July - September 2011
Dear Friends and family,
For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers; Making request, if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you. For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established; that is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me. Romans 1:9-12
IMPORTANT News! Lord willing, our family will be coming home for a short furlough from March to July of 2012. We plan to be in the States for just four months and then return to Peru. Our oldest son Joseph graduates from college in May, so we will be able to be with him for this special time, and, as Paul expressed a deep desire to have a prosperous journey to be with the saints at Rome and to be comforted in the mutual faith with them; we as well desire to be with you all. Pastor, if you would like to have our family in to visit, to get to know the additions and report on the work here in Peru, please contact me so I can begin scheduling our meetings. We will attempt to visit as many of you as is logistically possible. If you have a mission conference that you will be hosting during these months and would like for us to participate, please let me know.
Ministry News
We continue to stay very busy and are grateful for the coming of spring- Sept. 23! Each week we have had fruit on visitation; church families have brought their friends and neighbors to Christ, more than ten parents have been saved through our Christian deaf school just in the last three months. It is a joy to see families coming and hearing their testimonies of God changing them and giving them peace in their homes. Many more seek answers. Please pray for this ministry.
On September 4th we had our open air preaching meeting in front of the City Hall of Villa El Salvador! We were so excited because over 80 members of the church came out to participate and we had over 20 salvation decisions. Our next meeting Open Air meeting is to be on November12th. Please pray as we preach the Gospel to our city.
We just hosted our very first teen conference September 21-24 here at Efata. Pastor Luis Ramos from San Luis Potosi, Mexico and Evangelist Carlos Chacon with Chispas de Evangelismo (Sparks of Evangelism, a ministry of Fires of Evangelism) preached for us. It was a tremendous blessing. Many decisions were made for Christ. Our young people have a desire to be used of God, and we thank God for the work He is doing in their hearts and lives.
The deaf children’s home ministry is doing well also. We are receiving a new one-and-a-half year-old deaf baby boy. Please pray for our financial needs as we care for little Danny. If you would like to share in the great blessing of sponsoring him, or another deaf child, please contact us.
Family News
We thank the Lord that we are all doing great. Joseph is a senior this year in college. We enjoyed him spending his summer with us. Julianne is starting college on-line and doing a great deal to help here. All of the children are growing and serving the Lord. I have attached a new picture of the family on this letter. If you would like me to e-mail you one just let me know.
Thank you once again to all of you for your care, love and support for us during these 12 years of service as your missionaries in Peru and beyond.
God Bless,
Bro. Joe & Lisa,
Joseph, Julianne, James, Jared, Judson, Joy, John, Joel, Jessica, Jennifer
jkotvas@efata.org, 770-530-9410
