Guidance, Provision, and Another Teammate
Hello friends and family! As the last letter mentioned, I led a mission trip with 16 others to Moyobamba which was supposed to be April 3-9. The rainy jungle weather did not show favor to us, as there were damaged roads and landslides on the route back to Trujillo. So we ended up staying 2 extra days! But God’s good hand was on us, and we have wonderful testimonies of what He did.
One of the several jungle roads that had no road access from the rains
God’s Provision
We had raised enough money for the 7 days to cover all our costs, however we did not have much left to cover the extra days. So I met together with some of the team and prayed. The following day, a man who owned a business downtown bought us lunch. We hadn’t met him before that day, but he had heard about us and the mission to plant a church in the city and wanted to bless us. He didn’t even knew that 17 hungry young adults were without much food that day! He also invited us to come visit his shop, and meet his family. We shared with him and his family about how the forgiveness and new life that Jesus offers. They were thankful and seemed very receptive. He asked us to pray for him as well.
Another provision!
When we arrived to the bus station April 10th to finally head back to Trujillo, the lady at the counter gave us 340 soles (a little under 100 dollars). She told us that the bus tickets went down in price (which is not normal), so the group was well fed for dinner that night and lunch the following day. There are other really cool provision stories too, those were just a few!
Other reports
One of our main objectives was to connect with locals that live in Moyobamba. It was a success! We had some worship nights with them, I shared a message about the characteristics of God according to the bible, and we ate some meals together. Several of them opened up about how they had been hurt by their previous churches and are interested in a church with good doctrine and a Pastor that genuinely loves the people. They are excited for the church plant of Calvary Moyobamba in September. We are starting a weekly zoom meeting soon to continue to pray for the church plant alongside them!
Pamela is the person second farthest to the right. Her desire is to be part of a church again. She will be one of several that will pray with some of us in weekly zoom meetings for the church plant in Moyobamba.
The first confirmed member of the team!
Yenry is a student from Calvary Bible Institute of Peru who will be graduating next semester, and is interested in helping me in Moyobamba. Pastor Cory and I considered him to be part of the team as well. We wanted him to make a decision based on God’s guidance, not on emotions, which he understood very well. The Lord spoke to him through several passages, such as Hosea 4:6, where to Lord says that His people are destroyed from a lack of knowledge. This passage refers to Israel. Yenry and I see very clearly that despite Moyobamba having 60 some churches, there is a lack of understanding of who truly God is and what the gospel is. A church that teaches the bible chapter by chapter, verse by verse, to give people the whole counsel of God like the Apostle Paul did can change that.
There are 2 students from CBI Peru that might come to the church plant as well. Please pray that the Lord can guide them into His plans and timing. It would be awesome to have their help!
San Rafael
Lastly, we went to a community about 2 hours from Moyobamba for two days. The goal was to help our Pastor friend Alfredo continue building a church. This church build is a big deal, one reason being that he wants to teach and train men from other communities that have the desire to share the God of the bible to their people. We bought a lot of concrete bags, but we were not able to labor because it rained for most of the time. But Alfredo and his team at least have some supplies and can continue to construct. Pastor Angel and I will be there May 1-3 (Lord willing) to teach the Inductive Bible Study and pastoral epistles to about 12 men. The Inductive Bible Study is a class that gives tools of how to study the bible better, such as the observation, interpretation, and application methods.
Juan (left) who lives in San Rafael invited his neighbors and some family members over so that they could hear Claudio (right) share the gospel. There was another man Elias (I didn’t get a picture of him) who was present and heard. He was cut to the heart and is hungry for more of the Word of God. He is now registered to the classes that we will teach the beginning of May.
A picture with Pastor Cory right after he encouraged and prayed for us.
Praise reports
- Praise God that our team was so unified the whole trip. I didn’t hear one complaint or grumble. And there were some teenagers in the group too! This might be the biggest miracle of all haha.
- Praise God that we connected with the locals and they are eager for being part of the church plant
- Praise God that the construction is underway for a church in San Rafael
- Praise God for His provision when we had very little.
Praise requests
- Prayer to finish well with the 5 months I have left in Trujillo
- Prayer for financial support with the upcoming church plant.
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