Life… Continued
Life… Continued
November 1, 2018
God keeps us busy here and sometimes there is not enough space to share all that is going on. Our last letter was one example. I wanted to share about our men’s ministry but ran out of space before I ran out of words. Our men’s Bible study is where we discuss topics that are important to the men, young or old, of our church. It is a good time to mentor the young future leaders who will one day be the pastors and leaders of the congregation. We have one or two young men who are praying about being in the ministry in some way. The last Friday in August, we held the men’s meeting in our home. We had a good group of 13 men to hear the Word and enjoy some great fellowship and good food prepared by Carla. They always like her cooking. The next month, we had the meeting in another member’s home. It is always a joy to share time encouraging the men of our church and visit in each other’s homes. We are looking forward to the next meeting this Friday night.
At the end of September, Carla hosted a monthly Women’s meeting in our home. There were at least fifteen in attendance. The ladies always enjoy their fellowship. Truth be known, they enjoy it so much that it has become a running joke among the men in our church. The ladies have meetings to plan meetings. Then they have a meeting to confirm the plans. Then they finally have the planned meeting. Once it is over, they meet to start the process all over again. It seems that there is always food involved. The leftovers are nice, if there are any. Those ladies can eat!
Speaking of ladies’ meetings, our ladies have started a special ten-week study called “Wisdom for Mothers” which is being well attended. Karin, one of the ladies in our church is doing a great job teaching it. They are already discussing future studies.
The first week of September there was a combined day of celebration for the anniversary of our city Los Baños del Inca and the Fiesta de Huanchaco, a religious festival. They also celebrate the sugar cane harvest during this time and the town is full of sugar cane vendors. Our church went to the streets and handed out a few thousand tracts to the many vendors, tourists, visitors, and locals.
On October 14th, we celebrated the two-year anniversary of our Guadalupe church on the coast. We had several visitors including several from a church in a city about a half hour away. On the Saturday before the services, we baptized a teenage young man who was recently saved in our church. He is getting involved in the church and has been bringing visitors. One of the visitors that he brought also accepted Christ. It is great to watch a young Christian grow.
This past week, Carla and I took our Cajamarca pastor and his wife to a seminary on the coast where we had been invited to their anniversary services. It was a night of music presented by different Baptist churches in their area. We have been looking for some good Christian talent to invite to our church for a special night of praise and worship.
The rainy season has started in our area, so everything is beginning to “green-up” around us. The rains will usually last until next April. We are going into what we call winter, although the temps don’t change much throughout the year.
We have seen at least four souls saved in our ministry since our last letter. God continues to bless, and we thank you for your part in His work in Peru. We have posted three more photo albums on our website, www.rich2peru.com. Take a look when you have a moment and see a little of what God has been up to.
Thank you for your heart for missions,
Don & Carla Rich
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