AMOR Projects sponsors medical, evangelistic and dental work in eastern Peru, ministering to the physical and spiritual needs of people in small villages.
For the last three years Roundtable Sabbath School has been partnering with AMOR by supporting pastors and Bible workers doing evangelistic work.
In 2007 Touch of Love conducted six six-week long medical/evangelistic campaigns in different areas of eastern Peru. In these meetings there is typically an evangelist that gives the sermons and two or three pastors/Bible workers that visit and give Bible studies in the homes.
In January 2007 the team traveled north to hold a campaign in a small community near Tarapoto, once the center of Peru's terrorism and drug war conflicts. Two church groups had previously been established in Tarapoto and the Touch of Love team was asked to come to help strengthen these groups. As a result of the meetings 76 souls were baptized and established in the churches.
In some places where evangelistic meetings are held, there is no Adventist church building. A local Adventist saw-mill owner has come to the rescue and gives her services at a reduced rate in collaboration with a donation from AMOR Projects. The results are beautiful little church buildings.
But the devil is never one to let a good thing continue. As the mission's tent was being taken down in one location, a large section of the tent roof was stolen. Several nights when the wind picked up and stars were blocked from view by angry clouds the team prayed that God would take control. Although some nights they had sprinkles and the attending group was obligated to squish together under the one remaining covered area, they have not yet cancelled a meeting due to rain.
Masisea is accessible only by river from Pucallpa. Attempts have been made by Adventists to plant a church there over the years. Each time there was a few baptisms, but the group never seemed to survive long. Most people considered Masisea a hopeless cause.
The first Masisea campaign was held in November 2006. At that time Touch of Love didn't have a tent so all meetings were held in the open-air of the town plaza. Nine people were baptized, an extremely low result. It seemed another failure, especially when the district pastor avoided responsibility for maintaining the newly formed group. By summer 2007 there was not one person left of the nine who had been baptized. However, Touch of Love refused to believe that Masisea was impenetrable.
In April the team returned, this time with a tent. They set it up across the street from the plaza and immediately had the town's attention. This time God blessed their efforts with sixty baptisms and a strong church attendance. God worked another miracle and provided a donation that made it possible to purchase land and money for basic construction of a small church! The members worked hard to prepare the ground, machete the grass, repair an old bathroom on-site, and cut and haul the main beams from the jungle.
As of December, the church is nearing completion. Touch of Love team members have been encouraging the Masisea church family by worshiping with them often in the past few weeks. They are committed to making sure the church thrives and grows.
Most of the campaigns that Touch of Love conducts are near Pulcallpa, but in November 2007 the team traveled eight hours over rough roads to Ciudad Constitucion, in the heart of cocaine country where a family may appear to live in utter poverty but have a cash crop of cocaine down the road in the jungle.
Pastor Robin Mamani, the chaplain that Roundtable sponsored in 2005, is now the senior pastor of the district. It is a huge area that requires much travel, hiking, and roughing it to keep up with his many churches. At his invitation the team went there to strengthen the existing congregation and to create a sister church across the bridge on the other side of town.
The team set up the tent in the center of town and meetings began. Only a few nights into the meetings, an evangelical group set up an outdoor platform just a stone's throw from the tent and put on a lively program obviously competing for attention. The group stayed only one night and moved on, while our meetings continued undisturbed.
During clinic week the nurses took down names and addresses of those interested in the public health program. The problem came the next week when they went to visit those same families and realized something about Constitucion. It appears there is no set method of finding houses unless you've been there once! Perhaps something to do with the insecurity and fear that comes with the cocaine trade. The list finally had to be scrapped and they started over, knocking on doors.
But despite the problems, God had plans for Constitucion. The meetings concluded on November 17 with a final baptism of 83 people.
The team is finishing out the year with one final campaign in a small village, Luz Divina. That name means "divine light." Pray that divine light will indeed shine in Luz Divina and more souls will learn about the God Who loves them.
All told, the evangelistic campaigns that Touch of Love has conducted in 2007 have resulted in 439 baptisms with one campaign still in progress. Plans for 2008 include eight evangelistic series.
Roundtable Sabbath School is prayerfully seeking to continue supporting Bible workers and pastors and provide money for land and church buildings. If you would like to join in this act of faith, make your checks out to the Collegedale Church and write "Roundtable Special Projects Fund" on the memo line.
Updates on the evangelistic work (and other projects) of Touch of Love are available by writing to dekkens@southern.edu or jenstergirl2001@yahoo.com.
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