His Word Will Not Return Void!
His Word Will Not Return Void!
March 1, 2022
Hello from the beautiful and wet Andes Mountains of Peru! Our rainy season arrived a little later than usual but is making up for lost time. This last week has been w-e-t with temps in the 60’s here in Cajamarca. We have heard of several mountain roads that are closed due to mud and rockslides. The coast of Peru is enjoying a hot summer. And the jungle? Well, the jungle is the jungle. It is always hot and can rain at any time. But so much for the weather update. Let’s share what God is doing in Peru!
In January we took seventeen youth including several visitors over two hours back into the mountains for a day trip. It was a great day of fellowship, games, and of course, eating. God blessed the day and we had three saved!
Carla has begun a ladies healthy eating class in our Cajamarca church. They are having fun learning better ways to eat and trying new recipes. Peruvians eat rice and potatoes at many meals and there is a high rate of diabetes because of it. Carla hopes to help at least some turn that poor pattern around and have a healthier lifestyle for their families.
I was invited to teach a class in February to at least 54 pastors in a town about an 18-hour drive from where we live. The class was on the purity of God’s Word and the early manuscripts. This is a great way to share our Bible ministry with more pastors. We also provided Romans booklets for each pastor in attendance. After the class, we immediately began receiving requests for Bibles and Romans booklets in that area. We have now sent over 300 cases of Bibles to many pastors there to be used in their churches and other works where the Word of God is so desperately needed.
Carla and I were blessed to have two visitors recently. Ken and Worth have visited our ministry in Peru many times and love to be involved in the distribution of Bibles. They both accompanied me on the week-long trip to teach the pastors. Upon our return they also helped us deliver and ship out many cases of Bibles and Romans booklets to various pastors and missionaries.
Speaking of Bible & Romans booklet distribution, you’ll remember we announced the arrival of the container of Bibles in our last prayer letter. On Jan. 3, I sent an email to pastors and missionaries here in Peru of the availability of the Bibles. In just under 2 months, we have delivered or promised over 20,000 Bibles. That is over 85% of what we received! They have already been delivered to many churches in the mountains, coastal desert, and jungle areas of Perú. Carla and I recently traveled to the coast to coordinate a shipment of 2800 Bibles into the jungle capital. We have also sent a large shipment into Chile to three missionaries who will be distributing them there. As soon as we can get clearance, we will be delivering many Bibles to pastors in Bolivia who will receive them at the border of Peru and take them into the country. Covid and customs restrictions are causing some delays, but God is in control. Carla and I are leaving today on a trip into Ecuador to deliver Bibles and Romans booklets to three missionaries there. More on that in our next letter. Please pray for safety and no problems in the border crossing process.
National pastor Juan Carlos continues to work hard to build our coastal church back up. Church attendance began to return to normal as Covid restrictions lessened, then dropped again as we began to see a lack of commitment in the members and attendees. Pastor Juan Carlos is doing a good job of visiting and encouraging, but they are just not responding as they should. We know this is happening in many places, but it is sad to experience. That said, praise the Lord a baptism is planned for the coming weekend for two of the members. Please be in prayer for this work as we trust God for guidance and continue to reach that area. We continue to see a good number of visitors at our Cajamarca church and attendance has been good.
Praise be to God, including the youth outing we have seen a total of 9 receive Christ since our last letter!
We have posted new photo albums on our website (www.rich2peru.com) Please take a look! May God bless each of you for your heart for missions!
Don & Carla Rich
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