Dear
Praying Friends, November 5, 2012
Another
month has passed, and God has continued to increase my faith and bless in ways
I never thought possible. October is a
very unique month in Peru. October is
the Month of Purple, a “holy month” (as deemed by the Catholic church), an
entire month dedicated to a so-called saint, Señor de los Milagros. Every day we watched as men, women, boys, and
girls went about their daily routines dressed in purple and white outfits as
seen in the picture. Each Sunday the
large Catholic church down the street had parties, services, and parades, which
many times marched in front of our church during our services! As weird and even annoying as this month may
have been, these last few weeks have opened my eyes to the sad truth, the truth
of how blinded the Peruvian people are! God
is blessing us in an incredible way; however, we are barely scratching the
surface! We still have a lot of work
that needs to be done!
I
am grateful for the work we have been able to do. In just a few days, our church will be a
vibrant four months old! I am so
thankful for all that God has done these last four months. Not a service goes by where we do not have
visitors and people saved. We have been
able to maintain our baptistery at the Yañez house, and we are having a
baptismal service every other Sunday. In
October we were able to baptize six of our converts. God is good!
We also have eight Bible studies going on in different homes throughout
the week.
A
s I mentioned in our last letter, Zach Foust and I were able
to start a new Bible study four weeks ago in the San Gabriel neighborhood of
Villa María del Triunfo. It has been a
great success. We have been averaging 17
in the Salazar home and have seen a total of seven people saved. This is such a precious family with a great
desire to have a church in their neighborhood.
I believe that dream will come to fruition sooner than they realize!
Although
Señor Milagros has no saving power, my God does, and His saving grace is
available. A total of 108 people trusted
Christ this month through soul winning and our church services! Amen!
A couple of weeks ago, I was visiting in San Genaro like I do every
Saturday. As I was leaving a visit, I
passed by a young lady who was rushing home.
I handed her tract and invited her to church. She was very kind and interested, so I asked
her if she knew she was on her way to Heaven.
She replied, “No, it all depends on how much good we do, right?” I told her it was not and began to share the Gospel
with her. As soon as I started, she
explained to me that her mom was at work, and she had to rush home to fix lunch
for her little brother before going to work herself. Reluctantly, I asked her if I could come back
earlier the next week and visit her. She
said, “Yes,” and we parted company. The
next Saturday, with high hopes, I went to her house. When she answered the door, she said
with a smile, “You remembered to come!”
I proceeded to share the plan of salvation with her, and Katy (not to be
confused with the other one) prayed and asked Christ into her heart. What an open door God has given us here!
Speaking
of open doors, God has already begun to show us how we will begin to accomplish
our goal of multiplying churches through Peru.
Just last week Bro. Hubbard and I sat down with two Peruvian pastors to
discuss the possibility of training young men from their churches to start
churches. I also spoke with another
Peruvian man this week who has a desire and wants help starting a church in
Surco—where we just started a new Bible study!
God is opening doors; we just need to be ready to walk through them!
Please
continue to be in prayer for several items.
First, we still are searching and praying that God will help us find a
new, larger location for our church.
Second, pray for our people as they continue to grow in the Christian
life. Third, pray for our container from
the States. I have not mentioned much
about this, but despite a few setbacks, we should have it in our possession by
the end of this week. This will be a
huge answer to prayer. Finally, pray that
God will continue to bring men across our path, as well as call men out of our
church to help us take the Gospel throughout Peru.
Thank
you to each and every one of you for your faithful prayers and support. It is truly an honor to serve in Peru on your
behalf. Each day I get to live a dream
and see miracle after miracle. This is
only possible because of you. God bless
you, and we appreciate your prayers!
Your
ambassadors to Peru,
Junior and Jessica Martin
Romans
9:3
