The Power of Paper in Peru…
Through Our Paper Partners
By Dalila Correa
What a great privilege and blessing it is to serve our God, and at the same time a huge responsibility to be able to fulfill the call and the assigned task in the best possible way, to give Him all the honor and glory.
Source of Light Peru had been facing difficult situations since 2017. Serious illnesses in our staff, loss of a faithful helper, and personal illnesses in 2019 made us make the decision to stay in the United States to take care of our health. God, in His mercy, provided a person to remain in Peru with SLM Peru. Enrique Machado, who had traveled with us to the interior when promoting the literature several times when he was younger, has studied the lessons himself since his teenage years. Now, as an adult, he was willing to help part time with SLM Peru.
Enrique, with great enthusiasm, prepared sample packages and started visiting churches that did not know about our material. He spent hours preparing updated information and documents to promote the use of SLM literature, such as filling orders of the Associate Discipleship Schools (ADS). Soon he was running out of material, so he submitted a very large request to Headquarters, as he did not have enough stock to supply the requests.
At the same time the pandemic appeared, and we all are aware of how this affected the entire world. Peru was the first country in Latin America to suffer this impact. Given the large number of infections and deaths, the churches could not congregate, but they needed to continue with the preaching of the Word of God and discipleship. An imminent urgency for people to know the message of salvation through His Word was obvious. Many people left this world without the security of eternal life. Our other DTBs in Latin America were facing the same need of Source of Light literature, to supply the requests and needs they were facing in their own countries. The Word of God is the tool that He has given us, and we must share it with people, so they can be added to the kingdom of God. (See Isaiah 55:10–11.)
Enrique, as the leader of the ministry in Peru, began to receive phone calls from diverse districts of Lima, as well as cities in the interior of the country, with interest in receiving our lessons to learn more about the Word of God. Pastors and other Christians requested information to receive and be able to use Source of Light materials in their churches and communities. Some of them had been discipled with our lessons, others by reference, and even some through our Facebook page, and are now pastoring a congregation. They testified to the effectiveness of the Source of Light lessons in the discipleship work and the teaching of sound doctrine.
At this stage, we were facing two difficulties. First was the lack of lesson material in the office. As SLM began to share times of prayer, by Zoom, with all the missionaries around the world, we were praying to our Heavenly Father to supply the needed literature. It was a time where we cried out to God for direction and His divine intervention. We rejoiced and gave thanks to God when Madison confirmed that the shipments of lessons were on their way to three of our DTBs in the region, Peru included. We praise God and at the same time are deeply grateful for each of the Paper Partners that God touched, who provided what was needed to make it possible to ship the materials to us.
The second difficulty was the shutdown of the countries to send materials to the interior, since the whole countries were closed. In Peru, intercity bus service was stopped. At the same time, there were very strict restrictions on moving around the city. Meanwhile, we remained in continuous prayer so that the shipment would arrive in Peru soon and could be removed from customs without complications, and since now the political situation was added to the existing health circumstances. We kept praying for protection for Enrique, who tried to supply the order requests in Lima with the few lessons that he had on the shelves. He felt frustrated when answering the phone calls or emails, for not having enough material in the office to supply the orders. Keeping the most rigorous care and protocol, he traveled by bicycle at the beginning to deliver the lessons, and then by bus, as he had to do too much paperwork to get around in his own car and without the certainty that he would get permission. But he was confident that God would lead and protect him. “Up to now God has taken care of me, and He will continue to do so because He has promised. I will continue with all due care, and protocol, but I must fulfill the task placed in my hands.”
Obstacles arose to remove the boxes of lessons from customs, so we kept crying out to God, and He again answered our prayers. The Source of Light shipment was cleared from Customs and transported to the office. God continues protecting Enrique, who is now distributing the lessons to different parts of the city and all regions in the country. “God works in many ways in people’s lives, and one of these is through Source of Light,” are Enrique’s words. We must add,
“through all the prayers and Paper Partners that make it possible for us to provide the tools to bring people into a mature relationship with Jesus Christ and into a local church family.”
