Dear Friends and Family,
I wanted to reach out regarding our recent trip to Peru and take a moment to personally thank you for your support, both in prayer and financial assistance! I apologize for the late thank you and hope this letter accurately shows how deep my gratitude is for your impact on my life.
I was thrilled and honored to be able to join this team on our trip to Peru! Thanks be to God for providing the necessary finances through each of you to allow our team to visit Calvary Chapel in Huacho, Peru. Our team was able to partner with Pastor Tippie and his team in Huacho to do street evangelism and various outreaches. Pastor Tippie runs a very friendly and fun approach to evangelism that has seen great success in Peru. He runs a surfing camp for the youth of Huacho and connects to them through games like soccer and volleyball. While our team was in Peru, we joined him in inviting students to events like these and evangelizing in the streets. We would typically do evangelism during the days to invite people to the church’s events and host said events during the evenings. To gain attention in the streets of Huacho, our team performed several group dances and even a drama. It amazed me how God would grab the hearts of the people and create interest in them. Many people would stop to watch the performances. The drama we performed depicted a girl enjoying Jesus and the freedom of life He offers. Then it personified the temptations of this world as people dressed in black; these people would come and steal the girl away from Jesus. In the end the girl found herself alone and depressed, her view of Jesus “blocked” by the temptations she had given in to (the people in black physically stood between her and Jesus to depict this). However, no one can be plucked from Jesus’ hand. In the end, the girl tries to run back to Jesus but is physically stopped by the temptations in black. Jesus eventually breaks through the temptations, running to the girl and shielding her from the people in black who try to get to her. Jesus then destroys the temptations, knocking them over and picking the girl back up off the ground.
Hopefully that description helps you all to visualize what it was like, however it is difficult to describe a video with words. If you would like to watch the video it is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFRYdGihOl4. The skit did a great job of representing the dangers of sins and the forgiving power of Jesus. Our team would then go to the people watching and start conversations but asking them if they understood the skit. If they didn’t we could explain it to them and start a Gospel conversation. Afterward we went to the people, inviting them to the church’s events throughout the week. These simple invitations allowed people to get connected to the church through fun games, Bible studies, and church services. Our team was also able to provide child care, worship, and teaching for many of the church services and Bible studies. This allowed the adults to hear the Word of God uninterrupted. I had the privilege of preaching twice to the church and was amazed at how God spoke through me. The words spoken were not my own, nor the message conveyed my own. God deserves all the glory for the work He did through our team this week and I cannot thank you all enough for your support. We were able to baptize four students in the Pacific Ocean at the end of the week and it was an extremely joyful day. One student named Alex gave his life to Christ during our soccer game event, showing how God can use even simple invitations to fun events to change lives. One of the coolest things of all was that Alex joined our team throughout the rest of the week. Alex joined us in evangelizing to the same area we first met Alex in earlier that week. Only a couple of days after we first evangelized to Alex and invited him to play volleyball and soccer, Alex was back in the area with us as we evangelized to others.
It blew my mind how marvelously God worked in such a short amount of time, through a group of Americans who spoke very little Spanish. Blessed be the name of the Lord for He uses His servants to assist Him in taking His name to the nations. He doesn’t need to use us, but He chooses to. God truly expanded my view of Him. Unknowingly, I had put God in a box. I had limited His power to work in and through me but He sure proved me wrong. He destroyed the box I had put Him in and revealed His power to truly be immeasurable. He also showed me how powerful the Gospel is. Evangelism doesn’t require fancy words or good, logical techniques. All God needs is a willing servant, He does the rest. Sure those extra things are great and helpful, but let’s not let our lack of expertise stop us from being willing servants with a powerful message. Thank you all again for your love, support, and impact on my life. I thank God for how He provided through you all and my heart is full with gratitude.
God bless you as you have blessed me,
Jadon Stevens
I wanted to reach out regarding our recent trip to Peru and take a moment to personally thank you for your support, both in prayer and financial assistance! I apologize for the late thank you and hope this letter accurately shows how deep my gratitude is for your impact on my life.
I was thrilled and honored to be able to join this team on our trip to Peru! Thanks be to God for providing the necessary finances through each of you to allow our team to visit Calvary Chapel in Huacho, Peru. Our team was able to partner with Pastor Tippie and his team in Huacho to do street evangelism and various outreaches. Pastor Tippie runs a very friendly and fun approach to evangelism that has seen great success in Peru. He runs a surfing camp for the youth of Huacho and connects to them through games like soccer and volleyball. While our team was in Peru, we joined him in inviting students to events like these and evangelizing in the streets. We would typically do evangelism during the days to invite people to the church’s events and host said events during the evenings. To gain attention in the streets of Huacho, our team performed several group dances and even a drama. It amazed me how God would grab the hearts of the people and create interest in them. Many people would stop to watch the performances. The drama we performed depicted a girl enjoying Jesus and the freedom of life He offers. Then it personified the temptations of this world as people dressed in black; these people would come and steal the girl away from Jesus. In the end the girl found herself alone and depressed, her view of Jesus “blocked” by the temptations she had given in to (the people in black physically stood between her and Jesus to depict this). However, no one can be plucked from Jesus’ hand. In the end, the girl tries to run back to Jesus but is physically stopped by the temptations in black. Jesus eventually breaks through the temptations, running to the girl and shielding her from the people in black who try to get to her. Jesus then destroys the temptations, knocking them over and picking the girl back up off the ground.
Hopefully that description helps you all to visualize what it was like, however it is difficult to describe a video with words. If you would like to watch the video it is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFRYdGihOl4. The skit did a great job of representing the dangers of sins and the forgiving power of Jesus. Our team would then go to the people watching and start conversations but asking them if they understood the skit. If they didn’t we could explain it to them and start a Gospel conversation. Afterward we went to the people, inviting them to the church’s events throughout the week. These simple invitations allowed people to get connected to the church through fun games, Bible studies, and church services. Our team was also able to provide child care, worship, and teaching for many of the church services and Bible studies. This allowed the adults to hear the Word of God uninterrupted. I had the privilege of preaching twice to the church and was amazed at how God spoke through me. The words spoken were not my own, nor the message conveyed my own. God deserves all the glory for the work He did through our team this week and I cannot thank you all enough for your support. We were able to baptize four students in the Pacific Ocean at the end of the week and it was an extremely joyful day. One student named Alex gave his life to Christ during our soccer game event, showing how God can use even simple invitations to fun events to change lives. One of the coolest things of all was that Alex joined our team throughout the rest of the week. Alex joined us in evangelizing to the same area we first met Alex in earlier that week. Only a couple of days after we first evangelized to Alex and invited him to play volleyball and soccer, Alex was back in the area with us as we evangelized to others.
It blew my mind how marvelously God worked in such a short amount of time, through a group of Americans who spoke very little Spanish. Blessed be the name of the Lord for He uses His servants to assist Him in taking His name to the nations. He doesn’t need to use us, but He chooses to. God truly expanded my view of Him. Unknowingly, I had put God in a box. I had limited His power to work in and through me but He sure proved me wrong. He destroyed the box I had put Him in and revealed His power to truly be immeasurable. He also showed me how powerful the Gospel is. Evangelism doesn’t require fancy words or good, logical techniques. All God needs is a willing servant, He does the rest. Sure those extra things are great and helpful, but let’s not let our lack of expertise stop us from being willing servants with a powerful message. Thank you all again for your love, support, and impact on my life. I thank God for how He provided through you all and my heart is full with gratitude.
God bless you as you have blessed me,
Jadon Stevens