BLUEFIELD, Va. — Bluefield College students recently completed a spring mission trip to Peru as part of Virginia Baptists’ greater effort to share the gospel and to build churches in South America.
Bluefield students in a town square with Peruvian children during a recent mission trip to South America.
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Armed with a slingshot, a soccer ball, candy and the Good News, the BC missionaries spent five days in Matucana and Lima in communities where there are no Baptist churches.
“We went there with the express purpose of strengthening the work of the [Southern Baptist Convention’s] International Mission Board in Peru,” said campus minister David Taylor, “to increase the Baptist faith and to build the foundation for Baptist churches in South America.”
Co-sponsored by the IMB and the Virginia Baptist Mission Board, the students used their soccer ball and candy to engage children in the town squares. They also used the slingshot to connect with kids and to share the story of David and Goliath and the God that David served.
The eight students and two faculty advisors played soccer, volleyball and freeze tag with the local children, all for the purpose of later sharing testimonies and leading Bible studies with the locals.
“The kids just love you,” said student Heather Wells of Tazewell, Va. “They’re not really sure why you’re there, but they don’t care. They just want to play and learn more about you.”
The group also visited local schools and taught English. “That was one of the coolest things about the trip,” said Taylor, “to see how excited the other Christians were to see us there. All they kept saying was ‘God bless you.’ ”