The final weekend for a two-week sign language class that we taught went very well. Though our main focus was on Saturday and Sunday, God gave us several opportunities to make new contacts and see some victories in the days leading up to the weekend.

We learned of an interpreting agency in the area that was very friendly and sympathetic to our cause of starting a deaf ministry in a church. They invited us to attend a deaf community meeting on Thursday night. I went to the meeting while my wife finished teaching the class that evening. I met a few of the key people involved in the social activities of the deaf community.

On Friday the church set up a table at the mall’s Deaf Awareness Day activities. We handed out tracts and invited people to our Saturday night fellowship at the church. Again we met other people who seemed to be excited about the church’s interest to reach the Deaf with the Bible. A couple of the students joined the pastor and me at the mall for the day. It was a great introduction for them on how Deaf communicate with one another. Needless to say, I think it was shocking to our new signers as to how fast everything looks when people who are skilled in the language talk to each other.

Saturday night we had a fellowship at the church. We do these as a way to introduce the Deaf in the community to our students and to give the students a chance to practice their skills. One of our Deaf friends was at the event. We played games, did skits, ate and talked. A few of the students were brave enough to try and carry on a conversation with the Deaf visitor.

On Sunday morning Stephanie and I did part of the interpreting while the students did the rest. Three of our students interpreted songs and announcements. They each did very well. For these classes we always leave after the morning service so as to break the dependence on us. A couple of students interpreted the evening service. We heard from one of our other students that they did very well.

We look forward to keeping a good relationship with the church in Leitersburg and helping them to become more effective in reaching out to the Deaf around them.

Categories: Ministry Update, Personal
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We are almost done with the first week of a two-week sign language class in Leitersburg, Maryland. There are 16 people who have stuck with us so far and they are all doing well. Thursday night of this first week is always the hardest, but the students are hanging in there and still learning.

The first week is all concentrated on vocabulary. They will learn 900+ signs before we leave! Or, at least I will teach that many. It will take them a few weeks before they feel like they have actually learned these signs. The students are getting them into their heads and certainly know much more now than they did when we started four days ago.

Next week we will spend all our class time practicing and learning how to use the signs properly. I will teach interpreting principles and how they can minister to the Deaf in a spiritual and physical way.

I praise the Lord for the many good students in the class. I am also thankful for the great contacts in the Deaf community we have been able to make. Though there are several deaf churches and deaf ministries within an hour of this small town, the ones I have talked with have been friendly and excited that we are starting a ministry in this little pocket of Maryland. There are three small towns around Leitersburg that have Deaf who would have to drive at least 30 minutes to another ministry. God can use this new work to reach those who have never had a church show interest in them nor share with them the Gospel.

We appreciate your prayers as we continue to teach. The students are doing well but feeling buried under a pile of signs that seem so confusing at the moment. I pray the weekend will be a welcome break for them and that they will be refreshed on Monday to start learning the new concepts.

Tags: ASL,Deaf,sign language
Categories: Ministry Update
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Dear Friends,
God was good and gracious to us on our recent 6,000 mile trip. I preached in Texas, Oklahoma and Arizona. I love encouraging believers to help the cause of missions through prayer, finances and personal surrender to God’s call. I preached or spoke in almost a dozen churches in March. Two of these churches were Deaf churches in Arizona.

We also met with more than 30 pastors or individuals on this trip. Of course many of these meetings were with Christians, but several were with friends we have made through the Internet. It was a joy to share the Gospel and give them specific recommendations for churches in their area.

We crisscrossed the state of Arizona several times. We were in 5 different churches out there. One of the meetings was a Fantastic Saturday with our friends Jon and Diane Barr from Silent Word Ministries. The day was filled with activities and teaching specifically for Deaf and deaf workers.

The main reason we went to Arizona on our trip was to spend time with missionary Mike Remington and his family. Mike is a BIO missionary who, along with his wife Amy, has a love for people. They specifically have been led to reach out to deaf young people who struggle with alcohol, drug and rebellion problems.

