What a great beginning to 2025!
What a great beginning to 2025!
March 1, 2025
We want to begin this letter by giving God all the praise for what He has done in the first two months of this year.
As we wrote in our last letter, Missionaries Darren & Rachel Townsend arrived on New Years Eve with baby Julianne. They have been busy helping us in several aspects of our ministry as they get accustomed to living in Peru. Bro. Darren preached our first Wednesday night service for the year. They have already begun their carnet (green card) process, including a trip we made to the coast with them for an Interpol (International Police) visit.
On New Years Day our new assistant pastor Fredy Nuñez and his wife Merry arrived. They are settling in well and are a great help. Pastor Fredy has begun preaching a couple of services a week, including the youth meetings on Saturday. I continue to preach and teach the other services and will be gradually turning those over to him as we progress in his training.
On Jan. 11th I was privileged to perform the wedding of couple who had been living together for around 12 years and had 2 children! Yaqueline and Walter had come to me and said they wanted to make things right and have a good testimony for their kids. God continues to work and convict hearts!
Near miss! One Wednesday night, after the second hymn, one of our sound absorption panels at the front of the church fell from the ceiling. The couple that usually sit on the front row were strangely not at church. Pastor Fredy called them afterwards. They were absent because they thought it was Tuesday! Although it probably would not have struck them, it would have given them a good scare. We have since removed the other panels and are looking for better alternatives to the system.
In February we had a Creation Conference in our Calvario church. We passed out hundreds of invitations and Gospel tracts at a local university. We had three days of classes in the mornings and evenings. Our church was blessed and encouraged with the information they learned. One man and his disabled son came to each of the sessions. At the end, he stated that he had rededicated his life to Christ and wants to be a part of our church!
Back-to-back with the conference, we had 2 VBS’s. We don’t have VBS materials here, so the ladies of our church spent many hours creating their crafts, teaching materials, etc. They did a wonderful job, as you can see from the photos on our website. The first three-day VBS was at our Calvario church. It was well attended with around 70-80 kids. On the Sunday after, Sonia, a lady who brought kids to the VBS, attended our morning service. After the service Sonia RECIEVED CHRIST as her Savior! We also had other visitors who came as a result of this event. The second VBS was at our new work, Iglesia Bautista Ancla (Anchor Baptist). Several from Calvario came to help. It also was well attended with around 40 children each day. Several children came to church the following Sunday because of the VBS. Pastor Juan Carlos will be following up and visiting the families. Please pray for these efforts.
On February 24, a young lady in our church came with her dad to talk to me. She had some doubts and wanted to understand salvation and Biblical baptism. After some counseling, she RECEIVED CHRIST as her Savior in my office! We are scheduling her baptism in March. God continues to work!
BIBLE SHIPMENT UPDATE: In the past we wrote that we hoped to have the next container of Bibles and tracts by mid-January, but because of end-of-year scheduling problems for a container, that goal became unreachable. They finally arrived at the port in Lima this past Monday. We are hoping to have them here in Cajamarca within the next week or so. We have so many requests for Bibles and materials and will be starting distribution immediately.
As you see, our much-needed help arrived just in time. The rest of the year will also be very busy. Your prayers and support are much appreciated.
Please take a look at several NEW PHOTO ALBUMS ON our WEBSITE!!!
May God bless each of you for your heart for missions,
Don & Carla Rich
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