On Monday I will drive to New Orleans to start my trip to Nigeria. As I get the final items together for the trip I would like to ask you to generally pray for 3 things.

• Safety as I travel.
• Wisdom as I preach and teach. I have some material prepared, but some of it will require knowing what the need is.
• Discernment in some decisions once I get there. There are a couple of investigative items I am doing there and I will need God’s guidance in how I make future recommendations to people.

I will try to update this page while I am there, but I really don’t know how accessible an Internet connection will be.

Thank you for your prayers for me and my family while I am away from them.

Categories: Ministry Update, Personal
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I am planning a trip to Nigeria in December in which I will be working with Pastor Olawale ‘Wally’ Orekan to be more effective in his ministry with the Deaf. Pastor Wally became the pastor of a deaf church in Abeokuta, Nigeria in the spring of this year. He has been learning his sign language well. However there is a need to learn more about how to effectively minister to the Deaf and communicate better within the culture of the Deaf.

Prayerfully I will be leading a small team on this trip. I have invited a couple of men to join me as I go to Nigeria. They will be a help to me in some practical matters. They will also gain a greater love for missions which I pray will encourage others to be more involved is sharing the Gospel throughout the world.

We will be in Nigeria the first 2 weeks of December.

The trip will cost $2000 which I need to raise outside of our monthly support. I have intentionally not mentioned the financial need to our current supporting churches. My purpose in this is to get others involved who may not feel like they have the ability to support us monthly. As a result, I have contacted a small group of churches that have expressed an interest in being a part of our ministry. There are also some individuals who want to be a part of this team. Will you join with us too?

To be a part of the team for this special trip there are two needs: prayer and money.

Prayer
Pray that the team will be able to get all the paperwork in place for the trip. One of the potential members needs to renew his passport. All of us need to get visas. We cannot get the visas until the plane tickets are purchased. There are some letters we need to get from Nigeria as well. Pray that we will be able to get all the paperwork submitted for the visa process in plenty of time. Since the plane tickets need to be purchased before applying for the visa, we also need to pray for the needed money for those tickets.

Pray for Wally. He wrote me yesterday and said that he has been sick the last few weeks. He is much better now and is ready for our visit. Pray that his health will continue to be fine and that he will strengthen while preparing for our arrival. Pastor Wally pastors 2 churches that are 60 miles apart. One is a hearing church and the other is the deaf church. He needs strength and wisdom as he prepares to receive us and not be too worn out to benefit from the instruction we can provide.

I will attempt to keep you posted on the progress of the trip by way of www.dpeach.com. Please check back here often or subscribe to the RSS feed if you would like to be notified of updates.

Money
One of the ways you will be motivated to pray is that you take part in the financial needs of the trip. The immediate financial need is the money for the plane tickets. That will be approximately $1200. The visa will be $112. One of the fees just to submit the visa paperwork will be $20. Even if you are only able to donate $20, you are helping to cover different costs associated with the trip. The rest of the needed money will be for expenses while in Nigeria.

Any gift you give is tax deductible and can be sent to our mission board marked with my name and that it is for the Nigeria trip. Since this trip has come up quickly and time is running short, it would be a help to me if you will send me an email letting me know how much you are able to donate towards the trip. As soon as I know enough money is being sent in to buy the tickets I can start that process.

Join the team. While you may not be able to go to Nigeria with us physically, you can certainly take part in God’s work by praying for us. Pray for the needs mentioned above and ask God what He would have you do financially to support this trip. Check back often over the next few weeks to see the progress the team is making to go to Nigeria.

Categories: Ministry Update, Personal
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We had a great missions conference in Anderson, Indiana this week. God did a work in the church and in us as missionaries. The capstone to the week was that on the last night of the conference a lady came forward in the service for salvation. Many in this church are either new believers or older Christians who have been recently stirred up again in their relationship with the Lord. The zeal and excitement of the church members was a blessing to us. We went there to inspire them towards missions and they ended up encouraging us to be out there on the firing line as their ambassadors.

The conference started on Sunday, but I was not asked to be there until Monday. Because of that we were able to be in the church of Pete and Marianne Leclerc on the south side of Indianapolis for the Sunday morning service. The Leclerc family is another missionary family with our board whom we met for the first time this last year. We have enjoyed a great relationship with one another during this time.

Steph and I also had the privilege to interpret at a supporting church on Sunday evening. Though there were no Deaf in the service, we were able to use that time as a training opportunity for some of the church interpreters.