Mike invited me to preach at a camp-out weekend which he does twice a year. I preached two times on Saturday, taught Sunday School and preached at the deaf church on Sunday. We had 22 young people at the camp out with six being first-time visitors. After my second message on Saturday evening four of the campers accepted the Lord as their Savior! I dealt with two young men who raised their hands for salvation after the message. As I finished talking to them Mike was sitting down with two more to lead them to the Lord. I thank the Lord for allowing me to be a part of that great weekend.

Mike’s father-in-law will join the team going to Deaf Nation World Expo this summer. This is an event that Stephanie and I will participate in where we will distribute tracts to Deaf from around the world. God used this event two years ago to bring dozens of Deaf to Himself. This summer we look forward to handing out tens of thousands of tracts and DVDs. We will also witness one-on-one with the Deaf and hearing we meet.

We need to raise $2,400 so that Stephanie and I can be part of the team in Las Vegas. Would you like to take a financial role in this great event? You can mark your donations Peach Las Vegas Trip when you send them to our mission board. If you would prefer to donate through PayPal you can do that at our website: www.dpeach.com. Make sure you note what the donation is for so that we will know how to use the money properly.

The next several weeks will be no less exciting. I will speak in a couple of mission conferences as well as teach a sign language class in a church for two weeks. We appreciate your prayers as we travel and spread the burden of reaching the Deaf.

David Peach

Categories: Prayer Letter
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Dear Praying Friends,
We have settled into our new house and the daily ministry that I will be doing with the mission board office. Just because we are settled in, does not mean we are sitting back and doing nothing. The next two months we are presenting our ministry in churches and assisting other missionaries in their works. We will be in 13 different churches in 6 states during March and April. A few are one-day meetings and others are multi-day missions conferences. In the midst of these meetings we will also visit and help one of our BIO missionaries working with the Deaf in Arizona.

At the end of April we are going to a church in Maryland to help start a deaf ministry. As with all these types of meetings, we are praying that God will accomplish certain things. We need an inroad to the deaf community in the area. We pray that people in the church will learn the language well. And finally, we trust that the Lord will gift at least one person in the church to be a proper leader in this new ministry.

It was a blessing to preach in a missions conference at a church near the BIO office recently. During this conference there were two young ladies who accepted the Lord as their Savior! I pray that as a result of this conference we will see new missionaries going to the field from this church.

There are Deaf all around good churches who have no access to the Gospel because people don’t know how to share the Gospel with them. That number and need are even greater around the world. Wouldn’t it be great to reach the Deaf from many countries at one time?

New prayer card coming soon!

Stephanie and I do have an opportunity to reach an international group of Deaf this summer in Las Vegas. You may remember that in 2010 I traveled to Las Vegas with Silent Word Ministries to give out 60,000* 40,000 pieces of Gospel literature and DVDs to more than 20,000 Deaf from 73 countries. Still today we are reaping a harvest from that outreach. I learned recently that two more Deaf called in January asking questions about the literature we gave away. Both of them accepted the Lord through a video phone conversation!

We need to raise $2,400 for both Stephanie and I to go. This money is in addition to our regular monthly support. If you will help with the trip please mark your donations for the Peach Las Vegas Trip and send them to BIO. Or, you can donate online at www.dpeach.com by marking your donation specifically for this trip. This outreach will have a huge impact on eternity. Will you invest in the salvation of Deaf souls?

We covet your prayers as we continue to serve the Lord in the ministry to which He has called us.

David Peach

March 2012 Peach Prayer Letter PDF

*[Correction: The printed form of the letter says that we gave out 60,000 pieces of literature. However, after checking through my records the right number was 40,000.]

Categories: Prayer Letter
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I met some college students today who asked if I had any pictures of some of my missionary work online. Here is an album from my 2009 trip to Nigeria. I have thousands of other pictures, but these were already in a nice album. I hope they are encouraging to anyone looking to be inspired about missions.

This particular photo album was compiled for a friend of mine who knows many of the people in the photos, therefore the captions are tailored more for him. But I think others will enjoy the pictures.

I have another, smaller album from the same trip. It has just pictures of some of the people I met on the trip.

Categories: Personal
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