After a season of personal health and family issues, Climbing For Christ’s missionary to Peru, Jaime Servat, was excited to join the Mission: Peru 2017 team in late July and early August. It was a blessed mission during which members of our American, Canadian and Peruvian team saw God move in the hearts of many in the remote Cordillera Blanca range of the Peruvian Andes. (CLICK HERE to see the Dispatches from this expedition).
Now, God continues to move in those remote mountains as Jaime spent much of the month of September revisiting a number of the people we were blessed to minister to only a couple short months earlier.
Jaime has regularly reported on the church in Chalhua. After teaming up with several nearby Evangelical pastors, the church appears to be heading in the right direction. While at one time worship services consisted of a handful of believers, now there are frequent visitors. During Jaime’s September visit to Chalhua he shared a message based on Revelation 20 and 21. “Behold, I make all things new,” declared the One who sat on the throne in Revelation 21:5. Indeed, we continue to pray that God favors the church in Chalhua with a new season of growth and blessing – all for His glory. In addition to preaching, Jaime also tended to some more practical matters of the church during his stay.
Pastor Ezekiel leading prayer in Chalhua. (Photo by Jaime Servat)
After ministering in Chalhua, Jaime traveled to another area of the Cordillera Blanca in the hope of visiting Hilario and Gastulo, the two muleteers from our 2017 expedition. We saw these men express great interest in Jesus and the Christian faith as we shared a meal one night during the trek. We were blessed as each made a decision to trust in Him that evening. Now, a few months later, Jaime was able to reconnect and encourage them in their still-new faith. They agreed to attend a nearby Evangelical church so they can learn and grow more in the Lord.
Jaime also followed up with others we’d met on our trek. Virginia, Flor, Korina and Lino were all moved by God’s Spirit during our visit, as well as Jaime’s revisit.
And still another family that our brother reconnected with was one that touched our team deeply back in early August. We came across Sonia and her young son, Fernando, on our last day of the trek. Learning that after being abandoned by her husband Sonia dutifully cared for her son, animals and land by herself in their very remote area of the mountains, we were deeply moved. Sensing an aloneness and great vulnerability in her situation, we prayed and did our best to encourage her and young Fernando. She was moved to tears during our brief time together. Months later as Jaime returned to the area, he found Sonia and Fernando had moved in with her mother. Jaime reported that he was blessed by a “special time to share His word and prayer” with them, but that after learning Sonia’s mother had a “great opposition against evangelicals,” the visit was sadly cut short.
Jaime Servat and Edwin Milla share with Sonia during Mission: Peru 2017. (Photo by Gary Fallesen)
We continue to pray for Sonia, her mother, and Fernando, along with Virginia, Flor, Korina, Hilario, Gastulo and so many others.
Clearly God is on the move. God is always on the move. And as Jaime has revisited a number of the people and places from our earlier mission, we’ve seen some evidence of just that. 