November 21, 2019

Ambassadors for Christ in Peru

Dear Praying Friends, 

Thank you so much for your consistent prayers for us. We thank the Lord for bringing us safely back to Peru.
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Finishing stateside ministry and arriving back in Peru: We arrived back home in Puerto Maldonado on Wednesday, November 13, around 5pm. We thank the Lord that the transition back to life here in Peru has been smooth. The thirty-two months that we lived in Peru on our first term have helped us adjust quickly to life and ministry here in the city of Puerto Maldonado. We thank the Lord for allowing us to reconnect with Peruvian friends and fellow foreign missionaries over the past few days. It has been enjoyable to share with one another what the Lord has been doing in, through, and around us.
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We thank the Lord for placing so many encouraging people in our path. Family and friends did so much to help us as we prepared to fly back down to Peru. May he richly bless you for your service to him by serving us.

Always amazing to see the work that parents do for their children!

​We thank the Lord for giving us a very encouraging stateside ministry over the past four and a half months. He allowed us to visit thirteen churches which are in Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. It was encouraging to reconnect with Christian brothers and sisters and hear about what the Lord is doing through the ministry of each church. What Kelly posted on Facebook a few days ago sums up really well our thoughts and prayers for each of you. "We are all packed and headed to the airport! We are grateful for all our supporting churches / individuals who are dear friends to us. Thank you for your friendships and encouragement these past four and a half months - keep serving God and being faithful where God has you! We are eager to, Lord willing, get back to Puerto Maldonado tomorrow afternoon! Hasta pronto amigos!!” We look forward to the opportunity to be with you again in the USA in God’s timing. Please know that you are always welcome to come visit us here in Peru! You are in our prayers also. Please let us know how we can specifically be praying for you, your family, and your church. ​

I really enjoyed preaching about the privilege that we all have to make disciples in our local context and at times around the globe. May we always have confidence in God’s powerful work to shine the spiritual light of Jesus Christ into the darkness of human hearts as we boldly proclaim the gospel to all. 

​Sickness, healing, and schedule changes: Some of you might have heard that at the end of September I had a fever that lasted for about eight days. During that week we had planned to spend several days with First Baptist Church of Bellefonte, Pennsylvania. God, however, had other plans for us. What at first seemed like a common virus turned out to be Lyme disease when several Lyme disease rashes appeared on my skin. I never saw a tick, but one must have found me at some point during our time in Pennsylvania. 

We thank the Lord for his healing and for the great medical attention he allowed me to receive in the USA. I took an antibiotic for three weeks and have been feeling fine since the fever left. Through the whole situation, God has opened up many doors to share the gospel and talk about his providential work. Our youngest daughter, Lilian, had also had a fever that lasted for two days just before I came down with the fever in September. No rashes showed up on her until about a week and a half ago when a Lyme disease rash appeared on her arm. She is now on antibiotics and seems to be fine as well. May God be glorified in us through every trial and blessing through which he leads us. We thank him for allowing Kelly and me to fly up to Pennsylvania in October to be with the church that we had missed during my sickness. 

We were looking forward to being back with our local church here in Puerto Maldonado this past Sunday, but Alexia and Lilian had a stomach virus. We thank the Lord that they are feeling much better now. We look forward to more opportunities to spend time with Christian friends this week. We really enjoyed being at the Bible study and prayer time last night. 

Below is the first-term-ministry-overview video that we showed in churches. 

Disciple Making 2019: We pray that God would use the time he gave us in the United States to raise up many more workers in his harvest fields. He has used many faithful Christians along the way to direct us to service for him here in Peru. 

We have enjoyed being able to participate in the evangelistic, disciple-making opportunities here with Iglesia Evangélica Bautista Vida Nueva. The boys and girls at the youth and soccer clubs are just as silly as ever, but they listen as JR Dudeck, Daniel Nuñez, and I preach the gospel to them. We pray that God will cause the seed, that has been planted and watered in many lives, to grow and produce fruit for his glory. 

It has also been very encouraging to reconnect with our neighbors. Some of them are Christians, and we have enjoyed great times of Christian fellowship with them. Others are not Christians and God has already opened up some doors to tell them again of salvation by repentant faith in Jesus Christ alone. The verses below give us great confidence to continue planting and watering the seed of the gospel while trusting in God’s power to give the growth.

1 Corinthians 3:5–7 (CSB)
5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? They are servants through whom you believed, and each has the role the Lord has given. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7 So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. 

December Gospel Outreach: We thank the Lord for the growth that is taking place in the members of Iglesia Evangélica Bautista Vida Nueva and their desire to proclaim the gospel and make disciples of Jesus Christ around them. There is a need to take the gospel and sound Bible teaching further into the jungle. We are glad for the opportunities that God is opening for the church to be a part of that work. The church is planning to take a couple special trips in December to a nearby neighborhood where we have a weekly children’s Bible club and a village along one of the nearby rivers. I look forward to sharing with you what God does through those trips. Please pray that the people of the church would be able to free up their schedules to be able to participate. We look forward to seeing what Christ will do to build his church in these needy areas. We pray that these trips would build a bridge to further gospel outreach in those places. ​

Thank you again for your consistent prayers and financial gifts. We are glad to have you “holding the ropes” for us as we are down here in Peru. May the Lord always find us faithfully serving him. By his grace let’s finish this year with our eyes on Jesus. 

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Jay 
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Jay & Kelly Cross
    Alexia, Isabel, Esther, & Lilian