Report from Heirs of Grace

Recent Events

Pariachi Bible School 2020

In January 2020 we started to teach the children in Pariachi but sadly not many turned up. The majority had travelled with their parents to another province for the holidays. We returned in March ready to continue teaching them about God. We were all happy. We made our plans to travel, buying the teaching materials, the food for the fridge and ….. from there the great surprise. In the second week of March all meetings were prohibited and a prolonged quarantine was declared due to COVID-19.  

It was difficult not to be able to continue with the bible school classes and not communicate with the children as they don’t have cell phones. We lost contact with them which caused us a lot of pain. There was no other option except to accept the situation and continue to pray for them.

The time of quarantine continued to get prolonged and the situation got more complicated. We couldn’t go out to work and the chance of getting COVID-19 was very high. It is the same today- things haven’t changed at all. 

In this pandemic we are learning to ask, "have you got anything to eat?" We have been able to help out economically the teachers, Eufemia, Brenda and Iveth de la Cruz, because the situation became very difficult for them. 

One day Eufemia and her family didn’t have any money for food to eat so she started to pray to God without knowing what was happening. God put on our hearts to give them a gift which made her daughter cry. She said to us “we didn’t hope or dream that we would receive something” and afterwards they gave thanks to God.

We helped Otilia Huaman and Julia Saldivar (both widows) in the same way and they were very grateful to God for His faithfulness every day.

The cakes that we had purchased for the children for their birthdays and paid for were still at the bakery and we gifted them to the teachers to celebrate their birthdays during the quarantine. In the same way the food we had purchased already we distributed to the teachers who didn’t have money or work. 

Amalia Acatrinei and Esther Nagy were preparing some videos that tell the story of the bible in a chronological format. The teacher, Nery Salcedo, is sending the videos to some of the families so that they can see and learn the bible lessons but the goal is to start teaching via Zoom as the children are asking when will we be able to start teaching them about God again. We want to get some cell phones for the older children and then they would be able receive the teachings of the Word. 

Jungle Children

As the strict quarantine was happening in March we couldn’t travel to the jungle which made me very frustrated. It took me to many moments of anxiety but I give thanks to God that His Word and prayer strengthened me.  Also during this time I had the help of a professional.

The virtual Christian Education studies level 1 and level 2 motivated me to continue in the ministry with the children in the jungle. Víctor Soto opened the doors to his house to be able to have bible studies by telephone three times a week. 

At the beginning it was just his family but now it has continued to increase with more children, teenagers and adults. There we teach the Word of God; we give prizes to those who win in the courses. We use a speaker that we have sent to them which they connect to the phone and everyone can listen better.

We have taught them about the salvation plan and some people have received the Lord as their Saviour. We continue with the bible teaching, The Lamb, and they ask a lot of questions about the character of God. God is working in the lives of Victor Soto’s children. Now they are running the programme. After the teaching, Victor stays for more time to go over the teaching in his language. 

At the beginning of the quarantine Victor didn’t go to teach in Chontakiari and dedicated his time to repairing the roof of the church building. This happened as the authorities closed the frontier so that the community was protected from COVID. Seeing that they weren’t too affected the people in the community asked if they could continue with the meetings together and due to that Victor started to teach again in Chontakiari what he was learning by telephone. 

We have been able to give food to the older people and the orphans. Olga is a widow and doesn’t have any money. She gave thanks to God, “God has sent us food” because I don’t have anything to eat. The orphans were also looked after. They received food as due to the pandemic the mothers of some of them couldn’t now work on the farms.

We arrived in the jungle
The surprise was to find Victor Soto’s house (he opened it during the pandemic) full of children, young people and adults with the desire to listen to the Word of God. Now we could do it in person. The Holy Spirit was working in their lives and despite the hard trials they had experienced the group stayed strong. Between them there had been problems but they forgave and continued to go forward.

