Another interesting letter from our brother, Renante, in Peru...
Olmos, Peru. (November 17-23, 2014) - Greetings from Olmos, 3000
meters (9,800+ feet) elevation! Coming from two different places from
previous Conventions, all the workers here in Peru plus four of us
visitors arrived here at Olmos Convention Grounds Monday the 17th. The
Convention Grounds is a little further up the hill from where the road
is, so we got off to where we started our ascent. Some of our friends
with their horses were waiting for us.... And they kindly took our back
packs so we could work our way up without carrying a heavy load. Our
group managed to get to the Convention Grounds just before the rain
poured. It was still raining when the second group arrived a couple of
hours later. The oldest sister worker here in Peru, Señorita Sara, 82
years old, still does very well going up and down the hills!
Below is a picture taken from a hill showing both The Olmos Convention
tent.... And approximate location of the Coyunde Convention Grounds.
Around two hours walk in between these two Conventions.
The nights were cold while we were in Olmos! I got up in the middle of
the night and I thought someone poured a bucket of ice water on top of
me! I quickly pulled all the extra covers i could find...... But i
didn't seem to get enough! It got down to 5 degrees C inside our room!
Brrrrrrrr!!! When we went outside, all the fields were white! The leaves
are all covered with frost! I got a little bit excited as it was my
first time to see frost!
The late Don Amadeo, as I mentioned in
my last letter, brought the workers here in Olmos in 1976. This area was
then infested by cattle thieves, criminals, bandits, you name it! It
was an area where the law doesn't exist. They told about a man who asked
another man what time it was as they met along the way. The other
fellow didn't answer. The first man draw his gun and shot the other man
in the head! Well, Don Amadeo assured the two foreign workers that it
will be safe for them to come to Olmos and preach the gospel. He must
have been a man with great influence! Many of the people in the area
witnessed the great change in Don Amadeo's life.... And many have taken
an interest and professed. One man, a close relative of Don Amadeo,
where we had lunch in his home said, "We know Don Amadeo as a very very
bad man. But after the gospel came to his life, he became a new man. A
good man, a godly man."
There were 30 of us workers at Olmos
Convention. From Tuesday to Thursday, we divided ourselves into several
groups and went out for lunch and visits with the friends, 12 homes each
day! So in three days, workers were in 36 different homes.... the
farthest would be just about two kilometers from the Convention Grounds!
The Convention Tent in Olmos.
Not long after
the gospel was brought in Olmos.... and quite a few have professed in
the area, came big oppositions. The workers have been working between
Coyunde and Olmos at that time. One day the brothers were to have an
afternoon meeting in Olmos. The brothers were working in one of the
buildings at the Convention Grounds in Coyunde with Don Carlos, the
owner of the Convention place. They planned to work in the morning and
then go over to Olmos in the afternoon for their meeting. While they
were working, Don Carlos mentioned to the brothers that he doesn't feel
comfortable for them going over to Olmos that day. But the brothers said
they will go. Don Carlos talked to them later again telling his strange
feeling that they should not go to Olmos that day. But the brothers
insisted they will go. Don Carlos went to his room and prayed.... "God, I
told them about my feeling that they should not go to Olmos today...
But I can not stop them. So I am putting this into your hands.... And if
there is something bad that is going to happen, please do something to
stop them." Just as they were getting ready to go to their meeting, that
hot summer day, came a thick black cloud with hail storm! By the time
the hail storm was over, it was already past their meeting time. So the
brothers said to the man of the Convention place, "Okay, Don Carlos, you
won!". Unbeknown to them, there was a group of men that plotted an
ambush to the two brother workers that day! They know the exact time the
brothers will pass a jungly area on their way to Olmos.... So they
waited there well armed! It was while these group of men were waiting
for the brother workers to come that the big hailstorm came... Hail as
big as a man's fist!.... It battered the trees, and left those men who
plotted the ambush badly bruised! Now Don Solomon, who was actually not
with those men, but the leader of the 'ronda', (a group of men that
patrols the village) knows about the plot and gave them the green light
to do so.... listened to the gospel after the incident and professed.
Now he has a son in the work!
Some thoughts shared:
*We don't want to be in a condition where God can not heal us. If I'm not willing to receive His help, there is no healing.
*The most effective armour is to have the love of God.
*God told Moses to remove his shoes. Our feet is one of the most
sensitive part of our body. To not have anything that will protect us
from our feelings. God wanted us to feel things at this Convention.
*We don't always understand when God's hands work, but we can always trust in His hands.
*Joseph found himself far from his country, far from his father and brothers, but he is never far from God.
*It takes a lifetime to build a testimony, and in just a moment, we can ruin it.
*The Potter was asked, "When do you know when the clay is in the center
of the wheel?" "When the clay stops resisting my hands".
*Jesus said, No one can go to the Father but by me. We have to manifest Jesus in our lives.
*The most precious hour of the day is the hour of prayer.
*We might say, Time is passing quickly, there is no time to pray. That
is the reason we must pray... Because time is passing quickly.
*Prayer is our fellowship with God. We can be praying for one hour but if we don't have fellowship with God, its not prayer.
*If we have faith that God is listening to us, this will encourage us to continue to pray.
*Obedience to His will is the greatest expression of our love to God.
*A weapon we just used for the first time in the day of the battle can
not be used to overcome the enemy. What will give us victory is by being
faithful in our daily life.
All the best to you and I hope you continue to see encouraging days..... Like me!
The Picasa link for Pictures in Olmos will follow later.
Your brother, Renante
