[0:00] Wow, thank you Charlotte. We have the privilege today of having Alejandro with us. Alejandro is coming from Lima, Peru.
[0:11] ! And Pickens First Baptist Church has had a long relationship with Alejandro over the years! going back to some of the first mission trips, if not the first mission trip this church ever took. Alejandro served as a translator for this church.
[0:29] Back in the early days of going to the mountains in the canta region of Peru. And one of the stories I love to share, because this was before I ever came, that I've heard.
[0:43] And so I think I got the details correct in the first one. And Alejandro will touch on this and he can correct me if I get anything wrong. But he's translating for Boots Holder in the mountains of Peru.
[0:56] And I think he said in the first one, it was like the Romans road. And he said in the middle of that, he stops and turns and faces Boots and says, I believe all of this.
[1:08] Well, they began to have a conversation in English. The church people don't know what the world they're saying, but they can understand something special is going on. And over time, Alejandro receives Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior.
[1:24] And Pastor Jaime, who was our partner up in the mountains, baptized him in the river of Peru. Since that day, Alejandro has grown as a disciple of Christ.
[1:37] And now he's going to the jungles and starting churches and making disciples. Look, that is what missions and that is what Christianity is all about.
[1:49] And Pickens First Baptist, especially if you were here in the early days of going to Peru, and you were involved in that, you see how missions has come full circle of going and planting and sowing the seed to where it has grown and producing fruit for the kingdom of God.
[2:07] And so Alejandro, come and share with us what the Lord has laid on your heart today. Thank you. Well, I have to set the chronometer.
[2:29] I've been told that to be very sharp on the timing. And I have to, because my wife told me that I have the spiritual gift of making people sleep.
[2:46] And I'm sorry. I promised my leaders not to tell funny things, but I see it's the first time I have to speak in English in a place full of gringos.
[3:04] And so I'm American believers. And it's a strong impact for me to coming from Atlanta to Greenville and then straight U.S.
[3:20] With all that information, we came straight with Brother Dwayne. We came straight to the sanctuary. It was probably the first thing I really, and I was walking here and I said, Oh, this is awesome.
[3:35] Minutes later, I found out that I was to speak here. Oh, I thought I was in another place for missions. 15 minutes, pictures, nice.
[3:47] Not here. I'm not supposed to be here. But the Lord will have to face. And it's a great privilege to be here, brother.
[3:59] You don't know. My heart is overflowing with gratitude for this moment. God bless you. And you don't know how blessed you are. Because you have the calling of Jesus to go and make this happen.
[4:12] You took it seriously. And I witnessed it. Maybe some of you are new in this church. But 20 some years ago, this church sent people back to my country.
[4:27] And they make a change. They make a change. Oh, Jim. Wow. If God spoke to me, it was through him.
[4:41] Oh, poor Jim. Poor, I mean, all those questions I did sometimes. Jim was like, oh, now what? But God filled his heart with so much information.
[4:56] And here I am, brothers. Here I am. And yes, I came to this sanctuary. And then came to another sanctuary of overflowing American culture.
[5:10] Called Waffle House. There I learned what is a waffle. A real waffle.
[5:24] Prepared by this kind. Can I say redneck cook? Oh, wonderful. What they said back in my country as American food is far from that.
[5:38] And I'm afraid. This is what I have against some people. Only some of you sitting here. You never told me how good was the food here.
[5:50] Beans. Yes, beans. Good. Oh, red, white, green, black, clean, dirty.
[6:01] All of them. I ate them all. Good beans. I love them. These pork and beans. Oh, delicious. The only one thing is that no Spanish at all.
[6:17] Very little Spanish. Not even Mexicans speak Spanish anymore. You better start learning because that's the language spoken in heaven. Okay.
[6:31] Now, my leaders tell me signs to start with my presentation. And, yeah.
[6:45] The Lord put in my heart this portion of scripture in Matthew 28 that we all read. Right? And it says, go and make disciples.
[6:59] Yeah. It's the Lord Jesus. He gives many commands. Right? He commanded to forgive. He commanded to repent. He commanded many other things.
[7:11] But at the end, before going, he told to those who walked with him for almost three years. He told them, go and make disciples.
[7:25] Teach them to obey all what I've taught. Okay. And this is what I'm doing. Because 20 some years ago, your church went to my country.
[7:39] And I encourage you to keep doing it. And do it with the same love those guys started doing it. And I'd like to mention those who already departed.
[7:55] Brothers like David Moody, Don and Betty Austin, Percy, Alder. They are in heaven now.
[8:06] But I have a piece of them in my heart. And we, I hope someday, meet with them in heaven. Amen.
[8:17] Amen. The first picture I'd like to see, please. Okay. This is my family.
[8:29] From left to right. The chubby girl is my older daughter, Patricia.
