Missions: Where North meets South in Peru

Published 9:28 am Saturday, February 28, 2015

Are you ready to receive an awesome blessing? Are you looking for a way and a direction to help others in the name of Jesus? Are you ready and willing to go on a mission trip (discipleship journey)? Are you ready to a serve Christ in another country? Are you ready to be blessed beyond all words and feelings? Simply, are you ready?

If so, look no more! Take that fearless step forward and say yes! Your opportunity is right here in front of you for the taking! All you need is a heart for Jesus and a passport! From the Amazon Jungle in Iquitos to the Andes Mountains in Lima and all across Peru, there are unreached peoples needing a blessing from Jesus. Please consider joining Moultrie’s Heritage Church Peru Mission Team to Lima and the New Hope Children’s Home in Cieneguilla to reach abandoned children and the unreached in surrounding villages during the week of Jun 27-July 4. Pray for guidance and direction as you prepare to make this priceless discipleship journey to our neighbors down south for Christ.

If not, will you consider sponsoring a team member or members for this mission trip (discipleship journey)? Your sponsorship will be a blessing to you, the team member, the child and the villager. To God be the glory!

The purpose of missions is for God to be worshipped by all nations and people groups. Our God is a God of global purpose and He has put in our hearts to share our spiritual gifts and blessings with others, locally and globally. As stated in Mark 16:15, “And He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.’”

The last two years, this team has traveled to Iquitos, Peru, and the Amazon Jungle carrying medicines, food, supplies, evangelism and teaching to villagers in remote pueblos of the rainforests along the Amazon River. For some on this mission, it was their first experience and for others, they had been on this journey many times before. It was life-changing blessing and the experience was priceless! Churches and groups across our lands have been supporting global missions for many years. Taking the Love of Christ and the Word of God to foreign places is routine for many people in south Georgia and across America.

This year our team will be going to Lima, Peru, hosted by Missionaries Mike and Chelene Kennedy, who have been serving the Lord in Peru for several years. Their dedication and service definitely exemplifies their biblical teaching, Christ-centered worship and people-oriented ministry.

Safety is paramount in each mission trip as Mike, Chelene, their children (Mikey, Joshua, Zachary, Mikayla, and Zane) from two to 15 years of age, and their staff thoroughly assess each village before a team visits and ministers. They provide each team member a comfort zone which embraces love, the gospel of Jesus Christ, and safety throughout the week while visiting area villages during the day and staying on the campus of New Life in the evenings.

Mike said, “It is our belief that everyone should be a part of missions. Not everyone can go to a foreign land and live, but everyone can take part in some way or another in foreign missions. Flexibility and a cooperative attitude are your keys to a successful missions experience.”

It is amazing in what the Lord has done at New Life Children’s Home as both the young and the elderly sacrifice their time and resources to come to the home and work to help give hope to these children. Children have been brought from the worst of circumstances to a Home where they are loved and taught that they are special to God their creator. Several children have come to trust the Lord as their personal Savior and commit their lives to serving Him. Children that once were abandoned on the streets, in parks or in the trash become adopted and now have a family to love them and teach them God’s Word. God continues to bless them day after day and meet every need in order to continue this ministry that belongs to Him!

Mission routes into very poor areas with families with very little to almost nothing to eat have been taking soup, rice, vegetables, bread and, most importantly, the Gospel of Jesus Christ to each one there. Heavy wool blankets, Bibles and tracts are given to the homeless living on the streets of Pachacutec and Lima. “We go out at night and find people sleeping on and under benches, in trash dumps, doorways, sidewalks, parks, under bridges and wherever we can to share with them the love of Christ. There are so many wonderful stories of people of all ages, that we’ve been able to help sleeping on the streets with no one to love them” said Mike.

