Our Pastors’ School was great! We had 134 pastors come from all over Peru and spend the week with us. We had a high attendance of over 400 people in the services. Pastors Andy Gomez, Johnathan Ashcraft, Luis Martinez, and Noe Montelongo were our guest speakers. Many of the pastors who attended were from the jungle regions of Peru. For many of them, it was their first time traveling out of the jungle. They were overwhelmed by the quantity and quality of the teaching and preaching and couldn’t wait to get back home to start putting what they learned into practice in their churches and towns.
During one of the invitations, Sister Rosa, who is about 80 years old, raised her hand for salvation. Irene approached her hesitantly because she is a long-time member of one of our churches. She had tears in her eyes and wanted to pray by herself. She later told Irene that she felt a fire in her heart and realized that she had never trusted Christ. That night she joyfully accepted the gift of salvation.
After Pastors’ School, we took our guest speakers on a trip to Iquitos, Peru, to visit some of the pastors who have been helping us to expand our influence in the jungle region. First, we visited one of the works of Pastor Aland Fachin in the town of Nueva Miraflores. Then we visited with Pastor Josue Canaquiri in Nauta. We traveled by van and boat to visit these works. While we made sure to see the city of Iquitos and experience some of the animals of the area, the highlight was seeing the churches that these pastors have built and experiencing their way of life in the jungle.
The next big thing that we were blessed to be a part of was a conference in Santa Rosa de Shamboyacu. Irene was asked to teach the ladies, so we joined Pastor Foust on this trip. This town is located between the mountain foothills on the east side of the Andes and the western edge of the rainforest. It is very remote and is accessible by only one road, which is a dirt (or mud) road through some steep hills. If it is raining, it is impassable. It rained every day we were there except the day we were scheduled to leave. We were able to get out and back to civilization on schedule, but it was not a guaranteed thing.
There were about 250 people in attendance, with 50 of them being ladies. Irene taught them about soul winning, which most of them had never heard about. The response was great, but unfortunately, we could not practice much since the town was very small. We are looking forward to hearing about their soul-winning experiences in their own towns when we see them the next time. Thank you for helping us as we work to train people all over Peru to serve God.
In His service,
Chris and Irene Williams
