Following the Ministry on FACEBOOK

You can now follow the radio ministry on FACEBOOK by going to: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lima-Peru/Red-Radio-Integridad/103826299648169 Many prefer this new means of communication and we are pleased that it is now available for you. My associate, Edward, will keep you up to date on what is happening. If you write in English, that is fine. It will be a good stretch for him and he wants to improve his English. And we all want to keep you informed.

We are also pleased to announce that we have streaming available for our ministry. This means you can listen directly to our broadcast live just as our Peruvian audience. This is a great means for your Spanish speaking friends to grow in the Word through the messages over Red Radio Integridad. Just log on to: www.redradiointegridad.org

Radio Marathon

This week (December 12 – 18) we are holding a radio marathon. This is where we make a special effort to make the needs of our radio station known to our listeners and encourage them to give to the ministry. This is held once a year.

Since this is the first time we have held the event, it is totally new to our listeners. We will use the opportunity to present the ministry to the public, build a relationship with our listeners by serving them, and make them aware of our Christian programming.

We have small gifts for those who come to visit us. The gifts are: pens, calendars, fliers with the gospel on printed on the back), and a Bible marker. Each item has “Radio Integrity” printed on it with our station frequency, web address to guide you to our programming over the internet, and our contact information.

Our listeners are our advertizing and they do a great job. This is because their interest is the same as ours: to present Jesus Christ to others and get people to learn the Word!

Please pray for the last two days. Those days are our biggest opportunity. We have already had a good response. This is an exciting ministry.

Two Important Blessings

Official Government Approval
We received government approval and the official document granting us a license to transmit from our new location. This is a great blessing and an answer to prayer. It took a lot of time, hard work and a large investment. God has been good to us in granting us favor with our government authorities.

Now on the Internet
It took us a while to get there, but we are now on the internet. Thanks to the hard work, perseverance and know-how of my associate pastor, all our radio programs can be heard live anywhere around the world where there is internet. All you have to do is log on to: http://www.redradiointegridad.org/. People from Venezuela and the United States have asked us when we would be on internet. We praise the Lord that this service is now available to believers who would never be able to capture our radio signal. They too, can now benefit from the music and messages in Spanish from God’s Word through our ministry. We are thrilled at this amazing tool God has provided.

If you would like to see what the radio ministry sounds like to listeners in Lima, you can log on and hear it for yourself. If you know of anyone who speaks Spanish and would be interested in learning more of God’s Word through this means, feel free to share this resourceful site with them.

At the present, we can have 100 people listen at same time. When we get close to saturating that level, for a fee we can increase our capacity to serve more listeners. So as we grow, we can expand this service as well. We have just started to get the word out and now have an average of 2-3 people listening continually!

Pictures of People We Love and You May Know

We thought you might like to see some pictures of people who were at the wedding. Friends and family came from great distances to show their support for Ben and Amy and celebrate with us. Many of you know and love Steve Fulks and his wife Judy. They are pictured on the left. Steve and Judy served for years in Peru and now serve the Lord in the Home Office of Baptist Mid-Missions (although Steve does extensive traveling). Pray for Judy's health. My parents are pictured on the right. Both are in good health and were able to travel to Pennsylvania for the wedding.

Jesus and Tracy Altuna were also at the wedding. Jesus faithfully served the Lord in our church in Trujillo. Tracy came to Peru many times to serve the Lord. She coached and encouraged Amy through her senior year of High School. Jesus and Tracy are married and have long range plans to return to Peru. This couple has been an incredible blessing to our family. Please pray for Tracy's health. She has severe problems with her back.

The following picture is of our three grandchildren.

Nathan and Audrey's two are on the left. They are Aurrie and Carson. Bayne is Deric and Jessica's and he is on the right. We love our grandkids!

Amy's Wedding

On November 6, my daughter Amy was married. It was a beautiful time in the Lord with all the family together once again. We all rejoiced with Ben and Amy as they were united in marriage.

