The Work

Arequipa (Spanish pronunciation: [aɾeˈkipa]; Aymara and Quechua: Ariqipa) is a city and capital of province and the eponymous department of Peru. It is the second most populated city in Peru, after Lima, with an urban population of almost 2,000,000 inhabitants.

Arequipa is also an important industrial and commercial center of Peru,^[4] and is considered as the second industrial city of the country. Within its industrial activity the manufactured products and the textile production of wool of camelids.

The city was founded on 15 August 1540, under the name of “Beautiful Villa of Our Lady of the Assumption” in the name of Marquis Francisco Pizarro. On 22 September 1541, the monarch Carlos V ordered that it should be called the “City of Arequipa”. During the viceregal period, it acquired importance for its outstanding economic role, and is characterized by the fidelismo towards the Spanish Crown, which honored Arequipa with titles such as “Very Noble and Very Loyal.” In the Republican history of Peru, the city has been the focus of popular, civic and democratic rebellions. It has also been the cradle of notable intellectual, political and religious figures. In the Republican era, it was awarded the title of “Heroic city of the free people of Arequipa”.

Arequipa is mainly Catholic and there is a great need for the true gospel to be preached.

Our Ministry in Arequipa

When we first arrived to Arequipa, I was pastoring the Family Baptist Church and started having Bible studies in different place. A year ago, we started a new mission work “Berea Baptist Church.” There have been many setbacks because of Covid and the ever-changing government restrictions. For several months, we were not even allowed to have in-person services, but were only able to “meet” over zoom.

Originally this work started as a Bible study over 2 years ago in the house of Mr. Basilio, an 85-year-old man who was a staunch Catholic. We were meeting in his house every Friday evening and several of his children, grandchildren, and neighbors would come to hear God’s Word. It was an incredible opportunity! After each Bible study, however, Mr. Basilio would argue and become upset about what he had heard, because it contradicted everything he had been taught all of his life. He always had questions and arguments. The Lord was working on his hard heart and one day he finally surrendered and let go of his beliefs, and trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ and Him alone as his sufficient Savior. What a victory and answer to prayer! Brother Basilio then asked if he could be baptized, but asked if we would be willing to travel for 3 hours so that he could be baptized in his hometown of Yanque. He explained that everyone in his town knew him as a die-hard Catholic, and he wanted to make a public declaration to everyone he knew that he was a different man and that Christ had saved him. What a testimony of God’s grace!

Several of Bro. Basilio’s children and grandchildren are now attending the mission work and one of his daughters and her husband are about to be baptized. We have also started having Bible studies in Yanque, about once a month, so that Bro. Basilio’s relatives and friends can hear the gospel.

We had been renting a building during all of 2021, but just moved to a new building at the beginning of 2022. This is the 4^th building we have rented for church during our ministry in Arequipa in the past 5 years. We are praying about buying land for the work so that we will not have to keep on pouring money into renting a building, and in the end, having to move again.

If you want to hear what is happening in the work here, you can check our webpage where I will be posting news about our family and the work in Arequipa, Peru. I have uploaded some of our past prayer letters and will be uploading a new prayer letter regularly.

If you want to contact us or have any questions, please send us a message or call us. We would love to hear from you. We also ask that you pray for us!