… Yet, this alone is the true life of a Christian-its source, its sustenance, its fashion, its end, all gathered up in one word-Christ Jesus. Lord, accept me; I here present myself, praying to live only in thee and to thee. Let me be as the bullock which stands between the plough and the altar, to work or to be sacrificed; and let my motto be, “Ready for either.”Morning and Evening, January 7th, Charles H. Spurgeon

Dear Friends, Family, and Loved Ones,

Through this passage of Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon the Lord spoke to me at the beginning of the fast we started as a church in California to begin the new year right before I moved Peru. As I was denying my flesh its natural desires and about to leave my family and comforts for another country, the Lord spoke so clearly and outlined how my mentality should be moving away from home. This kind of preparation and communion with the Lord sums up my last few weeks leading up to the move. The Lord has spoken so clearly and so much, I feel like the most blessed man on the planet. Not just that, but all the prayers, support, and love I have received makes me hardly able to contain my joy and shock. I truly believe I am one of the most privileged missionaries ever to be sent out.

Of the many other confirmations, I want to share a specific one that was so clear and simple. Last year I shared how I received a prophetic word from a pastor who prayed for me during the week of fasting we had. I never met the man, but he described a vision of me being a sprinkler of water to children in a front yard, giving them the water of the Word. Additionally, that God was going to fulfill my desire for children. This was a clear answer to my prayers of whether I should pursue the calling to rescuing and caring for children in trafficking. This month, during the week of prayer and fasting, another man prayed for me (who I also did not know). After asking me if I knew God’s calling for my life, he said, “do not put it off, do it now, by continuing in that calling.” While having the same kind of urgency as proverbs 6:4. This confirmation to not delay helped fix my gaze concretely on the place and work God has called me to.

Below are some last moments I shared before moving. The first is of my Sending Sunday at CC Saving Grace, my last Sunday before moving to Peru, when the children prayed for me. The other photo was a going away party with the Spanish Ministry, which was a huge blessing.

Living in Peru!

To be fair, I already lived in Trujillo for most of 2023, while I studied at Calvary Bible Institute. But moving full time to serve in ministry is a very different experience! I left Southern California January 18th with a one-way ticket to Peru. I got greeted with news that the church would also be doing a week-long fast to seek the Lord! If I didn’t just finish the one in California, I probably would have laughed. Either way, I decided to follow the fast as best I could while we were doing construction work on Pastor Cory’s house. It was difficult, but at the end I felt a great inner strength and anointed for the new life and ministry in Peru. It was only towards the end of that fast that I realized it was actually an answer to prayer. The last few months leading up to my move to Peru I asked the Lord to provide time before going into full-time ministry that I could use for my own “wilderness experience”, like Jesus before He started ministry. Definitely not to be tempted by the devil, but to have time alone with the Lord to be strengthened and filled with the Holy Spirit. Well, somehow in all the busyness of moving, God had made the way for it, even if it wasn’t completely alone, I got to seek the Lord and deny my flesh with my home fellowship in California and new fellowship in Peru.

A Beautiful Oasis

If you know anything about my new home city, Trujillo, Peru, you know it is not the best place to live. As the largest city in the North of Peru, it houses 1,000,000 people. The problem is, as a costal desert, it gets close to zero rain all year. It is a very hot, dry, and dusty, and has the worst UV rays on the planet besides some parts of Africa, with levels commonly being at 11. The developing tan city can sometimes make me feel depressed. But one morning as I was spending time in worship, the Lord gave me a picture in my mind of beautifully vibrant grass hills, with a strong tree next to a stream. It was like a mental picture of Psalm 1. That brought me a great wave of peace and joy. Then, as I looked over at the city, in my mind I saw the whole city green with trees and rolling hills. It is a mental picture I take with me everywhere I go. Because, although the city may still be a dry desert, the Lord is with me, and wherever I go I am a tree planted by still waters!

Later that day on my taxi ride, I made small talk with the driver. As I asked where he was from, he began for almost 5 minutes to describe how green hills, trees, and big rivers surround the city he used to live in Venezuela. It immediately reminded me of the picture I had in my mind that morning of Trujillo, and I could tell the Lord had brought me to this man for a reason. Afterwards I shared my testimony and the gospel with him. As I began to share how I had hated my sin, but didn’t have power over it, like Paul in Romans 7, he yelled out, “Yes! That is exactly my problem!”. I then got to share about the victory I found in Jesus Christ, and all the amazing promises of Romans 8. I get to have these opportunities to share the gospel with taxi drivers almost every other day, so please be praying for many of them to receive salvation!

Working Hard

As soon as I arrived to Peru, I began working with Calvary Trujillo and interning at the Bible School. I am also taking two classes leftover from when I first studied here. One of the first projects we started when I arrived was constructing walls for Pastor Cory’s first story on his home. His house is directly on the beach and the salt from the ocean goes straight through the bottom of the house, destroying the little room down there, as well as his car. It is the most corrosive place I have ever seen. So we built walls to help keep moisture out. We are also doing lots of construction projects around the Bible School as well. This is a big part of mission work and serving in full time ministry- whatever needs to get done, you just do it! And God has been blessing us the whole way.

Casa Calvary & Other Needs

In other news, we have been looking for a property for the children’s home. The non-profit has been legally created, and we have called it “Casa Calvary.” Though we are mostly in limbo as we look for a property, in the mean time, we have had other opportunities come up. One of them is a boys home which needs help. The orphanage, called “Ninos del Mundo”, was officially dissolved a few months ago. The problem is, the 6 teenage boys who live there have no where else to go, so they have been staying at the orphanage even though there it legally no longer exists. The food and lights are paid for by one man’s family business. Most of these boys will mostly be independent in 4 years, and our vision being really for trafficked children means we are looking for a temporary solution for them. I will be personally visiting and discipling them weekly as well as we seek out how we can take care of/provide a good place for these boys. I am expectant for the Lord to work mightily.

Calling All Partners!

It is my honor to connect you, my sisters and brothers of the American Church, to all God is doing on the mission field, and show you the fruit of your work through me! If you would like get more involved in this work, there are different ways you can partner with with me as I seek to fulfill my call to rescue and care for children in trafficking.

One way you can support is through joining my Signal group. This is where I send prayer requests and more frequent updates on my life in the mission field of Peru! You can join this group by responding to this email.

Another important way to partner is financially. If you feel lead to become a financial partner, you can give through the link found at the bottom of this news letter! It is by your generosity that I am provided for on the field and available to give my all in this new work.

Praise Reports

• The incredibly blessed sendoff I got leaving to Peru!
• A quick and (mostly) easy transition, and the quick improving of my Spanish
• All the opportunities to share the gospel to taxi drivers
• Being able to bless pastor Cory with a closed space under his home
• An incredible start to a new, very full, semester at CBI. 

Prayer Requests

• Grace, mercy, and peace as I begin to assist Cory with things related to the children home and discipling the teenage boys, interning at the CBI, and finishing my last class
• To learn much from a conference I will be attending this February 20-22 in Trujillo about equipping people to take care of children from traumatic backgrounds.
• Wisdom for how we can help the teenage boys from Ninos del Mundo.
• The perfect property for the children’s home, and all the different resources that we will need