Jonathan and Lorena Templeton Visit Peru

My son, Jonathan, and our daughter by marriage, Lorena, came to Peru to visit us for Christmas. We have had a wonderful time visiting and sightseeing.

Family time together is precious to us.

Jonathan preached at prayer meeting the first service he was here.

It was an honor to introduce him and Lorena to our church family.

But it was a special blessing to introduce Jonathan as our special speaker to teach the Word of God for the evening!

Jonathan and Lorena are raising their support to be missionaries in Spain. Lorena is the daughter of Kent and Belén Albright, who are presently serving our Lord there now. Pray for their support to come in so they can take the gospel to this needy country.

Second Radio Anniversary

Each year in December we celebrate the radio ministry's anniversary with a special event we call a "Marathon". We broadcast live for two days from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.(hince the name "Marathon"). We encourage our listeners to consider supporting the radio ministry through a number of ways: offerings, faith promise, prayer, donations of items that can be sold to other listeners, and giving out fliers to invite others to listen. Our listeners are our best advertising because they share our purpose to learn the Word of God and to reach the lost with the gospel.

We set up a temporary makeshift "studio" at a church that loaned us their building for the event and broadcast right from the very room where all our listens enter.

It was very "live". We have spontaneous interviews with some of our listens.

With tears streaming down their cheeks, many of our listens share how the Word of God is such a blessing to them through the radio ministry.

We do not know the exact number of visitors, but our best guess would be around 300 over the course of the two days.

All day long people kept coming for both days.

Many radio listeners gave donations to sell at the marathon.

These items were sold and the money was given to the radio ministry.

We received a lot of generous donations in clothes, shoes, kitchen and office items, decorations, one laptop, furniture and much more.

We had about 30 volunteers to help us. They helped in transportation, registering visitors, selling donated items, giving away calendars and keepsakes, packing, and many other tasks. Without our volunteer help, we would not be able to wait on the public who come.

Here they are folding radio brochures.

Some volunteers brought breakfast, lunch, and refreshments for our volunteers.

Here three of our volunteers took a break to get a bite to eat. One lady brought a pot of soup to offer to those who came.

Edward is my assistant and he does a marvelous job with the radio ministry.

Three pastors helped with the live broadcasting. It is exhausting work and the men did great.

Pastor Latimer Rengifo (left) and Pastor Edward (right) were two of the men.

Pastor Javier Huamán also helped. He is one of my former students from Seminary days in Trujillo.

Amazingly, we had a deaf person come to visit us. Her family listens to the Word of God and then shares with her what they learn! She wanted to come and meet us.

Here in this picture a lady signs to a deaf family member telling her what we are saying on the broadcast.

The lady on the left was our primary photographer of the event. She is also my Sweetheart and wonderful wife.

Maybe this little guy will be our future preacher of the gospel over the radio airwaves. We are thankful for all God is doing through this ministry.

New Converts Declare Faith in Christ

Five new converts were recently presented to the church congregation declaring their faith in Christ. Two were Pastor Edward Zacarías' children (our associate pastor). He and his wife, Margarita have 3 children. The two youngest are Joel and Joana, who gave testimoney to their faith in our wonderful Lord.

Pastor Edward presenting his two children, Joel and Joana.

The other three are Fernando Holder, Alejandro Cristóbal and his step son, Ayrton.

Pray for our new converts. They are growing in the Lord. After we presented the new believers to the congregation, people came forward to congratulate them and encourage them in the Lord.

We finished the evening with a social with food and group games

It was a great time together.

Announcement: Radio Marathon

Friday and Saturday, December 16 and 17, will be our radio marathon. This is a yearly event called a marathon because we broadcast live all day long. The purpose is to encourage our listeners to pray for and give to the radio ministry. We give out calendars and stickers. We also supply our listeners with fliers to give out. They give out thousands and are our best advertising.

If you read this message in time, pray for this event. You can also pray for new radio equipment that we have ordered. This equipment is quite expensive and will allow us to cover all of Lima with a strong signal. It is scheduled to arrive on January 2. Our goal is to have it in operation by April.

New Divider Wall at Radio Station Plant

A simple wall was recently put up at the radio station plant to divide our property from the neighbors and mark the boundaries. This structure is made of plastic covered with tar draped over a wooden fence. Very simple and humble, but it works.

We were having some serious problems with the neighbor's dangerous dog. Praise the Lord we have not had problems since the fence was put up.

New Believer in Christ

Fernando Holder had been coming to one of our home Bible studies for several weeks. We had also talked extensively about the Word of God and many other matters on his heart.

I invited him to come to my home to talk about eternal life and salvation. It was Thanksgiving Day and our colleagues from our Mission were coming over to celebrate the special day. When he arrived, Ruth whispered to me: "Why don't you invite him to stay for dinner." So I did. He accepted the invitation and we began talking about the gospel.

At the end of the conversation, Fernando got saved!

It was a great day to remember. After our Thanksgiving meal, we sang hymns and each took a turn to publicly gave thanks to the Lord for different things. When it was Fernando's turn, I had him tell everyone what had just happened to him. He does not speak English so he gave his testimony in Spanish. One more reason to be thankful to the Lord!

This is Fernando Holder, a new creature in Christ.

Please continue to pray for him. He has a thirst to know more about God's Word.

Team of Two from Valley Forge On a Mission

Kevin Nikerle is a very active members in a very active church, Valley Forge Baptist Temple. He recently came to Peru with his church's mission team. Kevin has such a servant heart that immediately after the trip, he wanted to come back to get more done on the caretaker house at the radio plant. So he took his Thanksgiving holidays to come to work free in Peru! He also brought Luis, another man from his church, to be his interpreter.

Here Kevin (left) and Luis (right) enjoyed a couple of hours at a beautiful spot in Lima that overlooks the Pacific Ocean.

While they were here they worked fast and really made progress on the closets. This is what they look like now!

This picture does not do them justice. Jorge, our caretaker, is overjoyed.

They also made some desperately needed shelves for storage. This is what Kevin is working on in this picture.

Luis was a great help. I was amazed at how much they got done.

The men are filling the shelves with our tools and supplies. I can't tell you how happy I was to have these shelves.

Wildredo is a friend of many who have come to Peru over the years. Kevin was glad to see him again.

Long time friends get together again. Years ago, Kevin gave Wilfredo the shirt he is wearing. On the day this picture was taken, they both showed up for work with shirts from Boyertown, PA.

One of the best things about missions trips is the friendships you make. The two men in the picture above have a special place in my heart.