Nov 11, 2011 Connections

The Prince Mission Church in Miraflores had 11 people baptized in October and we have just scheduled another baptismal service for Nov. We have 10 more candidates for baptism. One of these young men is M that we told you about last month.

We have started a new TH night Discipleship class for these new believers. We had a big English Sports Camp at Union last weekend. There were 33 Union students that attended. We also started some English Conversation Classes for the Seniors at Union to help them with their test in Dec. They must pass certain test to enter their colleges. Then there is our work at La Victoria. All of these help build relationships.

This is the month of Matsuri festivals in Lima. These are traditional Japanese events where people have celebrations which include singing, eating and traditional drum and Japanese dance performances.

Our ESL work is paying off in some of our events we are having some really good Bible Studies and opportunities to share God's Love.

Please pray for all of these students that they would be open to God's word and that they would respond to His love.

Thanks for your prayers. We have had a major problem with our laptop and distribution list. (Hopefully this will be fixed soon.)

God's Blessings and Peace, Tim and Joy Mitchell

October: News in Lima

Family and Friends,

Thanks for praying for Lima and specifically the Nikkei people.

This was an exceptionally good week...

We had an ESL student accept Christ this week at our Wed night group.

And this morning (Sunday, Oct 1) at our coffee shop English Bible study group we had one of our Nikkei friends share that he has made a decision for Christ. M was in our first ESL class and we have been friends ever since. God has really been working in his life this past year and it has been a blessing to see this happen.

Pray for both these new believers that God will work in the discipleship process of their lives.

Also, Luke has been sick with gastritis. Our doctor told us that this is fairly common to get this illness in Lima. Luke now has medicine and is getting better. (For those of you who don't know about this, it is a bacterial infection in your stomach. Many people in Lima have gastritis and eventually it leads to them contracting stomach cancer. Apparently, stomach cancer is one of the leading causes of death in Lima.)

Thanks for your prayers. We just wanted to share with you a praise report about how God is answering prayers in Lima.

The Mitchells

PS note: please don't use the earthlink email address.. you need to use the pobox, yahoo or gmail address....

Prayer Requests: We have several ESL classes that where we teach English and the Bible. We also have some Book study classes that we are currently using to build relationships and help people learn about God and help them with their practical issues of life. A couple of the books we are using are: The Purpose Driven Life and The Five Love Languages. We are using ideas like this to engage and build bridges to Nikkei people. We have several people that are reading these books or are studying the Bible with us. Please pray for them that they will not be trapped by the business of their lives. Many people in Lima are caught in a difficult place financially. There jobs demand a great amount of time and they work many long hours because of the fear of loosing this job. There are many things that the enemy uses to keep us trapped into a difficult situation and separated from God.

FYI: Our Sunday morning group is studying the Purpose Driven Life. This is the study that God used to touch M's heart and mind. He has been close to a decision for a long time. (We are extremely grateful for your prayers. This was truly an answer to prayer.)

Please pray that all of our students and friends will be open to God's word. Especially right now please pray for: A,K, E, P,S M,C, L, C, V.

Pray that we would be able to clearly present God's love and the plan of salvation and that each of these people would respond.

Thanks for praying....

The trip to the North

In July we had the great opportunity to return to Huimbayoc. Three members from Prince Ave in Athens came to Peru to participate in this trip: Jerry, Carlos and Mike. This trip was a little different because Joy and Luke were able to go and be members of our mission team and Jacob was in Iquitos with a REAP team and several members of our Prince Mission Church in Lima were also able to go on the trip.

We had a very ambitious plan. We were divided primarily into two teams. A team of ladies from our church went to teach adult leaders how to lead VBS and teach Sunday School and then in the second half of the day to actually do a VBS program with the student teachers helping and learning.

The teaching team of men went to teach on stewardship and evangelism in the mornings and go out in the surrounding villages and share the Gospel in the afternoons. Then in the evenings we sere scheduled to have Evangelistic meetings in Huimbayoc every night...

Travel: We flew to Tarapoto from LIma, we went by van from Tarapoto to Chazuta, we took a boat from Chazuta to Huimbayoc about 3 hours. We used this boat to travel to the nearby villages during the week. On our return trip we had to go a different path that was less river travel and more traveling through rough terrain.

