[This letter was written by Mrs. Tsehai Mulugeta (the late Pastor Bizuayehu’s wife).]

Dear Friends,
Love and many greetings to you and your dear family in the most holy name of our Loving Lord Jesus Christ.

Part of the crowd for the conference.

Praise the Lord for the wonderful conference we had throughout the three days of August 25-27. The meeting was great and was a blessing to us all. Deaf groups from the region of Oromia (towns of Ambo and Nekemte) were unable to come due to rioting and lack of transportation. From other regions of the country more than 250 Deaf were gathered together and attended the conference. We thank God and glorify His name for Brother David Peach. Brother Peach was preaching and teaching the Word of God wonderfully. All the Deaf were so blessed and glad for him to come. They were filled with the blessings they received as they talked with one other. We thank God for bringing Brother Peach to us and allowing him to be a blessings to all. Everyone was very glad and praising the Lord. God is always good.

Two new Deaf accepted the Lord Jesus Christ and converted! Praise the Lord for the more than 10 backslidden Deaf returned back to the Lord. After the last sermon more than 30 Deaf stood and promised to witness to other Deaf in their home areas who have not heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Praise the Lord!

Brother and sister, this is a result of your prayers that the Lord has done great things in our Deaf ministry. Thank you for your continued prayer and financial support as well. We have received the gifts you have sent. May our almighty God bless you more and reward you many fold for your daily needs. Amen!

Please continue in prayer and stand by our side for future ministry as we do all for the glory of God together.

God bless you richly.

With Love, yours in Christ,

Mrs. Tsehai Mulugeta

Categories: Ministry Update, Prayer Letter
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Dear Praying Friends,
In the church service I was in Wednesday night, the pastor mentioned that the Pacific Ocean was a large place. I leaned over to my wife and said, “Don’t we know. We flew over it twice in the last couple of weeks.”

Filipino Teacher Training

Philippines Trip
We just returned from visiting Chris and Carol Woodley, BIO missionaries to the Deaf in the Philippines. They are doing a great work through their church and school. They hosted a seminar for teachers of the Deaf. There were teachers from 4 different schools. One of the teachers is still in need of salvation. We are praying that she will soon recognize her need and trust the Lord. Pray that the Woodleys can maintain a relationship with her through their mutual connection of deaf education.

Bill Rice Ranch
As mentioned in our previous letter, I was given the wonderful opportunity to speak and teach at the Ranch for 3 deaf weeks this summer. We were privileged to see 25 deaf young people trust the Lord as Savior!

I have no idea what I was saying at deaf camp with my arms crossed.

Training School
Nestled between weeks at camp we had our annual Training School for BIO missionaries. We had 13 missionaries, both hearing and Deaf. As always, this is a great time of fellowship and getting to know one another better. It is exciting to hear testimonies of veteran missionaries as they encourage the ones just starting out.

Africa Trip
I leave on August 22 headed to Ethiopia. Will you please pray that the Prayer and Thanksgiving Conference at Ebenezer Baptist Deaf Church (August 25-27) will be used by God? Besides speaking for the conference, I will be learning how I can better help the deaf churches in Ethiopia. Our friend Bizuayehu Assefa, who was instrumental in training many of the deaf pastors in Ethiopia, passed away last year. The churches are doing well but need some encouragement and maybe a little direction.

On August 30 I will fly to Tanzania to be with missionary Frank Laurent. Bro. Frank is working on building a second deaf congregation. He is also constructing a building for their church at this time. I’m excited about seeing the work and being a blessing to Frank and his dear wife Deborah. They will celebrate their 1 year wedding anniversary while I am with them.

I then go to Zambia on September 6 to be with missionary Yohannes Getaneh. Bro. Yohannes is an Ethiopian national who has helped to train pastors and assist them in starting over 20 churches for the Deaf in Zambia. What a wonderful work God is doing through him!

