The Dovers to Peru: September 20, 2010
We have had a good month! It has been good to settle into a normal routine and focus on some projects new and old after returning from our expedition.
We finally have an address of our own! As many of you know we have been using Brother Trigozo’s address in Huancayo to receive mail. This has caused difficulties for us and the Trigozos as the post office officials in Huancayo have been extremely unreasonable. We are grateful to the Trigozos for allowing us to use their address and putting up with the inconveniences involved in getting our mail to us. Thankfully, we have found a better alternative. We now have a post office box in the city of La Merced. La Merced is a large city an hour and half away from us. As it is closer to Lima, they often have products we cannot get out here. So, I will now be taking trips to La Merced once or twice a month to check our mail and buy some supplies. Some times they even have Dr. Pepper! (One of the tougher "trials" of living in a third world country is the uncivilized lack of Dr. Pepper!) …
More good news! I was blessed to be able to lead a lady in Shankivironi to the Lord earlier this month! I went down to the village to pay my electric bill and the lady was not in to be payed but her sister was there and after she told me her sister was out, she asked me if I was a Christian! Now, everyone in the village knows exactly who I am so, she was obviously seeking other answers. She was indeed seeking and after two hours of standing in the doorway answering her questions and explaining the Gospel, I got to hear her pray a wonderful prayer asking the Lord to forgive her and save her! Her name is Betty. She has been living with a man ever since getting pregnant at a very young age. This is very common out here. She had started out asking me for advice about how to change his drunken ways. I showed her that she couldn’t change him, she couldn’t even change herself, let alone another person. Only God has the power to change a life! She realized her greatest need was not for her boyfriend to change, but rather a change in her own life. The mans name is Yosemar. Please pray for him to be saved as well.
I have saved the best news for last. Sunday September 12th our daughter, Grace got saved! Grace is five and a half and she has been asking questions about Salvation and Heaven and Hell for months now. She has even cried several times saying she was afraid to die and go to hell. We have answered her questions and not rushed her, waiting until she really understood. Rory and I were both saved at a very young age. Rory was four and I had just turned five when we cried out to the Lord for Salvation. We both remember very clearly having a deep need to get saved NOW. Grace had been concerned about eternity for a while now, but she was still confused about the whole thing so Rory and I prayed for wisdom and waited to see that Grace really understood the idea of being saved and had an urgency about it. We knew she was close and it could be any day. September 12th was the day! On Sundays I leave at daybreak for San Cristobal, so I was gone already. Rory heard Grace crying in her room early that morning and went in to check on her. Rory talked with her a while and realized that this time was different from other times Grace had brought it up, she was finally clear on the idea that Jesus died to pay for her sins and that, though she deserved to go to Hell for those sins, Jesus would save her if she asked Him. Rory had the unspeakable joy of inviting our daughter to pray to receive Jesus as her Savior! When I came home that day Grace told me all about it and told me that Jesus had cleaned her heart and she wanted to give Jesus a present for saving her, because she was so happy! She asked me if she could be baptized. She had asked Rory that day why we baptize and Rory told her that people who have believed on Jesus are baptized to obey Jesus and show others that they have been saved. Grace said that she wanted to be baptized then to make Jesus happy and because she had been saved! The next Sunday we walked down to the creek that flows near our home and I had the high honor of baptizing my firstborn daughter! What makes this even more special is that September 12th was my little sister Sheila’s birthday. Since Sheila beat us all to heaven almost three years ago, September 12th has been a hard day for us. I miss her terribly, but never more than on that day. She LOVED her birthday and it was always such a special time that when it comes around now without her, "what would have been" is a huge hole ripped out of our hearts. So last week as I hugged Grace to tell her I was so happy for her, tears were flowing down my face in gratitude to the Lord, not just for saving my little girl, but for being so kind as to save her on Sheila’s birthday. He had to that on purpose! Grace was on the verge of getting saved for some time and He could have saved her any day, but He choose to do it September 12th! Praise the Lord for His tender mercies and loving-kindness!
Please continue to pray for us and for the ministry here. Things are going well, but as always I need much wisdom and direction from the Lord as to how He wants His ministries run. It is time to take things to the next level in San Cristobal and Pichanaki and I am not sure I even know what that means! But I see the Lord working and am exited about what He has planned out here.
I also want to ask you to pray for my Dad, Chris Dover. He has had some trouble with one of his eyes going fuzzy on him. It is caused by some bleeding in the retina. Please pray that his eye will be O.K.
God bless you all,
Jason, Rory, Grace, Jonathan, Joshua, and Eliana the Dovers
HTTP://HuronCalvaryBaptist.Org
