The goals for our 10th trip to Trujillo included drawing a large crowd at 5 planned community evangelistic programs, sharing fresh fruit, school supplies and fun with 800 children, drawing Moms and dads into a Christian atmosphere where Missionary Martin Reeves, Pastor Jose Gousman and children’s ministry leader Antonio could touch their lives with the gospel of Jesus and providing a quality meal to 1200 attendees. All goals were met and exceeded.
The Central Methodist Church of Trujillo hosted our team this year as they have done the last nine years. The food and lodging was beyond our needs. We helped host the first community evangelistic program at the Central Church on Saturday night by providing a chicken and rice meal, sharing a testimony from one of our team members and prayerfully listening while Martin introduced Christianity to attendees using the Alpha course. It was a good start to our week.
After our Sunday morning breakfast by Pat Byrd and team member devotional we worshipped at the Central Church. After lunch we took taxis to The Florencia community for first full program that included a children’s ministry carnival, a mother’s ministry presentation, an evangelistic program with parents and children and then a meal for all attendees. It was a long evening , but a very rewarding program for us and the attendees.
Monday thru Thursday after breakfast and devotional the men headed out to Milagro to put a roof on an Adobe structure that Martin Reeves had permission to use to host weekly Children’s ministry programs. The ladies stayed at the Central church and prepared the supplies and activities for the afternoon ministry programs at the scheduled locations. The men and Ladies reunited about 2 pm at the site , completed the final decorations just in time for the activities to begin.
Each afternoon over 300 children and adults showed up for the fun , food and the message of Jesus. What a blessing we received by being a part of these great programs.
As team leader, my highlights included watching first time international mission trip participant , Mary Beth Davey have the opportunities to interact with the Peruvian children and adults at the different programs. Our words could not prepare her for this experience and her facial expressions said it was worth the trip. Antonio blessed us by having volunteers ready to work shoulder to shoulder with us in ministry at each of the activities. In fact we became their helpers as they reached out to their fellow Peruvians to share about Jesus. Martin challenged us with a new assignment at the end of each service. He told the attendees if they needed prayer for anything to seek out one of us Americans and we would pray for them. They came to us holding their children, touching their unborn babies, their disfigured arms , their eyes and their hearts. We prayed to our God in English and he comforted them in Spanish.
It was a great experience for twelve blessed teammates and I am already looking forward to next year.