Friday, September 24, 2010

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.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

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.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

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.