In July we had the great opportunity to return to Huimbayoc. Three members from Prince Ave in Athens came to Peru to participate in this trip: Jerry, Carlos and Mike. This trip was a little different because Joy and Luke were able to go and be members of our mission team and Jacob was in Iquitos with a REAP team and several members of our Prince Mission Church in Lima were also able to go on the trip.
We had a very ambitious plan. We were divided primarily into two teams. A team of ladies from our church went to teach adult leaders how to lead VBS and teach Sunday School and then in the second half of the day to actually do a VBS program with the student teachers helping and learning.
The teaching team of men went to teach on stewardship and evangelism in the mornings and go out in the surrounding villages and share the Gospel in the afternoons. Then in the evenings we sere scheduled to have Evangelistic meetings in Huimbayoc every night...
Travel: We flew to Tarapoto from LIma, we went by van from Tarapoto to Chazuta, we took a boat from Chazuta to Huimbayoc about 3 hours. We used this boat to travel to the nearby villages during the week. On our return trip we had to go a different path that was less river travel and more traveling through rough terrain.
God worked in a mighty way. Four people who came with their family to church to receive the stewardship and evangelism training accepted Christ. Each day in every village people made decisions for Christ. The VBS had roughly 90 children every day. The people who came to the Bible studies were very faithful to come every day. They were interested in how to have access to more Bible study.
In a village called Navarro we met a lady named Jessy. She had only been living there a short time. She was married and has two children, but she was very sick. Possibly she is very close to death. She had recently made a decision for Christ. The day we visited her village her 14 yr old daughter accepted Christ. We were able to talk to some EMT/ nurse type people in the jungle and they were aware of this ladies condition and told us what medicine she needed. We were able to take the pastor of Huimbayoc with us back to Tarapoto to buy the medicine she needed. Please pray for her recovery. She also has a son who is 4 yrs old. When we met Jessy she was not able to stand. Pray for her physical healing.
God worked in many ways on this trip. We had a few more difficulties and moments where we needed flexibility. Some of our issues were with transportation, not having enough translators, difficulty in procuring food and water, etc. But God used the people we had and the means we had to make a difference. For example: Luke was able to translate for Mike and Jerry during the day and Elisa who was one of the VBS leaders translated in the evening services. We had team members who purified the water we drank and cooked with. Our return trip did not go as planned but we made it back to Tarapoto in time to catch the plane to Lima.
Huimbayoc is a little difficult to get to and it is hard to live in this spot in the world. Huimbayoc has a generator to provide electricity from 6:30 - 9:30 at night. There are no fans or Air Conditioning or modern refrigeration. It is hot night and day. Many of the people do not have a balanced diet, but we saw church leaders hungry to learn more about God. We saw many decisions for Christ and we saw Hope. Please pray for these people in these villages. Pray that God will raise up Bible students and turn them into leaders. Thank you for making adventures like these possible.
In His Name and For His Glory, The Mitchell's
PS Our Japanese house guest returns to Lima today from her visit with her family. Please pray that K and her family will open their hearts to God's word.
Pray that we are open and sensitive to God's direction for our ministry.
