Zach and Karin Foust Sr. Prayer Letter: Team Peru

Greetings from the jungle city of Iquitos, near the Amazon River, where my wife and I are teaching a weeklong class on marriage in one of our extensions of IBI Instituto. It is a blessing to see what the Lord is doing here in the rainforest with Pastor Romario Bustamante and his church. This is his first year having the institute, and there are about 20 people taking classes, both with these weeklong courses and by way of Zoom on Monday evenings with the group in Lima. We appreciate your prayers for these friends.

Recently, we were trying to explain our schedule and ministries to a friend and realized that it might be a good idea to highlight a ministry each prayer letter so that those who pray for us have a better understanding of these ministries. This month, we are going to focus on Team Peru.

Team Peru was originally founded as a group of ten missionary families in Lima, Peru, with the intent of planting churches in Peru and eventually, all of South America. The team was sent by the First Baptist Church of Hammond, Indiana. Our mission board is Fundamental Baptist Missions International. The team members were sent for a five-year term, with the idea that eventually, the team would be primarily Peruvian. My wife and I and our three sons came with the team in May of 2012, after raising some support on deputation for about a year.

The team planted three independent churches, the first of which, IBI Chorrillos, is now pastored by a Peruvian pastor. The other two churches, IBI San Gabriel and IBI Surco, are pastored by my son and me, respectively. Over the years, the Lord has led the American missionaries to other ministries and areas of service, and some have graduated to Heaven. We are deeply honored and grateful to have served with so many wonderful Christian families and see the fruits of their labor in the Peruvian families that we work with on a weekly basis.

We began the Institute in 2018 to begin training our faithful Peruvian and Venezuelan people and those who were called to full-time service. This enabled us to fill the team roles with Peruvian nationals, who, while being trained in full-time service, can also develop their leadership skills. Now, we are the only American family left on the team from the original ten, with our son Zach and his wife Cassandra serving by our side. We are pleased to have four faithful Peruvian couples who work full-time for the team in different capacities, along with three single young ladies who are staff members as well.

Some have asked what is the role of Team Peru? Well, our mission is still the same. We look to help plant and support the growth of churches in Peru and in all of South America. For example, a pastor recently contacted us to say that with the help and influence of Team Peru, he had been able to start three new church plants and was ready to start a fourth. So, the planting and supporting of local churches is our focus, and we have different facets of our ministry to help us reach that goal.

Please pray with us about the following activities that we look to accomplish in order to reach Peru with the Gospel of Jesus Christ: (1) Our team is involved in staying in contact with national and missionary families in Peru; they receive an encouraging phone call, support if needed (by a visit or monetary support), and are prayed for by our team members. (2) Our team heads the Instituto Bautista Internacional. We hold classes in Lima each Monday evening, weeklong classes in Lima in the summer, weeklong classes in two extension locations in the jungle, and are looking to start a full-time summer program for people from around the country to come and learn for the entire summer months of January through March. Our Peruvian nationals travel to teach in the extension classes, teach on Mondays, run the chapel and music programs, and much more. (3) We try to encourage churches and pastors with our annual Pastors’ School, Youth Conference, camp, and our biannual Ladies’ Conference. These national conferences are held in Lima. (4) Team Peru travels several times a year to hold In the Field Training in local churches. These training sessions are like a mini–Pastors’ Schools and help encourage
the local church and pastor and provide training in the areas of soul winning, discipleship, walking with God, doctrine, and much more. We don’t claim to have the answers to all the problems, but we do try to be a Biblical encouragement to churches and pastors. (5) Our team members help us to print discipleship materials (Fundamentals of my Faith series), books, booklets, and tracts to distribute to the churches here in Peru.

There are many other responsibilities that our team fulfils, of course. Our team members are heavily involved in our local churches here in Lima with Bible studies, bus routes, assistant-pastor responsibilities, IBI School, etc. Please pray for Team Peru! And please pray for our full-time team members:

• Zachary and Karin Foust – I am the team leader and pastor of IBI Surco. Karin is the director of our Christian school.

• Zach and Cassandra Foust – Zach is the pastor of IBI San Gabriel. Zach and Cassandra have only been here for a year and a half but are already invaluable to us as leaders. Zach and Cassandra both teach in the institute, they travel with us and preach and teach, and they are doing a great job as pastor and wife. Cassandra also teaches in the Christian school, helps with Ladies’ Conferences and is invaluable in our music ministry.

• Valeria Alfaro – Valeria is my secretary. She heads up all of the registration for our conferences, travels and teaches, teaches in our institute, and is a faithful mentor to the teen girls in IBI San Gabriel. She also helps with printing books.

• Jonathan Alfaro – Jon is my assistant. He drives our team van and is responsible for all travel arrangements in and out of the country. He teaches in the institute and travels to teach extension classes. He and his wife Cruz are the youth pastor at IBI San Gabriel. They have one daughter, Isabel, and another child on the way.

• Rollin and Miriam Bardales – Rollin primarily works for IBI San Gabriel as assistant to the pastor, but he also teaches in the institute at home and in extension classes, teaches and preaches in conferences, visits pastors in the jungle, and has a bus route. He also oversees housing for conferences. Miriam maintains our office space and oversees the printing of discipleship materials. They have three daughters: Angeli, Keren, and Rachel.

• David Alfaro – David is our finance guy, which is a full-time job in and of itself; plus, he arranges boat and hotel reservations in the jungle and other areas of Peru, maintains our vehicles, and many other occupations. He and his wife Sylvana are the parents of Valeria and Jonathan and are very active in the leadership of IBI San Gabriel.

• Exodo and Yessica Buitrago – They are our Venezuelan team members who help us with teaching and preaching in conferences at home and around the country. They teach in the institute and the Christian school, and he is the assistant pastor in IBI Surco. They are currently on deputation to go to Colombia as missionaries. We are very excited about this and are very pleased to see this precious young couple serve the Lord. If you would like to support a missionary to Colombia, we recommend this family! They are great soul winners and people builders. Exodo and Yessica have two small sons: Josue and Mateo.

As you pray for Team Peru, we ask you to pray that we would have wisdom as we guide the team. Also, please pray for the finances of our team. As we take on new challenges, God always provides the means to accomplish His work. Please pray for our personal finances; we need to raise some additional personal support for our family. Please pray for the marriages and families of our team members; the Devil would love to destroy our lives! Please pray for the Holy Spirit power to win souls, help churches, encourage pastors, and see new churches started.

Thank you for your constant prayers and support!

His for souls,

Zach & Karin Foust