One of many exciting stories from the Bible as a missionary is found in Acts 16. Paul and Silas were forbidden twice of the Holy Ghost to preach the Word in places they thought they should. Although the Bible does not give us details as to why God allowed this, I find the blessings that came from obeying God’s will. People were saved and baptized, and then we see the great church of Philippi. I identify myself with them. Our desire was to start the next work in the Galapagos Islands, but only God knows why we couldn’t—we are just to obey! Now that we are in Loja, we have surely seen the Lord work in so many ways.
In our last prayer letter, we asked you to pray for the family of Pablo and Gladis. Well, we invited them to our home to “eat Mexican food”; you might imagine how that went! They loved it, and they brought her daughter Camila. We had a good time getting to know each other. While my wife took Camila aside to share the Gospel, I witnessed to both Pablo and Gladis. They both gladly trusted Christ as Lord and Saviour, as well as their daughter Camila. I am currently giving them discipleship classes in their workshop.
We also came across a very nice family; they own a small restaurant in a marketplace. We have eaten there several times, and we have become friends. We invited them to our home for a meal. After the meal, I witnessed to all of them, and they also got saved.
Where we currently live, there are approximately 34 apartments, so we wrote some nice letters to each one of our neighbors. In that letter we stated our desire to serve and to help in any capacity, letting them know we were missionaries. We stated that we came to start a church, and that in the meantime, we were going to have Bible studies at our home on Sunday nights, which they were all invited to attend. That next Sunday a couple visited us; Eddie and Antonia got saved that night! Praise God for God’s will, for the Bible, and for Acts 16!
Alberto Perez
Philippians 1:3-9
