Dear Praying Friends,
Nigeria? Since when did Nigeria become a part of Latin America?

While our ministry is focused on the Deaf of Latin America, we are also helping missionaries and national workers around the world as a broader ministry through our mission board, BIO. As a result of this ministry I will take a trip to Nigeria in December to help national pastor Olawale Orekan in a deaf church in Abeokuta, Nigeria. Pastor Olawale is a hearing pastor who was burdened for the Deaf in Abeokuta and became their pastor this year. I will spend 2 weeks with him helping him to better understand sign language and the Deaf. Prayerfully, my ministry in the church will allow Pastor Olawale to be more effective in his ministry and encourage and strengthen the church in Nigeria as they seek to reach other Deaf around them.

While preparing for that trip we are also making plans for the move to Argentina. We do not have a travel date set yet, but we are planning to make the move at the end of January. To do so we need to raise money for our plane tickets and set-up costs in Argentina. The estimated needed amount is $7000. If you would like to be part of the team that helps us make the move to Argentina you can send a donation to our church or mission board. Simply mark your donation as being for the move to Argentina. This is an opportunity for those who do not support us monthly to join in a financial way.

We have been in some great services recently that have been used to deepen our desire to see others accept the Lord. While we are doing the ministry we are called to, sometimes it becomes more “work” than “ministry” and we lose focus on our purpose. We are thankful that the Lord has helped us get recharged for the ministry He has called us to. Please pray that we will continue to keep our focus on the task.

The main theme of my messages this year has been about praying for your missionaries as if they were normal people going through the same struggles that you face. I want to encourage you once again to pray for us, and the other missionaries you support, in the same way that you want someone to pray for you. When you are struggling in an area, be conscientious that your missionary friends may be going through the same problems you are experiencing.

I have been reminded over the last few months that you and I are doing a work for God as a team. I want to thank you for the part you play in our team. Pray that we will perform the role on the team that God has called us to do.

David

November 2009 Prayer Letter PDF

Categories: Ministry Update, Prayer Letter
No Comments »

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
No Comments »

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
No Comments »

Dear Praying Friends,
Thank you for your continued prayers. We really needed them over the last couple of months and we can see that God has provided because of you.

We had two wonderful camps in Mexico. The first camp was our northern deaf camp called Campamento Henson, named for Bro. Ron Henson who was a missionary to the Deaf in Mexico for several years. There were 95 who attended camp and we had 1 accept Christ as his Savior. I was pleased to see some new groups attend this year that I had not met before. I was also very excited to see the future leadership of the camp take over my responsibilities this summer.

Our second camp was in Merida where we lived and worked from 2004 to 2008. It was great to be back at the church after a year and see how much it has grown. There are Deaf who now attend the church regularly whom we never met while we were there. I loved seeing the maturity level increase in many of the church people and to know that they are inviting their friends to church. At that camp we had 26 in attendance. That is a few more than we had last year.

When we left Mexico last year we were not sure if we might be going back to work in another area of of the country. We kept many household items that we did not want to re-buy. On this trip were able to sell off the items that we no longer needed in preparation for the trip to Argentina.

After selling everything and enjoying time at camp with our friends it was time for the trip home to the US. We pulled a trailer with the items that we wanted to take back. The trailer was more than a little over loaded. In the process of the 6 day trip we ended up buying 3 new tires and having the trailer welded twice while sitting on the side of the road. God provided the money and the welders at the right time to get us going again. At one breakdown we pulled off the side of the road where a road construction crew was working and they were able to weld the trailer right there at the edge of nowhere.

Previously our plan for going to Argentina was October. Timing works out better for the pastor we are going to help if we go in January. It works out better for us as well. Please pray that I will be able to fill up our travel schedule with the meetings we need between now and then.

We praise the Lord that the man who robbed our house in April was caught last week. We were able to recover some of the stolen items.

With my new position in the mission board I am able to enjoy some of the blessings that supporting pastors, churches and individuals have long enjoyed. It thrills my soul to get reports from missionaries with whom I work telling me of the spiritual victories and salvation of souls on the field. I know that they are able to do their ministry because of the support I am able to provide. I am a partaker in their fruits. Because of you, our supporters, I get to reap benefits from their work. And you receive fruit to your account (Philippians 4:17) as well. What a blessing to be on God’s team in His harvest field!

September 2009 Peach Prayer Letter [PDF]

Categories: Ministry Update, Prayer Letter
No Comments »

A few of the attendees

Recently one of the missionaries with whom I work as Director of Deaf Ministries for Baptist International Outreach had a wonderful conference. While I did little more than help make a couple of minor decisions going into this conference and bathed the weekend in prayer, I am very excited that God used my small part to accomplish His task.

Pastor Bizuayehu and recent converts

Bizuayehu Assefa is an Ethiopian deaf man who works with BIO in Addis Ababa. Each year one of the ministries he pastors hosts a conference for the Deaf in Addis Ababa and the surrounding region. This is an evangelistic time as well as a time of fellowship. Even though it is just 3 days, I imagine it is every bit as packed as a week of Deaf camp.