[8:41] She studies law someday. And next year she will finish. And she's a lawyer. She will be a lawyer. She is now in training. She's doing some practicing, something like that.
[8:55] And I remember when she was a year and a half, it was hard to argue with her. Everything had argument.
[9:07] And she had something against everything. So I stopped arguing and said, okay, that's it. The next one is my wife.
[9:22] She allowed me to talk about many things. She's a baker. She comes from a family of bakers. And yeah, when I started ministry for a long time, well, those cakes put food in my table.
[9:39] Because at that time I was in change of jobs. And well, thanks to her. And she allowed me to tell many things about that age and weight.
[9:55] I'm not allowed to talk about that. I learned early in my marriage that when sometimes ladies talk about certain things, it's better to keep your mouth closed.
[10:12] I call it a godly silence. Amen, brothers? Oh, but the next one is my brother, son, who is 13 years old.
[10:31] Oh, he plays soccer. He plays basketball. He wants to be an astronaut. And he wants to also be a, well, let's keep guiding him in the word of God.
[10:44] And hopefully someday he will be a man who honors God in every side of his life. The next one, well, the next one is me.
[10:56] This is two years ago. I still have hair there. So I can tell you. The next one is my second daughter. She's 19.
[11:07] She studies biochemistry. Whatever is that, I don't know. She explained once that it's related to the chemical reaction or effects in the body depending on, and I cannot say anything else.
[11:29] She kind of gave me an explanation and just said, yes, honey, I understand you. Keep on doing. I love you. What else could I say?
[11:39] I have no clue what she said. But a father should know everything, right? That's why I said, yes, I understand. Why?
[11:53] Well, I wanted you to show you a little bit about my family. Because in missions, that's very important. A family.
[12:04] You cannot go to the nations to make disciples. If you don't have back home a wife who believes in what you're doing, who prays a family that is there waiting for you when you come back.
[12:19] Oh, it's so sad to see. I've seen godly men, guys who knew the Bible and loved God, and they went to the world to make disciples, but they didn't have a supporting wife who believed in what he said.
[12:41] That, he didn't last too much. And I've seen even American couples going in missions and not being successful because there were some problems.
[12:53] So, missions needs two things. A God calling and a godly family.
[13:06] And I believe the Lord sent this family to support me and a godly church to help me. Amen. Oh, amen.
[13:18] The next picture. Okay, go. It says, yes, we go with the support of our families, but sometimes we don't know where to go until the Lord guides us to the real place.
[13:36] So, and I have at the beginning the calling to go to another place.
[13:47] It was a place in a... Hey, what happened with my... You tell me when I'm ready to, please.
[13:59] Okay. I did not put the chronometer, so I need the blessing of someone who tell me when should I... It's back. It's back.
[14:10] Sorry. Where I was? Oh, go. At the beginning was... The plan was to go somewhere to another place.
[14:22] In time, it did not work. I said to myself, maybe this is the wrong place, or maybe this is not a calling. So, I talked to someone who helped me that my calling is there to help me understand that sometimes the Lord did not give you a map.
[14:41] The Lord didn't give a map to Moses, or did you see the map? No, right? He just went.
[14:53] The Lord didn't give a map to Abraham, or have you ever found it? I'm looking for it. He just... He said go, and he went.
[15:04] So, the same thing is nowadays. Sometimes we are called to a place, but thus the Lord guides us, and we end up in the right place, and I believe the Shaniqas were the right place.
[15:19] The Shaniqas, they live in many parts of Peru, in the jungle, and also you find Shaniqas in other parts, in other countries, like Brazil.
[15:31] There are Shaniqas also in Colombia. There are some Shaniqas also in Ecuador. So, they are in many places. We are centered in the Shaniqas that live along the Tambo River.
[15:42] In time, we are planning to expand to the Eno River, which is another river where there are also a Shaniqa people. And besides the Shaniqa, we also evangelize.
[15:57] This happened like five, six years ago. Another ethnic group. I didn't know they were. There were another ethnic group. They are called Kakintes.
[16:08] They don't live near the river. They live in the woods. With them, I learned what is the meaning of near and far.
[16:20] Near is five, six hours walking. That's near. Far is a week walking. So, when you go in the Bible, you see that everything was walking.
[16:34] A couple of days. Maybe a week walking. And every time I see them walking, I resemble. That resembles me. How? It's like when Jesus resurrected and appeared to the two Marys at the grave.
[16:51] And he said, oh, tell the disciples to meet me in Galilee. Galilee was like 90 miles from there. So, they had to walk over at least a couple of days.
[17:06] Ten hours a day walking. Maybe more. You see. And when I see how long it takes to go there.
