GOSPEL PROGRESS IN CAJAMARCA, PERU.

Brethren and friends,
My heart is joyful and an I want to share with you all these great news of the Lord´s ministry progress as we endeavour to work for Him down here in Cajamarca.

1). On Christmas day, I preached in Hualqui Church. Hualqui is a village located about 20 miles to the south of Cajamarca. I as accompanied by my wife Esther, Mrs. Ana Solis, her daughther Gabi and Gabi´s little daughter Gabi as well.
After preaching on Matthew 28, I baptised 33 people. 31 kids foem ages three to 15 years old, and two adults. The church was packed with people. There was no room for more. However all were full of joy and gladness at seeing the Lord´s work in their village.
They need to acquire a new piece of land and build a new sanctuary much bigger so that they can hold al the ery least 200 people. They are 120 already. Please pray for Hualqui church and her ministry to the next village, Lacas.

2). On the Lord´s day, December 27 the Hualqui church asked me to visit the next village caled Lacas. They already have there a little room for holding worship. Four families gathere weekly to listen to the gospel of Christ. But on this day 8 people were attending worship. I was preaching on Matthew 13:1-9 and Luke 13:1-9. At the end of the service four people gave up their lives to the Lord. We prayed together, there was much weeping for the joy salvation in Christ. The four people belong to one family, their names are as follows:
Mr. Abdon Matara Sauced, 83 years old; his wife Elvira Yolanda Zevallos, 78 years old.
Mrs. Sarela Matara Zevallos, 51 years old and her daughter Eli Vaneza Torres Matara 18 years old. Praised be the Lord for his grace and merecy in granting salvation to this household!!!!

3). On January 3, 2010 Chrsitian Díaz, a Law student at our local State University presented himself before our Kirk Session to testify of his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and commit his life to Him. There was much prayer and thanksgving for this great moment, he also prayed and cried out for salvation in Christ!
And today, on the Lord´s Day, January the 10th he was received as a member of Second Presbyterian Church in Cajamarca.
Christian has been attending the meetings of our Saint Augustine Society for four years, he always was very eager to read the Bible and ask many questions about Christianity as we was a committed member of the Roman Church and a a leader of the young catechist at Saint Francis Chrcuh in town. No the Lord added him to our church, Blessed be the Lord for ever, for his power and mercy is for ever!!
As he became a church member today, he was accompanied by his father and two best friends from the group of Roman Catholic catechists, Gaby and Ana.
After the service was over the whole congregation had lunch together. It was a marvellous experience to see how the Lord continues to call his elect and gather them to His church!!

Please, pray and rejoice with as the gospel of Christ continues to make progress in Cajamarca because through your prayerful support we are partners in Christ´s ministry.

Cajamarca, Feb. 10, 2010.
Alonzo and Esther Ramírez.

THE RAMIREZ ANNUAL PRYAER LETTER
DECEMBER 2009

Dear brethren in the Lord,

Greetings in His Holy Name. We pray that upon receiving this letter you may be enjoying the Lord´s blessings in your lives.
We are about to conclude the year 2009. Christmas is here with is now. The world celebrates it just as yet another season, but we lift up our hearts to the Lord and His grace that He became flesh for our salvation.

In fact, we are still working to get across the good news of salvation to our city of Cajamarca and this whole northern region of Peru.
This year we have been involved in assisting our local church in Cajamarca to accomplish its goals: To finish its premises to offer a better service to our community and to grow so that next year we can fully support our local pastor. We are really getting there.

We have also been visiting our church plants in Piura, Chililique village. Here pastor César Rosas and his wife have been very instrumental this year. This congregation has gotten more stable and has begun to grow some. Our church plants in San José and Quinuapata which area nearby Cajamarca city have not grow much but we have seen some new members joining theses village churches, Elder Luis Mendoza has been faithfully teaching and preaching in these two churches.
I have been able to finish the translation of Gerhadrus Vos on eschatology which will be published next year. My translation of Calvin´s commentary on Psalm 119 is done and only remains to be edited.

