Mission Moments: Peru
The harvest work goes on
Story by Gary Fallesen
Founding president, Climbing For Christ
Reporting and photos by Jaime Jesus Servat
Missionary to Peru, Climbing For Christ
(May 5, 2014) Our annual Evangelic Expedition to Peru is coming soon. But before Climbing For Christ’s short-term team arrives, missionary Jaime Servat continues to serve the Lord. The mission to Peru is not a two-week experience; it is ongoing – every day of the year.
When asked how having a C4C team visiting his country to labor alongside him would encourage this mission, Jaime said: “I pray to God that He can send workers to come for two times a year and stay more time (than two weeks).”
Jaime and the Climbing For Christ staff have seen first-hand the truth in the words of Jesus: “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few” (Matthew 9:37 and Luke 10:2).
We rejoice that our fourth Evangelic Expedition to Peru will be our largest yet with seven team members GO-ing from the United States on May 10. We are praying for team members and the way the Lord will use them in South America. We also lift future workers who like the seven on Mission: Peru 2014, will one day say: “Here am I! Send me.”
An appeal for workers
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Eloy.
Jaime was trekking in the Tacna Province in the southernmost region in Peru in April when, in the distance, he saw a child standing looking into a small river. “I said, ‘Oh, Lord, please let him stay there to talk about Your love!’” Jaime recalled.
“When I got to be near him and I invited him to sit and I asked his name and he answered me: ‘I am Eloy.’ I asked his age and he answered: ‘7 years old.’ So I asked if he had received the Lord Jesus in his heart. He answered me: ‘Not so.’ We prayed and He accepted the Lord Jesus and told me that he has a Bible so then we said good-bye.”
Jaime walked on, entering the village of Kallapuma. He saw only a few people so he went to the main square of the village and prayed for one hour. Then, as he walked around town, he met a man who turned out to be a brother in Christ. Brother Felix, who is 68 years old, took Jaime to meet his family, none of whom had received Jesus as their Lord and Savior.
“I ministered to his wife, Leonilda (58 years old) and sons Silverio (34), Genaro (27) and Pablo (19),” Jaime said. “They all received the Lord Jesus and I prayed for their health. The last son, Pablo, asked for prayer for wisdom to be a preacher and health really [because of a leg problem].”
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Felix's family receiving New Testaments and prayer.
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“Now I want tell you with HIS love: Beloved body of Christ, I pray to God that one day our King, Jesus Christ, might touch your heart to come and join us and make His will and see how He is rescuing new souls. Deliver His love, pray, teach, provide Bibles, and encourage where many cannot go to serve Him. You can do it in Christ alone. Fast or pray to receive His mighty love. Never will you forget His ‘Great Commission’ in your life because He will be guiding you always, wherever you go!”
The following are Jaime’s reports from the mission field in recent months:
April
Checking my health
[Jaime underwent medical procedures in August 2013. He was still having follow-ups to that in March and April. Please join us in praying for Jaime’s health.]
I got my ultrasound exams to check my kidney and prostate during doctor visits in April. It was a blessing that the stone I had in my left kidney was gone and my prostate is good. The doctor told me that I am disposed to create stones and I need to make three check-ups a year.
Outreach to farmers in the Tacna Mountains
Arriving in the Tacna Province I was received in the home of a Christian family and we visited a father named Jorge, who suffered from paralysis. He is a Catholic believer. I prayed for healing in his life and body.
I was in the Sunday worship of Alianza Cristiana y Misionera Church, praying, receiving His Word and worshiping, knowing a brother who covered me in prayer to my next trip to the Tarata Mountains. I started to the Tarata Province, where I would wait on Him to plan getting to the Pisacani mountain and village. I was celebrating my 54th birthday, praying to get more information on how to get to Pisacani village. It was a wonderful trial of the Lord because He was training me more in His patience to wait on Him.
God used a beloved brother named Adrian from Bautista Evangelica Church, who talked to me about my mission trip. It was a blessing to know that the Pisacani village is named Mamaraya village and not Pisacani. I received an offer from a man who would carry me on Tuesday to Mamaraya village, which is on the Pisacani Mountain slopes. I stayed in the home of brother Adrian and planned to start to Mamaraya village at 6 a.m., but that man never came to get me in his car and there began my patience trial for 13 hours. During that time I got to know an official of the Army of Peru named Christian, a believer who was used by God to take me by truck to a town named Kallapuma. It took five hours on a rural road to reach 4,800 meters (15,758 feet). I received an invitation from a Christian official to stay in a room at the Army headquarters and the next day went to Kallapuma.
It was His plan to change to a Plan B, not a Plan A. He put on my heart to return to the Tacna Mountains and go to Mamaraya village in August. But before I could contact the mayor of the Ticaco District, I learned about the Milk Glass Program of Peru (Programa de Vaso de Leche de Peru) to poor people on the 24th of each month.
In Mamaraya village, there are approximately 30 poor people without Bibles and perhaps no believers so this missionary would stay to do His favor.
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Soldiers Yucra, left, and Juarez.
Beginning to walk the next morning I gave God my life under His hands in prayer to receive Him as guide in a place unknown to me, asking Him that He may put on the road people or children so I may minister to them in His love! And, wow, walking just 5 minutes I met two soldiers who were seated in the grass, seemingly waiting to hear His word. So I shared Jesus the Lord and young Yucra received Christ. Juarez, who was a Christian, asked me for prayer to be a good policeman and engineer because they are finishing their military service.
Then I followed my hike for another three hours and arrived in Mamuta, where there are many Seventh-day Adventists, but there is no one living there because the farmers only come every weekend to rest and fatten their alpaca animals. I rested for 10 minutes and then hiked two more hours.
