Dear Praying Friends,
Working in the BIO office gives me an opportunity to help missionaries in practical ways. The last several weeks have been a mix of working in the office and meeting pastors as we travel.

In the Office
Much of my time in the office involves communication with pastors and missionaries. We always enjoy when missionaries are able to stop by and visit with us. Since we have been home from Mexico we have seen Jeremy M. and his wife. They work in a closed country as church planters. We also enjoyed an overnight visit in our home from Pete and Marianne Leclerc. They are missionaries working with the Deaf in Indiana.

I help with various modes of communication in the BIO office. One of the ways is through maintaining the BIO website: www.biomissions.org. I also help our General Director, John Yingling, with a couple of newsletters that BIO produces. A weekly newsletter is focused towards our missionaries. Then a monthly newsletter goes out to our supporters. If you would like to subscribe to either of these you can go to www.biomissions.org/newsletter.

On the Road
My son and I drove to meet with a pastor in North Carolina. He is the sending pastor for the Leclercs in Indiana. It was our first time to meet with him. We enjoyed discussing ministry and ways we could help Pete and Marianne be more effective in their work. I always enjoy meeting with sending pastors who want to take an active part in helping a missionary do their ministry for the glory of God.

I met with another sending pastor in Florida while on a recent trip. He too wanted information that would help him know how to properly encourage his church’s missionary in her work.

We look forward to being in some of our supporting churches later this year as well as a few mission conferences in new churches. We have not made a big trip to visit all our supporting churches in three or four years. If you would like us to be part of your conference or special meetings, please let me know. Now that we are in the US it is easier for us to visit you at your convenience and not just whenever we can fit you in between other meetings. Give me a call or send an email and we will be glad to make the trip to see you.

Thank you for your prayers for our work. It is a great privilege to minister to missionaries on your behalf.

A PDF version of this prayer letter can be printed and posted at your church.

Categories: Prayer Letter
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Here is our June 2013 prayer letter that I wanted to write. But, it is too long to fit what I know to be good practice for printed letters. Those reading it online will get about 50% more than those getting the printed version.

Enjoy!

Dear Praying Friends,
Thank you for your prayer support during our time in Mexico. It is hard to believe that it is quickly coming to an end. We have been here since mid-March and will be leaving in a few days (June 17). Being here has been a blessing in so many ways.

Old Friends
Of course one of the things we were excited about doing was spending time with many of our old friends. It seems like there wasn’t enough time to see everyone and spend as much time with them as we wanted. But we did what we could and received a blessing from seeing so many who have been faithful to the Lord. This included our dear friends in the deaf church, other missionaries, national pastors, and church members.

I can’t necessarily remember all the people that I did not see (those who have stopped going to the various churches); but, I do get great joy from seeing those who have been faithful to the congregations where God has allowed them to serve.

New Friends
I have mentioned before how that Bill and Jennifer Green have done a great job in the ministry here. They have contacted so many new Deaf that I had never met during our four years in Merida. The church has grown in faithful attendees; more than half of whom are people we previously did not know. Meeting the new Deaf and hearing in the church has been wonderful.

There are also new missionary families that are beginning their ministries. Some so new that they are still in language training. This thrills my soul to see this area of Mexico getting the attention of people who want to do a work for God.

Ministry Opportunities
Last Sunday night I preached in a hearing church that has been a great friend to us. Missionary Don Carney is the pastor and has a wonderful group of people who have been faithful to the Lord. I am excited about some of the men in the church who grew up as teenagers there and are now taking active roles in the work.

Last week I attended a seminary graduation where they graduated their first class of seven men and women. The graduates range in age between early 20’s to almost 50 years old. Two are already pastoring churches they helped start and one is preparing to start a new work. The fourth young man in the group is seeking God’s direction while working as a leader in his church. The three ladies who graduated are all very involved in their church ministries (two are the pastors’ wives). What a thrill to see people dedicating themselves to absolute surrender. They have sacrificed four years of their time to intensely study God’s Word and prepare themselves for ministry.