Though Stephanie was able to go with me to the Philippines, I will be making the Africa trip on my own. I appreciate your prayers for her and our daughter while I am away. I will return September 13.

You can get a PDF version of this letter for printing.

Categories: Prayer Letter
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Dear Praying Friends,
What a wonderful whirlwind of activity since I last wrote. April started with a trip to West Coast Baptist College. Since then I have been to 3 other colleges representing BIO and being encouraged by the young people who are looking for ways to minister. We also interviewed a couple of new missionaries working with the Deaf who have applied to the mission board.

Pastor Ruffin and me at camp last year.

I am encouraged by the young people from the various schools who are preparing to serve the Lord. Some of these young people I have known for several years. It is a blessing to see them grow up with a developing passion for God. During this time I have also been blessed to see older friends who continue to serve the Lord faithfully. This last weekend I was in a church that is pastored by a friend I met 29 years ago during my freshman year in Bible college. He surrendered to serve the Lord in ministry as an adult and has continued to be faithful to the Lord.

I am honored again to speak at the Bill Rice Ranch this summer. Pray that God will use us to impact the eternal lives of deaf young people. I will be at the Ranch June 12-16, July 10-14 and July 24-28.

As soon as our last week of camp is over, Stephanie and I will go to the Philippines to visit missionaries Chris and Carol Woodley. The Woodleys are involved in church planting and deaf education. While there, I will speak to public school educators about how to more effectively teach the Deaf. This will be from a Christian perspective and I will use biblical examples so that I can incorporate the Gospel in my presentation. I will also preach to the Deaf in the church. This trip will be August 1-12.

Shortly after we return from the Philippines I will travel to Ethiopia, Africa to preach and teach in the annual Prayer and Thanksgiving Conference that Pastor Bizuayehu Assefa started. Bro. Bizuayehu died last summer and I long to be back with my friends during this conference to see how the churches are doing without our beloved friend. We expect more than a dozen churches to attend this meeting. These are churches that Bro. Bizuayehu had an influence in either starting or training their pastors. Pray for this conference from August 25 to 27.

While I am in Africa I am trying to work out a short trip to visit Bro. Frank Laurent in Tanzania. Bro. Frank is a young deaf missionary who has done a wonderful job in witnessing to and training his fellow deaf countrymen in Tanzania to do the work of the ministry. That trip will probably be immediately after the conference in Ethiopia.

Beyond praying for the spiritual needs for these trips, will you also pray with us for the financial need. Plane tickets alone will be $5000. Pray that God would provide the needed funds and consider that He might want to provide for this need through you.

Important Note: Any regular support or special gifts sent to BIO on our behalf must have BIO (or Baptist International Outreach) in the payee portion of the check. This is because of a change in bank policy. Soon checks will have to be returned to you if they are made out to us personally.

You can download a PDF version of this letter for printing.

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Thank you for taking the time to read this longer personal report. In my regular prayer letter I had a really good story that I wanted to share. As a consequence, all the personal stuff got bumped out. So here is the all family news and ministry info that didn’t make it into the regular letter.

January—Back to PCC

We took James back to Pensacola for his 4th semester at PCC. While were there we enjoyed time with family and friends. It is always an encouragement to see people who have been serving in their places for 20 years or more. God doesn’t call everyone to stay in the same place for such a long time, but it sure is refreshing to see those who continue to eagerly serve the Lord where they are.

After the Florida trip, I was able to preach at Calvary Baptist Church in Sparta, Tennessee. Pastor Yockey is another one of those faithful servants of the Lord. We met about 20 years ago and he continues to faithfully serve the Lord. It was at Calvary that I preached a two-sermon series based on the same story that is in my latest prayer letter.

Eli and Katie Guiltner: Missionaries to Japan.

