Greater Portland Baptist Church

Juan and Amy Vallejo: November and December 2005

Dear Pastor and Church Family,

We hope and pray that you all have a Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year. Thank you very much for all of your help with praying for and supporting our ministry. We are truly blessed through you. We are so thankful that the Lord has protected us in our travels on deputation. We remember when we visited you and how you were a blessing to us in a special way. You may remember that last March my wife was expecting and we lost the baby. We praise the Lord for His healing as we are expecting again. Amy is in her fourth month and due in May of 2006. We are all in good health, and Esther’s asthma has been under control with her four treatments daily.

Good news! Finally, this July we have determined to be in Brazil. We are at 75% of our support, and we are praying for our full support to come in by this time. Please pray that we can raise the rest of our support quickly. Recently, we received an e-mail from our friends who are missionaries in Brazil who have lost 30% of their support because the value of the dollar has dropped so much. Hopefully, we will not have this problem; for this we need your prayers. Please pray for the Lord to provide the $3,600 that we will need for our airline tickets. We are praying that we can find better prices for them. We also need you to pray for our visas to go through without any problems from the government.

The Lord has blessed us and allowed us to lead 45 people to know Him these last two months. The Lord works in amazing ways. While we were in Juarez, Mexico, this month, I was able to help the pastor in a home mission by preaching. During the invitation one man raised his hand for salvation. I had the privilege of explaining the Gospel to him, and when he was ready to pray, I invited him to bend his knees and ask the Lord for salvation. I was not aware that this man had been attending this church for two years. He was confused because of his Catholic background, yet praise the Lord for this great opportunity to lead this man to the truth about salvation by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The following Sunday evening in another church, a lady raised her hand for salvation during the invitation, and my wife had the great opportunity to explain to her what the Baptists believe about salvation according to the Bible. This dear lady was unsure of her salvation because of her Pentecostal background, and the Lord convinced this lady through my wife. After she read Ephesians 2:8-9, the lady said, “Oh, I understand now!” She prayed for salvation and put her trust in Jesus Christ alone that day.

We are privileged to meet many pastors on deputation who are true men of God, building great works for God. The Lord surprised us when we passed through a church in Texas where we were unable to schedule a meeting and were only attending the service. Afterward, the pastor encouraged us with his decision to take us on for support for $100 per month. It was evident that the Lord had gone before us and touched the heart of this pastor and his people. The Sunday before Christmas, the Lord blessed us with a pastor who voted to support us for $25 per month during the morning service. We drove two hours south to our next meeting where the pastor in the evening service also voted to take us on for support. He commented that this was the first time in 33 years that he had taken on a missionary during the service. We thank the Lord for leading these pastors to help us on our way to Brazil.

Please keep our future traveling plans in your prayers. We will be traveling on deputation to churches in Mexico this January and February, and we ask for your prayers for our safety and good health. In March we will need to attend our last Missionary Candidate School in Indiana before leaving for the field. In April we will make our way towards Washington and attend meetings closer to home until the birth of the baby in May. We appreciate your prayers for June and July as my wife recuperates, as we finish up our deputation meetings, and as we prepare to leave for the foreign mission field with three young children. May God bless you, Pastor, your family, and your church.

For God’s service,

The Vallejo Family