Dear Praying Friends and Family,

Merry Christmas (late) and Happy New Year!!

We are so thankful for what God has done for us in sending his Son into the world to be born under the law, to redeem us who were under the law, that we might receive the full rights of sons (Gal. 4:4ff)!  What a gift!!

And what gifts the Lord has given to us this year to be able to see him at work extending his reign of grace and redemption with power here in Lima

I’d like to give you some examples of the kind of fruit God is producing, the spiritual gifts that are around our tree here in Lima, tagged “With love, From: Your Heavenly Father” J

One of our members, a grandmother in the church, came up to me after worship on Sunday bursting with joy to tell me what the Lord was doing in her life.  “Pastor, I just wanted to tell you that I’ve started praying for you every day since the retreat (3 weeks ago) when we talked about the importance of prayer and especially praying for our leaders.  I’ve made a notebook and have a page for you that I pray through every day.”  I know the context of this woman’s life, and something of the intensity of the challenges her family has been and is facing right now, but yet she is growing in her confidence in Christ, and joy, in the midst of her trials.

One of our youth, a 12 year old girl, has been training in evangelism with 8 other students in our School of Leadership.  She is quiet and shy by nature, but has worked very hard and has by God’s grace developed a very firm grasp of the gospel and how to communicate it to others.  I had the privilege of training her as we took to the streets on a number of occasions to talk with folks, and it was so great seeing her blossom, week by week.  A couple of weeks ago in a conversation with one of her good friends at school, this young lady realized her friend needed to hear the good news of the gospel.  She presented the gospel to her and her friend prayed with her to receive Christ.

A young man in our church arrived to worship a bit late one Sunday, almost in tears.  His parents were fighting again at home, and he was worried.  This young man, his younger brother and his grandmother have all come to faith over the past two years and are members of our church in Salamanca.  With them we have been praying for almost two years for the parents.  Later that afternoon I met to pray with this young man and offer counsel in this hard situation.  We continued to pray for the conversion of his parents, and for an opportunity to share the gospel with them.  His parents had never been open to a visit from us, and especially the dad was always away, working.  A couple of hours later, during our School of Leadership, one of our evangelism teams went to the park to share the gospel, and who did they run smack into?  This young man and his dad, walking in the park.  They began to talk and the dad expressed a keen interest in hearing what they had to say.  He heard the gospel and right there prayed to receive Christ.  We’re following up with him now, and his wife has said that she is now open to having us come and share with her as well!!

We decided to do a series of meetings as we move forward to open the home for pregnant teens and their babies, asking missionaries and nationals with experience in and/or a heart for work with at risk kids to give us feedback on Amanda’s proposed girls home.  Amanda shared with me the other day that of the dozens of people that she asked to meet and hear her presentation and give their feedback, not one turned her down!  She’s met in small groups with each one, and a few more are planned for January.  These folks are very busy in their ministries, and the generosity and desire to serve and support us in this important ministry of mercy was just a wonderful confirmation from the Lord of his leading in this ministry.  We have gleaned very valuable insights too from these brothers and sisters, and many have expressed their commitment to us to walk with us in the days ahead as we move to open the home and take in girls.

On our church retreat in November, after one of the meetings, I noticed one of our members engaged in conversation with a lady and her 12 year old daughter who had come on the retreat at the invitation of a friend and coworker who is a member of our church.  The afternoon was for free time, and I was getting ready to get in the pool with my children when I heard a voice calling me: “Pastor, are you doing anything right now?”  Yes I thought, but when I saw who was calling me, I had a pretty good idea that the pool needed to wait a few minutes.  It was the young lady who’d invited this lady and her daughter, and who had been sitting talking with her.  I was not surprised to sit down with them and find out that the lady and her daughter had just heard the gospel and wanted me to be with them as they asked Jesus to save them and take control of their lives!  Despite living a decent ways from Salamanca, they’ve been in worship every Sunday sinceJ

This past Sunday during Children’s church, two boys raised their hands when asked by the teacher at the end of the lesson if anyone wanted to receive Christ as their Savior who had not yet had the opportunity to do so.  This teacher, one of our evangelism team members, took them outside and briefly reviewed the gospel with them, and they confirmed that they believed and wanted to follow Christ.  It was her joy to pray with them as they asked Jesus to come into their lives to save them.  One of the boys we have been praying for as a church for almost 2 years.  His grandmother is a believer and faithfully asks for prayer for her grandchildren every chance she gets.  What wonderful fruit the Lord gives when we pray!!

These are just a few of the powerful ways we are seeing the Lord work here.  He’s so good and his gospel is so powerful, and we just can’t express how honored we feel to be able to serve here in this harvest field of the Lord.

As you pray for us this month, please give thanks for these changed lives and acts of mighty power of our Jesus.  Please also continue to pray for breakthroughs spiritually in the following areas:

• a number of people who are coming to grips with sin patterns in their lives that are very deep, that the gospel which is the power of God for salvation would do it’s transforming work in their lives and that God would use Mark in his preaching, teaching and counseling to minister the love of Christ to them
  
• for the home for pregnant teenage street girls that Amanda Ross, one of our missionaries, is starting in the next few months
  
• for $1200/month of support for the Jim and Sara Ward family, career missionaries on our team who just finished language study and now really need to get the remainder of their support in
  
• for our church’s concert of prayer on New Year’s Eve
  
• for our marriage and family—protection physically and spiritually, and growth in Christ over this summer as our kids are now out of school till March and we’ll have more time together, which is fun but creates challenges/opportunities for growth too and we want to experience that growth that Jesus has for us and our kids
  
• for the disaster relief project in San Clemente that is moving into a new stage where we’re going to focus on setting up a training center for local pastors and leaders, alongside a church plant, which we hope to support with involvement from our membership here in Salamanca, sending small teams to visit and encourage at least once a month

On a personal note, Hadassah is doing real well. She is healthy and growing and continues to be a real joy for our whole family.  Please keep Laura Salvatierra and Amanda Ross in your prayer as Amanda is due with their third in January, and Laura with their second in February.

The picture is from the last day of school last week.

The Lord bless you all.  With much love in Christ,

Mark for all