We have been very busy lately and are having a great time serving God in Lima! Here are a few of the things that have been keeping us busy.
• On April 8, we had Children’s Day. It was a perfect time to start walking “bus” routes in San Gabriel. We have different areas, with each having a route captain. Every Saturday, we visit our routes and invite children and their families to church. On Sunday, we go out, “pick them up,” and walk them to church. On the first day, we had almost 40 children, with most being first-time visitors.
• On April 14-15, we had our first missions conference in the San Gabriel church. Bro. Luis Martinez, missionary to Puerto Rico, was our guest speaker. He brought his family with him, and they were able to enjoy some time with us. We invited our other churches and had a great turnout. The church will be taking on three new missionaries this year.
• Mother’s Day is really big here in Peru. We had many visitors and had 9 ladies trust Christ. One of our visitors for the missions conference was a 17-year-old girl named Ibet. She was given one of the conference fliers and decided to come. Irene was able to witness to her, and she trusted Christ! She has cerebral palsy but doesn’t let that slow her down. Ibet brought 10 first-time visitors from her extended family on Mother’s Day. Her mom and grandmother both received Christ!
• Just before leaving for Peru, I found out that I had a new hernia. We did not have time to get it taken care of before leaving for Peru, so I decided to wait and get it done here. On May 2, I had surgery to repair it, and all went very well. Of the three surgeries I have had, this doctor was the best, even going so far as to spend an additional 1.5 hours in surgery, removing scar tissue from the other two surgeries. God gave us a great surgeon and a fast recovery.
• On May 21-23, the La Espada (“The Sword”) Conference was held at the deaf orphanage near us. We took a group from our church to the conference, and two of our young men, Jhonatan and Levi, surrendered their lives to serve God!
There is so much to do here in the Lord’s work! If you would be interested in coming down here and getting involved with the work, please let me know. I would be excited to help you plan an individual or group missions trip to Peru! Please contact me, and we will get things started. There are many opportunities available for service, especially if you speak Spanish! If you do not, don’t worry! All people are welcome, and we will find a way to get you involved. You can reach me by email at chris.williams@fbmi.com or by phone at (219) 226-3330.
Thank you so much for your prayer and financial support. We could not be doing this without your help! We are praying that God will bless all of you.
In His service,
Chris & Irene Williams