Of course we have also been busy in the work with the deaf church. I love teaching the Bible and seeing eyes light up with understanding. Two weeks ago I was teaching about baptism. One of the deaf ladies who has come to the church for years, but who seems more curious than she is committed, started to understand the purpose of baptism. The teenager beside her poked the lady and said, “see, that is what I have been trying to explain.” I trust we will soon hear news of her step of obedience and identification with Christ through baptism.

Headed Home
In just a few days we will be boarding the plane back to Knoxville. Currently I have no trips on the horizon. Though I have stayed as connected as I could to the BIO office, there are some things that I need to catch up on when we get home. You may remember that I have been in several countries since the beginning of December. Traveling in the US will be a welcome change.

As always, we thank you for your prayers and financial support. Through you, God is enabling us to assist those missionaries working with the Deaf around the world.

PDF version: Peach June 2013 Prayer Letter

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Dear Praying Friends,
We have been in Mexico a month and are enjoying being with so many old friends once again. We are filling in for Bill and Jennifer Green with whom we worked to help get the deaf church in Mérida established. They are out of the country for three months and asked if I could preach for them while they were gone. It was an opportunity we did not want to pass up.

It is a blessing to see the church people growing physically and spiritually. Many of the core people in the church were teenagers when we left. Now most of them are grown and some have children!

Another exciting thing to see is the way the church has expanded far beyond our original contacts. Bro. Bill Green has done a great job of reaching out to parts of the deaf community that we had never contacted before. I believe the ministry is much stronger now that the circle of contacts has reached beyond the one small segment of the deaf with which we started.

We will be in Mérida until the middle of June. Please continue to pray for our safety and that God would use us to be a blessing to the work here in Mexico.

Recent Prayer Requests
I want to thank you for praying for the prayer requests that I mentioned from my recent trips. The camp in Costa Rica was wonderfully used by the Lord. There were many Deaf at the camp with various countries represented. There was even a news crew that came out to film some of the camp. The story aired on the national level. This was positive exposure for the ministry of Bro. Ramirez.

The ministry in Ethiopia is continuing to thrive. Bro. Bizuayehu wrote me this week and asked that we pray for their Resurrection Sunday celebrations. Ethiopia is on a very different calendar than the rest of the world. They celebrate the resurrection of Christ on May 5. They will have a special day of prayer and Easter programs in a few of the deaf churches. Pray that God continues to use the deaf works in Ethiopia for His honor and glory.

If you would like to support either of these ministries, or any BIO missionary to the Deaf, please contact me or the BIO office for information on how you can be involved.

PDF version of the May 2013 Prayer Letter

Tags: Costa Rica,Ethiopia,Mexico,prayer letter,update
Categories: Ministry Update, Prayer Letter
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Dear Praying Friends,
Since our last letter, so much has happened and so much is about to happen! I have to wonder how I have been able to go two months without telling you all about it.

Costa Rica
The Costa Rica trip was wonderful. The trip had a couple of main goals and God worked in helping to accomplish them.

Primarily I needed to visit our BIO missionary Pablo Ramirez and his ministry. Pablo is a Costa Rican national who has been involved in deaf ministry for more than 25 years. Bro. Ramirez has a desire to reach his own people—both hearing and Deaf—with the Gospel. I was very impressed with the way he has structured his ministry. Though he has a deaf pastor, Cristian Muñoz, trained to run the deaf church, Pablo is still involved in helping other churches start deaf works to share the Good News with the Deaf in their areas.

Pray for Bro. Ramirez and Bro. Muñoz as they prepare for their annual international deaf camp which is scheduled for the week of March 25.

A dear friend of ours, Steve Blann, has assisted Pablo and Cristian in their camps for many years. He wants to meet the two men in the Dominican Republic for planning some future ministry outreach there. Steve has already raised the money for Cristian’s trip. If you would like to help me raise some trip money for Bro. Pablo, you can send a donation to the BIO office in his name. Be sure to designate it for the trip.