Missions Conference

We greatly enjoyed the missions conference at Faith Baptist Church in Jefferson City, Tennessee. We were not there as guest missionaries, but we were sure blessed to be a part of the week. This is the church we attend when we are home at the mission board office. At the conference we were reunited with old friends and made new ones. Ron and Sarah Smith are BIO missionaries serving in Cambodia. I love Ron’s consistency through the years that I have known him. The church already supports their ministry

Eli and Katie Guiltner were new missionaries for the church, but not strangers to our family. I met Katie several years ago when she was just starting to raise her support to go to Japan. You should take the time to listen to an interview I did with her in 2009. Though she’s now married and has a baby girl, her energy for ministry and passion for the Lord has not changed since we did that interview.

SMART training with missionaries and church members.

The Essentials of SMART Computing

At the Faith Baptist conference I taught a SMART class on basic computing. This is a ministry of our mission board to equip missionaries with the knowledge they need to be long-term servants of God. In the class I taught various things, but the biggest emphasis was on using a computer more efficiently and protecting the work they have already done so that the missionaries can be more productive.

A Temporary Good-bye

I had been concerned about the salvation of a friend. When he told me that he was going to go into Hospice care, I knew that was the best time to talk with him about his salvation since he was already thinking about eternity. When I asked him about his relationship with God he replied, “I’m good with God.”

I proceeded to lay out for him what the Bible said about being in good standing with God. He encouraged me to continue talking, but did not indicate either way whether he agreed with me or not. It was an awkward end to the conversation with him just staring at me and not responding. After a long stare he mischievously, in his ever playful manner, changed the subject with still no indication of what he was thinking.

I was very burdened and concerned for him, but while I consider him a friend, our relationship with one another has been a professional relationship. I had no appropriate way to see him outside of that relationship. When I heard my friend was back in the hospital (and it would be his last time), I drove an hour to visit him. I knew his wife was saved and that she would be at the hospital with him. I was pleased to talk with her and find out that she was confident in his salvation testimony. He was not in a lucid state when I visited, but his wife told me about when he was saved as a 12-year-old boy at a vacation Bible school class. I told her about the day I laid out the Gospel for him and that he would not respond either way. She assured me that he was playing with me and that he knew well what the Bible taught about salvation. I was relieved to get that information.

Getting ready to harvest goodies from computer printers.

Community Outreach

I had a good time earlier this month teaching a group of kids at our local library how to be hackers. No, not the kind you see on TV cracking into some secure network, but what I consider to be the real kind of hacker—a person who makes a piece of hardware or software do something that it was not originally intended to do. We tore printers apart and got motors and gears out of them for future robotics projects. I taught them a bit about what kinds of things can be harvested out of discarded technology so that it can be used and not sit rotting in a landfill. We did a class on basic electronic circuits and we made a couple of fun projects.

Though many of the kids at the classes were kids I had invited from church, we were able to build friendships with other children in our community that we can possibly minister to in the future.

Through previous community sign language classes that I taught at the library, we have seen a few visitors at church. This was my first time to specifically teach a community outreach class for children. I am excited to see how God might use it to bring others to Him.

California, Here I Come!

Bro. John Yingling (BIO President) and I will fly to California this weekend and spend a few days promoting missions and the board with the students at West Coast Baptist College. This is our first trip there and we are both excited about building this relationship with the school. I have several friends whose kids are at the school. I trust God will use this time to encourage the students to be involved in missions—whether it is through BIO or not.

Thank you for taking the time to come and read this longer (and less formal) version of my prayer letter. I know the official letter was quite a bit different than normal, but I have been so impacted by the life of Bro. Hamrick that I continue to think about those stories his children told even three months after I heard them.

Thank you for your prayers and continued involvement in our ministry.

Categories: Ministry Update, Personal
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Dear Praying Friends,
At the end of last year I met a man, not on his deathbed, but at his funeral. I attended the funeral of a man I had never previously met—but I sure wish I had. Audley Hamrick was a career missionary working in New Mexico. I learned about him through stories that his five children told at the funeral. I wonder if these things could be said of you and me?

