After we began working with the church in Hunter, we still lived in the upper-middle-income area. Our children played in the park with the other children. A neighbor invited us to eat supper/dinner with them. He was a surgeon, wealthy, and well-known.

That night other upper-class people, his friends, came to his house to meet the Americans who had moved into the neighborhood.

Our host met me at the front door when we arrived at the house and asked what I wanted to drink. He had already been hitting the bottle pretty well. I said that I would take a Coca-Cola. He laughed and said, "with what?" As the Christian country boy, I answered and said with ice! He stared at me.

Then he hollered to his wife and said do not invite other people to eat with us that do not know how to drink. I just stood there in shock and had no idea what to think or say. 

Later as we ate, they were all very curious about what we were doing in Arequipa. I explained that I had come to teach the Bible. I tried to share the gospel, but they cut me off very quickly every time.

They wanted to know where I was teaching the Bible. In my ignorance, I told them that I worked in a church in Hunter. They all gasped in shock and horror. They began to talk rapidly. They told me that I was a foreigner and probably didn't know what was happening, but if I did, I would not be in Hunter. It was a red zone meaning dangerous. 

Not only that, they proceeded to tell me that the people there were not healthy, they were not sane, and about every other racist type statement they could make. They explained that I was American. I could work with anyone; why would I waste my time on near subhuman people in Hunter?

Remember, I am the redneck country boy. I came up very poor. I knew that if they had known me as a boy living in a four-room shack with no indoor plumbing, they would have considered me an animal. If they had known more about me than my skin color, where I lived, and the color of my passport, they would never have respected me.

When we left that night, I told Betty that I doubted I would ever work with people like that again. I believe God used that time to clarify that I had made the right decision to be working with the church in Hunter. That decision would prove to be the turning point, and God would go on to do great and wonderful things. 

Please understand that I believe other people should work in upper-class communities. I fully believe in others that do so well there. We are not the same. God made us different. I am just not the guy to work in those areas. 

Now here I am in Hunter. I go out to Hunter about six times a week. I am sharing the gospel, giving out invitations and gospel tracts, teaching, discipling, learning culture, and improving my Spanish because of the love and help from the people attending the church.

I preached. I gave invitations to be saved. Never once did anyone show any interest in making a decision at all in those early days. I was getting quite discouraged. I finally invited a Peruvian missionary pastor to come and preach to the people. I wanted him to share the gospel. He did. That man is now in heaven, but the days we spent with him preaching turned things around.

I think maybe thirty people made professions of faith. I watched and learned how to speak and preach the gospel better in the language. God used my Peruvian friend to teach me great things about doing ministry in Peru.

I had been reaching very young people, ages between 15 and 25. We had children coming from the ministry before under the previous missionary. God significantly used Mother's and Father's day to reach the first parents. 

I told the young people that we would honor their mom and dad in the church service. Betty and I would provide a gift for the mother or dad on their respective days. We trained and prepared the children and young people to give a presentation in a service. They would then give their parents a gift. The gift would come from the child honoring their parents. I knew they all wanted to give but were unable at the time.

God touched their parents, and many of them were saved and started attending faithfully. God was giving us families for the ministry. The attendance was slowly climbing towards 60. God was blessing. 

As Christmas approached, we wanted to see many people get saved and see real church growth. The church got together. I told them I wanted them to help me find ten very low-income families we could help have a significant or at least much better Christmas. 

The people responded we are the poor people here. Why don't you give it to us? I told them that I loved them and would help them but that it was more blessed to give than to receive. I told them I would provide food in the gift baskets, but I wanted their help giving them toys and other things they could do. 

So for about three months, the people got together. They made dolls, wooden pistols out of scrap lumber, and everything they could think of. The guys found ten families. We knew how many were in the family. We knew their ages.

On Christmas Eve, we took the ten boxes and visited the families. They all got meat, rice, vegetables, Bibles, tracts, and toys for the children. It had taken us about 10 or 12 weeks to get everything ready. 

The church people who complained about being poor were so excited. They had enjoyed their best Christmas ever. They had been givers. 

I can't explain how poor and how much the people of Hunter were suffering at that time. It was not only Hunter; it was all the city of Arequipa and even Peru suffering. The news every night was filled with economic suffering, lack of work, and lack of food, and do not forget terrorism that was killing dozens every day. 

I believed that obeying God and giving to God would open the windows of heaven and pour out more blessings on them than they would ever be able to receive. Could the gospel make a big difference in their lives? Could we see their lives changed and the gospel even change their happiness and living standards?

They learned that Christmas that obeying God and giving, would add joy into their lives. It was one of my best experiences when we lived in Peru. They were so excited to see what God had done. 

Consider the following ideas as you think about this special time in our lives:

Racism isn't just an American problem. Often it is about social level, finances, and the perceived status in the world. I noticed in the Bible that the common people heard Jesus gladly. It was the common people that Jesus used to start the church. There were not many of the big shots in the early church. God can use you to lead people to Christ; that will make a big difference.

Never forget who you are or where you come from. Refrain from thinking too highly of yourself. It is easy to enjoy all Christ has done in our lives and begin feeling that we are somehow better than others. We forget the pit where He dug us out from, saved us, transformed us, and made us who we are today. 

Use special days to give your people an excuse to invite their friends and family to church. They ask them all the time, but people feel a little more committed to a special invitation to a special event or day. Mother's dad, Father's day, Easter, Christmas, and Children's day can be great for outreach.

We need each other. I was unable to see people saved and making decisions. My friend would come in and preach, and God would immediately do through Him what God had not been doing through me. I could learn from watching my friend and learning how to do the ministry better. After that week of meetings, it became normal to see professions of faith, people getting saved, baptized, and becoming faithful attenders and servers. 

Do not be afraid to teach people to give. It doesn't matter if they have little or no money. God teaches all through His Word that we are to love Him and honor Him by giving back to Him a portion of what He has given us. 

I knew that people had to learn to give and trust God. Christmas became an excellent opportunity to teach about giving. Our people went from sad and complaining to glad and praising before the Christmas season ended. They stopped thinking of themselves and began to think of others. 

Over the years, the Hunter Baptist Church would become a significant giving church. The people learned to honor God. God blessed them and provided them with more income. They gave. God did a work in and through their lives that brought great glory to God.