The second main objective of the trip was to introduce Bro. Dan Bode to the foreign mission field. This was his first time outside the US. He knows God has called him into ministry and he is seeking clear direction. The trip affected his heart towards missions and was spiritually beneficial. I enjoyed seeing how the Lord worked in his life during our time together.

Mexico
We are headed back to Mexico for the next three months! We leave March 7 and will return June 17. It is an honor to be asked to fill in for Bill and Jennifer Green while they return to the US. It also brings joy to our hearts to know that we are going back to visit many dear friends in Mérida. We will help keep the ministries of the deaf church going while the Greens visit churches and participate in the wedding of their daughter.

You can still reach us with our normal contact information. Email is probably the best way to get in touch with us while we are gone.

PDF version of the February 2013 prayer letter.

Categories: Ministry Update, Prayer Letter
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Dear Praying Friends,

Deaf pastor Bizuayehu Assefa walked in the door and God instantly knitted our hearts together. It took less than 10 seconds in his presence to know that I would grow to deeply love this pastor whom I have previously known only through email. Because of your prayers and financial help I was able to meet this dear man of God as well as many other godly servants of our Lord in Ethiopia.

Faithful Pastor

Bro. Bizuayehu has faithfully served the Lord in deaf ministry as a pastor for more than 20 years. He is Deaf and has a passion to reach his own people. Though he has struggled with health challenges, he continues to ask the Lord for strength to continue in ministry. He was deafened many years ago by illness and recently lost an eye due to disease. Even with these obstacles I consistently heard from American missionaries and national pastors that Pastor Bizuayehu is the hardest working and best pastor in the country. He holds a yearly conference where he is able to minister to Deaf in 16 cities and villages in Ethiopia.

Ethiopia Report

Pastor Bizuayehu and two pastors who work with him.

While I was there I spoke 10 times in churches and Bible classes. Three precious souls accepted the Lord as Savior! One is a hearing man and two are deaf teens. All of them have been prayed for and witnessed to by Christian friends. I thank God that He allowed me to see the results of their evangelistic efforts.

As far as I know, I did not eat anything too rare. I drank too much coffee. I had great fellowship. Even as busy as I was, I had time to read and pray in a way that I often don’t do here in the US. Stepping out of my daily routine helped me to see ways that I can spend more time with the Lord even back home.

Thank you for your prayers and support for this important trip. There were many things I had hoped to accomplish while I was in Ethiopia. I believe I accomplished my goals. The sweetest thing is that I got to connect with people that I had never met or spent much time with before. I have many new friends for whom I can pray and know they are praying for my family and our ministry.

If you are interested in helping Bro. Bizuayehu financially in his ministry, please contact BIO or me for information. He is the kind of man of integrity who will use any support he gets to further the Gospel. If he had $5 or $500 more in support each month, he could do so much more ministry. I am confident that every dollar you invest with him will be used wisely and effectively.

Costa Rica Trip

I am planning a similar trip to Costa Rica from January 25 to February 4. I would appreciate your prayers that I can effectively minister to the missionaries there. More information about the trip will be at our website.

PDF version of the letter

Tags: Ethiopia
Categories: Prayer Letter
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Dear Praying Friends,
Last week my heart was broken as I walked away from Ben. He is 96 years old and understands his need for a savior, but would not accept Jesus Christ as the Messiah. He acknowledged that he could not be saved with his current beliefs. He is a Jew and categorically rejects Jesus’ claims as the Son of God.

The two things that give me hope for Ben are the people in his life and prayer. Ben is Deaf and has people close to him who love him and are praying for his salvation. Ben’s hearing son gave testimony that he (the son) came to an understanding of Christ by reading the Old Testament. Ben’s son is greatly concerned for his father’s salvation. There is also a lady who lives in the same town as Ben and picks him up to take him to church. Ben likes going to the Christian church, but does not want anyone to change him from being a Jew.

We know God can work mightily in a person’s life through prayer. Will you please pray for my new friend Ben?

We had a wonderful retreat with a deaf church in New York last week. That is where I met Ben and his son. Besides having an opportunity to clearly present the Gospel, I enjoyed teaching about prayer. Specifically the weekend was focused on praying for missionaries.

