Before receiving Christ, my life was spiritually lost.  I did not know the word of God.  During a time when I was in the middle of problems with one of my neighbors, a servant of God passed through our village.  He told me about the word of God, and I gave my life over to the Lord, realizing that I was a sinner. 

In 1963, I had the chance to work in another part of Peru.  This was the year of the anniversary of the church in Peru.  There were a lot of visiting believers, and celebrations.  I decided to get baptized.  I returned to Cotahuasi in 1974, and a group of us believers used to gather together in different people's houses.  We prayed a lot that God would send His servants here.  After a long time, He answered our prayers, which we can now see.  I give thanks to God for this. 

Now I'm continuing to love God, because of His mercy to never let me out of His arms.  I'm still serving God.  I ask for more wisdom, which I'm lacking, and for prayers for my wife and children. 

Elder in the Cotahuasi Church. 

Antonio (1-18-36) is local to the Cotahuasi canyon area.  He is married to Leonor and has 11 children.  He became a Christian in the 1960's when a missionary came through his village and preached the Gospel, but without any discipleship, his life has been full of misapplication of biblical principles and full of problems.  Now he is growing rapidly and his passion is to share the Word of God.