Seminary work has been greatly blessed this past year. We have students in Lima, Trujillo, Cajamarca and Amazonas. There are 28 students altogether though very few intend to come into the pastorate. However we praise the Lord many of them want to offer a better service in their churches teaching and evangelizing.
University ministry in Cajamarca has yielded another fruit for our local congregation, One of the leaders of Roman Catholic catechist has begun to attend our local church is currently taking the membership course. His name is Christian Díaz and is finishing his Law degree. Praise the Lord for His power and saving grace are great!!!

Our family is doing well so far. Our children have finished their school year. Analiz has finished 9th grade and Samuel his first year college. Esther´s health remains stable and under control. Next February I will be coming with Analiz to Jackson MS, and Georgia for several Mission conferences. Esther and Samuel will stay back in Peru for this time.
Our whole family is so happy and very grateful to our friends and supporters who made it possible for us to purchase a new vehicle. It is a Toyota Fortuner. We return thanks to all of them in desire for them the richest blessing form our heavenly father.

We would also like to request that you may remember the following items in you prayers:
• Pray that the Lord in His grace may continue to use us in His ministry in Peru and Latin America.

• Pray that more people may join our local congregation its church plants in Cajamarca

• Pray that the Lord may continue to uphold Esther´s health.
• Pray that the Lord may uphold our two children in their faith.
• Pray for Alonzo´s strength so that he may be able to accomplish his ministry goals.
• Pray for faithfulness as we live and preach the Word of God.

I would like to close this letter with some words regarding this upcoming Christmas and a new year of the Lord. We give thanks to the Lord for the gift of Christ our Savior. As we remember the free gift of God we also thank you all for you gifts of prayer, encouragement and for your financial help without which we would have nor been able to perform this ministry. As you help us you are also doing ministry with us down here. We love you a great deal!!!!
May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ give you and assure you a Christmas celebration with your eyes and minds fixed upon the Lord.
Alonzo, Esther , Samuel and Analiz Ramirez.
Our family contact data:

e-mail: ssagustin21@yahoo.com or you can reach us at ssagustin21@gmail.com
web page: alonzoramirez.com blog: http://w.w.w.alonzoramirez.blogspot.com
skype: arami301054
Home Phone: (011) 51 76 367920

OUR MISSIONS AGENCY: It sis Christian Missionary Society, CMS. Our Executive Director for next year will be Brad Gene Ball. CMS is registered with and incorporated in the State of Georgia and has received tax-exempt status. All gifts to CMS are tax deductible.

Mailing address:

P.O. Box 53363
Knoxville, TN 37950-3363
Phone: 1-864-430-3408

THE RAMIREZ FAMILY, CAJAMARCA – PERU, 2008

JUNE-AUGUST STORIES

1. NEXT DOOR NEIGHBOUR WON FOR THE LORD

Mrs. Violeta Díaz has lived next door to our church long before we got there. She is married and has two children. She is a teacher by training and use to be very Roman Catholic. For many years our Pastor has invited her to attend our church to listen to the gospel of Christ but she never did. However, as always se had come to the church to be served by the dentist who came with First Pres team from Jackson MS came last June. So we invited here once again to come and join us in worship to the Lord. This time the Lord touched her heart and began to faithfully attend church worship since last July. She shows her joy of being saved by the Lord and is now part of our faithful attendants morning and evening every Lord´s day.

We thank the Lord for her conversion and also thank First Pres team foe being willing to serve our neighbours with patience and Christian love.

2. LOS ROSALES CHURCH IS GROWING

Last August, the Lord has added eight more members to our local congregation “Los Rosales.” Four of them are college students and the other four are adults. The ceremony of receiving them as members of the church was full of emotion for everybody. We praise the Lord for what the Lord is doing amongst us and invite all our mission partners in the USA to share in this joy and pray for the Lord to continually bless our ministry down here.

