Thank you for your continued prayers and support. Your faithfulness is a great encouragement to us!
During the months of October and November, we continued to help with the distribution of food at the church in Chorrillos. We gave out 300 packages of food each Saturday. Each new person who came was individually escorted through the line by a soul winner to receive their food package and then taken inside the church auditorium to be given the Gospel. Many were saved each week! Their contact information was collected, and all were asked permission to add them to a WhatsApp group to open communication routes with them. Virtual church meeting information is shared through these groups, and most of these new converts have been attending Zoom meetings or watching the services virtually.
During the first week of November, we traveled with the team to Piura, a city in the north of Peru, to hold evangelistic meetings. We visited several communities around the area and set up presentations of the Hays Pure Water systems. When the people gathered to hear about the water-purification systems and receive their free bottle of the water that the systems produce, they also got to hear about the pure Water of Life. Many who heard decided to put their trust in Christ! Everyone was given a tract with the information of a local church where they could go to get more of the water-purifying treatment and learn more about God.
On the 15th of November, after 8 months of closure, churches were finally allowed to open at 30% capacity. It is great to finally be able to meet in person!
Near the end of November, we took a trip to Iquitos to visit with Pastor Aland Fachin for a few days. He pastors two churches on the Itaya River, which he took us to visit. We traveled by boat to Nuevo Miraflores, where he lives and has his primary church, then traveled an hour down the river, and finally walked about 20 minutes to get to San Martin where he has a satellite church. He asked me to preach to his people in Nuevo Miraflores, and he asked Irene to teach the teenagers in San Martin. We had a great time with all of them.
We have started helping at a Wednesday night Bible study in Belaunde, which is in the hills above the San Gabriel church. There are currently about 35 children that Irene gets to teach each week, and about 6 teenagers and adults that I get to teach every other week. We wanted to encourage more children to come, so we decided to have an attendance contest. Each child needed to come 6 out of 8 weeks to win a Christmas present. We had the party on December 19, with over 60 in attendance. After the Gospel was presented, we handed out gifts one by one. Everybody got to watch as each person opened their gift. They were all extremely excited! Everyone received a present, and several also received the best present of all, God’s free gift of salvation!
Due to special COVID measures by the government, Christmas and New Year’s were quite different this year. Private transportation was not allowed on the 24th and 25th, nor on the 31st and 1st. There was also an ongoing curfew of 11 p.m., which prevented any kind of Watch-Night Service. Despite these restrictions, we had a great month and an excellent year. We personally won over 100 souls to Christ and had a part in the salvation of more than 1,000 during 2020!
Many thanks to the churches that gave extra this year and this Christmas season! Thank you for your generosity and love for souls and missions.
In His service,
Chris and Irene Williams