April 2004

by Dr. Chris Feucht

Our mission team just returned from the jungles of the Peruvian Amazon where we witnessed many salvations and miracles. The outreach was amazing and God was so good! 

After arriving in Iquitos, Peru by plane we traveled 19 hours up the Nanay River system on the Chosen Vessel to a pueblo named Atalaya where we held our visit medical clinic. We had the privilege of seeing and being with our friend, Pastor William and his family of seven. Pastor William is the pastor responsible for the pastoral care and oversight of several villages on the upper Chambria River. During the week we visited 3 more villages --- Porvenir, San Antonio, & Saboya. People from 8 different villages visited us for medical care and by the end of the week we attended 610 patients.

 

During the week we were also privileged to see 84 people pray with us to receive Jesus as their personal Savior. God also moved in a supernatural way to miraculously heal 14 people of their infirmities. One of those healings was a man who was deaf in his left ear. On examination he could hear nothing in that ear. Nancy prayed for God to open his ear and restore his hearing. After praying twice over him, the interpreter whispered into his left ear and he could hear every word.  What an exciting moment for him this was as God did the impossible. God's medicine was better than any medicine I could have given him! Three others were healed of deafness this week as well as another from blindness.

                               

Every evening we had opportunity to minister to the people in the villages through movies, drama , dance, bells, puppets, worship and the word. In the first two villages we showed the " Passion of the Christ " in the evenings. The mood following this film was subdued & contemplative.  I saw several men with tears in their eyes as they realized the suffering that Jesus bore for us. In the last two villages Pastor Bob Sowder preached a passionate message and there was a tremendous response for salvation and ministry for prayer by the team. The children loved the puppets and enjoyed participating in the bells.

 

          

One evening after our service, I was able to pray with a man who walked with a limp and was bent over. He had pain in his lower back and this pain also ran down both legs. He felt miserable. God once again undertook in a miraculous way as we prayed for healing and for him to be free of his pain. Immediately he noticed a change --- he bent over, he squatted, he took a couple of steps, he jumped up & down --- he could not believe it! The pain was gone and he was healed!

                            

For me still the greatest miracle of all is the one God does in our hearts. I had the privilege of seeing a mother (she was a believer) and her 16-year-old daughter. After taking care of their medical problems, I discovered that the daughter had never received Jesus as her Savior. After sharing how much God loved her, I asked her if she would like to invite Jesus into her heart and make Him Lord of her life. Very quickly she said yes and we prayed together. Her mother was so overcome with joy at her daughter's response she began to weep. I thought how precious it is when our children take that step of faith and our God becomes theirs.

 

In the last village at the end of our clinic time, two women approached me and asked if would I pray for them. I asked if they had any medical problems and they said no. They had come just to receive prayer. After talking with them further I found out that neither of them had made a commitment to follow Jesus. I shared with them the Gospel message and asked if they would like to open their hearts and receive Jesus. They immediately said yes and then prayed with me for Jesus to enter their hearts and lives. How unusual and yet how wonderful it was that these women had come not for medical care but rather for prayer to receive Jesus! The Holy Spirit drew them and it was my joy just to participate in what God was doing.