I am excited about an upcoming trip to Ethiopia. I plan to leave the week after Thanksgiving and be gone until December 17. I will meet some dear servants of God for the first time. Bizuayehu and Gomeju have faithfully served the Lord among the Deaf for many years in their native country. Bizuayehu is a deaf pastor and has trained other men to be pastors as well. There are several churches that he has helped start.

Gomeju is in charge of the Vicktory School for the Deaf in Addis Ababa. Those familiar with our mission board have probably been involved in the many projects helping that educational ministry through the years. God has used that work to bring many Deaf to Himself.

A donor will match $750 towards the trip. This will take care of half the plane ticket. Anyone wanting to assist in the other half of the trip can donate through BIO with a notation of “Peach Ethiopia.”

We praise the Lord for new monthly donors. This has been a financial relief for our day to day ministry expenses. Thank you!

Prayer Requests:

• Ben’s Salvation
• Successful Ethiopia Trip

October 2012 Prayer Letter PDF

Categories: Ministry Update, Prayer Letter
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Dear Praying Friends,
We praise the Lord for the wonderful ministry opportunity that Stephanie and I had at the DeafNation World Expo. We were able to go because of your help and God worked mightily because of your prayers. This event hosted 16,000+ Deaf from more than 65 countries. Though the number of participants was only half of what the organizers expected, God won a great victory. Our team of 36 people were privileged to lead 36 souls to the Lord! Deaf from at least 4 different countries accepted the Lord!

We arrived on Friday evening, July 27. The weekend was filled with prayer and preparation for the event. The leader of our team, David Bennett from Silent Word Ministries International, made prayer a priority during our weekend preparation. It was obvious to us that he had spent much time on his face before the Lord concerning DeafNation. David not only taught us to pray, he showed us how. I am certain the prayer lives of everyone on our team will be forever changed. God used Bro. Bennett’s example of prayer to help all of us focus on the Lord during the week.

Besides preparing our hearts and minds for the work, there were tens of thousands of tracts and videos to make ready for opening day. The main focus of our evangelistic thrust this year was that man cannot be good enough to earn his way into Heaven. God’s Law was clearly presented to help people realize that they are sinners but that God has also provided a Redeemer.

Our group of 36 split up into four teams. I was in charge of one of the two street teams. We walked up and down the Las Vegas strip for several hours each day handing out tracts to anyone who would take them. When we saw Deaf we would give them a Gospel DVD along with the tracts. We engaged as many people, hearing or Deaf, as we could in conversations about the Lord. Though I did not personally lead anyone to the Lord on this trip, I trust that the many seeds planted will soon be harvested by other Christians. God blessed and kept the street teams safe even with the many hours we spent in the sun.

The two teams which covered our booths inside the convention center did the bulk of the witnessing. The convention center provided them a place to carry on long conversations and answer many questions. There were several people who spent more than two hours with our team members before accepting the Lord as Savior. People were not in a hurry to get from one place to another. Most of them were there for the purpose of talking hours on end. We praise the Lord that they chose to talk with the people at our booths.

I want to extend a hearty thank you to each one of you for your involvement in our ministry in Las Vegas. We appreciate the financial support that made this trip possible, but mostly we thank you for your faithful prayers. We know many were praying for our family and the DeafNation team. God truly heard your prayers and answered. Thank you for taking a part in DeafNation World Expo so that many Deaf could learn about salvation through Jesus Christ.

August 2012 Prayer Letter PDF

Categories: Ministry Update, Prayer Letter
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Dear Praying Friends,

On Monday morning June 25 we celebrated the homegoing of my grandmother. My mother spent the last several months caring for her. This allowed us to be physically closer to my grandmother during these precious days. Of all the stories we shared at the funeral my favorites were the ones shared by her friends at church. It was a blessing to hear them tell how much my grandmother requested prayer for missionaries and their needs.