[17:17] Okay. With Lima traffic, maybe an hour to go from my house to the bus stop. Overnight to go, yes, probably more than 12 hours.
[17:33] Sometimes, like the last trip we did, it took like forever. And then, two hours by taxi to the harbor to get in the boat.
[17:46] And then, four hours in a boat. And it was all sitting. I don't have to walk. When I compare that with those guys who walk hours to the discipleship every month.
[18:03] In our wake, coming and going back home. I say, I feel blessed because I don't have to walk that far. So, if you feel, you think, oh, Alejandro does a great effort.
[18:19] No, no, no. That's not a great effort. Great effort is that one, these brethren come just to hear the word of God. So, brothers, sisters, we need your support in this.
[18:34] Pray. Pray for those who are always willing to come just to hear the word of God. The lessons that are going to help in them to overcome situations and preach the gospel beyond.
[18:50] Because the discipleship is about that. Train believers to go and make disciples. Because a disciple makes disciples.
[19:05] What? The reason? To go and make more disciples. That's how the Lord put in our hearts to go and send the message.
[19:15] Evangelizing. Evangelism is very important. Many churches in my country do a great job of evangelizing. They go, they print good material.
[19:28] But that's not enough. If we want to send to all, to the far places of Peru, we need more discipleship.
[19:39] And that's a weak side. I should recognize that's a weak side in many churches. That's not all. Some of them are doing a great job. But most do not believe in this, what we share.
[19:52] This is what I see. This is what this church does every week. Discipleship. Over there, it's not. Some others want to keep believers clapping, singing, and giving money and ready for next Sunday.
[20:07] Which is not what the scriptures teach. The next picture.
[20:23] Is there a next picture? Okay. Nations. Okay. I already said it. But the nation is the Ashanica nation. In the last century, those guys were really undermined.
[20:41] They were treated. They were called another name. They were called Kampa. Kampa. That's how people call them. Kampa.
[20:53] And Kampa means like human beings of a second level. Kampa. Not slaves. But like, I cannot find a word in English.
[21:07] But it's like a very low level people. And they treat them very bad. But in time, in time, things changed in my country. And they started giving them, not like the level of a tribe, but now is a nation.
[21:23] The Ashanica nation. And that's how I call them. Ashanica nation. And there's another group. The Kakinta nation. And there's another ethnic group called Nomadzigenga nations.
[21:39] There's another group called the Shipibo nation. We are not covering those zones yet. Because we still don't have, you need many, many, many things to consider.
[21:54] You need people with a calling to go. You need resources to send them. Many more things to consider.
[22:06] But in time, when the disciples start growing and making more disciples, those areas will be covered.
[22:21] How I started going into the nations. Okay. Our brother here almost gave me without any information extra to say.
[22:32] All I can say is that I met the Lord through translation. As I translated the Roman road.
[22:47] The different Bible verses. The discussions. The comments. The conversations.
[23:00] Among believers. Among missionaries. The word of God. That is sharper than any double-edged sword.
[23:13] Trespassed me. And one day. As I was translating. I said, hey. I believe all that. That's true. And that happened with a boots holder.
[23:27] And many other times. While I was translating. For a gym. In the middle of a translation. I had to say, hey. What does that mean?
[23:38] And he explained to me. And I said, but why is this? And he explained to me. And people was there like, what? What's going on? Yes.
[23:48] Yeah. I probably. I did not. It was not proper what I did. But it was a heart that was beginning to grow.
[24:01] It was a heart that began to be tender. And when that happens. You sometimes lose the sense where you are. And I was in the middle of translation.
[24:14] For a moment I thought. I forgot I was translating. And I became one more believer. Who was willing to know more. And in time.
[24:24] Yeah. I corrected that. In time. I stopped. I stopped. Interrupting. But.
[24:36] Things change. In my heart. Things change. Up to the point. That. The gifting. I used to have for translating. Ended.
[24:47] I cannot say. That I still. I still can translate. As I used to. Because that's a gifting. I lost. To tell the truth. But I.
[24:58] Understand now. That the Lord wants me. Somewhere. Other than. Translating. Once I had.
[25:09] I started. Discipleship. In this small town. City. A small city. Called Masamari. There was a group. Of more or less. 13. 14 guys.
[25:19] So it came a time. When. It was time to. To go. From there. And we. Decided to go. To this river.
[25:32] To this place. We. Of course. They all. We all. Got an agreement. We talked. Now when. When do we go. And they all said. Let's go to the center. Down in the river.
[25:43] Poyini. So we. I was thinking. Oh. But those guys. Are very tough. I've been with. Admission trips there. In one. In one trip. They threw us.
[25:53] They kicked us. Out of town. They threw stones to us. They say. Get out of here. Yeah. They say. Get it out of here. In their language.
