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Announcements
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April 2008 Prayer Letter |
Dear Friends,
In February we had a special day at church with 36 in attendance. This was our largest group for a Sunday service. One of the hearing ladies who visited that day has continued to be with us faithfully. She attended for five weeks when she finally understood her need for a Savior. She accepted the Lord on a Wednesday night! The next Sunday she came to church excited to tell us that her mother and husband “wanted to know.” Bill and I went to their house Easter Sunday night. While explaining the Gospel, the mother sat on the edge of her chair eager to hear what we taught. She and the husband accepted the Lord without any questions or doubts! As we sat talking with them we realized that the lady who had been attending with us went home after each service and taught them everything she learned. They had already heard the Gospel presented many times through this precious lady.
This last Sunday we had a Deaf man and his hearing daughter accept the Lord. They have been coming to church with us for about three months. He does not know sign language but seems to be following along in the services. He reads well, when he has glasses. We have been providing him Gospel tracts magnified on the copy machine. The church bought a giant print Bible for him last week. He brought glasses with him to church for the first time this Sunday and was excited to read along in the Bible during the preaching. He went to Bill after the morning service and Bill lead him to the Lord. Jennifer took the daughter and explained the Gospel clearly to her one more time. The daughter also accepted the Lord.
Last week I traveled to Valladolid, Mexico to help with a medical team. For me it was like taking a short term mission trip. It was a lot of work as I interpreted between the doctors and patients, but it was rewarding to know that because I was doing my part, someone else presented the Gospel to each one of the patients that came seeking medical help. We saw more than 300 saved during the week!
Bill and Jennifer will travel back to the US for a needed surgery for six weeks. As soon as they get back we will work towards camp in the northern part of the country as well as camp here. We are blessed to have the camp expenses covered this year for camp in the north, but if you would like to donate towards our extensive traveling to the different camps and the expenses of our camp in the south, we would really appreciate that. Estimated cost is $1500. After camp we will pack up to return to the US for our one year furlough. We have already scheduled a few meetings while we are home. Pray for our safety travelling and that we will raise the extra support that we need for our next term.
When we return to Mexico after our furlough we will relocate to start another ministry. Pray with us that God will give us specific direction as to where to go. We would like to report soon on our next place of ministry. Pray with us that God will clearly show us where to go. We will take a survey trip in the next few weeks to seek the Lord's direction.
Have you listened to my podcast where I interview missionaries? www.missionarytalks.com |
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Update - March 26 |
- Trip to the US for meetings and some vacation time
- More news from our February 10th special day at church
- National Pastors and Missionaries came to visit us
- An exciting salvation testimony
We took a trip to the US for a couple of meetings and were able to take a short vacation spending time with David's parents. We got to see quite a few friends in our short visit as well as enjoyed shopping opportunities that only the US can provide... |
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Update - February 10 |
Today was the day that we were having a big event at church. We had been inviting the neighbors from near the church as well as friends and family of our Deaf who regularly attend. The reason we were making a big push today is that we had done quite a few improvements to the church building and wanted to show them off. Of course it was just an excuse to really push our people to invite their friends.
Normally on a Sunday morning we will have between 10 and 17 at church. Today we were pleased to see 36 people in church with us. 13 of them were first time visitors. It was an exciting day.
We split up the duties between Bill, our co-worker, and myself for the speaking this morning. Bill told about the history and planned future of the ministry. I gave a Gospel message. We had 2 ladies (hearing) accept the Lord today!
After the service we had a meal and sat around and talked for a while. It was just a generally exciting day.
Thank you for praying for our ministry. |
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January 2008 Prayer Letter |
Dear Praying Friends,
Thank you so much for praying during the year of 2007. It was a great year in ministry. We saw several Deaf and hearing saved. We have particularly been blessed to have some of those who were saved this year become faithful in church and excited about spiritual growth.
We had our first baptismal service in December for our church. Two were baptized. One was Eduardo who was saved in September. The other was our son James. It was great to be a part of these two peoples' spiritual growth.
God has opened new doors of ministry already for 2008. We have one Christian family who is burdened for a Deaf girl who attends school with their son. Gisel is 14 years old and knows some sign language, but not enough to carry on a normal conversation. She came to church with us this weekend for the first time and we are looking forward to working with her and bringing her to a knowledge of the Savior. She lives in a village in a very rough home situation. Just having regular contact with her is going to be a challenge. Pray with us as we work with her over the coming weeks and months.
Another opportunity came this last week concerning a 14 year old boy, Imer. While working at the church another pastor came and asked for my help in a situation. Their church has a school in which Imer attends. Imer is Deaf and was involved in a situation that the school needed help in handling. The pastor came and asked me to interpret to make sure that everything was clear to him. As a result the parents were called in to discuss the problem with the school administrator. The parents began asking for personal spiritual guidance as well as parental guidance to help with their son. Our pastor friend came to me later and asked that I take over the situation since I am able to minister not only to the parents, but Imer as well.
Along with the other wonderful growth we have been seeing in those who have been saved this last year, God continues to bring new people to us to whom we can minister. We pray that we will be able to contact many new Deaf throughout 2008.
