Glares followed Santos as he walked down the street with his Bible under his arm. It was clear the people of La Esperanza in Trujillo, Peru felt they did not need what Santos was offering. Their displeasure and contempt at his presence was palpable.
They live in a place that means "The Hope" and they didn't realize they were missing it.
But Santos knew he had a valuable gift and so he visited people to share the Word of God with them. Many were indifferent to the Good News. When Santos would hold services outdoors, people would pass by with frowns on their faces.
"My pastor kept telling me to not get discouraged. He met with me and always taught me more about the Bible so I could teach others when I was preaching," Santos shares.
Santos persisted in handing out pamphlets and was excited to visit people who invited him into their homes.
After a lot of hard work and working through the church planter training with Multiplication Network, Santos feels the things in La Esperanza have completely changed. "Now I walk along the street and they say, 'Here comes the pastor!' They ask me to have more meetings and that we build a church building so we can meet in only one place."
About eight families meet together to learn more from God and Santos continues to preach in the neighborhood. It motivates him to see that he can share what he learned during the training with the people in his small groups. A fellow believer, Luis, is now even preaching the Gospel in another area!
Santos testifies that this is the result of God's faithfulness and consistently working on these practices for a year through the church planter training modules with Multiplication Network. Santos prays for more people to rise up to lead more small groups. There is much need and he knows he cannot do it alone!
Even though Santos has not always walked in the ways of the Lord, he has always been interested in learning more about the Word of God. One of his dreams was to get training to serve in a better way in ministry. That dream has now come true!