Our month of May was amazing here in Peru. We literally started the month by ending an all-night prayer meeting. It shone on the countenance of all ten men who participated that God had met with us. There was a hard, nationwide lockdown on Mother’s Day, so Sarah worked around it to have an activity for our ladies. Of course, we still met for church that weekend. We celebrated my birthday. Our men from the church took a trip to the jungle. We concluded the month by celebrating our church’s 8th anniversary with Pastor Jonathan Ashcraft.
Along with four men from our church, I took a trip to the jungle to prepare for the big trip in June when we would host other churches. We went to help the hosting church on the jungle side build a structure for their kitchen and Sunday school. In the mornings and afternoons, we worked construction, and in the evenings, we had meetings. The last afternoon and evening, we did a boat trip to visit three villages. In two villages, we were able to meet with the local pastors to prepare for future events. In one village, we had the village people gather around us, curious to know what we were doing. The Spirit spoke to my heart to lift up my voice and preach. At least 20 souls were saved that afternoon, and more were saved along the way. We devoted a lot of time during the month to preparation meetings and to the preparation of materials for our trip in June.
Our Anniversary Service was a great success. Pastor Jonathan Ashcraft arrived in Peru on Thursday night. On Friday morning, we went preaching on the public buses, which is always fun. After lunch with the church, we began our preparations for the afternoon food drive. Our people gave in a big way. Many families were helped, and 51 decided to trust Christ. On Saturday afternoon, we had a soul-winning luncheon, and Pastor Ashcraft taught on how to win a soul to Christ. Forty of our church members left to go soul winning, and 11 were saved. That Sunday morning, more were saved in our services, as we enjoyed our highest attendance since the beginning of the pandemic. What was truly a blessing to us was that the Sunday following the anniversary, our attendance was still the same.
One special blessing I’d like to share with you involves a man named Luis. Luis is an elderly man who lives in a rehabilitation shelter for men. As an older man leaning on his cane, he comes to me many times asking for help with his needs. One of the men in our church told me, “Pastor, he’s just using you!” One day he came to me complaining about the men at his shelter. He said he wanted to leave the shelter and have an apartment of his own. He said, “I’m too old to put up with the ridicule and the jokes of the younger men.” I asked him a question, and when I did, I could see the spark in his eyes. I asked, “Luis, could living at this shelter be your last opportunity to bear fruit for Christ?” He was dumbfounded by the question, which became the turning point of our conversation. A month later as we met weekly for prayer, Luis showed me a picture of his daily, 5:00 a.m. Bible study, with 12 men in attendance. To God be the glory for Luis’ making his cross a crown!
Please pray for our family and our health. Please pray for Sarah’s pregnancy. Please pray that our family, our church, and Team Peru would bear much fruit to your account. Thank you so much for your love, support, and prayers. God bless you.
In Christ in Peru,
Mark, Sarah, Savannah, Paul, Samuel, Rebekah, Luke, and One More Rader