August 6, 2012
Dear Praying Friends,
I am overwhelmed and amazed at the awesomeness of my God! I wonder every month how I should begin this letter. I have thought and thought what the first sentence should be. So as I compile all my thoughts and emotions and begin reflecting on the last four weeks, I can really only say that God is great, and I am so humbled to be His servant!
Seven weeks have passed since we arrived in Lima. During this time Jessica and I have been able to move into our permanent home and purchase all of our necessary appliances and furniture. We will continue “equipping” our house little by little each month, but I am thankful that God has given us such a beautiful place that my wife can call home.
As I stated in our last letter, we started the Iglesia Bautista Internacional the day after our arrival. We spent the entire month of May planning how to launch our church and make an immediate impact in our community. Our plan is to do this in the month of September, once the majority of the team has joined us. However, as you could imagine, we were very eager to get busy doing what God has called us to do. We decided to simply start a church in the home of Bro. Dan Hubbard and see where God would lead. Since our arrival, we have been walking through the streets of Chorrillos praying for God to open a door for us. After walking several miles one Saturday, we “stumbled” across a small storefront for rent. Then God blew a door open for us! After only one phone call, the building was offered to us for only $270 a month! Four weeks ago we held our first service in the Villa Marina neighborhood. The corner that was once covered in graffiti and known for drugs, gangs, and drinking is now a church!
God has truly blessed our church. We have since already begun to look at property for sale to give us a more permanent location and to accomodate the crowd in the building we have already outgrown! In the month of July, God brought a total of 94 different people through the doors of our church and allowed us to see a total of 54 trust Christ as their Saviour! Praise God! Oh for more time and space to tell all the stories of what God is doing!
God has brought many precious people into our lives. Julio, Veronique, and Kenya were our first visitors! Veronique got saved and has become our biggest helper and volunteer around the church. They have such sweet spirits, and we are excited for what God is doing in their lives.
Cecilia also came to church our first Sunday and got saved. Right away she brought her mom and younger sister to church, and they, too, accepted Christ. The Naupari home then became the site of our first weekly Bible study! There is something special about the hunger they have for the Word of God. When we arrived for our first Bible study, Olga (Cecilia’s mom) was walking outside her home with her Bible clutched to her chest. She said, “Pastor, I wasn’t sure if you were going to make it, so I told my children that we would just sit down and read the Bible.” Oh, if we all still hungered for God like that! So far, six members of her family have trusted Christ and are faithful to church.
We knew that any endevour for God would be met with resistance from Satan. The Devil did not disappoint. But I am so glad that Jesus said of His church that “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Please do keep us in your prayers. The Devil has attacked us on the homefront, here, and by attacking our people. With a church full of new converts, we have many hurting people in need of big things from God. I am so glad that “greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.”
Thank you for your love, prays, and support. Jessica and I and the people of Chorrillos owe a great debt to each of you. Please keep us in your prayers. We are trusting God to continue to do great things in the church; plus this week we are planning on launching six in-home Bible studies. I know that God has a great plan for our people and our district. After a few services in our new building, a lady walked by and asked, “Is this THE church? The church that EVERYONE is talking about?” I cannot wait till the buzz going through Villa Marina travels throughout Chorrillos and then Lima and all of Peru!
Excited about what Jesus is doing,
Junior and Jessica Martin
Romans 9:3
