Coast Enlarging, Doors Opening, HELP WANTED
May 6, 2014
1 Chronicles 4:10 “…enlarge my coasts…” A few years back, the prayer of Jabez was treated as a Christian fad, a way for people to capitalize by selling merchandise like books, plaques, etc. You don’t hear much about it anymore, kinda like the WWJD bracelets. But the prayer of Jabez is so much more than a fad and God truly answers this simple prayer.
I thought seriously about sending this prayer letter entitled… ‘Help Wanted’ and the body of the letter would simply say… NOW! I decided that it would probably sound vague and abrupt so I will go into a little more detail.
When we started our ministry over nine years ago here in Cajamarca, we were the only Independent Baptist missionaries in this area. Over the years, two others moved to our valley to minister. One moved here in 2008 and started a work but left after four years. Now the other missionary and his family, whom have worked in our area for around eight years and have been like family to us, have felt that God is leading them to leave Peru and serve God in Italy. We wish Shane, Kathy and all of the Rice family children the best in their move and new ministry. Their absence will leave a big void. We have partnered together many times for ministry on several levels… leadership training, mobile ministry, Bible ministry, church fellowships, baptisms, etc. Not only will there be a void in ministry, but also in our personal fellowship with like-minded missionaries.
God has been and is opening up so many doors for our ministry. This, added to the already busy ministry that we have, and losing another Independent Baptist missionary family, is prompting the tone of this letter. We know that God has a family somewhere that is wondering where He would have them to serve. Do you have a heart to serve God in a foreign country? Has God been dealing with you about this very subject? Do you think you could work with a couple of GA folks serving here in Peru? We’d like to invite you to come visit, “test the waters”, and let God speak to your heart.
We are still in need of a missionary Christian School director. I saw a quote recently… “Kids are the best missionaries there are”. If we can train them in God’s Word and send them home to their parents with this knowledge, who knows what God will do? We also need an English teacher. One family could fill both these areas.
Last month I spoke of “another great blessing” that we’d like to share with you now. Fellowship Tract League in Ohio contacted us to say that, at the end of May, they will be shipping a container of 10 1/2 million Gospel tracts for us to distribute! Our coast is enlarging once again! We chose to hold off on announcing this to avoid confusion with the Bible Project and the campaign to raise the funds for the new shipment of 25,000 Bibles. We can only imagine how many lives will be touched with these tracts and the Bibles once they are distributed.
Speaking of the Bible Project, God is blessing. In just over three months, over half of the funds needed for this project have been received! If you haven’t already, please consider what you can do to help us get these Bibles to Peru. If you would like to see the video that was made to introduce this campaign, please go to http://rich2peru.com/content/?page_id=110 . Please send all support to: Victory Baptist Press c/o Peru Project PO Box 766 Milton, FL 32572
As I write this, our daughter Christa, her husband Stephen and our two grandchildren are visiting. Christa was able to take part in the Mother-Daughter Tea that my wife Carla and friend Kathy put together. It was beautiful and had one hundred ladies present. Stephen taught at our youth meeting last Saturday. Then he preached on Sunday morning at our church and 2 people received assurance of their salvation. That evening, he preached for our missionary friend’s church, Iglesia Bautista Ancla. The next day we delivered some items to a home for disabled children in our city. Last night, we took the Mobile Unit and showed a video on a city square for Shane Rice’s church. Praise the Lord FIVE made decisions for Christ, including two police officers!
Did I mention being busy? Since our last prayer letter, we have also had a youth sleepover, held a baptism for eight souls from the Rice family’s church, I preached for their church’s 7th anniversary, we had two missionary friends, two national pastors and another friend from Lima visit for several days, had two movie nights in our church, passed out thousands of tracts in a “Good Friday” evangelistic day, and had seven more saved, just to name a few of the happenings here in our ministry. No more room to write! Matthew 9:37-38 …harvest… plenteous… laborers… few.
Serving Him for You in Peru,
Don & Carla Rich
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