3. OUR CHURCH BUILDING

We are adding a new small building on the side of our sanctuary. It is now almost finished. The Lord has blessed us so much with this enterprise which will be used to add more rooms for our SS classes as well us to dedicate one room to do tutoring to the kids of the neighbourhood who are a bit behind in their studies. This way we would get into more homes of our parish so that the gospel will be proclaimed to hem.We would like to thank for their donations for this building to FPC, Jackson MS., to Thompson Memorial PCA of Centerville, MS., the SS of Oak Ridge PCA, TN., to Woodruff Road PCA, Grenville, SC., and to TPC, Statesboro, GA; and to IPC, Savannah GA. Brethren, your contributions have helped us improve our sanctuary with new windows and a nice little garden, as well us with our new building for furthering the ministry of Christ down here. Thanks very much and may the Lord bless you all.

4. CHILILIQUE CHURCH PLANT

Then again, Alonzo and Bill visited there last September 19 invited by a particular family, Mrs. And Mrs., Felicino and Zenovia Tocto, husband and wife. After hearing the gospel all the family praised the Lord, and this couple gave up their lives to the Lord. Pray that this church continues to grow and that the whole village turns to Christ.

5. FAMILY

The most significant development in our family is that our son Samuel Began his college in Cajamarca. He is studying Systems Engineering since last August. He also just turned 18 on September the 26^th.

Ana Elizabeth will turn 25 on November the 23^rd and is looking forward to it as a key event en her life.

Esther continues to teach the gospel of Christ to the children at the school round the corner of our home. She has managed to help the kids improve their behavior and we praise the Lord for that. This school always remembers the ministry of Jackson FPC team, they feel their lives have been impacted by their ministry of last June!!

Alonzo continues to teach in the seminary and in the local university though or Saint Agustin Society. Two conferences on science were held this year in June and the gospel was proclaimed though the ministry of our scientists and brethren Dave Doughty and Gary Whiting from New Port University, VA. We praise the Lord for this ministry as it just had completed five years in August.

During the third week of September Bill Bradford and I visited the city of Piura were Donald Savinsky leads a nice group of 11 young college students and two young professionals. We were able to visit most of them and also held worship and the Lord´s Supper on the Lord´s day. It was a joyful experience at getting to know them and seeing the possibilities of starting a new church plant there. We need to pray for Donald and this group.

6. THANKS

We give thanks to all our prayer and financial supporters for their faithful cooperation with us in ministering to the people in Cajamarca and northern Peru. We value your help and continue to pray that the Lord keeps on adding more members to His Church.

THE RAMIREZ BIO

Several friends have asked us for our short Bio, now here it is.

ALONZO AND ESTHER RAMIREZ

The Ramírez are from Peru, South America. Esther joined the church when she was 12, and Alonzo became a believer during his second year of University in 1976. Both were heavily involved in the ministry of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Peru (EPCP).

Alonzo graduated from the University of Cajamarca in 1982 in engineering while Esther did it in Sociology. They met while in their university days and married in 1986. They have two children, Samuel Dennis (18) and Ana Elizabeth (15).

After Alonzo had worked as an engineer fore eight years in several places in Peru they were called into full ministry, so they traveled to Edinburgh, Scotland, where Alonzo earned a Diploma in theology form the Free Church College (1989-1992). They returned to Peru and Alonzo was ordained as a pastor in the Los Olivos Congregation of the EPP. After working there as pastor, church planter, and seminary teacher, he had an invitation to join RTS for graduate studies. They came as a family to Jackson, MS, enrolled RTS and became associate members of FPC where they worshipped for almost five years.

In RTS Alonzo earned a Th.M (1998) in Old Testament and a Ph.D (2001) in Intercultural Stduies. Upon completing his studies at RTS he went back to Cajamarca taken a team of missionaries from Jackson to begin the PeruMission plan.

