God Restores Our Broken Hearts

This year, the Holy Spirit convicted our hearts with the theme from Isaiah 54, “Expect Great Things!” As we embarked on our short term mission trip [STMT] to Peru, we were excited to see what God had in store for us.

The missionaries visited 4 COJ churches and directed a 2-day VBS for a total of 200 COJ children. The first 3 churches were in Huancayo, a city in the Andes mountain at an altitude of 11,000 ft, and the last church was located in Satipo, a tropical city in the Amazon rainforest.

During the 2-day VBS, we shared 4 main themes with the children, one being that God restores our broken hearts. Miraculously, on our last day, that theme came to fruition. This is the story of Araceli. She’s 6-years-old, and she loves to dance and sing praises. To our sadness, we found out that her mother passed away from COVID. As a result, her oldest sister named Susaly takes care of the family when the father is away from home. Their father works as a farmer so he leaves the home before the girls are awake, and comes home late sometimes if there is work. They live in a rented shed behind the church in Satipo (“Castillo Fuerte”).

While our mission team was doing VBS, somehow Araceli’s father stayed home that day. A few of the missionaries, along with the pastor, visited his home. It was evident that he was still grieving the loss of his beloved wife, and he didn’t understand why she was taken away so early. However, when the missionaries shared the gospel, the Holy Spirit touched his heart, and he received Jesus as his Lord and Savior. From that moment on, his face lit up, and he was filled with the joy and peace of Christ. God restored his broken heart and gave him a new hope. Immediately afterwards, he came out and served the church and the missionaries by cleaning, preparing coconut water, and helping out wherever he could.

When we shared this good news with his children, Yuvaly, the second oldest daughter started to weep. This was the prayer that she had been waiting for to be answered. And God finally answered. As the Lord uses us to continue to support little Araceli and her family while on this earth, this family now has the hope of once again reuniting with their beloved mother in heaven, to praise the Lord day and night, forever and ever. It is our prayer that we will continue to witness and testify of God’s amazing goodness and grace to the ends of the earth.