I want to start this letter off by praising the Lord! God has been so good to Cassandra and me. Over the last few weeks, we have received an outpouring of prayers, love, and encouragement from so many people. Many have heard about my medical emergency, which the doctors have officially ruled a “spontaneous subdural hematoma.” Praise the Lord, I am now in recovery. I’ll mention more later on in the letter.

Since our last letter, we have seen the Lord do some amazing things in Peru! In the month of August, our church experienced growth in many ways. First, through the efforts of faithful witnessing for Christ, our church has seen many people make a profession of faith and visitors come to church. In the first week of August, a young man named Fabian, who had received a tract under his front door, came to church. During the invitation, he raised his hand for salvation. One of the leaders in our church, Bro. Jhonatan, was able to lead him to the Lord. I started discipleship with him that week, and the following Sunday he was baptized.

Next, we were able to take our teens to a wonderful Youth Conference hosted by fellow missionary, Bro. Victor Velasquez. Many of our teens made decisions to serve the Lord with their lives. One of our young men had recently been saved and made the decision to follow the Lord in baptism. I was grateful to baptize him that Sunday!

The following Friday, Cassandra had a wonderful Ladies’ Meeting at our church. The theme was “Embracing Your Season,” and the ladies enjoyed making charcuterie boards filled with delicious snacks—they even got me to bake brownies.

That Sunday, we had a big day for Children’s Day in Peru. We had a bus-route competition to see who could bring the most people. One bus captain won with a high day of 45 people. We ended up having about 80 kids and over 160 in church, and 20 people made a profession of faith that day.

The next day, I took what was supposed to be a brief trip back to the States to help my grandparents move out of their house and to be in a friend’s wedding. I had been having
some headaches that had gradually gotten worse over time. I was scheduled to fly back to Peru on Wednesday; however, that morning, the headache was worse than before. Cassandra convinced me to go to the doctor, and a CT scan revealed bleeding on the brain. After emergency surgery, they were able to remove the hematoma, and since then, I’ve been in the process of recovery. Cassandra and my mom made it to the hospital as soon as they could, flying directly back from Peru. The full process of recovery should take several more weeks, but there is a good chance I’ll be able to go back to Peru during that time. Part of the process is working to find the cause so that we can best know how to go forward. Please pray for an upcoming CT scan, which should reveal if there is more bleeding on the brain.

Once again, I am so thankful for everyone who has prayed and been an encouragement to us during this time. I have received so many cards, visits, texts, and calls. I truly am blessed. Things continue to move forward in Peru in our absence. We are grateful to have good men preaching in our church, as well as the institute classes and Christian school classes that we would normally teach. People are being saved, and the Lord continues to do great things. God is good!

Sincerely,

Zach and Cassandra Foust