Bro. Bizuayehu (we call him Biz for short) organized the weekend in which they had about 250 Deaf attend from 11 different cities or villages. There were 15 saved over the weekend.

Bro. Biz has asked for continued prayer as they are now involved in discipleship of these new believers. Already they have baptized 6 of the recent converts.

This conference took place about three weeks ago and when Bro. Biz wrote me to tell me the results, I became very emotional with the thought that though I could not be there in person to work in the conference, I am able to be on a team that accomplished this great work for the Lord. It struck me at that time that pastors and individuals who support missionaries doing their work around the world get to have the same involvement as I did in a project such as this. You may not be able to directly help a conference like this by cooking a meal or preaching a sermon in Addis Ababa, but through your prayers and financial support of our family you are involved in a real way in the work that the Lord uses us to do.

Tags: Addis Ababa,Bizuayehu,conference,Deaf,Ethiopia
Categories: Spotlight
No Comments »

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
No Comments »

Dear Praying Friends,

We are thankful for the Lord’s hand of protection and provision over the last couple of months. As you know from our last prayer letter thieves stole some items out of our house in March. Through generous gifts from a couple of churches and individuals, we have been able to replace the stolen items. We really appreciate the kind gifts that helped us replace the items we needed.

Last week we were in a week-long training school for missionaries. Stephanie and I had a great time learning in the sessions as well as fellowshipping with the other missionaries. I taught a few sessions during the week.

One of the things that was mentioned several times during the training school was that our ministry while we are home is to promote the vision of world missions. This is something that God has been teaching me this year. While we are home reporting to our supporting churches and raising new support, our goal should be to promote the work that God is doing through missions and missionaries. If I can encourage a church to be more involved in spreading the Gospel, then I have accomplished that goal. Even if the church never supports us financially. The particular way that the Lord has burdened me this year is to help churches know how they can pray for missionaries.

We are excited about our two camps for the Deaf in Mexico coming up in the next few weeks. This week I am preaching in a camp for hearing children in Pennsylvania and then we go to Ciudad Mante, Mexico for our first deaf camp. That will be July 20-24. After finishing that week of camp we will drive to Merida (where we lived the last 4 years) to prepare for the camp down there on August 11-14.

There are a couple of weeks between the two camps. We will use that time to pack up the items we still have in Merida that we need to bring back to the US. We will also be selling items that we don’t need to take to Argentina. Pray that we will have wisdom in each decision. Also pray that we will sell the items at a fair price (for the buyer and us) and that we will be a blessing to some people with items that we can afford to give away to other ministries.

When we return from Mexico and our deaf camps, we will be working towards the final preparations for Argentina. There are some pieces of the puzzle still not in place. You can pray that God will give wisdom in each step and that we will know the right timing for the things we must do to get there. Through different missionaries God has given us a much better picture of the need in Argentina and clarified some of the work that is before us. I believe this is the result of your prayers. God has brought us in contact with missionaries from Argentina as well as missionaries who have knowledge of the situation of deaf ministries in the country.

Each day is ministry; whether we are in the trenches, preparing to go, or supporting those who are there.

David Peach

Categories: Ministry Update, Prayer Letter
2 Comments »

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
No Comments »

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
No Comments »

Dear Praying Friends,
Thank you for praying. God is working and we are excited to be in His ministry. It is thrilling to report that we have had some great meetings and are excited about the new prayer and financial support we have as we head towards Argentina.

Recently we returned home from some meetings to find that our house had been broken into. We were thankful that the thieves did not take any personal or sentimental items and that they were not destructive. What they took amounted to be tools for our ministry. While the cost to replace the items will be close to $3000, they can be replaced. Because we were traveling, we had all of our jewelry and most precious items with us.

During Easter week I flew to Guadalajara, Mexico to conduct our yearly planning session for the upcoming summer camp for the Deaf in Mexico. Because this will be my last summer as camp director I was pleased to see one of the national pastors take charge during the planning week to help us prepare for the camp in July. Please pray that this summer’s camp will be effective in giving the gospel to many Deaf who have never accepted the Lord and that God’s Word will become more personal to the Christian Deaf in churches across Mexico. The camp week will be July 20 to 24.

After camp this summer we will return to Mérida for a couple of weeks to collect the items that we need to bring back to the US with us as we prepare for the trip to Argentina. While in Mérida we will be selling some items and spending precious time with our many friends in the church. Because of your prayer support we know that this church will continue to reach many Deaf in the Yucatan peninsula.

The Lord has opened many doors and opportunities for us over the last several weeks. Of course we are going to Argentina later this year to start that new work, but then we have been invited to be more actively involved in the ministries of other missionaries with the Deaf through our mission board. I am looking forward to assisting missionaries in other parts of the world as I take on the responsibilities as the Director of Deaf Ministries with Baptist International Outreach. Pray that I can be an effective help to missionaries and nationals around the world who are reaching the Deaf with the gospel.

We are getting much closer to our goal of 100% financial support before returning to the field. Pray and ask the Lord what He would have you do to help us reach that goal. When you pray, God will provide.

Categories: Ministry Update, Prayer Letter
No Comments »