Jonathan and Becky Earnhart: April 2007
Dear Prayer Partners,
Well, I guess you could say that this is a three thousand mile letter! We started our trip back to the States with a 20 hour bus ride to Lima, Peru. After a day lay-over, we then took an 8 hour flight to Atlanta. We were blessed to have Becky's brother's family waiting for us at the airport as well as our BIMI Field Director, Bro. Blevins. All went well and we didn't even lose anyone!
We've had some incredibly busy weeks leading up to our departure. We praise the Lord for baptisms almost every week for the past month, 2 weddings and many good spiritual decisions. God is doing something special in Peru. Our theme for this year is 'Growing in Grace' and it's been exciting to see our folks begin to grasp the concept of God's amazing Grace!
Pastor Henry is now in Tacna and will be over-seeing BOTH the church in Arequipa as well as in Tacna. He will be spending the first three months in Tacna and then will be traveling between the two churches until the end of the year. The trip is a six hour bus ride through the Andes foot hills! Pray for special grace and strength for Pastor Henry, his wife Irene and Steven.
We have been incredibly encouraged to watch our leaders rise to the challenges presented by our leaving for furlough. Months and months of preparation are paying off. Sunday I challenged them with Paul's words... "as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence". I was so pleased with the many, many notes I received from our leaders as they pledged their obedience to the Lord and His work!
We have now been in the States one week and the "culture shock" is starting to wear off. We praise the Lord that we were able to find a 12 passenger van, thanks to our friend, Bryan Baggett! We should get it tomorrow (Friday). The family has grown so much that in addition to the van we will need to find a small trailer to pull our "stuff".
We praise the Lord for a couple of special offerings that we have received that helped offset our "setup" expenses. We are still praying for funds for a laptop, projector to show our DVD presentation, "church" clothes as well as a loooooong Wal-Mart list!
Our first "official" furlough meeting is April 22. April will find us in Florida and May will take us into Georgia, Tennessee and Virginia. June, July and August will be spent in California, while September is in Michigan, and finally October, November and the first part of December should find us in Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Thank you for your prayers! God has protected and provided for us each step of the way. We can't wait to share with each and every one of you what GREAT things God has done!
Fellow laborer,
Jonathan