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.

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.

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

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.]

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.

Recent Prayer Requests

Thank you for praying for two things we specifically mentioned in the last couple of prayer letters: housing and vehicle.

The week before Thanksgiving we moved into a new home. It is fun to unpack storage boxes that are full of treasures we have not seen since we moved to Mexico in 2004.

From the above story you know we are not driving a new car; however, God has blessed us with a vehicle that meets our needs for now. We have done more work to the car to ensure that we won’t have another wheel fall off. We know that anything can break at any time, but we pray for wisdom in avoiding unnecessary mechanical problems.

Support Needs

As you know 2011 was a tough year economically. Some churches have had to cut their mission’s budgets. I know that churches hate writing a letter or making a phone call to tell a missionary that they are being cut, but it has to happen in some cases. We lost $900 in support during this calendar year. That is a significant amount of the support we had. We need to spend time raising new financial support while still working to provide training and administrative services for the missionaries we serve. Pray that we can recover the lost support quickly. If you or your church does not already support us and you would like to, please talk with your pastor on how best to do that.

BIO Office

I have enjoyed getting acquainted with the other BIO directors in a personal way. I am burdened to help our missionaries working with the Deaf in whatever capacity I can. Since coming to the office I have visited one of our missionaries and provided counsel in financial matters to a couple others. I look forward to getting to know our other missionaries better and become a part of their ministry team.

Thank you again for continued prayer on our behalf.

David Peach

December 2011 Prayer Letter PDF

House

Thank you for praying for us concerning a place to live. We lived with, and paid rent to, a man in one of our supporting churches while we were looking for a house. Last week we moved into our new house which is only about 15 minutes from the mission board office. This is the first time we have unpacked some of our boxes which were packed up 11 years ago when we last lived in Tennessee. Knowing that we were not going to have a permanent place to live all those years, we left some things stored in boxes. We are now unpacking and discovering old treasures.

Vehicle

God’s protection has been evident in our lives over the last few weeks. If you have ever seen a car sitting on the side of the road with a wheel hanging out to the side because of a broken ball joint, then you get an idea of what happened to us. It is an extremely dangerous thing to have happen.

God protected us in our ball-joint incident. We pulled off the Interstate (on which we were traveling 70 MPH) for a bathroom break. As we were backing out of the parking spot to get back on the highway again, our ball joint broke. Our wheel fell off at 2 MPH instead of 70. God is good!

Because of this incident we have done the necessary work on the car to make it safe again. We are thankful for the kindness of God’s people to help us do the work and pay for it.

We would still like to have a larger vehicle for traveling, but until then we are pleased that this car is safe again.

Meetings

Though I intentionally did not schedule many meetings for the rest of 2011, God has seen fit to let us be in some great churches over the last few weeks. We are thankful for pastors who were willing to have us in to present our work and report on the ministry even though money in churches is still tight.

BIO Office

I am still settling into my responsibilities at the mission board. I have visited one of our missionary families working with the Deaf. Next spring I plan to visit a few more. It is a great honor to serve the missionaries working with the Deaf through BIO. I look forward to getting to know them better and serve with them in the future.

Thank you for praying. It is always encouraging to get a note from someone who says that God brought us to their mind and that they prayed for us. We really do appreciate your prayers even if you don’t have the time to write and tell us about it.

In our last letter I mentioned that I would preach the Gospel to a group of deaf friends and my dear friend Victor at our final church service in Argentina. Though no Deaf came to church that night, I was thrilled when Victor and his wife Alicia arrived. As clearly as I knew how, I gave a Gospel presentation that was targeted directly at the reason why Victor won’t put his trust in Christ—pride. He won’t trust Jesus to do for him what he feels like he should do himself. That is, he feels like he either has to earn his way to heaven, or not be allowed in. The sad truth is, with that perspective, he will not enter into eternal life.

Victor did not accept the Lord that night at church. Some of the people from church know Victor and will continue to visit him. Victor and I have a mutual friend who has been witnessing to him besides me. I continue to pray for his salvation.

I previously mentioned our need for a vehicle. We are thankful for the gift of a car that has worked well for us. It is not a good long-term travel car, but it is sufficient for our needs at this time. Thank you for praying. Continue to pray that we will find the right vehicle that will serve us well as we start traveling full time again.

