Greetings from Northwest Indiana. We are back in the States and getting ready for Baby #3. My wife is in her last few weeks of pregnancy and is doing well. We appreciate all your prayers and messages of encouragement.
A few weeks before our trip, as we normally do, an usher was passing out tracts outside our church and inviting people to come in and join the service. A man by the name of Juan received a tract and decided to join the service right before the preaching started. During the invitation he raised his hand for salvation, and one of our church members was able to lead Juan to Christ. The following service on Thursday night, he attended our church again.
Juan lives about a block from our church, and at this particular service, Juan told me an interesting story. A few months back he had suffered an accident at work where his right arm was cut off. This, of course, was a very traumatizing accident. Juan told me that during his accident, he thought that this would be the end for him, and with this thought, he wondered about where he would spend eternity. The doctors, however, were able to surgically reattach Juan’s arm.
After his recovery Juan said that in his own way, he asked God what he should do about his eternity. Juan then started looking for the answer. Not too long after Juan started looking, God led Juan to our church. A few weeks later after trusting Christ, Juan also followed the Lord in believer’s baptism. Juan is excited and wants others to know about “Who and What” he found. Since my family and I had already left for the States before seeing Juan baptized, my brother-in-law and team member, Mark Rader, was able to baptize Juan. We praise the Lord for this exciting blessing! Juan has a burden for his wife and family to be saved as well. Please be in prayer with us and Juan for their salvation.
As you may remember in our previous letter, a young lady in our church named Solange had a burden for her friends and their salvation. For a birthday gift from her friends, she wanted them to come to church with her for a special breakfast our church was having the day of her birthday. On the 19th of October, 8 of her friends came to church, and 7 of them trusted Christ. Praise the Lord!! It is wonderful to see someone get saved and to see that same person get excited about others they care about getting saved.
We are happy to see what great things God is doing in Peru. We are especially grateful for Mark, as he is overseeing our church during our time in the States. Please continue to be in prayer for Mark. Thank you for all your faithful prayers and support. We hope you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
The Martinez Family