Through this plan, which has now seven American families, they are involved in Church planting, seminary teaching, translation of Christian literature, and RUF ministry. Their have taken residence in the city of Cajamarca which is a town of 160 000 people.

Samuel Dennis is in his first year college in Cajamarca and Ana Elizabeth is in her 8th grade. The whole family plans to stay in Cajamarca working for the Lord until He calls them somewhere else.

To all our prayer and support partners:

Greetings!! Now we have set up an skype account. we can talk trough the computer if you also have an skype account. It is free.

our account number is: arami301054

Please use that account to call us whenever you see we are available.

In the Lord,

Alonzo Ramírez.

Samaritan´s Purse January to April

During these months we have been busy working with children from all over Cajamarca State. We have been able to distribute ten thousand gifts given to us by the Samaritan´s Purse program. These gifts were distributed in seven provinces.
We reached villages where nothing of this sort had been done before. We were so moved by seeing the kids´ gratefulness to the Lord for these gifts.
This is the fourth year Alonzo is heading up this program in cooperation with five other pastors from different denominations. Our congregation "Los Rosales" is our headquarters for this program and we are so happy to have worked hard for these fourth months.

Deacons training at Los Rosales Church, February.

During this month I did a special workshop directed to men nominated to become deacons. Seven men attended this course and three of them will be voted upon to become deacons. The material of these lectures was sent to Bill Green in Costa Rica, and after he has made his additions and edits we will publish it to be shared throughout the reformed family in Latin America.

Seminary Classes during March to April

During March and April we had a set of lectures on Systematic Theology. Our guest professors were Tim Foster from Independent Presbyterian Church (IPC), Savannah, GA; and Wes Baker from Perumission Trujillo. Tim lectured on Covenant Theology and Wes on Ecclessiology.

IPC team visit, April

A team of eight people from IPC led by Frankie Daniel visited us in Cajamarca. They helped us finance the roofing of the third floor for our kids SS classrooms. Not only that but they also poured cement and dug our future garden. They proved to be tough men and able to work hard, I think we lost the competition, but they were also a little taller than us!!! Thank you very much dear brethren for this great help.

English classes, May

From the 4th week of April, our friends Chris and Ava Barnes came to help our church´s ministry in enabling the youth of our neighbourhood with their English skills.

At church: they are teaching two classes, the lowers (down stairs classroom), and the highers (up stairs classroom). The lowers class is made up of 13 students and are taught by Ava. The highers are 18 and are taught by Chris. All the young folks are learning quick and are so happy for this opportunity afforded to them by the church.

At the Ramirez home: Four English teachers receive advanced English classes through a selected reading program. This is to enable English teachers to improve their skills in teaching in their schools or colleges.

At El Ingenio School: This is a school in our neighbourhood which caters for very poor children who come from the outskirts of Cajamarca city. Here the Barnes´s teach from Monday to Wednesday and Friday, eight classes altogether. The kids´ and teachers´ testimony is that they feel privileged to have American teachers for English as they cannot afford to pay an English teacher!! This work enhances the ministry of our church as it is seen not just as a spiritual community but also as a serving and enlightening community.

We praise the Lord for this great ministry of the Barnes family amongst us and in our neighbourhood. May He increase the harvest through this service.

THE RAMIREZ REPORT 12/2007

Dear brethren,

We give thanks to the Lord that you are our mission partners, supporters and friends.
We pray and hope that upon receiving this letter you would be experiencing the Lord's blessings.

We would like to share with you some items on which the Lord has blessed His ministry through us down here in Cajamarca.

1. The Seminary's work


Our Biblical Reformed Seminary (BRS) has 12 students this year, 8 are from our denomination and 4 from other denominations (Pentecostals).
Last week we had Bill Bradford come to Cajamarca to teach Greek I.