Our new son by marriage is Benoit Guillot. We thank the Lord for Ben. He plans on serving the Lord in his home city in Quebec, Canada. A few days after Ben and Amy were married, they drove to Quebec with a car load of Amy’s things to begin their lives together in Christ. They are now all settled in their new apartment.

Pray for Amy as she adjusts to her life in Quebec. She will need to learn French and was working on the language for quite some time. There will be many adjustments from language to culture to climate. Canada’s weather is very different than Peru´s!

Our family just loves Ben. He is a godly man and an answer to our prayers. We are confident God is going to use them for His glory. The Templeton Tribe at the Wedding

Ruth's Progress

Ruth is very faithful in doing her workouts all throughout the day. Her therapy is demanding, but Ruth does well and it has paid off. She has recovered most of the motion in her right arm and shoulder. Now she has to work on regaining strength in it. The lady in the picture below is Elizabeth, who worked closely with Ruth in therapy.
Ruth and Elizabeth

She really knows her stuff and has done an excellent job. Notice in the picture how high Ruth can raise her arm. Before the surgery, she could barely raise it to her waist. We praise the Lord for His healing.

The Group Near the Radio Plant

We started having church services on Sunday afternoon in the home of Luz. Luz is our first convert who lives across the street from the radio plant. She has stayed firm in her decision to follow Christ and is such a blessing to us. Sadly, her children are not interested in the gospel. We now have a small group that is coming fairly regular now. There are five adults plus Ruth and I.
The five who are attending our church services on Sunday afternoon.

Ruth and I also have a children’s club on Sunday afternoon. One sweet little girl named Betsaí attends the Bible club faithfully. It is our prayer that we can reach her heart for Jesus. This would be a thrill to lead this little girl to Christ. Ruth and I love her to pieces.
Luz is on the left and Betsaí in the middle with Ruth.

First Steps of Church Planting

Almost every day, we thank the Lord for Jorge Avila. He is the caretaker and all-around handy man for our radio station. The Lord definitely guided us in choosing him. He is an electrician, carpenter, plumber and general repairman. Jorge is such a blessing to us. He has built a workshop at the radio plant.

Jorge with Bro. Peters from Baptist Mid-Missions in the work shop at our radio plant.

We have two containers. One houses the computer room and transmission equipment. The other is the tool shed and living quarters for Jorge. On Saturdays and Sundays, I go out to replace Jorge so he can be with his family and attend church. While I am there, I evangelize and visit people in the area as much as I can. I cannot go far because I have to watch our equipment. Before surgery, Ruth came out on Sundays to join me. She will soon be well enough to join me like before.

Jorge and I in the living quarters of a container

We have a small group started and every Sunday afternoon, we meet to worship the Lord. We have four who attend with us. Luz, our new convert, offered her house to have services. We also have a children’s club where we teach them the Word of God. Both the children’s club and the service are held in Luz’s house. This is the beginning of a church plant in south of Lima where our radio plant is.

Ruth took this picture on the first day we had a Bible lesson with the children. We had the class on the street. These children now attend our Bible club.

During the week, we hold Bible studies all over the city with radio listeners who do not attend a church. Our plan is to unite the small cell groups and begin services together in Lima. This would be a second church plant. We will see how the two church plants unfold as we progress along.

On the Air 24 / 7

We are now on the air 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This is another big step forward! The Lord’s hand of blessing is upon the radio ministry and we praise Him for all He has done!

Recently He blessed us with new equipment. We were able to purchase a much needed stabilizer. It took three months to build and import it into Peru. Then it took three more weeks to get it hooked up. But it now sits at our radio plant, doing exactly what we hoped and prayed for.

Bro. V. W. Peters, our administrator from Baptist Mid-Missions and Bro. Jorge Avila, our caretaker admiring the stabilizer

The function of this unit is to keep the electrical current steady. The electricity is horribly unstable in the area where our radio plant is located. At night when everyone in the community uses more electricity, the current drops drastically. Sensitive radio equipment cannot tolerate the drops or fluctuations. This forced us to turn off our equipment and only transmit in the daytime.

