We would like to start this letter off by saying thank you so much for your prayers for our big outreach days: one on November 1 for the Day of the Dead and the other on November 11 here at our church. We saw some wonderful results! On November 1, close to 50 people left from our church and headed to a nearby cemetery called Nueva Esperanza. On this day, thousands of people travel from across the country to visit the graves of their loved ones. This cemetery is one of the largest in the world. Many people are open to the Gospel and oftentimes look for someone to come pray with them. Many Catholic priests will pray with families for a small fee. Our church folks witnessed all day, and many people accepted Christ as Saviour! We were blessed to have a group from International Baptist Church in Surco join us as well, and they sent a large group to help. From our church alone, 126 people made a profession of faith!
Shortly thereafter, we were grateful to have one of our supporting churches, Beth Haven Baptist Church from Sheridan, Michigan, come visit us. They were a huge blessing to us! One of the events we held while they were here was in Iquitos in the Amazon jungle. Team Peru was able to host a Family Conference with a national pastor, Romario Bustamante. We spent the day inviting people to the conference and passing out flyers to everyone in the local neighborhoods. Many of the people from Pastor Romario’s church came, and it was exciting to see many first-time visitors! We divided the evening service into separate classes for adults, teens, and children. On the last night, 35 teens and 19 adults made a profession of faith. The trip was amazing! One of the highlights was reaching a brand-new village with the Gospel by boat. This village is the home of Abel, a man who received Christ in the city of Iquitos a few years ago. We had been hoping to go to his village for a while, and on this trip, we were able to go. We were able to present them with a water-purification system for their village and share the Gospel with them. It was exciting to see many accept Christ.
The following weekend on the 11th, we hosted a large outreach event on one of our bus routes in the mountains above our church. We saw 45 people make a profession of faith that day, and 2 new families came to church on Sunday! I was able to baptize 3 people on Sunday as well.
Our recent convert, Jesus, whom I led to the Lord a month ago, finished the first level of discipleship with me this week! I was able to present him, along with several others, his certificate on Sunday! It’s so exciting to see our church grow. This past Sunday, we celebrated Thanksgiving at our church! Several ladies made American-style Thanksgiving dishes, and we had turkey! We had many visitors and a special time of giving thanks, where our people recounted blessings from this past year.
Please pray for several upcoming events at our church and with Team Peru! On Thursday, we are headed to the Amazon once again to host a Pastors’ Training Conference in a local village called Pebas. We will fly into Iquitos and then take a boat for several hours to reach the village. We are expecting several pastors to come, as well as the local church people there. Please pray for the Lord to do great things.
On Saturday, December 9, we will have another large outreach day on one of our bus routes. This is a yearly Christmas- themed event where we give out hot chocolate, share the Christmas Story, and give the Gospel individually to each person who comes. Please pray for many to be saved! On the 17th of December, our church will have our Christmas Cantata. We are praying for a great turnout and for God to bless this day!
We thank you for your prayers and support for us here in Peru! We are so grateful for each of you. We wish you a Merry Christmas and look forward to updating you all again soon.
May God bless you,
Zach and Cassandra Foust
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- What a joy it was to share the Gospel with these people during our outreach event on one of our bus routes!
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- Grilled grub worms anyone?
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- It was amazing to preach the Gospel and share a water-purification system from Bro. John Hays in this village.
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- It was exciting to see Angeli get baptized on Sunday!
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- The visit from Beth Haven Baptist Church was a huge blessing, including having Pastor Crowell preach on Sunday.
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- These people came for our Family Conference in Iquitos.