Wednesday, October 27, 2010

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 BetsaĆ­ 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 BetsaĆ­ in the middle with Ruth.

Friday, October 8, 2010

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.