We also spent a few days at the Bill Rice Ranch where we previously ministered for 6 years as staff members. We were there for a Ladies Retreat. My wife enjoyed a nice time in the services while the kids and I played around on the Ranch and got some office work done. It was a blessing to see some old friends and to make new ones as there are many new staff members since we lived there.

Categories: Ministry Update, Personal
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Campamento Henson 2009

We finished our northern deaf camp in Mexico, officially known as Campamento Henson, on July 24. We had a wonderful week with 95 campers. There was 1 decision for salvation, and 2 dedication decisions that I know of.

While we were down in our number if missionaries this year, we had a great group of national pastors, both hearing and Deaf, who stepped up to the plate to make this year a success. Out of our normal group of missionaries there are 10 who regularly attend and help teach classes and run the program. This year there were only 4 of us.

Knowing this was my last year as camp director, we asked a couple of the national pastors to work with me this year to get everything ready. In reality, when I got to the planning meeting during Easter week this year, they already had the teachers and schedule all planned. I helped polish up the details and made sure the little things were cared for, but they did the bulk of the planning before hand. Going into camp I felt like I had done so little to prepare and that we might suffer some consequences from it. While there were some hiccups along the way, the preparation work done by the pastors went a long way to making this year’s camp a success.

I am going to miss being part of the camp each year, but I doubt we will be total strangers to this group who has meant so much to us.

Categories: Ministry Update, Personal
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We spent last week in a training school with missionaries. This was a training week put on by our mission board. We had missionaries representing 10 different countries (if I counted right) as well as the support staff from the office.

The sessions were taught by missionaries, pastors, a financial planner, the office bookeeper, a medical doctor and a lawyer. We had a good mix of very practical sessions as well as spiritual enrichment. Classes included “Writing a prayer letter,” “Putting your important paperwork in order,” “Overcoming anger,” and “Understanding what a pastor expects from a missionary.” We were in classes from 8 in the morning to 5 in the afternoon. It was like being back in school! Somehow I enjoyed this much better than I ever enjoyed school. Maybe the coffee and cookies all day helped with that.

I want to give a public welcome to the new missionaries with BIO. We had none who was completely new to the BIO team, but there are a few who have been with us right about a year. I was serious when I said you are welcome to contact me any time about some of the things I taught. Also, if you just need a friend to talk with, please give me a call or send me an email. I don’t guarantee I will have the answer to all your questions, but I can try to point you the right direction, or listen patiently to your needs. I am excited about my new position with the board that allows me to just be a friend to you.

Over the next couple of weeks we will be in many churches as well as a week of camp in Pennsylvania. Then we go home for a couple of days while getting ready to drive to our camps in Mexico and also pack up our things to prepare for our time in Argentina. We appreciate your prayers as we travel and minister.

Categories: Ministry Update, Personal
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We have had a great, but busy travel month. We were on the road for 4 weeks. Part of that time was spent with family at a family reunion. We have not been able to attend a family gathering (other than one funeral) since we went to the field in 2004. It was good to see everyone.

Though we are home currently we will be leaving tomorrow for another long trip. We will be in a couple of supporting churches as well as several new ones.

It is hard to believe that our camp season is coming up soon too. We will get home from this trip just in time to head out 3 days later for the camp in the northern part of Mexico. We will be in Mexico for a month for the 2 weeks of camp and have time to sell and pack up the things we left in Merida. It will be good to be with friends in Mexico once again. The church is going well and we are eager to see the members.

I know many of you prayed for my mother earlier this year. She had pancreatitis and has had a rough time getting her strength back. However, she was progressing well. She had a physical setback a couple of weeks ago when she got an infection that sent her back to the hospital for a few days. She is home now and recovering slowly. We would appreciate your continued prayers for her.

We will be in Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Maryland and New York on this trip. We covet your prayers as we travel.

Categories: Ministry Update, Personal
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We returned home from a long trip last week to find that our house had been broken into. We noticed this immediately because the thieves were not real careful in putting stuff back where it belonged when they finished ransacking the house. Fortunately we were able to get the police to the house pretty quickly, before we touched anything. They looked for fingerprints and clues, but did not find much that will be a help.

We are finalizing a list of items stolen to give to the police, but they have a short list they are working from right now to check pawn shops.

