We’re excited to bring you this update of things going on in Peru! Since the beginning of June, Cassandra and I have taken four trips across Peru—three into the Amazon and one with Team Peru into the mountains for a Pastors’ Training Conference. Back here in Lima, we have had several big days at our church, a Ladies’ Conference, multiple missions trips, and the end of another semester of our Bible institute. Let’s start at the beginning!
June 3-10, we were so blessed to have friends from Providence Baptist Church in Riverview, Florida, come visit us. We traveled by plane to Iquitos, Peru, where we helped our pastor friend, Bro. Romario Bustamante, with several exciting outreach programs. We took a boat to reach new villages down the river, where we presented the Gospel and the water-purification systems. We were then able to host an outreach event that we called a “Family Conference” on two of his bus routes two nights in a row. We rented a local school and used the open soccer court as our main auditorium. We spent hours canvassing the local area and inviting everyone to come. Both nights were amazing, but on one of the nights, we had over 500 in attendance and saw over 100 people make a profession of faith. God really did a great work. On the last night, it rained so hard that our venue flooded. We prayed, and God led us to a lady who lived across the street who opened up her house for us to use. This led us to another neighbor lady who offered the same. Soon a storefront was available as well, and the whole block was divided into classrooms and auditoriums, where we preached the Gospel and once again saw over 100 people make a profession of faith in Christ. Back in Lima, we had a big outreach event on Saturday at our church, where we went to one of our bus routes and hosted an event there. This time, 47 people called upon Christ for salvation.
After the visiting group left, we had a big day at church the following Sunday for Father’s Day. We had many visitors in the morning service, and in the afternoon, we rented out a soccer court for the men to have a tournament. Kreg Carpenter, a good friend of mine, was our guest speaker, and we grilled pork chops for everyone at church. That week, I returned to the jungle to help Pastor Romario reach new villages. We were able to travel to two new villages down the Itaya River, where we presented the water-purification systems and preached the Gospel. In one village, 24 people made a profession of faith, and we were able to establish a return date for a church service in their village.
The following weekend was the Ladies’ Conference hosted by Team Peru. My mom, Cassandra, and other ladies from the team worked hard to put it on. Several men from our church helped cook the meals so the ladies could enjoy the conference. Two days later, from July 2-9, we had another exciting missions trip with Roanoke Baptist Church from Roanoke, Indiana. We traveled to the jungle, where we reached new villages, hosted great outreach services, and saw many folks saved. On Saturday, the group helped tremendously with an event at our church in an area called “Pedregales” where we have a bus route; it is way up in the mountains. That day we saw 45 people make a profession of faith, and several families have come to church in following weeks.
The next Monday was our last night of classes at our Bible institute for this semester. There are close to 50 students training to serve the Lord, and we have classes every Monday evening from 6:00 to about 10:30. Cassandra and I both have the honor of teaching. It’s exciting to be a part of training future servants of Christ.
The next morning, we flew with all of Team Peru to the mountain area of Piura, where we took a 4-hour ride over the Andes Mountains to Las Vegas, Peru. We hosted a Pastors’ Training Conference there for the next 3 days and taught more than 10 different pastors, as well as many local church members and leaders. Many were saved throughout the week, and 6 folks were baptized on the last night. I had the pleasure of baptizing one convert with the beautiful mountain view in the background.
That Sunday back in Lima was the final day of our attendance program at our church here in San Gabriel! The program consisted of 6 weeks of big days, starting with Father’s Day. On this final Sunday, we celebrated the independence of Peru with food from different regions. The church divided into teams and had friendly competition for attendance, witnessing, and even food and decorations on Sunday. Praise the Lord for 29 visitors and many salvations! It also marks a year that I have had the privilege of pastoring the church here. Praise the Lord for these blessings!
Thank you all for continuing to pray and be involved in the work here! We are so blessed. We look forward to updating you all again soon!
God bless you all,
Zach and Cassandra Foust
-
- It was a joy to share the Gospel in Iquitos, Peru.
-
- I enjoyed working with the pastors in Las Vegas, Peru.
-
- We were blessed to have Leah and Anna Deneau visiting with us for a few weeks.
-
- Cassandra and I always enjoy singing together in church.
-
- We had a great day celebrating the independence of Peru.