Monday, May 16

Gary Fallesen

Monday, May 16

Only God knows the hearts of those with whom we have shared. But at least seven people prayed for salvation and another recommitted his life to Jesus in the remote, dirt-poor mountain village of Chalhua (11,900 feet/3,625 meters).

The soul saved by the Spirit that moved us the most was 9-year-old Alison Moreno. Alison’s mother is in the hospital in Lima suffering from epilepsy and her father deserted her. Alison is living with her maternal grandmother and grandfather. The grandfather, a drunkard, claimed to want Jesus in his life and we prayed for him.

The child who stole the team's heart.

Alison spent much of the day with us, singing to us with the voice of an angel and eating a lunch of pan-fried fish and potatoes by our side. She took Jesse and Jaime with her to do chores with the family’s sheep. We will try to get her to Lima (about a 14-hour drive away) to see her mother, Taina, when Jaime goes to see and pray for Taina.

We were guests of Pastor Isabel Obregon, who has had a house church here for two years. There is a small, but growing (especially after today - praise the Lord!) body of believers. We walked around the village of more than 1,000 handing out all our New Testaments and scores of tracts. We shared Jesus with many and some responded. It was an answer to our morning prayer to “give ’em heaven” in Chalhua.

Pastor Isabel and Pastor Santos Florentino Ortego, who oversees the Assembly of God churches in the district and traveled with us to Yanama, requested assistance in building a church. We told them before evangelizing the village that it was our prayer that they would need a large church by the end of the day.

The land where a proposed church (the first) for the village of Chalhua would be built with C4C's help. Contrahierbas, a 19,918-foot (6,036-meter) peak, stands in the background.

We were shown the land for sale next to Isabel’s home. It would cost about US$1,800 to purchase. Pastor Florentino estimated the cost of building a church at US$6,000. We told them we would take this request to the Lord.

Normally, 22 people worship in the church at Chalhua, but tonight we outgrew the house-church setting and worshiped with more than 60 under a full moon at the “church in the field.” Several of those who accepted Jesus earlier in the day attended, which warmed us on a cold night.
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