A Faithful Witness
Bro. Hamrick’s oldest son told the story of the hardest spanking he ever received. Bro. Hamrick spanked himself for an offense that the son had done. This was his way of teaching each one of the children that God took our punishment on Himself for our sins.

The youngest daughter told of a vacation trip she and her parents went on. She enjoyed a long, casual conversation with a stranger while her dad patiently waited beside her. As soon as she was done with the conversation, Bro. Hamrick stepped forward with a Gospel tract and began witnessing to the man. The daughter was convicted by the example of her dad’s concern for souls and how that she needed that same concern.

We should seek to use everyday events to share the Gospel of Christ with those around us. I had one such encounter last month when I witnessed to a friend who was near death but had never given me a clear salvation testimony. I was pleased to learn that he had accepted Christ as his Savior as a 12-year-old boy.

A Godly Example
The second child in the family told how patient and compassionate their dad was when she, in disobedience, led a group of other teenagers on a hike and got them stuck on the side of a mountain. In the dark, Bro. Hamrick climbed the rock face to rescue the group of kids. In his quiet, gentle way, he taught the lesson that God is patient and forgiving with us even when we are disobedient.

Another son told how, that as an adult who was frustrated and impatient with his co-workers, he sat down to read the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew. Even in his low-level rebellion against his parents, he began to see how his dad was a shining example of everything he read in the Beatitudes of Matthew 5. His attitude towards his parents and those around him began to change.

Finally, the third daughter told how that their parents were always willing to counsel the children and point them to the Lord—even when they crawled up in their parents bed in the middle of the night.

May we each look to God to help us be a witness and an example of what we learn in His Word. We should live out our lives in such a way that our children and the world around us can see that we are a child of God and seek to glorify Him. I look forward to meeting Bro. Hamrick in Heaven and thanking him for being such a powerful example for me.

For more personal news this month, please visit www.dpeach.com where I give a detailed report of the last couple of months.

You can download a printable PDF version of this letter.

Categories: Ministry Update, Prayer Letter
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Dear Praying Friends,
Merry Christmas! This time of year is a great reminder of why we are involved in ministry. Yet it is also an opportunity to slow down for a few days and enjoy time with family.

For a fifth year in a row I was privileged to represent BIO at Ambassador Baptist College during their missions conference. I enjoy being with the young people as they remind me that God is still calling people into the ministry to do His will. It is a refreshing and encouraging week for me each year.

We had a wonderful time of fellowship with other missionaries and pastors at our annual November Meeting at BIO. This year the meeting was held at Faith Baptist Church right next to the BIO office. The church took care of the audio recording. This freed me up to focus on interpreting for a few deaf friends and missionaries who were with us. If you would like to listen to the messages from the conference you can find them at the BIO website.

Merry Christmas!

One of the churches with an active deaf ministry near us is Belle Meadows Baptist Church. They invited our family to be with them for their annual Christmas party on a Saturday night and for me to preach on Sunday morning for them. We had a wonderful time with our deaf brothers and sisters in the eastern tip of Tennessee.

Many of you will remember the extreme flooding that Louisiana experienced in August of this year. BIO and Faith Baptist Church in Jefferson City, Tennessee organized a mission trip to help rebuild a couple of the churches destroyed by the rains. The damage is so extensive that the churches are essentially keeping the external walls and having to rebuild/replace everything inside. At least one of the buildings is scheduled for bulldozing. The church members are not able to dedicate a large amount of time to rebuilding their church because many of them have had to bulldoze their own homes and are in the process of putting their lives back together.

However, as horrible of an experience as they have had, there was a wonderful spirit of love and unity within the churches. While I don’t remember anyone expressly saying they were thankful for the flood, the vast majority of the church members were beaming with joy because they are actively experiencing the presence of God in a way they have never seen before. They were so thankful for the work we accomplished. I was so thankful just to be in their presence.