[26:03] So we had to leave. And they threw stones. I was like. A little bit discouraged. But in time. I learned. This is how the enemy. Defends.
[26:15] His land. We were entering. A whole land. Controlled by the evil one. For years. Of years. In those lands. They worship.
[26:27] The enemy. They have these shamans. They still do. Perform those. Ceremonies. And some. Sometimes. I've been warned. This so and so.
[26:38] Says. That I'm going to crawl. Like a snake. If I. If I keep going. Well. I'm still here. I'm waiting.
[26:50] Deal with my Lord. Just be careful. And. This is like. Four years ago.
[27:02] I was in. Because. The. The. COVID-19. Made me go.
[27:12] Because we could not go out. We were not allowed to go out. And. We stood inside the house. All day. Around. And.
[27:23] I. I started going into TV. After a long time. And. I was seeing the news. And going in. Internet. I started going through it.
[27:34] So. I learned. There was something called. Facebook. I didn't know about that. So. I was interested. You put there. You put names. And they start appearing. People like.
[27:45] And in one of those. Like. How do you call. I don't know how. I don't even know. How to call those. That. When it appears someone.
[27:56] You. You could be related to. How do you call them. Hey kids. Help me. People you might know. Yeah. People you might. Yes. Yes. Yes. Gente que repente conozco.
[28:07] Yeah. That's it. That's it. That's in Spanish. And. Appeared someone. I met a long time ago. In missions. In Canta. This person.
[28:18] Worked with children. Did an awesome. Oh. An awesome. Job. And I made a contact. To make sure she.
[28:29] Under. She. Knew. Who I was. I make some kind of. Comments. Resembling. Things that. Happened. In the past. Certain.
[28:41] Kind of. Quite embarrassing. Situations. Which I'm not going to mention. I. I promise not to do it. And. Answer. Probably.
[28:52] Two weeks later. They. Answer. Those. That. Let's say. Greetings. I call it. Greetings. And. Yeah. She.
[29:03] Resembled. An embarrassing. Situation. To me too. So. I said. Oh. That's the one. And. We. We. Restarted. Like a. Some kind of.
[29:15] Common. Relationship. It was. This is. Was. Something new. For me. I never used. Facebook. So. To befriend people. In one of those.
[29:28] Messages. I said. Hey. Are you ready. To come to Peru? The jungle is ready. There's lots of kids. Hundreds. Thousands. If you want.
[29:39] They are ready. For someone like you. And. This. Person said. No. No. There's no way. I can go. My time. Ministry. There is.
[29:51] I'm very busy now. I have this. And that. And that. And I. Well. I kept doing. And. Making more. Invitations.
[30:02] And one of these. This. Person said. I cannot go there. Because I know. How bathrooms are. A hole. In a hut. And I'm not.
[30:12] I'm not ready. For that. Spiritual step. And he said. Well. Unless there's. A commode. Unless there's.
[30:23] A bathroom. I would. Start thinking. So. Probably. Fifteen days later. I sent. A picture. Of a commode. When I bought it.
[30:38] I. I. I. I took it from the boat. And I carried it. To the place. People were thinking. How can I cook. In this. Stove.
[30:53] It was. Set. It was. Already set. I took a picture. I said. Okay. Sister. There you have. Your. Commode. And.
[31:07] To tell the truth. She started. Thinking it. Seriously. And a year later. She came with a trip. A wonderful. Successful. Trip. She planned.
[31:18] For 65 kids. 250. Kids. Appeared. Oh. You should have seen her. Creating more. Because.
[31:30] They ran out of crosses. They ran out of beads. They ran out. There were so many. Even ladies. As you have seen. Maybe. In the other presentation. There were even ladies.
[31:42] Doing those crafts. For children. Oh. Great. Great. Great. Movement. What.
[31:52] Started. As I translated. Twenty some years ago. Now. It's in my heart. And it's part of my life.
[32:04] Because. A church like this. Was faithful to the calling of God. Go. And make. Disciples. Of all nations.
[32:15] Now. This church is part of that. The. Reaching. The Shanika nation. And. No matter.
[32:26] If you go once. Or twice a year. I don't know. But if you're praying for. You're part. Of that. And. I praise the Lord. For that day.
[32:37] That I made this church. Long time ago. How am I doing in time? I have. Five more minutes. Okay. Yeah. They. They did the. Sign.
[32:48] We have. Expectations. Yes. We would like to expand more. But it should be.
[32:58] In God's time. God's. Effort. God's funds. And God's will. And. I'm really thankful. For the great opening.
[33:10] This church. Has. I would like to apologize. For maybe I said something wrong. Like gringo. But. It was safe.
[33:20] From a heart. That. Loves God. And. To a heart. That has God. In between. In the middle of you.
[33:31] God bless you. Brothers. I love you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.