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Paul and Kelly Wiegert minister in Trujillo, Peru with their three children. They work in the areas of church planting and discipleship. Here, Paul shares an experience he had with unreached youth in a rural area of Peru and where he saw God at work.

The Wiegerts and the Reeves (all Mission Society missionaries in Trujillo, Peru) hold church services on Saturday evenings and Sunday mornings for the people of El Milagro, a rural area of Peru. Each weekend they welcome 60-80 children and youth join them for worship and Bible study.

One Sunday, Paul joined the youth gathered for their Bible study time. The youth broke into groups and Paul joined 12 kids gathered on small, plastic benches on the dirt floor of the church.

“I sat next to a girl and a boy who were about 13 years old. I was looking to see what verse they were discussing and I looked at the girl beside me. I noticed she did not know where they were in the Bible. I also noticed how she was holding her Bible – she looked lost, scared, and afraid of it. Liliana, the teacher, asked the kids to go to another verse. The girl still had her Bible open and had no idea where the book of John was. I asked her to give me the Bible and I got her to the right verse. When I handed it back to her, I watched how she was responding to the message.  

“After reading a few verses, Liliana asked the kids if they had heard this verse before or if they had ever been to church before. As she went around the circle, the first three answers were ‘yes.’ Then she reached the girl I was sitting next to and her response was ‘no,’ she had never been to church before. Liliana went a little further and asked if she had ever heard of Jesus before and her response was ‘no.’

“She then asked the boy sitting next to me and his response was also ‘no.’ The boy sitting next to him also responded that he had never been to church and had never heard of Jesus.

“From here I lost what happened next as I fought back the tears in my eyes and my thoughts began to race. My thoughts started at my home church and how everyone would know Who Jesus is. I also thought how strange it is that in the year 2013 there are still people in the world who haven’t heard about Jesus.  

“As I gathered myself back together, it was then that I witnessed God. I felt the prompting of the Holy Spirit, as did Liliana, and she began to tell the kids gathered there about God. After a few minutes or so, she then asked if they would like to receive the gift of salvation. There was a hesitation, and another youth from the home church shared a story about her relationship with God. Then the girl next to me responded that she would like to ask Jesus into her life!

“As the prayer ended, I witnessed a girl who had been timid, scared, shy, and embarrassed before. But after the prayer, I saw a smile you can only see when you experience the Joy and Peace that can only come from knowing God. I continued to watch that smile grow as a youth leader from the church walked up to her after the prayer, and with tears in both of their eyes, the leader welcomed her into the family of God.  

“I’ve always heard preachers say that God is always searching and reaching out to those who don’t know Him and working to restore those He loves. It is an amazing thing to watch the grace of God at work here in Peru.”