It’s been a very full, very exciting couple of months here, and we’re excited to be able to represent you all here in Peru! God has been doing good things here, and it’s fun just to be right where He would have us!
In the last letter, we were celebrating the anniversary of the church, and since then, things just keep right on rolling. We have had several families, who were first reached through that time, continue to attend, grow, and be discipled as God continues to work in their hearts. The theme this year has been “Growing,” taken from II Peter 3:18. It’s been fun to watch that theme come to life as our people reach out into their communities looking for new opportunities to reach others.
Just this past Wednesday while out soul winning, we met a couple who had gotten lost looking for the church. They had received a tract from someone else and were out that night trying to get to the church for the midweek service. We were able to take them with us right back to the church, and they should be there again on Sunday. The same thing happened a few weeks ago; a man had received a tract for the church and showed up at 7:00 on a Wednesday morning, not realizing that the Bible study was not until 7 p.m. I was able to lead him to the Lord right there, and he came back that night with his whole family.
In September, our church was privileged to be the host site for Team Peru’s Pastors’ Conference. Watching 70-80 of our people jump in to help, be involved in cleaning, cooking, singing in the choir, ushering, working in the nursery, and everything in between was a huge blessing. Almost 500 delegates from all over the country were able to come and be challenged from God’s Word under preaching from Pastor Andres Gomez, Jonathan Ashcraft, Luis Martinez, Noe Montelongo, and others.
From there, Heather and I had the opportunity to go to the northern part of the country to our friends John and Maryuri Biazzo. There, we were blessed to spend time with their family, as well as Pastor Mike and Vicky Mutchler from Grand View Baptist Church in Oregon. Heather had the privilege to speak at a Ladies’ Conference there with Mrs. Mutchler, with over 200 ladies in attendance. Not to be outdone, we drove up to a little mountain town called Pacaipampa, where we had a meeting with the churches of the area and were blessed to preach to and teach over 700 people.
Pray for the believers here in our church. We are seeing God work in incredible ways, and much of that is due to the prayers of so many there in the States. We have had 15-20 baptisms in the last month, each one with its own amazing story. From the Argentinian young man who had been saved but in his first week here was convicted about following in baptism, to the older man who has attended for years but finally understood, to the new couple who practically came running down the aisle this last week to follow Christ in baptism, every story is special in its own way.
That being said, we were extremely blessed by one couple in particular, Alexander and Maria Rosa. They help us every week with the teenagers, they teach a children’s Sunday school class, he’s a deacon, and they both sing in the choir; they are as active as we could hope for. They recently opened up to us about their doubts about their salvation. While they were both saved, they were worried about eventually losing their salvation. He was raised in a Pentecostal church, and she was raised Catholic; both had been struggling with their doubts. One night, they came over to our house, and we talked for hours, explaining exactly what the Bible says. When we finally wound things down at almost 1:00 in the morning, we weren’t sure where they stood. That Sunday, he came up to me and asked me if I would baptize him. He told me that before the service that night, they had bowed their heads and gotten the assurance of their salvation and wanted to follow Him in baptism. I wasn’t sure whether to laugh, cry, or shout; but as happy as could be, I baptized them both.
Please pray for us, as we are preparing to host a Youth Conference at the end of this month. We are expecting teens from all over Lima, as well as from other cities here in Peru. Pray that God works in the hearts of the teenagers!
Thank you for the opportunity to represent you here in Lima.
Your servants and His,
Josh and Heather Hedderman