God worked in a mighty way. Four people who came with their family to church to receive the stewardship and evangelism training accepted Christ. Each day in every village people made decisions for Christ. The VBS had roughly 90 children every day. The people who came to the Bible studies were very faithful to come every day. They were interested in how to have access to more Bible study.

In a village called Navarro we met a lady named Jessy. She had only been living there a short time. She was married and has two children, but she was very sick. Possibly she is very close to death. She had recently made a decision for Christ. The day we visited her village her 14 yr old daughter accepted Christ. We were able to talk to some EMT/ nurse type people in the jungle and they were aware of this ladies condition and told us what medicine she needed. We were able to take the pastor of Huimbayoc with us back to Tarapoto to buy the medicine she needed. Please pray for her recovery. She also has a son who is 4 yrs old. When we met Jessy she was not able to stand. Pray for her physical healing.

God worked in many ways on this trip. We had a few more difficulties and moments where we needed flexibility. Some of our issues were with transportation, not having enough translators, difficulty in procuring food and water, etc. But God used the people we had and the means we had to make a difference. For example: Luke was able to translate for Mike and Jerry during the day and Elisa who was one of the VBS leaders translated in the evening services. We had team members who purified the water we drank and cooked with. Our return trip did not go as planned but we made it back to Tarapoto in time to catch the plane to Lima.

Huimbayoc is a little difficult to get to and it is hard to live in this spot in the world. Huimbayoc has a generator to provide electricity from 6:30 - 9:30 at night. There are no fans or Air Conditioning or modern refrigeration. It is hot night and day. Many of the people do not have a balanced diet, but we saw church leaders hungry to learn more about God. We saw many decisions for Christ and we saw Hope. Please pray for these people in these villages. Pray that God will raise up Bible students and turn them into leaders. Thank you for making adventures like these possible.

In His Name and For His Glory, The Mitchell's

PS Our Japanese house guest returns to Lima today from her visit with her family. Please pray that K and her family will open their hearts to God's word.

Pray that we are open and sensitive to God's direction for our ministry.

The Cool Winters of Lima

We are in the North America summer months, but in Lima it is time for the cool if not slightly cold winters. We were in Ica for a mission meeting in June and next week we will be in the jungle on a mission trip.

We have had a second Nikkei young man accept Christ. Please pray for him..

Our ESL groups are going well. We are now offering our students various Bible study options on the weekends. We are hoping to have several of our students come to these Bible study classes and that these classes will become cell groups within our church...

Our work with a few of the Nikkei schools is progressing we are hoping to get the opportunity to work with the students in the English programs. Thus building relationships to the families.

Please continue to pray.

We will be in Tarapoto doing an Evangelism/ Lay Leader Training/ VBS training and a VBS for about a 100 kids.. Please pray for those going on this trip from our church in Lima and from Athens.

Blessings and Peace,
The Mitchells

Doors

Please continue to pray for open doors and receptive hearts.

Doors are opening within some of the Nikkei schools. We are now beginning to work with the schools in teaching English and values and moral truth from the Bible. One of the schools has created a program for all the Nikkei that have been living in Japan and just returned because of the world economic crisis. Many of these kids have been in Japan all or the majority of their life. ( avg 8 - 12 yrs) They are 6 - 16 years old.

Pray for D. He had family members that attended the Baseball Clinic in January. We met for coffee 3 weeks ago and his question for me was, " What do Baptist Believe?" He made a decision to follow God that day and has been studying the Bible with us every week since. (Pray for him and his family and for other people to be open and burdened to discover the truth of God's love.)

We have been able to share the gospel and teach the Bible and witness to many of our ESL students at a Japanese business that has offices in Peru. They hire a large percentage of Nikkei people. Many of the Nikkei work for the Japanese managers because they are fluent in Japanese, Spanish and speak a level of English. We are building some good relationships and people are getting interested in studying and learning about God from the Bible.

The work at Prince Mission in Mira Flores is ongoing. We have a few Nikkei visiting the church and one coming regularly.

Thank you for your prayers and support for the IMB. We could not be here without your prayers. Our world is a lost and dying place. Please pray that we as believers are open to God's word and our always looking for ways to meet with people and share about God's love for all of us. From what we read on the internet and see of the US culture we all need to be sharing the Gospel ...

