Josh and Heather Hedderman Prayer Letter: From the Desk of Heather

Hey! Happy May! Living in the Southern Hemisphere, I get confused watching you all go into your summer months. We are just starting our (admittedly mild) winter here. I hope you all are enjoying the change of seasons and hopefully the loosening of COVID restrictions in your part of the world.

I wanted to change things up a little bit. Heather has been wanting to share a couple of stories that she has seen in the last few weeks and months, so I will actually let her write most of the letter, but I just wanted to say how grateful we are for the continuing donations towards giving food away to people here. We have been seeing 80 – 100 visitors a week, 60 – 75 of whom are getting saved each time. It’s been such an amazing blessing for our people and our ministry, and God is truly using the support of so many there to make a difference here.

From here, I will turn it over to Heather to share what God has been doing here in Lima!

¡Saludos! It’s me, Heather, and when Josh asked if I wanted to write part of the prayer letter, I was delighted! What Josh hasn’t shared is that a few weeks ago, he was able to take out our friend David. David has been a huge connection to new neighborhoods and sections of our city, places we haven’t yet been able to take the Gospel to. Each week, David finds new families and invites them to our food bank. He’s definitely a man of peace and very well known in these parts of our city. Over breakfast one morning, David had a few questions for Josh, which led exactly where Josh was hoping it would lead: a chance to share the Gospel with David. That morning over breakfast, David bowed his head and got saved. The following Sunday, he was in church, accompanied by his wife!

Another Sunday during lockdown, I was teaching a class over Zoom. While explaining believer’s baptism, one of the ladies in my class stopped me and asked, “What do I have to do to get salvation so that I can be baptized?” We were already in Acts 16, so I retold the story . . . and then she concluded, “So baptism isn’t getting saved?” I led her to Romans 10, explained salvation, and got to lead her to accept Jesus as her Saviour right over Zoom! The other ladies in my class were thrilled too; I could see it in their faces!!! I was thrilled when she decided to get baptized several weeks afterwards. This past Sunday, she was one of several who ventured out of their homes during lockdown to walk over to church to attend behind closed doors. Please continue praying for Mary and many others who are brand- new Christians and are learning to walk in the faith.

One of the biggest blessings for me is watching the personal growth of our people. Two ladies who began coming to our church in March are now faithful soul winners each and every Saturday! The joy on their faces after a morning of witnessing to person after person is contagious!!! A new friend of mine, Tamlin, is a lady from Venezuela. I had the chance to witness to her on her first visit to our church. I told her about baptism as the next step, and a couple weeks later, both she and her husband were baptized. Now their whole family is attending church faithfully; her daughter comes to help each Saturday, and she is planning on getting baptized this week. On Saturday after I finished witnessing to a lady, we went by the kids’ table to pick up her son, who was waiting on her. (Our teens do coloring sheets for the children and witness to them at the same time their parents are receiving the Gospel.) I noticed the little boy´s name on the clipboard and that he had gotten saved. Later I asked the teen girl how it went, to which she responded, “Oh! He got saved!” Later that day, I spoke with her again, and she told me she had been able to lead four children to Christ that day! This young lady has only been in church for about nine months now; she herself is a product of the food drives, but she has caught the excitement of sharing Christ! Praise the Lord!

From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank each and every one of you for your prayers and continued support. Perhaps, coming from a missionary, I sound like a broken record, but please understand that we need and covet your prayers. Would you please continue praying that God would send revival to Perú? We need Him to continue to move, stir hearts, and draw lives to Himself. Please pray that we would continue to stand firm in the faith and serve Him with all we have. Pray for boldness and the courage to continue sharing the Gospel each and every day. Also, please pray for the new converts. So many are being saved each week; pray that we can disciple them and that God would protect the seeds planted in their hearts.

Thanks again! We truly get to live His dream here in Peru, and it’s much, much better than our dreams could have ever imagined.

Gratefully serving,

Josh, Heather, and Joseph