ECHO's First Mission Trip to the Amazon
First of all, we give all the glory and praise to the Lord for what He did in the jungles of Peru in April, 2019. We also want to thank you, the brothers and sisters in Christ, for your prayers and support. God used the team He put together in ways I could never have imagined.
We arrived in Lima, the capital of Peru, and met with the team after months of planning and prayer. We then got on another flight to make our way to the jungle. After a two hour flight, we arrived in Iquitos where we bought the remaining needed medicine and supplies. The next day we packed everything and went by boat six hours up the Amazon river to a church that was planted by Guillermo Lipman. Guillermo is a missionary who works with Changed by Love Ministry.
When we arrived, we unpacked and set up the clinic so that we could get straight to work. We attended people that needed medical help while some of the team started playing games and sharing the gospel with the children. Then in the evening we we started the revival service at the church of Cochiquinas. We continued to have the daily clinic and bible clubs for three days, including some workshops. The Discipleship workshops were for the youth and adults of the local church, and they included how to share the gospel in their communities, as well as how to lead a bible study and other growth lessons. The next day we loaded everything up and went to another village about two hours up the river to places that do not exist on maps. We had a meeting with the village elder who gave us permission to give medical attention to the people as well as share the gospel to the village. As we talked to them we soon found out that we were the first medical team of any kind to ever step foot there.
We served a lot of people and showed God’s love to them by sharing the gospel and giving them free medical attention and medicine prescribed by the medical team. We shared the gospel and played with the children as well. We did this at two separate villages for the day, then we travelled back to where we were staying, and continued discipleship with some of the local church members.
Two things that impacted me the most were when a young man who we worked with named Jeffery, told me that he wanted to be a missionary like us one day, to which I responded by telling him that he can be a missionary now! I spent some time with him the next couple of days teaching him how to lead a bible study with his friends and how to share the wordless book. About a month later the missionary who was our guide on the trip told me that he had seen him recently and Jeffery told him that he and just led his first friend to The Lord and that two of his lost friends are now attending church with him! Please continue to to pray for Jeffery as he is a missionary to his local village.
The second thing was that one day we received news that one of the elders of a village down river was very sick and in pain. We sent a messenger to him and asked permission to go to his village and offer him aid. He said yes, and we made the hour long trip by boat. The medical team was able to give him the medical attention he needed, after which we prayed and shared the gospel with him. After we made our way to the boat to head back to the other village, he sent his son to tell us that he had never been seen by medical personnel, in all of his approximately 75 years, and that he felt he was treated very well and that he would like for us to come back and share with his village about Our True God.
Our missionary guide had been praying for that village, as they are an “unreached people group,” and God used us to open the door for His Gospel to be brought where it had never been heard before. Ever. Guillermo, the missionary we worked with, will continue to work with them every two months until we are able to return, Lord willing next year.
In total we saw and gave free medical attention and medicine to about 400 people! Most of these people got to hear a clear presentation of the gospel and experience Christ’s love through the service of some of His children and your support. The medical team saw everything from the common cold to TB, Leprosy, infected wounds and adults and children with fevers. Please continue to pray for the missionary who follows up on the villages every two months and for that the Lord will continue to use the local church leaders and members to reach their own people. We plan to return next year if God allows.
