We can’t believe that it is March already! The months of January and February are always extra busy here in Peru because it is summer vacation! We have opposite seasons from North America, so while many of you are suffering from cold climates and icy conditions, we are experiencing sunny skies and wishing for air conditioning! We enjoyed Vacation Bible School in January and were blessed to have several children trust Jesus as their Saviour. Also, many parents visited church on the Sunday after VBS, and some were saved. We thank God for our faithful children’s workers.
In January, we held Teen Camp, as we do each year. What a wonderful turnout we had this year! We had a record attendance of 130 young people. They listened to good preaching and participated in games, singing, and skit competitions. They also memorized thousands of Bible verses and gave testimony of the many decisions that were made when they returned to their local churches on Sunday. Several teens trusted Christ during the week of camp, and we baptized 5 in the pool! Also, more than 20 teens and young adults surrendered to serve the Lord with their lives!
In February, we held our annual Youth Conference, with Bro. Carlos Sauceda preaching. Once again, several teens trusted Christ, and 19 surrendered to full-time service for the Lord. The young people went out soul winning during the conference and won more than 100 souls. Many of our young folks are on fire for the Lord. Please pray for the youth of our churches, the youth in both of our IBI churches and the youth in churches of like faith that join us for events and conferences throughout the year.
Throughout the summer months, we have one week per month that we have institute classes each night of the week. This year we held classes on missions, the modern church movement, and a special class called “The Case Against Calvinism.” We had great attendance for the classes, and we were blessed to have men of God who came from the States specifically to teach in these classes. Our fall semester of Instituto Bautista Internacional starts in April. Please pray for many to attend who have surrendered to serve the Lord and for our students and teachers to be faithful in growing and learning.
Speaking of school, IBI School starts Monday, March 11! We can’t believe it’s here already. This has been a dream of Karin’s since she arrived in Peru, and now we are seeing it come to fruition. Our school will be a combination of classes and homeschool and will be held in our church in Surco. We are starting with 25 students and feel that we are fulfilling a need for our church families to have a safe and Godly place to educate their children. We need prayer for this endeavor, for the finances to operate, for the staff and faculty, and for the students.
Our church is growing, praise the Lord. We are averaging nearly twice the number of attendees on Sunday mornings since we started there a year ago and are nearing the capacity for our building. We love serving these people! We are seeing around 30 people go out soul winning each Saturday, and many are being discipled each week. We ask for prayer for wisdom as we counsel and guide, for continued blessings on the soul-winning and discipleship programs, for our assistant pastor Exodo as he prepares this year to go to the mission field, and for the leaders of the church to remain strong in their service to the Lord.
We appreciate your prayers more than you know. We ask prayer especially for Karin’s dad, who has been diagnosed with liver failure and is dealing with many health issues that go along with that diagnosis. Thank you for praying for us!
His for souls,
Zach and Karin Foust