I am so thankful to the Lord for the many blessings that He continually showers upon us every morning. One of the greatest blessings that God has given to us, as His people, is the prophetic gift. We have the unlimited treasure trove within the Word of God, but God has done even more. He has given to us the gift of the Spirit of Prophecy. For His rebellious ancient people, the Bible records, “And the Lord God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place: but they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, till there was no remedy.” 2 Chronicles 36:15, 16. Despite the treatments of God’s messengers through the history of the Judah and Israel, still He sends messengers to help us along the heavenward way. I have recently begun to reread the Testimonies and have been abundantly blessed by the instructions contained therein. While there is an abundance of pertinent counsel, one thought that has impressed me recently is found in Testimonies, vol. 1, 618, “We are living in a solemn time amid the closing scenes of this earth’s history, and God’s people are not awake. They must arouse and make greater progress in reforming their habits of living, in eating, in dressing, in laboring and resting.” May we arouse to the times in which we live and make greater progress in preparing for our Lord’s coming!

Dr. Monteza with the lady who rescued the brochure from the street and began coming to the meetings

In addition to the abundant blessings within the Bible and Spirit or Prophecy, I am also thankful to the Lord for His blessings in our labors for Him. As I write, I am still in Peru, but will be traveling back home very soon. The Lord’s presence has been with us and blessed the labors here in Juliaca, Peru. As we got into the program, each day included a 6:30 morning meeting for training the youth and others interested in doing Bible work. Eric Rosa (a graduate from the Taquara Institute in Brazil) and I took turns sharing how to give Bible studies, answer objections, etc. Then in the middle of the morning, Dr. Franco Monteza led out in a free health clinic. Dr. Monteza would counsel people regarding their health while we did family and spiritual counseling with the people. In the evening were the nightly evangelistic meetings with people from all over. There were generally between seventy to one hundred people coming each evening, depending on the weather and market conditions. One day as we came in, the upper balcony was packed with a noisy crowd. Uncertain what was going on, we inquired and found out that the city workers were waiting in line to get paid. When the meeting began, the noise quieted down as the security guards and waiting crowd listened intently to the message. The Lord blessed in a special way that evening as the gospel was presented. While we may never know until eternity, I pray that some of the seeds planted among those who came to get their paycheck will result in them finding an eternal paycheck. Near the end of the meetings, we approached one of the church members who had faithfully come to the morning and evening meetings and suggested that one of the newcomers who we had just talked with would be a very good Bible study candidate. She responded that not only had she already set up Bible studies with her, but that she had already gotten two other Bible studies from the meetings! The Bible worker training program was indeed bearing fruit! Another lady testified the last Sabbath that she had found a piece of paper on the ground, picked it up and gone home, cleaned up the crumpled and dirty paper, discovered it was an invitation to our meetings, decided to come and discovered eternal truth! Even though the invitation fell on the wayside, a faithful soul picked it up, and it is now bearing fruit to eternal life! Praise the Lord for these and many others, and we ask for your continued prayer for the many other souls who have and are still making decisions!

Evangelistic meetings in Juliaca, Peru

Yours in the Master’s service,

Gethsemane Church in Juliaca, Peru