Again thanks for your prayers!!!

Nikkei Decision

Dear Family, Friends (Prayer Supporters),

Saturday night we had our first Nikkei to make a decision for Christ. Please pray for M as she begins her walk with the Lord...

Thanks for your prayers for the Nikkei. God opened M's heart. After our opening devotional at a ESL class she had questions about scripture and the conversation naturally went to presenting the plan of salvation. (Please continue to pray!!!

We have had visitors at church every service since the beginning of April... Please continue to pray for all of these visitors and people seeking to know God.

We had Alan Crosby of Living Word Baptist Church, Bogart, GA, in town in April. We had some great meetings with a couple of the Nikkei schools. There is a great potential for ESL or VBS in English in these schools. Many doors were opened during this week. Pray for Bible studies to start, decisions for Christ and for a new church in this area of Lima.

Please pray for the Nikkei and please pray about being involved in local or international missions with your church.

Blessings and Peace,
Tim & Joy Mitchell

Opportunities

Around every corner is the possibility of a new opportunity. As some of the doors close as we share with the Nikkei God is always opening new doors. We will be having an 11th grade Japanese girl live with us until she graduates from the local American style school. Please pray for her and her family as they will be moving to another country this weekend. We have known this family almost since we arrived in Peru.

Over the next few weeks we will be praying with Living Word Baptist Church over the city of Lima and ministry opportunities.

We are still making contacts from the Baseball Clinic or bumping into people we met at the clinic. SEE videos from the clinic: includes baseball instruction, testimonies, bible stories, etc. We had a great week of ministy in January. People clearly heard the gospel and the team clearly shared with kind hearts and spirits.
Jacob has made a few short videos of the camps.

Youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/user/PeruBaseballMission?feature=mhum

Youtube email: perubaseballmission@gmail.com

Youtube password: perubaseball

www.youtube.com
www.youtube.com
Share your videos with friends, family, and the world

Recently I just bumped into a couple of the coaches and shared this site. We are also in the process of sending this out to all of the players via e-mail... with invitations to study the bible in english.

We will be meeting with the Directors of some of the Nikkei schools to talk about English Camps or possible needs that they might have.

Lets all pray that God would speak to our heart about how to reach the people of the world.

One prayer requests I have is that families in the states would feel called to host a Nikkei student for a month in their home to help them improve their English and see how a Christian family lives. (What a great ministry opportunity to expose a young person to God's love.) Isn't it interesting how God answers prayer sometime, We have been given the opportunity to receive a Japanese 11th grader in our home in Peru.

Especially pray for Japan and the Japanese people at this time....
This site below will have lots of updates about Japan.

Please also point your supporters to our EAP website http://eastasianpeoples.imb.org/ where we will launch a Japan in Crisis page before April 1 featuring the calendar, an interactive map, and other pertinent materials. Many related prayer requests and stories are already posted on the site’s home page.

God's Blessings and Peace,
Tim

The Sacred Valley: Two months/Two Mission Teams

We were blessed to have another mission team from Prince Ave visit Peru. For those of you considering going, please pray through the possibilities. I can't remember ever going on a bad mission trip. Our experiences have all been good.

Our English classes and friends we have built through those is going well. Please pray for these students and that they would come to know God. This post contains pictures from the Sacred Valley area near Cusco. This is the region of Machu Pichu. This is the first time that Jesus and Tim were both able to go with the mission team from Prince together. Recently a Retired Baptist Pastor has been attending our church. He preached in Lima the Sunday we were both gone. The team was divided into tow groups that were focused on lay leader and pastor training during the day and evangelism events in the evening. These events were either in the town square or in the churches or a soccer court. Many people rededicated there lives, came for prayers for medical issues, came for council or made decisions for Christ. It was a great week.

Joy will be returning to the states for about two - three weeks in March to have an outpatient skin cancer appointment. Please pray that this goes well and the Doctor is able to remove all of this cancer. This procedure is not available in Lima and it is recommended that it be done as soon as possible.

