In last month’s newsletter, we shared a story of the “Bread of Life” church in Piura, a city in northern Peru that borders Ecuador. After several years of heavy rains and strong winds, the roof and walls were no longer able to provide a safe place for the members of that church to gather together. But God had called and moved our hearts to come to rebuild that worship place, but God had moved so many hearts and changed so many people to achieve His purpose. It started even before the HHK WMC was involved in Piura. A pastor from Piura was in a member of the Christian Military Association, had met, then our Peru director Sister Carmen before and joined in ABBA Peru conference. He was ministering in Piura. So, when another church was torn down from the flooding in 2017, he already knew who could help. And that’s how we were connected to Piura and subsequently to “Bread of Life” church. As we were thinking of what the new church building was to look like, God used people from a generous sponsor in Maryland to a Riverside Tree alumni, who studied architecture in Peru to build God’s beautiful temple. Even during construction, God brought together the church members to help with laying the foundation, erecting the walls, and every step in-between. Small children even came to help spackle the walls. This was more than just getting a new church; it was the gathering of God’s family together. The entire roof was done by a local pastor who attends our ABBA conferences. While all that is missing are a few coats of paint, this all goes to show that while we are never certain of how or who God will use for His purpose; God calls upon all His people to come gathered under His spirit to do His grand work and be the light to this world! Amen.

Piura is a city on the northern border of Peru, adjacent to Ecuador. Due to the climate change, Piura has been hit hard by heavy rain and flooding. There is a church where our COJ Children are gathered to worship our God. It is the “Bread of Life Church.” This church has suffered greatly due to the rain and flooding. Their worship place is in terrible shape. The roof is leaking terribly and the walls are covered with smelly molds. And the children worship God in this terrible condition. No one knows how much longer they will last. There is no hope for them that things will get better. The church is so poor, and their pastor is one of the poorest in that community. We are reminded of a verse in Matthew. “A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.” (Matt 12:20) The “Bread of Life Church” is perhaps this bruised reed. This reed shows no sign of surviving. This wick has no hope of burning brightly once again. But our God is merciful and gracious. He desires to heal this bruised reed and rekindle this smoldering wick. He therefore called us. And He inspired and moved our hearts to rebuild their worship place. The construction has begun to provide a cleaner, safer, and more spacious environment for them to worship. And we want to thank you, all the sponsors, for being the channel of God’s love and power to these bruised reeds all over the world. Please pray that the construction will be finished in time before the rain comes again. We will bring you the joyous news next month.

Praise the Lord! Our God has been and is still working to save lost people even during these overwhelmingly disastrous times. Located near the eastern seashore of Central India is a small village named Kodavali, where only a handful of Christians live among the village of 5,000 people. This village had no running water and no one could afford to build a water well. But our God had a wonderful plan to provide for these people and used our sponsors to fund a well for them. Now, every time these non-believing villagers draw water from their new well they will read these words on the plaque next to it: “A gift from Jesus. He loves you!” Please continue to pray the whole village will come to drink the water of life through Jesus Christ.

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