petting farm for the children here to learn how to care for and love animals. It is a great learning tool that can teach many spiritual and character building lessons.
So far, we have chickens, turkeys, quail, parakeets, ducks, rabbits, a guinea pig, a lamb, dogs, a cat, and we’ll be getting some pigs as well. This is going to be very interesting!
Julianne with Desafío
The most exciting addition to the “farm” is a Peruvian walking horse. Due to a special anonymous love offering as well as other love offerings designated specifically for our own children and family we were able to fulfill a childhood dream. As you can see in the picture with Julianne, “Desafio” is a beautiful horse. Thank you all for your wonderful care for us.
Please pray for staff needs. We need help in both the children’s home and the deaf school, as well as the “English” school, including our children, the Ricker family's children, and seven Peruvian staff children. There are seventeen children in English School, from K-3 to 12th grade.
We also need some construction help over these next few months. We need to finish both the church and the Rickers’ home. God tells us to pray for laborers. He will provide. PLEASE pray with us.
We are looking forward to another baby in July! Please pray for Lisa and the baby’s health. Thank you for your faithful support and for your prayers!
God Bless,
Joe & Lisa
Joseph, Julianne, James, Jared,
Judson, Joy, John, Joel, Jessica, ?
