Bus Station Used to Transport a Soul! So Many Reasons to Celebrate!
September 1, 2024
When I had to return to our Calvario church to pastor, I told Carla that we wouldn’t have as much to write about in our prayer letters. Wrong! We didn’t have enough space last time to share all that God is doing!
In June we had a great youth Sunday. We invited Fredy Nuñez to preach for us. He had worked as a pastor with former missionary Shane Rice in our area years ago. God blessed the services with good messages and fellowship.
We started off great in July as 57-year-old Charo received Christ in her little store. This is the same small building where we started our church 19 yrs ago. I had the privilege of leading the landlord’s family to our Savior back then. Nora called me to say that she had been witnessing to her renter and wanted to know if I would come talk to her. Would I ?!?! We saw so many lives eternally changed in that little room when we started our church, and it continues to be a place where souls are saved! And what a blessing to know that our members are sharing Christ with others!
On July 15th, Carla and I celebrated 21 years as missionaries on the field in Peru. God has truly blessed our ministry, and we give him all the glory. As we get older, we are focused on Ps. 71:18, wanting to show God’s strength to this generation, and his power to everyone that is to come.
Pastor Juan Carlos of our Ancla church has been teaching a discipleship class at a bus station. The manager and a worker there attend our church. In July, 34-year-old Luis sat in on one of the classes and received Christ as his Savior! This is the bus station we use for shipping out many Bibles. God can use any place to get His Word out!
In August I received a call from a former member of our church whose family had moved away years ago. She said that her father now lived in our area and was going to visit our church. I greeted Carlos at the door when he arrived on Sunday morning. After the invitation, he told me how he wanted to get things right in his life. In the church office, 75-year-old Carlos received Christ in tears as he understood his need for a Savior.
The ladies of our Calvario church have been having prayer meetings and study groups over the past months. I joke with them that it seems they always have something going on. But I am so proud of this group who are growing in the knowledge of God’s Word and constantly praying for each other and our church family.
We had our Calvario church building re-painted recently. It was a big job but praise the Lord we have two painters in our church who were able to get it done, and it looks great. Afterwards, we had a church clean-up day to get ready for our church’s anniversary services.
In mid-August our first church, Calvario, celebrated its 19th anniversary with great attendance in the services. We presented a plaque on the entrance foyer wall in memory of Pastor José Zamora who passed away in May.
We have begun our pastor search for our Calvario church. We have two candidates so far. One of them is local. The other is from Arequipa, the first city I visited on a mission trip back in 2000. God used that trip to call Carla and I as missionaries to Peru. In mid-August Carla and I flew down to interview the candidate and speak to his pastor. It was great to stand again on the city square where I preached and won my first Peruvian soul to the Lord.
After the trip we set up the candidates to come two weeks apart to preach and allow the church to know them better. We planned two men’s meetings to give them both the opportunity to teach. They also taught Saturday youth meetings and preached both services on their respective Sunday. Please pray as we earnestly seek God’s will.
We are very busy preparing for our International Bible Conference in mid-September. We have missionaries and pastors coming from several countries. Please pray for this big event, that God will be glorified.
On August 18th, 15-year-old Jerico received Christ as his Savior and another man, Oscar, asked to join our church. God continues to work in these last days to draw souls to Himself.
* We have placed more photo albums on our website: rich2peru.com
Thank you for your prayers and support,
Don & Carla Rich
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