Thank you for your continued prayers for our ministry. Please pray for our brothers and sisters in Louisiana and consider reaching out to those in your community who need to see God’s love.

David Peach

You can get a PDF version of this letter for printing.

Categories: Prayer Letter
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Dear Praying Friends,
This month we celebrate 23 years of marriage and the completion of 22 years of ministry!

Missionaries at the BIO Training School

Training School
We held the annual BIO Missionary Training School at our office in June. We hosted our missionaries who are working with the Deaf. This meant that Stephanie and I either taught or interpreted each class.

Bill Rice Ranch
I was asked to help preach and teach at the Bill Rice Ranch for two weeks in July. We enjoyed being back where our ministry began over two decades ago.

During the first week of camp we saw 4 Deaf trust the Lord as their Savior. There were 6 more who trusted Christ during the second week!

Norman was one of the boys in the class that I taught each day during the second week. It was exciting to have him come to me at the invitation and declare, “I thought I had to be baptized to be saved. I thought I had to go to church to be saved. Now I know that I need to trust Christ to be saved.” At that point, without any prompting from me, he began to pray and ask the Lord to forgive his sins and to save him! Pray for Norman and his spiritual growth.

I was also asked to be part of a team that was preaching to a group of Korean young people who came to camp. They are visiting the United States from a school in South Korea. Though they go to a Christian school, the teachers knew that many of them were not saved. I was only involved in their first of two weeks at camp. During their second week, after we had laid a very clear foundation for the Gospel, 10 of the students asked the Lord to save them with 3 others receiving help with assurance of salvation. Praise the Lord!

Ethiopian Ministry
On my trip to Ethiopia in December of 2012 I met Bizuayehu Assefa, a deaf pastor who quickly became a dear friend. Recently, after suffering a massive stroke, Bro. Bizuayehu passed away in July. Pray for his family and for the churches that he helped to lead. If you would like to help support Bizuayehu’s widow and the churches in Ethiopia with a financial gift, you can send that to the BIO office with his name clearly marked on it.
As always, thank you for your continued involvement in our ministry.

A printable PDF version of the August 2016 Prayer Letter is available for download.

Categories: Prayer Letter
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Dear Praying Friends,
We were blessed to visit several of our supporting churches during a recent trip to Texas. This included our sending church in Odessa. We greatly enjoyed reconnecting with people we have not seen in a few years.

We spent a couple of days with our dear friends David and Flora Hartsfield and I spoke in their church. The next night I spoke with a group of deaf refugees. I enjoyed seeing various churches work to reach these people that God has brought from the other side of the world. Our friend Debi coordinates this ministry to the Deaf. She is a faithful missionary with whom we have previously worked.

It was an honor to be one of the guests at a missions conference in Abilene. The pastor, Bro. Winn, was my youth pastor and best friend in high school. I have learned much from him and his family in the almost 35 years we have known each other. I am encouraged by his faithfulness.

Bro. Winn and I went soul winning together during the conference. I was thrilled to see his passion to share the Gospel has not waned. We both took on our familiar roles: he carefully and gently led a young lady to an understanding of the Gospel while I prayed silently and did what I could to keep Chaos, the dog, from living up to his name.

Visiting a deaf school started by Missionary Andrew Foster. Nigeria, 2009.

In Big Spring I had fun showing pictures of one of my trips to Africa to a group of Nigerian college students. Several of them attended a school that I had visited during that trip. Its is likely that they were there the day I visited their school!

Also in Big Spring I spoke in a deaf church started by a former missionary to the Deaf in Mexico, Jim Walterhouse. The church celebrated their 3 year anniversary a couple of weeks before we arrived. It is exciting to see how God is using our friends to further His work.

We then spent a week in Odessa with friends and family. I enjoyed preaching during all the Sunday services of our sending church while we were there.