Training School

Our annual training school was terrific! It has been a couple of years since Stephanie and I took part in one of these events. We enjoyed serving the missionaries while they were here as well as getting a blessing from all the great teaching. Among the teachers we had a medical doctor, a language expert, a pastor, a builder and veteran missionaries who taught us how to more effectively accomplish the ministry God has called us to.

Thank you for your prayers for this important week. God used this week to strengthen ministries and form relationships between fellow missionaries. I pray that each one who attended the training was encouraged in the work.

DeafNation World Expo

The DeafNation World Expo is quickly approaching. Within the next few weeks tens of thousands of Deaf will converge on the city of Las Vegas. Our team of Christians is eagerly preparing for the event. We will have literature for both hearing and Deaf ready to distribute. There are also DVDs with a clear Gospel presentation that we will give to the Deaf from close to 100 countries.

Please pray that this week will have a tremendous impact on eternity. This is the second time this event has been held. We are still reaping a harvest from the convention two years ago. Because of the great reception from the organizers of the event and the good testimony the team showed last time, I believe the foundation is laid for God to do even greater things this summer.

Pray that God will give us boldness to speak His Word with those He leads us to. Please pray for the physical needs of the team too. The summer heat will be a factor that we need to consider. Pray that each of the 35 team members will stay healthy during the event. Our team will fly in from all over the US and at least one foreign country. Pray that we will be patient with the airlines and that we will be sensitive to sharing God’s love with others around us. Many of the team members, ourselves included, are still raising the rest of the money needed for the trip.

Thank you for your continued support of our ministry. We are excited about reaching more Deaf and training others to do the same. We are able to do this because of faithful friends who pray for us regularly. Thank you for being one of those friends.

July 2012 Prayer Letter PDF

Categories: Ministry Update, Prayer Letter
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Dear Friends,
Wayside Baptist Church in Hagerstown, Maryland wanted to reach the Deaf in their area but no one in their church knew how to sign. Through God’s leading, Pastor Waddell contacted us about spending two weeks at the church to teach them how to reach their Deaf friends. We recently finished teaching them how to sign and witness to the Deaf.

The church members learned well and we were blessed to be with them. Sometimes, toward the end of a two-week class, we pray that God would give us anyone who would show a small glimmer of hope of interpreting and leading the ministry. That certainly was not a problem at Wayside. God gave us 16 faithful students, many of whom showed great skill and interest in interpreting the services.

We made many contacts in the deaf community. Even though there are other good ministries working with the Deaf in Hagerstown, they all seemed friendly to assist the new ministry and work together to reach the unreached. The church has even had a deaf man visit one of their services already.

Does your church want to reach the Deaf around you? If we can assist you in starting a ministry we would love to help. Our desire is to help churches and missionaries reach the Deaf. If your church already has a deaf ministry but needs more training and encouragement, please contact us about serving you in this way.

DeafNation World Expo

A man called Silent Word Ministries a couple of weeks ago asking questions about the Gospel DVD in sign language he received two years ago in Las Vegas. The staff at Silent Word shared with him the Gospel via videophone and saw him accept the Lord as his Savior! This is continuing fruit from tracts and DVDs we distributed at DeafNation World Expo in 2010 in Las Vegas.

The biennial event is quickly approaching this summer. Stephanie and I are thrilled with the opportunity to meet Deaf from around the world who need the Gospel. A major part of our ministry will be handing out tracts and Gospel DVDs to tens of thousands of hearing and Deaf during the week of July 28-August 4.

We still need your help to make this trip possible. Your special gifts can be sent to BIO or through the PayPal Donate button at our website. Please mark all donations as Peach Las Vegas Trip. We still need $2000. Please pray for this special opportunity.

Training School

The BIO Missionary Training School is scheduled for June 18-22. Please pray for this important week. Many of our missionaries will be with us. We get to hear from pastors and veteran missionaries on how to more effectively carry the Gospel to the world. Though I am one of the speakers, I also look forward to learning from the others. It is always a great time of fellowship and education.

Thank you for all your prayers on our behalf. We appreciate you partnering with us in our ministry!

May 2012 Prayer Letter PDF

Categories: Ministry Update, Prayer Letter
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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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