This summer the Mountain View Conference (MVC) kicked off a mission project that connected Seventh-day Adventists on two continents.
Story by Mountain View Conference Staff
The project was born in early 2015, when the staff and student body of the Peruvian Union University (PUU) in Lima, Peru, challenged students to serve as missionaries around the world. Many members of the student body accepted and committed to serve. School leaders say their motivation was founded on the blessings that came from the missionaries who brought the Three Angels’ Messages to their homeland. In turn, they wanted to bless others across the globe through what they deemed the “I Will Go” call.
Meanwhile in the United States, Art Jeronimo, an MVC pastor, shared with PUU faculty the MVC’s need for more workers to follow up on the Voice of Prophecy Bible study request cards the conference sent out. Jeronimo also told them about the conference administration’s new initiative to expand the work to reach the growing Hispanic demographic in MVC.
Because of the two entities’ conversations, Maximina Contreras Castro, PUU president, invited Larry Boggess, MVC president, and Pastor Jeronimo to visit PUU and discuss the possibility of the two organizations partnering so both their mission goals could be realized. During that visit, the leaders made plans for senior Peruvian Union University student missionaries to work in the Mountain View Conference territory. This spring Jeronimo and Boggess returned to PUU to make the final selection of students to spend 12 months helping evangelize Mountain View areas with a large Spanish-speaking population.
Eleven missionaries from the PUU’s School of Theology arrived in July and will return home in July 2016. The 11 men started their mission by visiting Valley Vista Adventist Center in Huttonsville, W.Va., for training and orientation.
“This newest initiative is an answer to prayer,” says Larry Boggess. “Many in this conference have had a growing burden to see the Hispanic work strengthened. [We are thankful that] the Peruvian Union University has entrusted us with these very gifted students.”