For this particular subject we had 24 students, our regular seminary students and 12 more from the local university who are interested in learning Greek. We are glad that our BRS is able to give this public testimony of service to other students. The course will continue until the end of December with Alonzo Ramírez as the instructor.

2. Theological conference in Amazonas


Part of our seminary and mission works is to train pastor and leaders formally and informally. During 13-15th of November Alonzo went 16 hours away from Cajamarca to the Amazon Presbytery to teach on: The Holy Spirit, The Sabbath Day, and Biblical Leadership.
The gathering was made up of leaders, deacons, Sunday school teachers, thirty people altogether. During the nights preaching and baptisms were scheduled. Seven people were baptized and added to the Church “El Progreso,” which has hosted the conference.



3. Our grown up son


We give thanks to the Lord for Sammy´s 17th birthday on September 26th. He is now a grown man and will finish his high school at the end of December this year. He intends to study computer engineering in Lima. So he will soon leave home for college. Please pray for him.

4. Prayer requests

• Please pray that the Lord would continue to bless his ministry here.
• Pray that we may be able to raise the funds for a new vehicle.
• Pray for faithfulness as we do ministry for the Lord in your behalf!!!

Dear mission partners and friends,

We are still working in Cajamarca, while our other missionary partners (Wesley Baker and Bill Bradford) are working in Trujillo, a much larger city than Cajamarca, located on the coast 170 miles south of us. By the Lord´s grace we have been able to perform another year of mission work. Humanly speaking, however, we could not have carried on the work without your generous, prayer and financial support. We always feel the Lord´s protection and his gracious blessings as we do His ministry, and as His Word shows us (I Cor. 1), this can not happen without the prayers of His saints such as you.

(1) CHURCH PLANTING AND EVANGELISM.-

In the city of Cajamarca we continue to provide leadership and training for the Los Rosales church. This church is organized as a particular congregation. It has an attendance of 40 adults and over 60 children. Its pastor is Rev. Juan Santa Cruz, who has just finished his seminary training and has also been serving this year as the president of Cajamarca Presbytery.





Alongside this work we also coordinate and work at revitalizing two other churches: The Manzanamayo church and the Hualqui church. Both churches are located in rural areas and have started this year to reach out to their villages for the Lord. The Manzanamayo church is in the process of completing its new building, which will have enough room for worship as well as two classrooms to reach out to more children. From this church we have planted another small congregation called “San José,” which from time to time, joins the Manzanamayo congregation for worship services. The Hualqui church has begun a new church in its neighbouring village called Lacas. We provide them with training, and they do the evangelism in the village. Right now they are in the process of building a sanctuary with the help of Peru Mission.
We are also delighted to report that this is the third year that we continue to oversee our church plant in Chililque, Piura. Piura is one of the least evangelized states in northern Peru and is the home state of Alonzo.

Children’s evangelism. We are teaching the gospel of Christ in the two State schools of the neighbourhood where the congregation Los Rosales is located. This is the fourth year that we have a full-time teacher at El Ingenio School who is teaching the gospel to 150 children. In the Los Rosales school we also have a full time teacher, and 360 children are being taught the gospel of Christ. Several children from both schools are now attending our Sunday school.





(2) LEADERSHIP TRAINING

We also continue to provide leadership and teaching at the Biblical Reformed Seminary (BRS). We hope that in the next 10 years the church as a whole is provided with a number of well-trained ministers to further the Kingdom of Christ in the whole nation for the Glory of God.
We have students in Cajamarca, Trujillo, and Lima. Classes are given on selected dates for 12 weeks per year. The rest of the time they teach and preach in their churches, since most of them are elders and leaders in their local congregations.
During this year, we have been in a transition period, since we have started a more formal and continuous theological program in Trujillo with a view to developing a full training program leading to a Bachelor in Theology.
Besides the modular seminary all missionaries of the Peru Mssion team are permanently tutoring young pastors and leaders as they discharge their pastoral duties in the church plants and church revitalization programs. Through this program we are already seeing the formation of solid leaders who are shepherding their local congregations..

