Department Directors Preach for Evangelistic Meetings in Peru

Three Chesapeake Conference department directors recently took a personal mission trip to Peru to preach and conduct evangelistic meetings, resulting in more than 250 baptisms.

Eli Rojas, ministerial director; Orlando Rosales, Hispanic ministries director; and Ignacio Goya, Adventist Community Services field director, traveled to the city of Ilave in the Puno region of Peru for a week of preaching from Aug. 29-Sept. 3. Rojas’s son, Eli Rojas Jr., who pastors in the Carolina Conference, also participated.

The team preached in four locations during the week. Organizers initially arranged to hold the final day of meetings and baptisms on Sabbath at a local stadium. Unfortunately, the venue was canceled the day before because of an obscure soccer league rule that no events could be held on the field 48 hours before a match. After praying to ask God to provide a new venue, church members arranged for the Sabbath meetings to be held in a basketball arena.

Members quickly mobilized and prepared the arena. The highlight of their efforts was an elaborate stage they constructed depicting the New Jerusalem. According to Rojas, the enthusiasm of the local church members was inspiring, and it was powerful to see 250 people get baptized and then celebrate by marching into the “New Jerusalem” together.