Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.
- 1 Corinthians 15:58
Dear friends and family,
We thank the Lord for all that He is doing here at Efata. We are grateful for the opportunity to serve Him here in Peru. Our labor is never in vain when serving the Lord!
Ministry News
We are blessed to see growth in our church family. We are regularly seeing souls saved on visitation and in the services. We have had some recent adjustments to our church schedule for more effective ministry. These changes seem to be working well.
We have two big events this November; our annual Bible conference from the 16th – 20th and a big family day on the 29th. We pray these events will see souls saved and Christians strengthened. Pastor Jeff Harris from Lincoln Trail Baptist Church in Elizabethtown, KY and his brother, Pastor Chris Harris from Windsor Hills Baptist Church in Oklahoma City, will be our special speakers. Bro. Jeff also pastors a Deaf church he established in Lexington. Bro. Chris is deaf and is the Deaf pastor at Windsor Hills.
Inside the Church
We continue our renovations of our church auditorium. Most of the work except for windows, the main door, roofing issues and minor details are completed. The construction on the pregnancy crisis center is advancing as well and we have completed the basic work and are now using three new classrooms for the school.
The city is tearing up our street to finally repave and make it a two-way street with four lanes instead of a one-way street with two lanes. This is going to be wonderful for us in that it will cut down on the garbage. Also we have been having serious problems with gang fighting in front of our facilities. The street improvements will make it much more difficult for them due to the constant traffic. Due to the road change, we are going to have to move our main entrance as the new road will limit access to our entrance area. Thus, we have a new project to attack. It will be a blessing when it is done as it will give us a safer entrance to our complex for both vehicles and pedestrians. Please pray for project funds to complete this change. We have just a couple of months to complete the work.
A New Classroom
Please pray for our financial needs here at Efata. Our costs keep rising. We lack the personnel and resources to adequately care for our deaf children. Two young ladies who have been with us for several months from the States for short-term mission work will be leaving us soon. They have been such a blessing and help. We will be sad to see them go.
If you know of any single young ladies or a young couple who would like to gain some valuable experience assisting on the mission field for several months or longer, please put them in contact with us. We also have a need for caring house-parents on a permanent basis.
Family News
Lisa’s mom is currently visiting with us. It is a blessing to have her here. We only wish that Lisa’s father could have come with her. The kids always love to have Grammy and Grampy visit. They are a wonderful blessing.
Everyone is doing well health-wise,and we all stay very busy.
My father is paying to fly my daughter Julianne and me to the States in December to attend a family wedding in New Jersey. We will be picking up Joseph on the way as college will be out for Christmas break. That will be a blessing and I am grateful to my father for providing for this. It will be wonderful to spend time with family we have not seen for several years.
Thanks for all you do to keep us on the field serving the Lord. What a privilege it is to serve a RISEN Saviour!
God Bless,
Joe & Lisa,
Joseph, Julianne, James, Jared, Judson, Joy, John, Jenny, Joel, Jessica