(3) PUBLICATION OF CHRISTIAN LITERATURE.-

This year we started a translation of Old Testament commentaries on the Minor Prophets written by Professor John L. Mackay. So far we have completed the translation of Haggi. We are also in the process of translating The Reformed Pastor by Richard Baxter and the Liturgies of the Western Church by Bard Thompson. During this next year we plan to start the translation of Calvin´s commentaries on the Old Testament in coordination with another translator from Costa Rica through CLIR (Latin American Theological Fraternity).



(4) RFORMED UNIVERSITY MINISTRY (RUM).-

Through this program we have been able to organize the Saint Agustin Society. Our goal is to establish a link between the Presbyterian Church and the university ministry, since in Cajamarca there is much prejudice against evangelicals. We minister to students of the local State University by holding meetings in our home every Sunday afternoon with 14 students for bible reading followed by theological discussion. We also publish a Scientific Bulletin called EPISTEME dealing with current issues such as the Human genome, racism, globalization and other issues. We are using this bulletin as a means of reaching more students and intellectuals in Cajamarca so that we can form and influence the future leaders of this city.

In May of this year we organized the third conference in the local university for the students and professors of Law. The theme was the civil war and its consequences; it was well attended and praised by the Dean of the law school. This ministry has provided us with several invitations by student bodies as well as by faculties to lead several workshops on Scientific Research Methodology and Epistemology for students and teachers. This has afforded us with the opportunity to share the gospel of Christ with professors and students within the academic context. In this way we are tearing down the prejudices that evangelicals are poor and ignorant. Two of the students involved with the San Agustin Society have begun to attend Los Rosales Church, and two professors have begun to show interest in the gospel as well.

(4) SOME NOTES ON THE FAMILY.-
Samuel is now a 15 year-old young man. He just finished his 9th grade (here it is the third grade of high school) and he is almost as tall as dad. He did very well at school last year, and his grades rank him in third place amongst his class of 27 students. He could do better, and he has promised that he will do even better in this coming year. He is learning to drive our old truck and has made 20 trips back and forth on a road of 8 kms. He is also going on a missionary trip with the ministers of our local congregation to do evangelism and construction work in a village nearby his dad's home land.

Analiz Ramírez is now a girl of 12 years. She has finished her fifth grade elementary school and has also done very well. She suffers from Dislexia but has been enabled by the Lord to do well with her grades and is a fine lady when it comes to serving others. She also enjoys helping mum cooking and doing the other duties of the house. She still plays with her toys and keeps on advising them how to behave. She is also raising four cats and loves the last one who was born two weeks ago. She also loves to attend church and is much involved in its activities.

Esther continues to be the best teacher for Analiz and has learned all the subjects of the modern curriculum for elementary schools. She is also busy doing evangelism with the children of the neighbourhood and also carries out a fine ministry with the parents in the school where our children attend. In the midst of all this work, she continues to keep the home tidy and neat, which I regard as a gift from God for me and our children.

(5) SOME PRAYER CONCERNS.- Please pray for the following requests:
Ø For strength in the Lord to continue to evangelize, teach and preach the gospel.
Ø For new opportunities to plant new congregations in the city as well as in the countryside of Cajamarca.
Ø For our Seminary to grow and be of use for Christ´s Kingdom in Peru.
Ø For the Lord´s relief to our brethren of Chililique as last week our government declared in a state of emergency for the whole region to which Chililique belongs. There is a great drought right now and hey are in need of food.

If anyone feels God´s call to help this particular cause, or to support our ministry as a whole, you could send your donation to Christian Missionary Society (CMS):

Rev. Roland Barnes, executive Director of CMS

P.O. Box 2051
Statesboro, GA 30459
Phone: 912-489-4811
CMS is an organization in the United States of America that exists for the purpose of encouraging and assisting churches throughout the world to fulfill the Great Commission of Jesus Christ.