January - February 2009 Prayer Letter

Dear Friends and Family,

HOME! We are now back in Peru and have hit the ground running. We arrived on Jan. 14th and immediately went into our Mission conference. We had a great conference with Bro. Bill Schutt Deaf Evangelist from First Baptist Church, Hammond, IN.

Also, we had the special treat of having my mentor in Deaf ministry Steve Houghton with us for a few days as well as he was helping his sister Rebecca with her move to work with us here in her new ministry with us here at Efata. She is going to be a great blessing for us and the work at Efata, especially with our ladies.

To top this all off, Missionary Jim Sloan, Missionary to the Deaf came down as well to visit and preach in the various deaf ministries here in Peru. The Deaf really love it when he comes and so do I.

Well, we have said our goodbyes to 2008 and what a tremendous year it has been for our family and the ministry as a whole. We were in the States for eight months raising much needed support for the orphanage and school ministry and we are grateful for the tremendous response that you our supporters and friends have given. We had the privilege of meeting many new friends and being in several new churches as well as many of our supporting churches during this time. Even in these uncertain economic times, God’s people were gracious and giving.

2008 saw the greatest year so far in souls saved and baptisms for our ministry. We are looking forward with great anticipation to what the Lord is going to do in 2009.

Missionaries Corey and Melissa Ricker and their family will be arriving on March 30th. They are going to be a tremendous asset to Efata Ministries. We are all looking forward to working together.

The first week of February we had our fourth annual Fires of Evangelism Conference. This year the attendance was down, however, the blessings were up. Several new pastors came and were greatly encouraged. We had 29 people saved during the conference and many dedications.

Right after the Fires conference some of our members and I went to the city of Huancayo about six hours away, where our new ministry for the Deaf celebrated its first anniversary. One Deaf-blind man was saved and there were over 64 deaf in attendance. Independent Baptist Church, pastured by missionary Markos Lindsey has been a tremendous blessing and support to this new ministry.

Frank and Hugo, the two preacher boys who have been going every weekend are now going to move there permanently. Our church is going to license and commission them as missionaries to the Deaf there in Huancayo on March 8th. Pray for them that we can raise the support they need to live there in Huancayo as they minister to the Deaf.

We will be opening a pregnancy crisis center here at Efata. Many souls will be saved and babies rescued through this very needful ministry. Lisa had the privilege to attend training for this ministry and we are excited to serve the Lord and Peru with this vital ministry.

We also have some construction and remodeling needs for the church and home. We need to put a new roof on the church and build an apartment for the new missionaries coming to work with us. Please pray with us that God will provide for these special needs.

By-the-way, my former cell phone# is no longer in service. Please feel free to call us here in Peru through our Vonage # (770)530-9410.

Thank you once again for all that you do for us, for all your prayer that you lift up in our behalf and for your personal friendship and love for Lisa, the children and I and especially for your care in helping send the Gospel to the Deaf and hearing of Peru and beyond.

In Christ,

Joe & Lisa,
Joseph, Julianne, James, Jared, Judson, Joy, John, Jenny, Joel, Jessica