Jonathan and Becky Earnhart: February 2008
Dear Prayer Partners,
As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country. Praise the Lord, we are enjoying a little of both; cold water for our summer heat and good news to share with you!
Fundamental Baptist in Arequipa is FINALLY owner of their property! AMEN! For over two months we have been in legal paperwork and yesterday the last paper was signed and we have the keys! Pastor Henry is elated and excited to begin construction for the church building. We will begin with constructing a provisional auditorium where the patio is now, and Lord willing, we will still have enough funds to at least put up a roof. The existing building will continue to serve as classrooms and house Pastor Henry and his family. It was worth waiting for God's time!!
VBS in Tacna was the 21st- 25th of January. We averaged 120 kids per day and we had an average of 35 workers every day. A missions team of 5 came from Crossroads Baptist and they were a blessing and help in our VBS as well as in our ministry and family. For the VBS, we had at least 25 salvation decisions confirmed and many of them of have been coming regularly to our church services.
Sunday the 3rd of February was "Discipleship Sunday". We taught and preached on the importance of discipleship and the result was that 44 new converts have committed themselves to a 5 ½ month discipleship program. Eighteen of our leaders will be carrying out the weekly discipleship; and I am incredibly excited to see how God will use each and every one of our leaders as they duplicate themselves in others. Please pray for this VERY important program.
We formed a team of two complete families as well as 3 single young men and they are leading the new mission work that we started the 20th of January in the outlying pueblo called Viñani. We have had a steady attendance of around 25. We are currently meeting in a member's home but are looking right now for a lot to purchase so that we can have a permanent meeting place. There are lots available that are 1,800 sq ft. for about $1,000, but in this particular area, there are a lot of squatters (people who come in overnight, set up house-keeping and claim the property as their own). For that reason, we will need to have funds to not only purchase a lot but to also construct a wall of protection right away. Then we'd construct a temporary building with tin roof once we purchase a lot. We are guessing that the construction project itself will cost around $5,000. We would need to purchase benches, tables and other furniture for services and Sunday School classes. Please pray for this tremendous opportunity!
Last week we passed out 5,000 flyers and knocked on more than 3,500 doors for our Revival Meeting which starts this Wednesday the 13th and will run through Sunday night the 17th. With our special visitor contest, we could have over 200 visitors during the Campaign. Please pray for their salvation! We are praying for revival! Pray for me as I preach during the week.
Sunday night after the Campaign we will travel to Arequipa with about 20 leaders. We will be helping Pastor Henry with his VBS and will have our Leadership Camp during the same week. We will also be helping Pastor Henry with some work projects on their "new" building! Pray that souls will be saved and that the leaders will be encouraged during the week of the 18th-23rd of February.
I don't think we have ever been as busy as we have been since we arrived on December 30, 2007. We have been counseling dozens of people and the devil is doing his best to destroy families in our church. PLEASE pray for strength and wisdom as we desire to be used of God to help these precious people. Please pray for more laborers! The harvest is more than we can do alone. There is SO MUCH more to share, but I am running out of paper! Thank you for your prayers. Please pray for new supporting churches. We visited over 40 new churches in 2007 and we are praying that they might partner with us in reaching the Peruvians. In this last week alone the dollar has dropped another 5%. Praise the Lord, God NEVER changes, and He meets our every need!
Fellow laborer,
Jonathan and family