In June we will host our annual training school at the BIO office. I will also be preaching again at the Bill Rice Ranch for two weeks this summer. We appreciate your prayers as we continue to serve the Lord in the coming days.

A printable PDF version of the May 2106 prayer letter is available for download.

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Dear Praying Friends,
This new year has opened up a few new opportunities for us to serve the Lord in the ministry to the Deaf. As I’ve gotten focused on the work, I have been caught off guard as to how quickly time has gotten away from me. Recently I told a church that they were hearing my “new prayer letter” in person and that I would be writing the paper version in a couple of days. That was two weeks ago! Where has the time gone?

Sign Language Classes
As I did a few months ago, I am teaching a sign language class at two of our local libraries. In the previous class I was able to get one of the students interested in coming to church with us. She came faithfully for a couple of months but still has not made a decision for the Lord. We are praying that the Word of God will take root and that she and her children will accept the Lord.

I was asked to teach a class in an interpreter training program at Crown College in Knoxville. This is especially exciting since the majority of the students at the school are preparing to serve the Lord in local churches or on the mission field. I am thrilled at knowing that these students are serious about serving the Lord and about thoroughly preparing themselves in the area of deaf ministry.

Missions Conferences
We have recently been in two different missions conferences. One was at a church that has supported us for 16 years. It is a blessing to see many of the same faces that we first met so many years ago. The other conference was at the Campus Church of Pensacola Christian College. We were there representing our mission board as well as sharing our burden for reaching the Deaf. We talked with many students and enjoyed time with several old friends. Some are on faculty and staff at the school and others were classmates who have now been in faithful service as missionaries since we all graduated over 20 years ago.

Home
We are looking forward to a trip to Texas in a few weeks. We were asked to be in a missions conference in April that will take us to within a couple hundred miles of our home church. We look forward to visiting family and friends while we are there.

Ministry has been busy but enjoyable. We covet your prayers as we continue to train others in the work of sharing the Gospel with the Deaf.

A printable PDF version of the March 2106 prayer letter is available for download.

Categories: Ministry Update, Prayer Letter
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Dear Praying Friends,
Happy Thanksgiving! As Christians, we have much to be thankful for all year. I am truly thankful for the ministry God has called us to. That doesn’t mean the ministry is always easy, but it is comforting to know that we are in God’s will and He has a plan for all that takes place.

College
Our son James is now a freshman at Pensacola Christian College. He is almost done with his first semester. We look forward to spending Thanksgiving with him and my parents this week. James has grown tremendously in his maturity over the last year. We pray that God will use this time of school to continue developing him into the man God desires him to be.

Perú
In October I needed to go to Perú. While it was a ministry trip with a specific goal, it turned out to be a personally enjoyable time. I have many friends in Perú and I enjoyed seeing a good number of them during my 3-week trip.

I preached 13 times in 7 different ministries. Six times were to the Deaf.

While in Perú I spent time with some friends from Argentina who were some of our best students when we were starting the deaf ministry in La Plata, Argentina a few years ago. This couple recently moved to Perú and are looking forward to greater ministry opportunities as they get more involved with the deaf community.

Interpreting
Stephanie and I are both continuing to enjoy a ministry as community interpreters. At times we aren’t called on much to interpret and other times we are almost overwhelmed with appointments. However, in the busyness of it all, I enjoy the opportunity to minister to the Deaf in a practical way. Recently, in a casual conversation with a deaf lady I had never previously met, I enjoyed seeing her face light up as she spontaneously shared with me her salvation testimony. Those are the times that I enjoy most about the many hours sitting and chatting while waiting for an appointment to progress.

We covet your prayers for our ministry. As with all missionaries, we enjoy when you can write a quick email and give us news about your ministry and tell us how we can pray for you too.

May God richly bless you during this holiday season.

A printable PDF version of the November 2015 prayer letter is available for download.

Categories: Ministry Update, Prayer Letter
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