Specifically, our work is focused in two different ethnic groups:
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Yanesha ethnic group from the Central jungle of Peru. This group has been reached with the gospel. In the Yanesha area where we are working 12 churches have been formed. There are more than 10 new villages or communities that haven’t heard the gospel yet and they are the focus of the missionaries and the Yanesha Bible Church. My part with the support of my church, Centre of Christian Life in Huaycan, and Segadores is that I give Bible training two times a year to the pastors and leaders of the churches that have been formed. In 2019 and 2020 we will be studying Romans. These training sessions will be in a community centre and accessible to everyone in the communities.
Also each year I am involved in training for married couples and young people teaching them to be involved in missions. These conferences for married couples move around each year in different communities and are a spiritual feast where all the churches and all ages meet together. We always go with a group of around 12 people for the work with children, young people and the married couples. We have seen very slow results and the Yanesha leaders are going out to preach in the communities that don’t have churches. We are seeing in them spiritual maturity and a good knowledge of the Word.
Urban Quechua ethnic group. The other group is a generation whose parents migrated from the rural mountain areas to the city. They are Quechua people, with a different language and culture. The children, the current generation, were born in the city (Lima) but they have grown up in the Quechua culture at home although at school and at work they have immersed into the mixed culture.
The Quechua dress, music, food and language is different from the mixed culture of Lima. This affects the church. For example, if we want to reach the older people and have them come along to services, we have to incorporate traditional Quechua mountain music. The church is currently focusing on reaching young people for the Lord. We have adapted the program to cater for them. We run camps for the young people and Sunday school for children. Thanks to God, we are seeing results in the numerical growth of the church. There is a strong interest in studying the Bible which is encouraging and motivating me constantly in the missionary work. My desire is that the Lord would call some of these people to His mission.
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What the Lord has done in our ministry over the past few months:
a) Bible training with the Yanesha ethnic group in May. During the third week of May they got the native community in San Francisco (Peru) together - 20 Yanesha leaders and pastors. I led a study together with them from the book of Romans. Using the inductive method we moved through chapters 1-3.
b) Bible study in the book of Luke. Each Thursday, with a group of people, February to July, in our church in Lima. We have made time available to make it possible for nearly all of the church to take part in the Bible studies, from 8pm – 10pm on Thursdays. 22 people took part and we studied the Gospel of Luke using the inductive method. We began the sessions by anwering the questions people had and then after the class had finished we held an open discussion for those that wanted to debate and ask any other questions on their minds. The studies will finish on 25 July as the month of August is the holiday season.
c) Bible study on Sunday mornings from February to July in our church in Lima. There are a group of students who meet on Sunday mornings from 9am to 10.30am at the church to study Luke’s Gospel. 20 students are currently meeting. We also share a small breakfast together. This study will also finish during the month of August for the school holidays.
d) Bible conference in Huancayo (Andes Mountains) during the month of July. Another church of the same denomination as ours, Christian Life Centre, invited us to speak at their conference and to teach the Bible for their third anniversary. It is a small church, newly formed. There were about 50 believers attending the conference. We studied the subject “First things first”, the emphasis was on the fact that God is first, so then, we should honour Him with our time, money and our various assets. It was a precious time that God gave to me.
e) Prayer meeting each Tuesday evening. I take part in the Tuesday night prayer meetings. We form small groups after a time of worship and reflection on the Word of God.
f) Participation in the missions prayer meeting. On Thursday afternoons the Segadores Missionary Association holds a prayer meeting for Peruvian missions and world-wide missions. The meeting is held in the Segadores office.
Lives are being impacted and changed! The couple’s names are Vigner and Viviana. They work for the state, in a department (region) of Peru about 20 hours’ travel by land from Lima. The Lord brought them to Lima at the end of last year. They started attending our church and we encouraged them to come along to the Bible studies and prayer meetings. God is transforming their lives; the couple’s marriage is strengthening. The children are attending the Sunday school and they also attend the youth services at our church. You can see a real love for the Word of God, which is producing changes in their lives.
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It is encouraging to have the Word of God in our hands and be able to read it, by God’s grace I was able to read right through the entire Bible by the end of 2018. In January this year I started to read again, starting at Genesis, and I’m currently at Deuteronomy. Dios is reminding me of His promises, which strengthens my soul.
As far as our health goes, my wife is recuperating from the operation she had to remove a tumor in her stomach. We are trying to control her diabetes although sometimes her glucose goes up and this causes nausea that causes tiredness, a feeling of unwellness and it affects other organs, like her eyes and kidneys.
In July, God enabled me to visit my parents. My father is 96 years old and my mother is 85 years old and they require major attention. At the moment one of my sisters is looking after them. My brothers and sisters are praying that we might be able to take our turns looking after them. We are sure that in the future this will limit our opportunities to be involved in the activities of our ministry, to look after our parents.
1) For my wife’s health, that God would be pleased to heal her of her diabetes.
2) The God would give us a lot of wisdom when we are counselling married couples.
3) I need a new laptop because the one I have is slowly dying, it has become too slow.