Please prayerfully consider being a member of an international mission trip. There are many children in the private schools and public schools that would welcome a mission team that came from the states. The mission trip could be focused on something as simple as a basic youth VBS week in English. Many of the same materials or stories,events, activities that you would plan to do for your summer VBS would work in Lima. Also, please remember,The Peruvian school year starts in March and ends in Dec. Therefore our summer is typically in the middle of the school year.

As always we thank you for your prayers. We saw God at work in many different ways a few weeks ago in the mountains of Peru. Many people had the opportunity to hear the Gospel. That is one of the keys to the Great Commandment: Go and Share...

As you pray for Joy and her surgery. Please pray that Tim, Jacob and Luke survive without her for a few weeks.

God's Blessings and Peace, The Mitchells

The Sacred Valley

We are in the middle of summer. The High is 82 and the Low is around 70. We have had only a few hours a day of warm weather. This year we have actually had mist many days of the summer. Thus it has not been very warm. Tommorrow we have a mission team coming in from Prince Ave Baptist Church. We will be spending a week in the Urabamba Area near Cusco. This is the center of the Inca civilazation. We will be at roughly 10,000 - 15,000 feet depending on the village. Please pray for the mission team next week as we will be doing pastor and layleader training during the day and evangelism events in the evening. The weather in Cusco is very different than Lima. It is winter there and this is the rainy season. Please pray for all of the people that we meet. For the pastors and the lay leaders pray that we are able to help them with a conference on Stewardship. And for all the lost people we encounter during the day and especially at the evangelism events pray that the Holy Spirit will work in their hearts and lives. Gray and Caleb are well into their school semesters and Jacob and Luke started Wednesday. Please pray for the follow up of the Baseball Clinic. We are trying to work with people via pictures and videos of the training. Jacob has been editing the film and putting together the training topics. We plan to post them on YouTube. We are able to include some of the Bible Stories and Testimonies. Thus using baseball as a bridge to share the Gospel. We have encountered people with various needs through the clinic. Please pray for all of these people.

If anyone feels called to come to Peru and work with us to engage the Nikkei you would be very welcome. Please call or email and we can discuss the possibilities.

Blessings and Peace,

Baseball Clinic Pitctures

Baseball Clinic 2011

The year ended with Joy and Tim attending the Nikkei Christmas Party. We had an interesting conversation about Budhism and Shinto worship. We have been meeting with individual members of SAN and doing Bible Storying and English Classes since we have been back. But we will probably start a new class in January. This is good becuase it will be additional students.

This week we habe four members of our church in Cusco along with two members from Prince Ave teaching a seminar on how to share the Gospel with Children. We were also suppose to have 5 members from the team come from Venezuela, but for various reasons they were not able to come. Please pray for this team this week.

Also,We want you to see some of the pictures from the baseball clinic. Please note the team from FBC Brandon and Bell Shoals were in Lima for the first week of January.

We did three clinics a day. Each clinic started with a testimony and a prayer. Then each clinic ended with a Bible Story and a Testimony. At the last clinic with each group the question was posed to each person, "Who do you think Jesus is?"

Many seeds were planted. The people not only heard scripture and testimonies. Many of the coaches and parents commented that they were so surprised that people with such a high level of baseball experience were so kind and so easy to talk to. The coaches were described all week as kind, friendly and gracious teachers. The baseball community saw a group of believers living out their faith.

For our family we have had showers of blessings the past few weeks: from being with our children, Christmas gifts from family and friends, the Baseball team and getting to know and interact with them, a visit from our nephew as he passed through Lima on a REAP trip, and now the Sunday School team in Cusco. Plus this past week another Chifa worker (Freddie) accepted Christ through the ministry of Gomez, Evert and Santos three of our original church members.

If you think God is speaking to you about a VBS activity in English or some type of Business presentation: Medical, General Business, Architecture or Engingeering. Please call or e-mail. These events help us all to have a bridge to enter a community and share our faith and testimony of Christ. Then we may have an opening to go further in these relationships to share more fully about who God is. He is the creator of the world and he loves us all.

To all of the people that are praying for us we would like to continue to say thank you.

B & P,

The Mitchells
Tim, Joy and the Boys

Regarding the Pictures: These are two different clinic groups and the coaches as well as some of the leaders of the baseball association. (We will put up some more pictures soon.)