Dear Praying Friends,
It’s the beginning of a new year, a fresh new start with so many goals in mind to strive for in 2014. We are looking forward to what God has in store for our ministry this year. We have much to be grateful for this past year 2013. God has allowed us to join our team on the field, start churches, start Bible studies, see souls saved, and see new Christians growing.
November and December were full of events and special occasions. A couple of special occasions were that I celebrated my birthday on November 12, and on December 13, Chrystal and I celebrated our ten-year wedding anniversary. For the holidays we enjoyed spending quality time with the family and teammates. One of the special events we had in December was a Christmas luncheon in our church after the morning service. I encouraged the church members to bring a visitor and a dish. God blessed this special day with 42 in attendance, 7 visitors, and 2 saved. Many of the visitors were relatives of our church members; 3 of the visitors were from other countries, such as Canada, the United States, and Chile. My wife was able to lead Claudia to Christ, a young lady who was visiting her mom for the holidays from Chile. I’m grateful my wife had the opportunity to witness to Claudia before she traveled back home. Our prayer is that Claudia will be able to find and attend a good church in Chile.
Our Bible study for the months of November and December started in an area called Barranco. One of the men who attended was a man by the name of Hans Guitierrez. Hans had been saved for years but had gotten away from the Lord. He started attending our church and was interested in having a Bible study in his father-in-law’s tailor shop. Hans wanted to have the Bible study around his family, because he was interested in his family coming to know Christ and coming to church. Within the first two weeks of the Bible study, Hans’ kids (Christopher and Johan) and Hans’ father-in-law all got saved and attended our church. Three weeks later his wife Rosio trusted Christ in the Bible study, as well as a few others. Three weeks before the Bible study ended, Rosio’s sister Mary got saved in the Bible study. It’s a joy to see the fruits of that Bible study and the desire of a man to see his family saved. Since they all have trusted Christ, they have been coming to church regularly. Please pray for their spiritual growth and for a new Bible study we will be starting in a new area in January.
During one of our Thursday night midweek services, a mom and her two teenage daughters walked in. As I was introducing visitors, I asked how they heard about our church. The mom Maria said that my wife had invited her a few weeks prior. That night Maria and both her daughters trusted Christ. The following service she brought her husband Gary and one of her friends with her. Gary trusted Christ, and the family has been faithful since and enjoying getting involved in our other church activities.
Our church has been growing. Praise the Lord! Our lease ends in April, and we ask that you pray with us that God will provide us with a new location by or before April so that we can continue growing. We also ask for your prayers, as we will be starting our Sunday night services soon, Lord willing, this February. We have not yet done so due to teaching duties that I have in our main church in Chorrillos on Sunday nights. We are grateful for your faithful prayers and support.
The Martinez Family