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Do you have skills in sports like Volleyball, Basketball,or Soccer? If you do then we challenge you to give God your sport and join e3 SportReach on the field!
But the story does not end there. Estelle, our new sister in Christ, attended the cell group meeting this evening and brought her young eight year old daughter. She busily took notes, answered questions, and looked up answers in the Bible. Her daughter volunteered to read over 80% of the verses during the study. Praise God for the work that He is doing in the hearts of the Peruvians in Huancayo. His power is so evident as He works through ordinary people to reach a people for Himself.
As we shared during dinner the stories from the day attests to what God is doing in the hearts of the people here.
From another part of town here is a overview:Our team traveled to a rural area just outside Huancayo, a place near Chupaca. A local cell group really wanted this area reached for Jesus Christ and wanted a church to be planted and started here. The sites were very rural but the homes were very open to guests, such as us. I remember one house I went to with Ricardo my translator and Theo, the local, was quite a ways up a hill. We traversed a long path, scrambled up the rocks, and were greeted by two brothers. We were invited to sit on the grass and we shared our testimonies. I shared the Evangecube and both of the brothers trusted in Christ for salvation. After we left that home, I looked up the hill and saw another of our team sharing with some children, I looked down below and saw two others sharing the gospel, and so on. God was moving mightily. I rejoiced in that many of our young missionaries were bold to share. One of the thoughts I had was, how can our churches back home remain the same? If we do, how sad. Yet, I am confident of this one thing, that He who has began a good work in our homes, will complete it until Christ returns.
During our sports clinic, we had shared the gospel with around 80 people and I would say about 60 accepted Christ. Just as Jeff Thompson got a group hug from the children, the rain began. God held off the rain to accomplish His plan. We then went to one of the local believers homes and held a cell group meeting. There were many new people that attended and God moved in such a big way, that what the local believers prayed for was accomplished. A Church Was Born Today.
Pray for this new church that they would be strengthened with God’s enduring power, and would continue to meet and reach out to their community. Pray that they would realize that even though they don’t feel adequate to do this outreach, that they are just the right ones God has chosen for His work. Praise God that in this area of Huancayo, God established a new church, and many will for generations to come, will see new life in Jesus Christ.
After she prayed to accept Christ, she stated that she wanted her father to hear the Good News as well. She then said we would need to walk to where her father was located because he was very old, sick and had a broken back. As we walked down the street and around the corner, we were praying for a breakthrough with this family. As the older woman opened the door to her father’s backyard, you could see older women doing laundry, a few kids playing and two older men on a flat bed, one of which was laying facedown with his legs hanging off the bed. The daughter who had earlier accepted Christ walked us over to her father and gently turned him over and sat him up. The father was visibly in pain after being repositioned. We exchanged introductions as all the other family members gathered to hear our story. I again began with my testimony and shared the Gospel…everyone listening intently, especially the father. Following our discussion, the entire family accepted Christ as their Savior. As the older man prayed to accept Christ, he discretely turned his palms sky-ward in a form of worship. Before departing, we asked the family if we could pray over the prayer requests they mentioned earlier. We then prayed for their family, friends and the older man’s health. As we opened our eyes after prayer, the older man had tears streaming down his face. It was truly one of the most powerful experiences of my life. Praise Christ for His continued restoration of the people of Huancayo!
From the very moment that the Peru team embarked on this journey, God has taken care of us. Traveling to Peru has just been awesome. God allowed for every flight arrival time to be earlier than what was planned in the flight itinerary. All 3 flight connections the team made their arrival points early! As far as the 8 hour bus ride from Lima to Huancayo, it went very smoothly. We did not have anyone get altitude sickness. One person had some motion sickness from the bus, but other than that God has been extremely gracious in keeping all team members healthy.
After having arrived in Huancayo, our first day objective was to get out to the 7 churches that have been planted here and start helping equip their team leaders for ministry. The morning was started with educating our churches in how to use evangecubes and strategies in going out to their local communities for Jesus. Many of the team members did prayer walks through the local streets. Some of the local Peruvians were outside in the streets playing volleyball and God provided an opportunity through the volleyball for some of the team members to build relationships with those people. I, Chris Brink, my first experience in the Huancayo mission trip was sharing the Gospel with a local store owner just down the block from one of the local churches. We had been waiting at Pastor Agusto’s church in the morning for Pastor Hugo, to go to Pastor Hugo’s church, and God led my translator Alfredo and I to this local store and I shared the Gospel. I shared the Gospel with the grandmother who ran the store, her daughter, and her daughter’s children. The grandmother was thankful to hear the Gospel story of Jesus Christ, which she had heard before, but she has not been to church in awhile. She is coming to a get-together that the team is holding this Thursday to hear more about Jesus Christ. In fact, she is going to close her store down early to do so!
Please keep the Peru team, the nationals, as well as translators that God has put together in your prayers as God teaches us to become fishers of men.
Chris & Nessa Brink
Sports is very much an international language. Even in nations where there is very limited communication, most know how their local teams are doing. God uses this interest and passion for sports as a way to quickly build relationships. Also, God uses sports to breakdown barriers and reach people that normally wouldn’t be reached. This opens the door to sharing with them that we have more than just a passion for sports, we have a greater passion for Jesus. The short-term mission trips that we lead are part of a long-term in-country strategy that includes nationals trained to lead home churches before our teams arrive. Once our teams are on the ground they are the match that is struck to start the fire. Our teams work with the trained national pastors and depending on the trip strategy will put on a free neighborhood sports clinic or an amateur sports camp. As youth and adults come to know the Lord, our teams, alongside the new national church planter, take the first steps to begin the discipleship process of the new believers. After our teams leave, we know that a trained pastor will remain in that area to continue His work.