Now with the stabilizer, we can leave our transmitter on and keep the Word of God on the air. We have been transmitting non-stop for more than a week and everything is working well. Needless to say, we are thrilled to reach this point! We praise God for providing the wisdom to solve the problem and the resources to cover the need.

At the present, we are transmitting at 5,300 watts and reaching maybe half of the city in the daytime. In the evening, the signal goes further and reaches more people. Our plant is located 25 miles south of Lima proper. This is the capitol city of Peru and one-third of the nation lives in the greater Lima area. Our transmitter is simply not powerful enough to reach the entire city. It is a little more complicated than simply raising our power, but the transmitting power is the main factor.

It is our prayer that we can increase our power and make the other necessary adjustments to cover the entire city. This is one of our goals for the coming year.

Printed Literature

Pastor Todd Grover is the shepherd at Marantha Baptist Church in Hayesville, Ohio. His church recently helped us with printing literature.

This is Pastor Grover in Peru when he visited us.

With the offering they sent us, we printed up 200,000 fliers. We want to thank Pastor Grover and Maranatha Baptist Church for their sacrfice and generosity. We pray that many will come to Christ through this gift.

One side of the fliers announces the radio station. It has the Bible with a speaker mounted inside it and the words “God has something to tell you” written beside it. The station name and frequency also appear at the bottom. It says, “Radio Integrity – The Voice that Glorifies God – 700 AM”. In Spanish it sounds better because the words rhyme (“La Voz que Glorifica a Dios”). On the back of the flier is the gospel along with our contact information.

This is the front of the flier for the radio station.

Our radio listeners are passing out these fliers by the hundreds. The publicity for the station comes from our own listeners who are interested in God’s Word. They are the ones who get the word out. Their interest is not in us as a station per se, but in the gospel and the Word of God.

The goal for our station is to become self supporting in 5 years from the free-will offerings of our listeners. We do not have advertizing spots. All the programming is dedicated to giving out the Word in message and song. While we encourage our listeners to give an offering to the ministry, we discourage tithing to us. We teach listeners to tithe to their local church.

The offerings have increased greatly in the last three months. They now cover the salary of my assistant pastor and part of the salary for our care taker at the radio plant, Bro. Jorge. This has exceeded our expectations at this point in our ministry.

Of course there are many other maintenance costs besides the salaries of workers such as the electric bill, internet, rent, etc. As we grow, we trust God will supply these needs through those who are blessed from the ministry. We have no debts and are moving forward at the pace the Lord allows. God is supplying for His work and we want Him to receive all the glory.

New Office for Radio Ministry

Dr. Medina is an orthodontist who has his offices on the fourth floor of a complex that is centrally located in Lima, Peru. He found our frequency on the radio, began listening and loved the messages and music.

At the same time, another listener, Nelly Rojas, discovered our station too. Nelly contacted us and we began having Bible studies with her. Nelly learned about our need for a small office where we could receive listeners. She spoke to her friend, Dr. Medina, and mentioned the need. He became excited about our ministry, wanted to meet us to see if he could help the radio ministry.

In our first meeting, the Lord put it in the heart of Dr. Medina to offer us the use of one room in his offices along with the two desks, chairs and a book shelf. His motive for doing this is aid the ministry so that people will hear the Word of God on our station. The only charge is for the electricity we use. He also wants to begin a Bible study with us!

The location of his office complex is excellent. Also, by working within his offices it provides safety for our worker and those who visit us. This turned out to be a great answer to our prayers.

We have employed another young man to help us in the office. His name is Jairo Villegas. He greets listeners who visit us, receives their offerings and gives them fliers that announces the radio station and has the gospel on the back.

Jairo in our new office.

Jairo knows we do not have the resources to pay him full time. But he is willing to work for us at a lower salary because he wants to do it for the Lord. This job also allows him important study time which he needs as a college student. We are thrilled to have Jairo helping us.