Words do not do justice to the experience each group has shared on previous missions, whether into the jungle or in the mountains or on the streets. Their ministries in reaching the unreached included evangelism, construction, medical and dental attention, food and clothing, teaching and showing Christian love to each one they encountered. Throughout each journey they were able to witness amazing things in the local culture and landscape from unique wildlife, exotic birds and tropical plants to native cuisines and cultures that welcomed everyone with smiles and open arms.

In listening to those who have been there and experienced these blessings, Sarah Harper (Peru 2014) said, “The gospel is pretty simple to me. Jesus lived a perfect life and died a perfect sacrifice to perfect some very imperfect people. Every single person on this earth deserves to hear this message. To know that the God of the heavens created them and loves them more than they could ever comprehend, that is what this trip meant to me.”

Karen Cruley (Peru 2014) said, “I never understood mission trips until now. You have to experience one to understand the passion. This has been one of the most blessed experiences I have had – working with the children in the pueblos, working with our youth, and the whole team. Everyone will be in my thoughts and prayers. The people in the pueblos have given me a joy and peace that I so needed.”

Karen Hayes (Peru 2014) said, “My whole spiritual experience was magnified on this mission trip. I experienced outpouring tears of joy and a deeper, closer connection to God! I stepped outside my comfort zone and was blessed in many ways. It has been a very humbling experience that I will never forget. ”

Pastor Jeff Winter (Peru 2014) said, “One of the best experiences as a believer. I was reminded again that the Gospel is for all people, not just for Americans. Being with like-minded believers, engaging in the same evangelistic effort, was a huge blessing.”

Georgia Hamilton (Peru 2011, 2013, 2014) said, “This is the third time I have been on this trip and it was just as great as the first one. You really fall in love with the people there and to know you are helping them makes it even better. By the time you leave you see that they have helped you just as much as you helped them. It may be in a different way but it’s still a life changing experience. I will be going back as many times as I can.”

And on her second trip, Jennifer Seagle (Peru 2013, 2014) said, “Again, we went to bless the villagers, but we received the greatest blessing through them. Also, I experienced an unexpected assault from Satan on this mission trip but he was defeated by my Savior. People accepted Christ for the first time and others were rededicated as many lives were changed for the better. Christ is alive and well in the jungle.”

And Steve Keller (Peru 2013, 2014) said, “Last year I took my middle daughter Bekah and this year I took my youngest daughter Rachel. Knowing that the experience will have a deep impact on my daughters for the rest of their lives was priceless. What a tremendous time serving the Lord! Seeing and hearing the Amazon villagers worship the Lord in the jungle was awesome. It reminded me of how very powerful God’s Word is. I could feel the Holy Spirit at work.”

And Barry Spivey (Peru 2013, 2014) said, “When I first committed to go to Lima, Peru, on a mission trip, I had all intentions of going and changing the world. Little did I know that I would be the one changed. The orphans and Peruvians showed me true joy, peace, and happiness. They showed me a side of God’s love and grace that I never had the chance to experience back home in my comfort zone.”

These mission trips (discipleship journeys) are priceless – an experience of a lifetime. From sharing our time and efforts in reaching out to the less fortunate in a remote world to making new lifelong friends, our lives are changed forever. Many on the team have maintained communications with our Peruvian interpreters and pastors through social media over the last few years as a means of keeping updated with their new friends to the south. We constantly are praying for them as they request specific prayers each week.

God is showing us that another trip to Peru is part of His plan and our next assignment from Him in spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ to distant lands, reaching the unreached, and “pass it forward” deeds of good will. Is He calling you to serve Him in Peru this summer? Is he calling you to be a sponsor? Will you commit to be a member of or sponsor to this Heritage Team in Lima, Peru? Please consider joining up with this team as a member or a sponsor and serving God in Lima and Cieneguilla on June 27-July 4. You will be glad you did!

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” — 1 Peter 2:9.

“Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous deeds among all peoples.” — Psalm 96:3.

For more information on becoming a member of this team or being a sponsor, contact Seagle at csi_seagle@yahoo.com or call 229-561-9421.