Isaac is a pastor in the community of Urakusa in the Amazon Jungle of Perú. In addition to pastoring the local church in Urakusa, he is also very involved in the effort to distribute resources and provide training for pastors in other communities throughout the region.

Testimony of Conversion

For as long as I can remember, my parents were Christians, and like all children, I went along with my parents. But throughout my early years, I did not know Christ. When I was 13 years old, I supposedly made my first decision to become a Christian. It was mostly emotional because I really didn’t understand what salvation was. The person who led me to make that decision was my mother. Even though I didn’t understand what was happening, I do believe that God was working in my heart at the time.

After that, during my teenage years I didn’t take seriously the things of God. That’s how I was up to the point that I became a young man and went to serve my country. I never did the things that my companions did, like smoke, dance, drink, or party. Instead, I devoted myself to working for three years. Even during those years, I always felt something in my heart with regard to God’s call on my life.

The year in which I began to take seriously the decisions I was making was 2002 in the month of February through the preaching of pastor Angel Colmenares. In one of his sermons he said, “Every person that does not repent of their sins will have to spend eternity in hell.” This really had an impact on me and it was at that time that I decided to travel to the city of Sullana to enroll in the Baptist Seminary of Theology. 

Up until that point, I was still single. While I was in the seminary I met pastor Paul Washer and through his preaching, I realized that I actually was not saved. Thanks be to God because He used this man to cause me to see my sinful spiritual condition. In the second semester of seminary, God worked in this way and it wasn’t until then that I really began my new life in Christ. God taught me many things during that time. He taught me the patience of faith and He was molding my character. I began to feel love for Him.

Call to the Ministry

As I have already written in part of my personal testimony, after I left seminary God still had not shown me my wife. I give thanks to God because while I was in seminary preparing for the ministry, He gave me the privilege of serving as a leader in one of the mission churches. This opportunity further confirmed my decision to work in the ministry. When I left seminary, I was given another opportunity to go as a missionary to Moyobamba, but I did not accept the opportunity. God was putting it on my heart to go back to my own community. 

I came to the mother church there and I began to support the pastor for six years, helping him with the preaching. While I was there, I also began to go on missionary trips to other communities. It was during one of those missionary journeys that I met my wife. Thanks be to God, we now have three daughters—God has blessed me. Around that time, I also left the mother church to begin a new church where I now pastor.

From that time my desire has always been to work in the ministry. I want to help the other pastors and to improve the work of the Lord here and in other communities. I’m thankful to God for the opportunities he has given me to be able to carry out the plans that have been put in our hearts for this community and also for the other places around us.