At the beginning of July, the members of our Surco church had the opportunity to help Pastor Jose Vallejo with the opening of a new church. Nine of us walked the neighborhood on Saturday and invited people to the first service. We had a good response, and several people trusted Christ. On Sunday, there were 20 people in attendance at the first service of Iglesia Bautista Nueva Vida en Cristo.
On July 21, a week before Peruvian Independence Day, we celebrated a national tradition called Costa, Sierra, y Selva, which means “Coast, Mountain, and Jungle.” It is a day where people from all the different regions of Peru get together to celebrate the diversity of Peru and to share different types of food. We had 16 visitors and a lot of different foods to try. Eliana (17), her sister (19), and her cousin (9) came for the first time. I had given a tract to Eliana’s dad, who is a taxi driver, during our Sunday afternoon soul-winning time while he was waiting at a red light. When he got home that night, he immediately looked up the church website and told his family about it. They had been looking for a good church to attend after arriving from Venezuela but had not yet found one. Since then, Eliana has brought close to 10 people to church, and many of them have trusted Christ.
Our friends from San Antonio, Donny and Giovanna Lacey, visited with us while they were here to attend a conference in Trujillo. Bro. Donny does chalk evangelism, and Giovanna interprets for him (she is from Peru). They were a blessing to our people in both Surco and San Gabriel as they presented Biblical truths using chalk drawings. We really enjoyed their visit. He left me a large amount of chalk-drawing supplies so that I can train people here to do the same.
We have a great group of senior citizens we visit every week in three different nursing homes. One of these nursing homes is visited by our ladies. Irene has been teaching on the life of Jesus Christ. After teaching about the Crucifixion, Don Lucho couldn’t stop crying about the fact that Jesus had suffered so much. With tears in his eyes, he realized for the first time the sacrifice that Jesus had made for him. It was a very precious moment as this 87-year-old man trusted in Christ as his Saviour. Don Roberto (age 85), from another nursing home, also trusted Christ.
One of our faithful team employees, Jhonatan Alfaro, got married. We were excited to be able to be a part of his and Cruz’s wedding. I was in charge of the pictures and video, and Irene was in charge of the flowers and decorating. It was a beautiful ceremony, and everyone had a great time.
We are finalizing our preparations for our upcoming Pastors’ School, September 4-7. We have 70 pastors signed up from the jungle regions of Peru and many more from other regions. Much work has gone into this conference, and we are excited to see what God does with it.
In His service,
Chris and Irene Williams
