March 6, 2010

Bibles, Baptism and 80 Souls Re-Birthed!

      In January we took our eleven day missions trip with nine of the youth from our Peruvian church.  We were able to see national pastors and missionaries encouraged.  More than that, God allowed us to see at least FIFTY FIVE make decisions for Christ!  What a blessing to see the spiritual growth in our young people.  They sang, gave testimonies, performed dramas, passed out thousands of tracts, assisted in SS classes and most importantly won souls! While preparing for the trip I taught our youth about soul-winning.  I asked them how many had ever personally won a soul for Christ.  None could raise their hand.  When we returned I asked the same question and ‘most’ could raise their hand.  What can I say?  Our God IS Real!  After returning from the trip we had a special service for those involved.  We gave a Power Point presentation of the trip and presented them with certificates of participation.  We had the youth give testimonies of the trip then we had the parents give testimonies of the changes they saw in their children as a result of this trip.  Several parents were crying.  It was a beautiful night.

   We were recently contacted by Victory Baptist Press and asked if we would be the South American distributor of the Spanish Bible version that we use.  We gladly accepted the responsibility.  It is not always easy to have enough Bibles to share with those who need them.  It will be a big job to distribute the Bibles to missionaries and national pastors throughout South America but it will be well worth it.  Please pray for us as we take on this task and pray for VBP as they raise the support to print over 20,000 whole Bibles and ship them to us. 

   Last month, Carla led a man to the Lord when he came to the door looking for me. I was in a community meeting a couple of blocks away.  She was telling him when I would be home and the Lord prompted her to tell him about Jesus before he walked away, possibly into an eternity without Christ.

   Nora, a lady in our church, made us proud recently when she chose her testimony to her lost son over the chance of making a lot of money.  She was given an opportunity at a job that would have kept her out of church but paid her very well.  It was a temptation but with that temptation God gave her a way out… the Holy Spirit’s conviction.  She said that her son’s soul was more important.  We have been praying for him for years. Way to go Nora!  She is an important part of our church and God has used her to win several souls.  Please pray for her son Omar to receive Christ.

    On Valentine’s Day we presented a video in our church.  Afterwards, we had a Gospel presentation and four received Christ as their Savior! 

    The Carnaval (Mardi Gras) celebration is a time of drunken parties and parades.  Our church chose this time last month to go out into the countryside and have a church outing and baptism.  I baptized four including a boy named Jesús.  It was joked that I should change my name to Juan el Bautista (John the Baptist) now that I have baptized Jesús in the river.  I’ll hold off on that suggestion for now.

    We’ve just finished our VBS.  There were as many as eighty-five kids in attendance each day with at least twenty making decisions for Christ!

 Building Program Update – Not only were we able to pour the second floor roof last month but also today they will be completing the brick on the third floor!  We stand in need of around $8000 to place the final roof on this building so that we can begin the finishing process.  Please pray for God’s provision.  He is always faithful.  

 We have added photos to our website of all the happenings mentioned here so please stop by and take a look.  www.rich2peru.com.  May God bless each of you for your prayers, support and encouragement.

Serving Him for You in Peru,

                                  Don & Carla Rich