At the end of the year we distributed prizes to the children who had come diligently since the pandemic started. And at the end we had a dinner of rice with fried fish because this is the favourite food of the children. 

The arrival of Christmas
We visited three communities to teach about the coming of the Redeemer. The ex-chief helped us and went with us on all of the trips along with the group that met in Victor Soto’s home. The chief lent us his van to move around for one day and on this day it rained a lot but we still managed to visit two of the communities. 

For one of the communities there was too much rain and we needed to pray that the rain would calm down and then we could share the Word of God - it stopped raining! Praise the Lord who listens to our prayers! 

On 24th December we prepared the ‘chocolatada’ for the community and it made us happy when we saw the children and old people with their pans to receive the chocolate. At night, with the church, we held an open air meeting where we spoke about the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus. Children and adults came desiring to listen to the teachings.

By the grace of God the work has grown, the people have a desire to know more of God and they invite us into their homes (the mixed race people who live in the community are open to the góspel).

The pastor asked me continuously to keep teaching in the church and I have taken advantage of this opportunity to share the gospel. 

We opened our homes to work with the children and within no time they are filling our homes but this made me see the sad reality that we need more workers.  But thanks to the Lord He has always brought new workers.

Presently I am discipling Deysi, Victor’s daughter, who God has raised up during the pandemic and I have put her in charge of the children, and Leticia, who is working with the women. They are the pillars of the Sunday school. 

Missionary Children

At the beginning of 2020 the children went with their parents to a recreational place where they played and spent time together as they hadn’t seen each for quite some time. They had a lovely lunch together and enjoyed it a lot. We gave each of them money for their school needs and fees.  Due to the pandemic they have needed to study at home up till today and some had to buy desks on which to do their studies. Others had to buy a laptop as this had become a requirement. 

For their birthdays we sent money to their parents so they could buy presents that they liked and they enjoyed many presents. 

With the Dumitru children I had contact via phone continually, sometimes to listen to their joys and other times to listen to their frustrations but we had lovely times talking about everything and they asked questions about the Bible.

Noemí Nagy had surgery on a small tumor on her arm and we were able to help financially.

In October I travelled with three missionary families to Atalaya to be with them and I had some very valuable times with the children. On the way we celebrated 21 years of ministry with Heirs of Grace. We give thanks to God for this ministry that has been a blessing to the Segadores missionary children. 

From Atalaya I travelled to Pucallpa to visit the children of the Dumitru family, Ephram and Dominic. When Ephram saw me he gave me a hug and said “how much I have longed for this day”.  I was with them for more than a month and some days we walked in the jungle, sometime swe found snakes that came into the house.  It was interesting to spend time with them to understand what life is like for them. 

In December they came to Lima and this was a time that the children could all get together. It makes them very happy to see each other and to be able to talk about what has been happening throughout the year. They all suffered by not having friends around them. The confinement was very long for the children and a lot of time was spent alone to study via Zoom as they weren’t able to attend classes and be with their friends. This made them very tired and frustrated. At Christmas we made sure they received presents to make them feel happier, also that they felt loved and valued.  

Testimony of Missionary Children

Briana

Good afternoon brothers and sisters,
My name is Briana Elisabeta Tello Trascu. With these words I want to express my deep gratefulness because you are always supporting me and I don’t have need of anything by God’s grace. Thank you very much for your prayers and support towards me. Thank you very much! May God bless you greatly, may you know growth and may He protect you from evil.

Filip

Good afternoon brothers and sisters. How are you? My name is Filip Daniel Tello Trascu. In the first place I want to give thanks to God for looking after us. Thank you for your prayers for me, thank you for supporting me, I have never lacked anything thanks to God.  I am very grateful! 

God bless you and look after you.

Comments

Thank you very much Bright Hope World for being part of the work in Peru and being a blessing to so many children. May our God reward you in a great way according to His riches and His goodness.

Antonia Yalta
Director of Heirs of Grace