In the middle of a field in Peru a young woman from Washington practiced her first sermon to an audience of three alpacas that were kind enough to sit down and patiently listen to her. On cue, they stood up as she finished her sermon practice as if to answer the appeal she gave.

 

Teams of student missionaries and adult mentors participated in an evangelistic mission trip to Peru in March to coincide with the Seventh-day Adventist school system’s spring break. The evangelistic mission trip, organized by the North Pacific Union Conference, included 85 participants from across the Pacific Northwest.

 

“We came to help reap what the local members sowed,” says Dan Serns, North Pacific Union Conference ministerial director and mission trip coordinator. “In the process, we are developing soul winners for the work of God back in the northwestern United States.”

 

The participants were formed into 20 teams, with 11 teams of students from Northwest Adventist academies (three teams from Auburn Adventist Academy in Washington, three joint teams from Columbia Adventist Academy in Washington and Portland Adventist Academy in Oregon, one team each from Cascade Christian Academy in Washington and Milo Adventist Academy in Oregon, and three teams from Upper Columbia Academy in Washington).

 

Participants included two sets of fathers and daughters: Doug Bing, Washington Conference vice president for administration, and his daughter, Kaleigh, and Bill Roberts, Auburn Academy Church senior pastor, and his daughter, Hannah. Both Kaleigh and Hannah are freshmen at Auburn Adventist Academy in Auburn, Wash.

 

Additional representatives from Washington Conference included brothers Roger and Eder Reynoso (their father is a conference Bible worker); Derrick DosSantos, student; Arturo Ledezma, VP for Finance at Auburn Adventist Academy, who served as a translator; and Jeff Carlson, associate pastor at Auburn City Church, who also presented a series of meetings.

 

Roger Reynoso preached two sermons every night in some of the worst slums. One night the pastor made him run to the car when shots rang out on the very block where they were coming out of the church.

 

The evangelistic mission trip began with an orientation session to introduce the Northwest missionaries to the Peruvian culture, to provide instruction on how to visit people in their homes, to provide preaching pointers and to meet with site hosts to plan for their specific meeting.

 

“I love the welcome and the love I feel from the people I’ve gotten to meet,” says Hannah. “It’s such an experience.”

 

The mission teams also went to personally invite people who were studying the Bible in small groups to attend the nightly meetings.

 

“We went to the heart of the slums,” says Doug Bing. “I am always struck by the poverty. However, I am more struck by the joyful people in the churches that are there and how they are looking and planning for Jesus to come home.”

 

Finally, the big opening night came for the evangelistic team duo of Hannah Roberts and Kaleigh Bing. Hannah began the program with a nutrition talk about the food pyramid. Then it was Kaleigh’s turn. She preached about the signs of Jesus’ return.

 

“I was the proud papa sitting there and praying for my daughter,” says Bing. “She preached clearly and concisely. She had great presence in the pulpit.”

 

After her first sermon, fifteen people answered the appeal. “Thankfully I have a good translator and he covered my many mistakes,” says Kaleigh.

 

The mission trip had a daily pattern: morning mentoring meetings with singing, prayer, testimonies and training; afternoon visits with people who attended the meetings; and evening presentations where each team preached twice in two churches located in close proximity.

 

At the end of the week, Hannah gave her final health talk and Kaleigh preached her final sermon. Eleven people were baptized at their churches. In all, more than 800 people were baptized in Peru during the special emphasis week.

 

“Smiles really are universal, even if you don’t speak the same language,” says Kaleigh. “We made some new best friends.”

 

After church, thousands of Adventists from Trujillo gathered in a downtown coliseum for a celebration rally and to say goodbye to their missionary friends from the Pacific Northwest. (Trujillo is home to 120 Seventh-day Adventist churches and groups.)

 

“It’s great to go on mission trips to meet people and do something of eternal value, something that matters,” says Bill Roberts. “And then it is great to go home to see your family and live where God has put you.”