Greetings from Peru!

Thank you for your fervent prayers! The Lord graciously extended traveling mercies to me and my wife as we flew down to Lima, Peru and back to the field. We have been staying this past week in the home of a good brother and friend who oversees a solid work in Caja de Agua that our local church supports. Brother TJ, a former Mormon from Utah, and his wife Pam, born and raised in Lima, are faithful to PREACH the Gospel and train local children up in the Word of God. They also provide needful groceries and clothing to those who faithfully attend the Bible classes. There are five classes for five different age groups 3 days a week, and Brother TJ is adamant that the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ be cleared proclaimed in every session. For more information, you can visit Heart of Christ Ministries. This is a good work, my friends, and TJ & Pam Lindsey have done a lot over the years to assist FPGM when we come through the country to reach the Israeli backpackers.

This past week Mindy and I had the opportunity to assist in the Bible classes along with the Boyd Family. Last Friday, Jesse, Bethany, and I conducted five martial arts demonstrations, utilizing each of them as an opportunity to declare two important principles of the Bible: 

1. It’s always better to let God fight for you than to take matters into your own hands (Exodus 14:13-14).

2. Sometimes the best self-defense is self-sacrifice; and Jesus Christ is the perfect example of this. He demonstrated His power in the Garden of Gethsemane but still gave Himself over as a sacrifice for the sins of the world (1 John 2:2).

By the end of the day we were exhausted, but the Gospel went forth, and for that, we praise God.

The plaza is an interesting element of Latin American culture. It's in the plaza where people gather to relax, debate, protest, and listen to people share an opinion about something. The plazas are perfect for open-air preaching, and there's far more freedom to do this in South American countries than in American cities and towns. There are no police who will harass you, and there are no so-called Christians who will tell you there is a better way to be more effective. One evening, we went with Brother TJ’s Family, the Boyd Family, and some local brethren out to Plaza de San Martin to open-air preach and pass out Gospel tracts. The plaza was full of people that had gathered for a massive demanding the dissolution of the Peruvian Congress. The men of our group took the opportunity to open the Scriptures and proclaim the truth to large attentive crowds while the ladies and children passed out large amounts of Spanish Gospel Tracts. There were great conversations and divine appointments. That big protest ultimately accomplished nothing, but the Gospel always accomplishes that which God purposes.

This past Monday, we picked up Brother Bishnu from the airport here in Lima. He's a fellow-laborer and a great brother in Christ, and we will get the privilege of working with him later this year in Kathmandu taking the Gospel to the Israeli backpackers. This week, we crumbed some villages on the outskirts of Lima with the Gospel and the kids at the ministry in Caja de Agua were excited to have Bishnu share with them about his salvation in Jesus Christ: from Hindu, to atheist, to born-again Christian to street preacher sharing the Gospel in a language not his own and having it translated into Spanish for them.

Today, Bishnu, Mindy, and I will make the long bus ride up to Huaraz to rendezvous with the Boyds. They went up there this past Saturday and have already started running into Israeli trekkers, and several have received the Word of God. We are excited to join them and labor with Brother Bishnu these next couple of weeks together in Peru after the manner in which we will be laboring together later this year in South Asia.

Thank you all for the continued prayers and support for the work that is going on down here. It's hard to believe our time in Argentina is over. Two months of speaking at local churches flew by, and now, we are back down in South America until July 24 (something wonderful we never anticipated). And our flights for South Asia leave out of Atlanta on August 1st.

The Psalmist writes in Psalm 16:1, “Preserve me, O God: for in thee do I put my trust.” Our trust is in the Lord, and we can do nothing more but submit to His will and be vigilant and willing to be used of Him in any way that He sees fit. Please continue to life us up in prayer as we continue to sow seeds of the Gospel amongst the Jewish people FIRST but also with the Gentile nations that the Lord puts into our path. We fish with a Jewish net, and we are happy to catch whatever we can with it. 

Gloria a Dios!  

Eric Trent, FPGM Colporter