Language Training

Three days a week Ruth has a Spanish class with her professor, Ana Conde. Ana is a believer and comes to the house for the instruction. This is a big help since Ruth is not able to get around real well in public transportation because of her shoulder. Ruth and Ana have been studying together for about two months.
Ruth with her professor, Ana Conde

Each class is for two hours. Ruth is working on vocabulary, training her ear to hearing Spanish, and practicing her speech in the language. Ruth minored in Spanish back in college and studied at Rio Grande Bible Institute and Language School in Texas for four months before coming to Peru with me. This training is to help her continue perfecting her communication skills in the language she now uses to give the gospel.

Ruth Has Surgery on Shoulder

Ruth was having trouble with her right shoulder for some time. The pain became so intense that she had difficulty sleeping at night and very limited use of her right arm. I helped her with normal daily activities that required the use of her arm above the waist. We went to the doctor and she was diagnosed with "frozen shoulder". The next step was an MRI. It was discovered that she had a partially detached tendon that needed to be repaired. After reading the results, the doctor recommended surgery. The cause of the damage was continual use over time.

In this picture you will notice how far Ruth could raise her arm just before the surgery.

The arthroscopic surgery took place on Tuesday, September 7. Everything went as planned. A screw was used to help attach the tendon to the bone. Ruth is now recuperating and in a few more days she will begin therapy. The severe pain that traveled up and down her arm is now gone. But she will have to do a lot of hard and painful therapy to get the shoulder in shape.

During this time, Ruth received many phone calls and emails. We thank you so much for all your prayers, love and interest. She was greatly encouraged by your words and prayers. God bless each of you.

New Staff Member Added to Ministry Team

Jorge Avila was recently added to our staff as caretaker of the radio plant. We recently made the decision to hire him full time. What a blessing he is! He is a solid believer that serves Christ will all his heart. He works as hard as he can to make the ministry prosper so more people can hear the gospel. This is a picture of Jorge standing in front of the shipping container that houses our transmitter. Each morning he turns it on at 6:00 a.m. and off at 6:30 p.m. Soon we hope to have a stabilizer in place that will allow us to transmit 24 hours a day. At the present, we cannot transmit in the night because the voltage from the power company is too undependable. This is a picture of Jorge and Stan in front of the work shop he is building. Jorge has it almost finished now.

God sent us Jorge. He is an electrician, plumber, carpenter and an all-around handy man and godly man.

Wedding Anniversary

On August 9, Ruth and I celebrated our second anniversary. We have a wonderful time. First we went to a very nice restaurant on the west side of Lima. It is located on a water break that juts out into the ocean. The scenery was beautiful. We took some pictures and then went shopping. At an outlet store, we purchased a nice comforter for our bedroom.

In the background is a picture of the place where we ate. It is one of the prettiest scenes in Lima.

I snapped this picture of us in front of the restaurant. It will be a day we won’t forget – just like our wedding day.

I thank the Lord for my sweetheart. She is an answer to my prayers. Her companionship and encouragement continually uplift me.

Ruth is doing well in her adjustment to life with me in Peru. A lot of changes were thrown at her and she has graciously met each challenge with God’s grace. Each day, I have observed firsthand, her patience and contentment as a new missionary in a foreign country. Many of you have been praying especially for her. We thank you for your prayers and for the Lord who gives us the grace to serve Him in Lima. We both love it here doing His will.

A New Believer in Christ

About a month and a half ago I led a lady to Christ and later wrote about her in our prayer letter. Her name is Luz and she lives across the street from our radio plant. Luz and her husband, Hector, have three daughters: Judith, Rocio and Maria. They also have one son named Hector and two granddaughters. Since her profession of faith in Christ, she has remained continued to show interest in living for Christ.

I gave a Bible to her son as a birthday gift. This is the only Bible in their house so she uses it. This past Sunday when we had our Bible study together, Ruth realized that she had trouble seeing the Bible to read so she gave her a pair of her own reading glasses. Luz was thrilled. My heart was touched as I witnessed the radiance of joy reflected in the face of Luz and the quiet blessing Ruth received from being the giver and being used of God.

