Over the last two months, my wife and I have been keeping in contact with our members in Latin America to provide support to various countries there. The stay-at-home orders in many Latin American countries are affecting the population harshly. As you can imagine, folks generally struggle for the everyday necessities, and amid Covid-19, the struggles have multiplied. My home congregation in Sun Valley, CA, along with our Santa Fe Springs congregation, has been supporting and encouraging members in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Peru, including providing basic necessities for hundreds of families.
We have partnered with our local congregations in El Salvador, Honduras, and Piura, Peru. They have engaged the Love Avenue with tangible acts of love and have joined Jesus in bringing hope to many. Our Piura congregation that is pastored by Ruth Nieves has fully embraced the Love Avenue and is engaging their community missionally. She understands the opportunity that has been presented to her church and they are stepping out in faith.
The letter below is a report that she sent me from their engagement in their community.
Heber Ticas
Superintendent of Latin America &
National Coordinator for Church Multiplication
Greetings and thanks from our GCI Piura congregation, Peru.
I am writing to inform you that we have finished the mission that was entrusted to us and that it has been a beautiful privilege to serve the Lord Jesus. We are very grateful to be able to participate with him in his work, bringing hope to many families who are in great need.
We give glory to our God who through you and the encouragement and support from our sister churches in Southern California allowed us to provide 30 food baskets to various families in our community. We have been able to see closely what God is doing. He has made our congregation walk down the love avenue listening to the different testimonies of people who were surprised because they did not have anything to eat and suddenly help appeared.
The Lord Jesus showed us the sad conditions that many people are living through in this pandemic. He also allowed us to prepare 25 dinners for people who spend the whole day outside the hospital near our community and who sleep on the street waiting for results of their relatives who are battling Covid-19.
I would like to share with you all the details of this precious journey, which has been for the glory and honor of our God, but I know there is no time, and I end by telling you that all this is just the beginning of great things. Through your support, more hearts locally have been moved to want to support and join in the work of God. We have wept with those who weep, and we will not remain with our arms crossed, as we have witnessed so much need and thirst for God.
Everything is in the hands of God and we thank him because he answered our prayers. Initially, we did not know how to help with the poverty and need that has been intensified by the pandemic. We are now able to supply this need for a roof and protection against the cold. We even have members who, due to the pandemic, have taken refuge in our tents and become chefs to those in need in the community.
Best regards,
Ruth Nieves
Amazing testimony of God’s love!