Jan. 21, 2009 Dear Prayer Warriors,

Greetings from Peru! Thank you for your prayers. I trust the Lord is blessing you in 2009 as He has been blessing me and the ministry here.

One of the blessings has been more opportunity to fellowship at Efata Baptist Church. They invited me to the graduation ceremony of the school, as well as the Christmas Eve service and New Year’s Eve activities. The past two Sundays I have enjoyed interpreting for Rich Donaldson and Edgar Ruiz as they shared God’s Word with the deaf who attended. Pastor Abraham and his family are on vacation and will be gone another two weeks. Please pray for continued wisdom in interpreting. Pray, too, for Melissa from Peniel Baptist Church who is teaching the children's Sunday School class at Betsan Baptist Church while I am at Efata.

During these vacation months, I have invited the deaf women to come to my home on Tuesdays for their Bible classes. The classes are still individual, but the others fellowship with each other while waiting for their turn. We also watched the movie Magdalena, Released from Shame, which shows how Jesus ministered to women and I interpreted it for them. Nine to ten women have been coming, which is a joy. Tuesday nights are for the guys at the Donaldsons' home. It has been great to have Sosimo home from Chiclayo where he is studying high school. :O} This past Tuesday he taught two younger boys, Alex and Erick, while I was helping Jerry.

Our big project this month is the retreat we are preparing for the river deaf. The Lord led us to plan it for Mazan and Mangua, two towns on the Napo River, not too far from Iquitos, which are the towns where most of the deaf live who went to retreat last January. We also have a great team of hearing and deaf who are working hard to get everything ready by next Monday, Jan. 26. Please pray for Sosimo, David, Lizeth, Doris, Martha, and me that we will have everything set for the retreat. Many others are also helping out, like Pastor Marcial and his wife, Blanca, at The Way Baptist Church in Mazan, and Alex and Erick who will be helping with the dramas. Our theme is "God's Plan" and we will be sharing by means of dramas the Story of Redemption beginning with creation and ending with the final judgment. Pray that the deaf will understand the importance of what we are sharing with them and realize that God loves them and made His plan with them in mind. Martha and others have been searching for the deaf in Mazan and have found seven so far. Last year we were surprised to find three there. It will be exciting to work with them in sharing the Gospel. The retreat dates are Jan. 26-30. Keyla, who accepted Christ as her Savior last Jan. along with two of her deaf brothers, is here in Iquitos, excited about going with us again. Pray for her spiritual growth.

Well, this is getting pretty long so I'll close for now and write again soon after the retreat. Take care and keep looking up! God bless you all!


Your sister in Christ,
Lynn Porter