As we are preparing for furlough later this year, we have needed to turn over more and more responsibility to the other missionary couple who will be taking the ministry completely when we leave. For the missionaries involved the transition of power has already taken place. We have laid out steps so that the church can start to depend more on Bill and Jennifer and less on us. Everything is going very well with that.
On a personal note, we had a wonderful time with the holidays this year. For Thanksgiving we gathered with almost 50 friends for a great feast. It seemed that the Christmas activities never ended. I think our first Christmas party was December 9 and we did not slow down until just after the new year. God has truly blessed us with a great group of friends here on the field.
David Peach |
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Update - December 2 |
Today was a special day at church. We had our first baptismal service. We had two baptized. The first was Eduardo who was saved just a couple of months ago. He is the older of two brothers who have recently been saved. The younger brother would like to be baptized too, but they are not able to come to church on the same day. Because of the neighborhood in which they live, they never leave the house empty. We are not sure when we will be able to have a baptismal service for Memo, the younger brother, but it should be soon.
The second person baptized today was our son. It was my privilege to be able to baptize James. He was saved several years ago and followed the Lord in baptism today.
As with all churches, we are battling many different parties and events surrounding the holiday season. We have been down a bit on attendance on Sundays. Wednesdays have continued to stay steady. Thank you for your prayers for our ministry. |
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Happy Thanksgiving |
Today we got together with some other missionary families and had an enjoyable day. We started off with the men and boys gathering at the park this morning to play some football. There were 17 of us and we had a great time.
We then went to the house of one of the missionary families and had a feast! There were 48 of us (if my count was right). It is just like getting together with our family back home. Some of the people we know very well, while others are mere acquaintances. We enjoy getting to catch up with those we know well and get to know the new families.
After the meal we sat around and talked and shared what we were thankful for. We also sang some songs and, of course, watched football. Most people stayed around and talked for several hours after the meal. It is a lot of work and way too much food, but it would be nice to do this three or four times a year just to get everyone together as a family of missionaries.
This has never really been limited to just the missionaries. We have invited other American families to join us who are either church members or good friends of the missionaries. This year we were joined by a family from the US Consulate as well as a few family members who were in town visiting the missionaries.
May God bless you as we move into the holiday season and remember our Savior who brings us together as one family. |
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October 2007 Prayer Letter |
Dear Praying Friends,
The last few weeks have been amazing. It is great to be a part of God's work and see how He is touching and changing lives.
We had an evangelistic push in our church during the month of September focusing on bringing visitors to church. During the month we had 20 visitors and 2 salvations! Many great contacts were made during this time.
One Deaf teenage girl who had just started coming to church with us in August was saved on a Sunday morning early in the month. Towards the end of the month a Deaf man in his late 20s was saved. He is a man whom I mentioned a couple of letters ago. We had been invited to the house by his mother. His mother and sister were saved the night we visited and a younger Deaf brother was one of the ones saved in August after camp. The last week of September the older brother (who we originally went to visit) came to church for the first time and received Christ that morning! He was very resistant to coming to church when we first started visiting in the home. Now he is very excited about being in the Lord's house and learning the Word of God. After his salvation his younger brother, who was saved the month before, has been teaching him how to look up verses in the Bible.
During this time we saw our Sunday morning attendance double, and in the first couple of weeks of October we have continued to have visitors and great attendance for all our services.
While all this spiritual excitement has been swirling about us, we have also had some less fun excitement. I spent a few hours in a Mexican jail! They called it a "waiting area," but the doors were locked from the outside and I was not allowed to leave. I was involved in a traffic accident where someone was injured. In Mexico you are guilty until proven innocent. After spending several hours in jail my innocence was proven and I was released with no further problems. I thank the Lord for good friends who helped advise me each step of the way.
It his hard to believe that we have been here in Mexico for over 3 years. We are less than 1 year away from returning to the US for our furlough. We are eager to be able to see many of you again and tell you all about what God has been doing here in Mexico and in our lives personally. Pray with us as we schedule meetings with supporting churches and new churches. We need to raise some additional support as we prepare to return to the field the following year.
Continue to pray for our ministry here. We are excited to see how the Lord is blessing and are thrilled to be a part of what He is doing.
David Peach |
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Missionaries to the Deaf of Latin America
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Currently Working in Mérida, México
Thank you for your prayers as we work with the Deaf in Mérida, Yucatán, México.
We arrived here the end of July 2004. We are working with the Calvary Baptist Church of Mérida working to establish a deaf ministry within the church. The Lord has allowed us to make good progress into the deaf community and we are teaching a weekly Bible study to the Deaf with the goal that they will be saved and become the leaders in this community to carry the Gospel to those around them.
Ministry Goals
The purpose of our ministry is to help churches establish an outreach to the Deaf. In some cases this will be through an interpreting ministry, in others it will be through training someone to lead the ministry as Pastor of the deaf congregation. Whichever means, or variations thereof, we are dependent on the national workers to take this responsibility. God has equipped us as missionaries capable of training them for this ministry.
Though we are currently ministering in México we have a broad goal of being able to assist other ministries, missionaries and churches in Spanish speaking countries to get the Gospel to the Deaf around them.
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Bible Verse
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And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!
-- Romans 10:15
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