Another Peru mission team update and prayer requests

This is an update and prayer request from Pastor Carlos Baca (Prince Avenue Hispanic Baptist Mission) who, along with Tim Mitchell, traveled to the home town (Trujillo) of one of our Mision Bautista en Peru members to spend time sharing the gospel with his family. It was a ten hour overnight bus ride...each way. We rejoice with the continued ministry of our Peru mission team and ask for your prayers:

"We just returned from Trujillo and visiting the family of Evert [the young man who is a member of Mision Bautista en Peru]. We had a nice lunch with his father, wife, his oldest daughter and his sister and brother-in-law. We had a nice time of sharing and praying with Evert’s cousin Marlene. As far as Evert knows she is the only other Christian in the family.

We went on 2 trips with Evert around the city. We saw the Huaca which is very close by and the Plaza de Armas of Trujillo. That evening as we were preparing to get ready for the sharing time with the whole family, Alfredo (Evert’s father) received Christ. Later that night we had a group of about 30 family members that all live very close together attend. Seven more of them prayed to received Christ.

Evert’s wife and oldest daughter did not. We encouraged him [Evert] to continue praying for them.

Sunday we have the first service in the new building. [An editorial comment - Mision Bautista en Peru originally began meeting in a restaurant, but were asked to leave. They gathered in a home for a while, but outgrew it and were meeting in a local park. God provided the top floor of a five story building located at a major intersection in a major part of town this past week. Sunday - 3/1 - will be the first meeting in the new location!]

Monday I, and possibly Tim, are going to meet Percy [another brother in Mision Buatista en Peru] midway to his house and go with him to spend the afternoon and share the Gospel in his home with his friends.

Please pray for the new believers and the upcoming opportunities to share."

As you can see from this update, God is doing a mighty work in Peru and we ask for your continued prayers. I will give a full update on the blog next week about the time Brother Joe Campbell and I spent in Peru with Pastor Baca and Brother Tim. We returned this past Wednesday. To God be the glory, great things He is doing in Peru!!

Peru mission team update

We´ve not had Internet access until today. So our opportunity to share with you the praises and prayer requests have been limited. However, we know you are praying and God has been answering.

We arrived in Lima around 1AM on Monday and were met at the airport by Tim and Joy Mitchell, our International Mission Board missionaries ministering to the Japanese people in Lima. They helped Brother Joe Campbell and I get checked into the hotel, while Pastor Baca went to stay with his mother. It was great to see them and spend time with them Monday hearing about their growing minsitry in Lima. We also met with the leaders and some of the brothers for our church plant in Lima. It was a wonderful time of discipleship and prayer.

On Tuesday morning, Tim, Joe, Pastor Carlos Baca (Prince Avenue Hispanic Baptist Mission), and I flew from Lima to Cuzco. One of our team members sat next to a native Peruvian now living in New York. He was able to share the gospel with the man and lead him to saving faith in Jesus Christ. Praise the God of the harvest who can bring a new soul into the kingdom at 30,000!

Upon arrival in Cuzco, the first challenge we had to overcome was adjusting to the altitude. When we got off the plane and walked to the terminal, we immediately felt the affects of being at 11,000 feet. After huffing and puffing our way outside, we met the leader of World Vision, the organization with which we are partnering here in the Andes. About two hours later, we arrived at a church where we met and spoke with the leaders, and then ate a cob of corn - a native Quechua meal - that had kernals the size of the end of your thumb. They were huge!

We held a large outdoor evangelistic meeting that night in a soccer stadium. This village stadium is a soccer field surrounded by a fence. The lighting we had was a streetlight and two incandescent light bulbs rigged up for the occasion. But the Light of Christ shown in that place and people were birthed into the kingdom.

The days have been full of going into the mountains to share the gospel with the Quechua people, and holding evangelistic meetings at night. In the plaza of one town, in front of the mayors office, we held an outdoor meeting where once again God drew men, women, and children to Himself.

Our mountain forays are at 13,000 feet. While we are gradually adjusting, it is still a challenge. Please pray that we will not suffer any ill effects from the altitude. So far, none of us have experienced any altitude sickness. We know this is God´s grace, and an answer to prayer.

We will continue to have meetings and training sessions with the people thru Sunday. Please continue to pray for God to move among His people here in the Andes. Our window of opportunity for this trip is closing, and we want to be certain to take advantage of every opportunity God gives us to share the gospel with others.

By the way, one of our translators prayed to receive Christ this morning. That is a story for another post.

God bless you all and thanks again for your continued prayers.

Peru mission team heading to west slope of Andes

On Sunday, our team will be heading to the Urubamba Valley on the western slopes of the Andes in southern Peru. We will be working in an area where we have never worked, with people we have never met, staying in places we have never stayed, and traveling roads we have never traveled. But it is a joy to be going because God has led us there!

A young man, who is part of our new church plant in Lima, is from a village in Urubamba. While there is a faith based humanitarian aid organization operating in the area, they are not engaged in evangelism, discipleship, or church planting. He asked that we consider sending a team to share the gospel, and encourage and train the believers to evangelize.

Sensing God's leading, that is exactly what we are going to do. Not only will we be training church leaders, but we will be speaking in large evangelistic gatherings in the area.

We ask that you join with us in praying for God's will to be done and please "pray also for [us], that the message may be given to [us] when [we] open our mouths to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel." (Eph 6:19 HCSB)

Subscribe to our RSS feed to receive the blog updates we will post from the field.