[It was at this point that Jaime saw the boy Eloy in the distance. He then was blessed to share Jesus with Eloy and later members of Felix’s family.]
Now I could understand why God changed Plan A to Plan B: a soldier, a boy, one mother and her three sons were waiting for our Lord Jesus to reign in them and guide them to eternity.
The next day I returned to the Tarata Province and stayed two nights to pray, giving thanks God for His protection and guidance. Then God put in my heart to return in August 2014 to minister and teach His Word to new believer Pablo, who wants to be a preacher of Christ, and also the family in Mamaraya. I will evangelize farmers there and deliver New Testaments and Bibles. His will be done!
After that, I went to Ticaco District and I got to talk again with the mayor and, after I told him about C4C, he informed me how I could go to Mamaraya village and carry milk to the poor farmers in August.
I want to thank God that our beloved C4C brothers, Juber and Jans, supported me on this mission trip to Tacna City, which was a blessing. They covered the bus tickets and lodging.
I returned to Tacna city to visit Jorge and prayed for his health restoration, and then I received chocolate and crackers for Alisson in Chalhua village and started on the highway to Lima and then [farther north] to Huaraz.
Bringing His encouragement and provision to Chalhua
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The church at Chalhua.
After returning to Huaraz city [where C4C’s work in Peru is based out of] I prayed to God and purchased school items and food for Alisson [the girl C4C has ministered to and assisted since 2011] with a love offering of a sister from Quito, Ecuador. I also used this offering to pay fares to Yungay and Chalhua in the Cordillera Blanca range in the Ancash Region, and then to Yungay and Huaraz.
Arriving in Chalhua village I was received by Alisson and her grandmother Teresa with love. We prayed and then I delivered the school items to Alisson, who was very happy and grateful.
The next day I was in the church building and saw the internal walls on the second floor were finished with the plaster. Praise God! There remains a need of US$2,584.08 to finish the church.
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Inside the Chalhua church, the unfinished second floor.
Also, I was visiting Mascho village up the hill from Chalhua. I met new believer Martin, who was happy to meet and told me that he was one month in Lima congregating with his sister who is also a Christian. He told me that he is learning more about Lord Jesus in the New Testament that he received from C4C’s team with Jordan and Justin Rowley during Mission: Peru 2013. We prayed for his new lifestyle with the Lord Jesus and for school studies.
I visited other people who are in need of New Testaments or Bibles. They are expecting the arrival of our C4C team on Mission: Peru 2014. Many children are excited to see the missionaries to pray, praise, learn, and to play games.
“I will glory in the LORD; let the afflicted hear and rejoice.” – Psalm 34:2 (NIV)
February
Delivering a love offering
I did a hike from Jangas district to Jahua village to deliver a love offering to my beloved brother Teofilo, who suffered a hand burn and three broken fingers. He was going for a medical check so I delivered the offering to his wife who received it very happily.
Ministering in villages without Christian leaders
After two days of prayer and fasting God guided me to visit a friend, co-pastor Walter from Cristo Viene Evangelical Church in Huaraz. I asked him for a village where I could go and support in some way. He said to me, “Oh, my brother, our sister Maura, who is congregating in a house church, told me that when she was visiting a village called Alcotunac from Yuramarca district of the Huaylas Province some villages around there have many Christians and are without any pastor/leader. So if God is opening a door and you can go then come to our church home and we could coordinate and see what God may do for them.” I said, “OK.” After worship, we coordinated the work I would do in the mountains.
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Worship at the house church at Alcotunac.
On our first evening we had worship with some brothers and sisters from a forsaken Evangelical Church in Alcotunac village, where many members during three years were without worship. Their leaders from Huaraz had not sent a worker and they were discouraged to meet in the church. During my visit, they were encouraged with the Gospel, prayer for the sick, the handing out of New Testaments, and teaching through our worship in Alcotunac, Santa Rosa, Riguay and Pachma villages.
With sadness they claimed that if they do not have a leader for the long term they cannot come to meet under His Word. God put in my heart to Biblically instruct sister Marcelina and put her under prayer to our God so she may help with the worship leading in the Alcotunac church. I told her the praise ministry of the Cristo Viene Church from Huaraz will be visiting periodically to encourage them.
Really, I never expected a forsaken church in a village to be a branch with leaders in Huaraz promising always to visit and help them, but then always receiving the same answer: “Next week we are going!” For three years they were waiting, and nothing! My heart cries every night to my Lord so He sends workers there. My prayer will always be against discouragement, lies and false prophets who come to stay and deceive brothers and sisters with false doctrines and bad testimonies.
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The view from Riguay, above, and a family of believers receiving His Word, below.
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I told the Christians in these villages: “Our God loves your return to His Word and to meet in the church may help.”
A called Ivone from Pachma village
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Praying for 12-year-old Ivone.
This was the highlight during my 13 days of ministering in this place:
When she was 2 years old, Ivone began to have fluid and a lot of blood in her nose. This lasted for 10 years. But three months ago the fluid stopped. The doctors told her the red corpuscles are not functioning and she would need new platelets and a surgery in a hospital in the United States. That, of course, would be very difficult because they are very poor. But my heart was moved in mercy and talking with her she told me that she’d never received the Lord Jesus and a Bible. I introduced her to the healing that Jesus the Lord did for a woman that suffered bleeding, and she became very excited. She asked to accept the Lord Jesus Christ as her Savior and Healer under a prayer. I handed her a New Testament. We wait for His miracle to be done in His time.
I prayed for other cases, which I believe God has the control to heal when He wills and in His time, and some received the Lord Jesus in their heart. So praise Him!
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