We have intentionally not booked any meetings for a few weeks after getting home so that we can settle in to our new surroundings. Starting the middle of October we will be on the road representing the many wonderful missionaries we serve as well as seeking to raise new support. Over the last few months we have lost quite a bit of support because of the economy. If you would like to have us in to report on our recent past ministry and our future, please contact me through email or telephone. I am filling our calendar as quickly as I can.

As part of our traveling in the United States we get to visit the missionaries who work with the Deaf through BIO. We are excited about visiting one of the missionary families this month (Pete and Marianne Leclerc). Pray with us about future travel to other countries where BIO missionaries serve. By visiting the missionaries on the field we can get a better understanding of how to pray from them. We want to be a blessing and encouragement to them where they work.

It is exciting to stand at the threshold of a new phase of ministry. The future opportunities to assist in the spread of the Gospel is thrilling. We look forward to sharing how your prayers and support will help in the ministry.

David Peach

October 2011 Prayer Letter PDF

Vehicle

We are thankful to have a vehicle, even if it is only temporary. I put about $400 worth of work into my parents’ extra car and we have already taken a trip in it. This car is not a good long-term option for us, but it is wonderful to have something we can use until we can get another vehicle. It is too small to carry all the things we need for extended trips with four people, but it gets pretty good gas mileage and the price is unbeatable.

Housing

We took a week-long trip to Tennessee to look at houses and try to get an idea of a time-table for the move. A friend in the church next to our mission board offered to let us rent his house (for a very good price) for an indefinite time.

The current plans are to make the move from FL to TN shortly after Labor Day. The cost of the move will be around $700. That is just truck rental and gas. We may have to buy pizza on both ends of the move to pay our loaders and unloaders. If you would like to help with the cost of the pizza or the gas you can use the PayPal Donate button to the side or send an offering to our mission board.

Upcoming Months

Because of the transition I have intentionally not scheduled meetings for a couple of months. However, we should start traveling again late in October or November. Please pray that we will have good meetings as we need to raise our support level up again. We look forward to updating current supporting churches. One of the new aspects of our ministry is that we will represent our board and other missionaries working with the Deaf. It will be fun to share with pastors and churches the work God is doing through the deaf ministry.

We appreciate your continued friendship and prayers for our ministry.

We had a three-fold plan when we came to Argentina. We realized those goals and more. God allowed us to train interpreters in one church and teach sign language in another. The first church has interpreters who are skilled enough to train others in the ministry. The second church that we taught in was a blessing in that there are several in the class who showed great skill with the language. There are a couple of sign language classes near the church that are open to the public that I have encouraged the students to get involved in. Those classes will give them an inroad to the deaf community that can be used to make contacts for their new ministry.

As we approach our final few days in Argentina I am excited about the opportunity to preach on our last weekend at the hearing church. I will preach the evening service on July 31. At that service I plan to preach in sign language and have worked hard to invite all the Deaf friends I have made here. The deaf association in town invited me to remind the deaf community of that special service on their Facebook page a few days before I preach. I am praying for a group of Deaf to come so that I can clearly share the Gospel that evening.

While visiting my friend Victor the other day, I again invited him to church. Victor has never come to church with us nor has he been receptive to the Gospel. However, he said that out of respect and love for me and my family he would come to church on that special evening. I pray that God will give me the ability to clearly share the Gospel with Victor one more time before we leave Argentina.

Will you please pray for that church service? Sunday night, July 31, is this special event.

We look forward to visiting our friends and supporting churches in the upcoming months. We are excited to personally tell you what God has allowed us do in Argentina as well as share what the next phase of ministry is for us.

We need to quickly find a car. If you know of a great travel vehicle that is for sale, or even just a car that we could borrow/rent for a few weeks, we would appreciate any information you have.

When we arrive back in the US we will spend a few weeks finding a place to live and getting settled in to the BIO office. I am not scheduling many meetings until later in the fall. This will give us time to work out the details for our move and everything we will be doing in the near future. However, if you would like to have us in your church please contact me via email or phone and we will schedule a meeting with you when possible.

July 2011 Prayer Letter PDF