Please continue to pray that Luz will grow in the Lord. I took a picture of her and her daughter (Judith) and Judith’s daughter in the kitchen of their house. Notice the smile on Luz’s face. Jesus is the one who can put a smile on your face, joy in your countenance and peace in your heart!

This picture is taken just outside their home and this time, Maria was present. Maria is the youngest daughter.

Pray for their salvation and for the rest of the family. How I wish I would have had a camera to take the picture of Ruth and Luz on the day the glasses were given.

Maranatha Baptist Church Visits Peru

The first week in July we had a mission team of three visit us from Maranatha Baptist Church in Hayesville, Ohio. The team consisted of Pastor Todd Grover, his son Daniel and Abby Carney, a junior in High School.
There here for seven days. In that lapse of time, Pastor Grover spoke four times in three different churches and once in an informal setting to a small group.

They helped us with the underground radial cables digging to find the ends that will be welded together. This will help the grounding of the tower to increase our coverage. Needless to say, it was hard work.

They also gave out a lot of gospel tracts near the radio plant. This helps us in getting to know our neighbors and build friendships.

What a big blessing they were to us! We love having groups.

Missionary Intern

On June 17, Chris Collins, Jr. arrived in Lima to prepare his life for missionary service. Chris is from Suber Road Baptist Church in Greer, SC near Greenville. Mission trips are not new to him. He has been on numerous trips to Peru and Mexico. But this mission is different.
Chris is a senior at Bob Jones University and will be staying with us for about 10 weeks to do his internship. As a gifted musician and already speaks Spanish very well, it will be interesting to see what God will do through his life.

He will be doing extensive traveling in order to get a broad picture of missions in different regions and cultures. This young man has a heart for God and desires to be a missionary in Latin America. Pray that we can be used of the Lord to help Chris in his goals and walk with the Lord.

Amy Engaged

Amy became engaged to Benoit Guillot. Ben proposed to her near the Eiffel Tower in Paris. How romantic is that! We thank the Lord for Ben and now we look forward to their wedding in November and another member added to our family!

Ben is from Quebec, Canada. He recently finished a year of training at Calvary Baptist Seminary in Lansdale, PA. His goal is to start a Bible Institute. Amy is looking forward to serving the Lord by his side.

Family News

In May we visited Deric, Jessica and our new grandson, Bayne who live in Collegeville, Pennsylvania. What a joy it was to hold the little fellow now over three months old! He is so precious. Our prayer is that one day he will receive the Lord as his Savior.

We are enjoying being grandparents.

Next we traveled to Spain for Jonathan’s wedding. I was privileged to bring the message and give the gospel. The church was packed and many who attended were not saved. Jonathan and Lorena’s ceremony provided a great opportunity for the gospel. We thank the Lord for Lorena who is an answer to our prayers. She is a sweet lady who wants to serve the Lord with all her heart and a wonderful wife for Jonathan. Lorena was added to our family and we were added to hers. It was an honor to meet her parents, Kent and Belen Albright who missionaries to Spain. Marriage is really a union of families.

After only three days in Spain, we returned to the U.S. making it in time for a graduation celebration. Kelsey Kuhlewind and her family attend Valley Forge Baptist Temple in Collegeville, PA and are good friends of Ruth. They are more like family. We totally surprised Kelsey by arriving from Spain in time for her graduation celebration. You should have seen the tears of joy. It meant a lot to Kelsey and to us.

Then we headed for Tennessee to see Nathan and Audrey. The next day, Audrey gave birth to little Aurie. What a sweetheart. Only hours old, we both got to hold her! This was a rare privilege for missionaries living in a foreign country. It was a joy to see my son, Nathan in his role as daddy. And to enjoy our role as grandparents! We are praying for Aurie to be saved too.

We praise the Lord that Audrey and little Aurie are doing well.

April 23, 2010

This is a brief update to let you know how we are coming along with the radio ministry here in Lima.

For weeks a crew of 10 to 12 men worked seven days a week to dismantle our old tower. In its day it was effective, massive and impressive. Twenty years later, it became our obligation to dismantle the monster whose pinnacle reaches almost a football field in height. Given the mission to bring the beast to its knees, it became intimidating, imposing and dangerous. But the crew fulfilled their mission with the Lord’s protection.