Somehow we expected this to happen in another country, not right here at home. We were initially shaken up a bit and very saddened at the loss of some items. Thankfully, with the exception of Stephanie’s computer, most everything taken we consider to be tools. There was nothing of sentimental value taken (that we have discovered so far). However, we did lose some valuable tools. We will be adding up the value of everything in the next day or two. But initial estimation is that they took between $2000 and $3000 worth of equipment.

We are praying that we will get the computer back with the data. While we have most things backed up, there were some items that were not.

The big items taken were the computer, two LCD monitors, a DVD player and a bicycle. Some of the “jokes on them” items taken were some computer equipment that I keep around for parts. They may be surprised to find that all the things taken from the laundry room were actually broken. The funniest (yes, we can laugh at some of this) thing taken was our $20 bathroom scale. I guess they wanted to work on a weight loss program.

We do appreciate your prayers over the next few weeks as the police search for our items. Our personal best hope of tracking down the criminals is through the stolen bike. While it is not unique, it will be easy to see and may lend a clue as to who the theives were.

Categories: Personal
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We had a few meetings in January. Most of the churches we have scheduled for the first half of this year are new churches. As a result we have picked up 2 new supporters already. Our support level currently sits at 67%. We lost support due to the economy and there is a need to raise a bit more monthly than what we needed before. Pray with us as we are in new churches seeking support over the next few months.

My (David) mom has been in the hospital since just before Christmas with pancreatitis. Though she was able to leave for a few days she had to return for some emergency surgery. She is getting better daily and we expect that she will be back home within another couple of weeks. We would appreciate your prayers for her physical needs. We are able to be with her during the week when we are not traveling.

My grandfather on my Dad’s side passed away early in the month of January. Dad and I attended the graveside service. It was a blessing to meet the people in Grandpa’s church who have actually had a  closer relationship with him than we have been able to over the last few years. They were encouraging to us and gave wonderful testimonies as to Grandpa’s salvation and how he lived out his love for others.

Most of February we will be traveling close to home. We won’t have to be away for more than a week at a time until March. We will use this time to help Dad prepare to take care of Mom over the next few weeks.

Categories: Ministry Update, Personal
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Last week I got to take a working vacation of sorts. I went to Jefferson City, Tennessee where our mission board is building a new office. A church donated land to our board for the office and the building at the new site started a few months ago. They are trying to use as much volunteer labor as possible.

I volunteered to help out. Terry Childers, one of our missionaries to Kenya, is home during this time. Initially he came home because of the political unrest in the country. The Lord has used him to supervise the construction of the building since this was the type of work he did before going to the field. He is doing a marvelous job overseeing the construction. He will be headed back to Kenya sometime in January and will hand over the next phase of construction to someone else.

I worked at the site from Monday to Friday of last week. Mostly I was doing work on the rafters and laying roof sheathing. The goal is to have the roof ready for shingles in a few more days. Getting the building dried in is the ultimate goal before Bro. Childers leaves in January.

If you are interested in providing labor or money towards the project, you can contact BIO directly. Even if you can only spend a day or two, that would be a tremendous blessing. You can contact the office for more information at 865-992-0999.

Categories: Personal
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The last few weeks we have had meetings in the Atlanta area. Many have been churches that already support us. We were in a couple new churches and also scheduled some meetings in the area for next year. During our time in Atlanta I preached in a deaf church in which one young man was saved. It was a blessing to talk with 12 year old Luis after the service and show him how the Lord died for his sins.

Stephanie was ill part of this trip. We took her to a doctor to get some medicine for the illness. When he checked her blood pressure, his concern for the illness was lessened because of immediate concern for her high blood pressure. We were sent to the emergency room to get started with some long term care. I was able to take her home and get her scheduled in with a doctor. She is undergoing some tests and treatment to take care of the blood pressure. In the process the doctors have found some other issues that we are going to be checking into. Pray for her health.

After leaving Stephanie and the kids in Pensacola, I returned to Atlanta for two more meetings before going to east Tennessee. Our mission board holds a conference each November in which the board of directors meet for planning and business purposes. The missionaries who are home and pastors who are very closely associated with the board attend this time of fellowship and preaching. It was great to be with some old friends I have not seen in at least 4 years. Some I have not been with for almost 8 years.

I have returned home and will be home for a few more days before heading to another church this weekend.

We appreciate your continued prayers for our traveling safety. Also, please pray for Stephanie’s health issues that the doctors will be able to care for her. I will keep you posted with any significant news about her health.

Categories: Ministry Update, Personal
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