The last piece of the old radio tower was taken down on Wednesday (April 21).

This corner support was the last beam to come down!

The next day, (April 22) we sold approximately 13 tons of steel from the tower for 11,500 soles ($4,092).

This is only a portion of the big beast as it lay lifeless on the ground. Praise the Lord we were able to sell the steel quickly at a good price!

As you might expect in our situation here, it was all done by hand and with ropes. No one was hurt, there was minimal damage to other surrounding buildings, and the tower is down and sold. This is a big answer to prayer! We still have some copper wiring and the old electronic flashing light system with the light that sits at the top of the tower. The copper will be easy to sell and we are seeking a buyer for the light. All this helps us to recover from the expenses for the removal of the tower.

After the first tower man abandoned the task, we contracted the job out to a gentleman named Manuel Connoc. Through the long process of taking down a mammoth tower by hand, we became friends. This was the best part of the whole operation! I have great respect for the difficult job this man did. He is also a man of integrity and quiet leadership.

With his extensive knowledge, Manuel has become an incredible help to us with our new tower, giving counsel and supervision free of charge.

We are still working to get the new plant operative so we can get back on the air. I think a safe calculation for reaching this goal is two weeks, but we are yet to see what problems and bugs will have to be worked out and then one last inspection by the government. Once we get on the air, we will owe our engineer / technician about $20,000 (depending on some unknown factors).

Please continue to pray for the project. A lot remains to be done to make it effective for the gospel and church planting. The focus now is getting back on the air with the Word and protect our valuable license.

Some have asked why we had to go off the air. The purchase of the radio station did not include the property on which the station was built. It only included the license and equipment. When we saw it was going to cost more to move the old tower than build a new one, we decided to sell the old one. From the beginning, it was necessary for us to purchase our own property outside the city limits and build a new plant there. Hope this helps you understand the reasons for the move and for going off the air.

God willing, we will soon be writing about more exciting things like people getting saved, lives being transformed and churches being started rather than towers being sold. But this is necessary to get to where the Lord has called us – getting the Word to hearts in Lima. Thank you so much for your prayers.

New Radio Worker

Carlos is a young man who loves the Lord and wants to serve Him. My associate pastor recently began training him to help with the programming of our radio ministry. To do this type of work, you have to love computers. It involves sitting in front of a monitor for hours while you set the computer to run all the messages, announcements, and music at their proper time. Carlos learns quickly and enjoys the work.

He is donating his time to help us and is very happy he can do this for the Lord. Needless to say, we are thrilled to have him join us.

Christmas in Peru

On Christmas Eve, Peruvians gather at the home of one of the family members. It is a time of excitement and joy. Around 11:00 p.m. the family has a big meal that usually includes turkey or a young roasted pig. A fruit cake is also served at the end of the meal for dessert.

Since Peru is largely Catholic, most have a manger scene in the corner of the living room in their home. At midnight, they place a tiny baby figurine they call “baby Jesus” in the manger. While they celebrate the virgin giving birth to Jesus as the Savior of the world, very few actually know the Savior. Salvation is obtained by obeying a set of rules established by the traditional church. It is a work-based attempt to please God in order to obtain forgiveness of sin. Repentance is an emotional and temporary sorrow that is only for the moment since there are no real desires or plans to forsake sin.

The few who do know Christ as their personal Savior by faith through grace are so different from the average person. Their lives are transformed.

We are praying for and working with our landlords so that they can come to the Light and receive salvation by faith. We celebrated the Christmas meal with them in their home. As Blanca put baby Jesus in the manger, we thought of how wonderful it would be if they would invite Him into their hearts.

After this, we went outside to see all the fireworks. Lima was lit up in all directions as beautiful colored lights sprinkled the dark skylight while loud bursts of explosions filled the air. We enjoyed the fireworks display and then retired for the evening at a little before 1:00 a.m. This was Ruth’s first Christmas in Peru.