Miguel is a pastor in the small town of Sapillica in the mountains of northern Peru. 

Testimony of Conversion

In August of 1986, I was involved in an accident. I was reading Karl Marx’s book on Communism in my sickbed, and my health continued to deteriorate. So, I prayed to God: “God, I don’t understand why I am here, but if you exist, please help me. More than anything, I need to know if you exist. If you do not exist, then I do not know who I am.” After two days I began to improve quickly and, by the grace of God, I was healed.

Truthfully, I did not know much about how to receive Christ, even though my parents were Christians. A couple of months after I recovered from my accident, toward the end of high school, I recall that I prayed a prayer: “Lord, if you are still interested in me, give me the opportunity to know more about you. But I want to continue studying and to become a professional”

I did not end up getting the opportunity to study as I had hoped. By the grace of God I traveled to the port city of Paita, where my parents now live. There I met Pastor Elfer A., whom God used to introduce me to a missionary from the United States. She sponsored me to study at the Baptist Seminary of Peru, and when I was in my first year of studies, in a class on discipleship I had an encounter with Christ. I was studying about the security of the believer in the book of 1 John, and when I arrived in the second chapter about communion with God, I realized that I did not know God. Remembering what the apostle Paul wrote in Romans 10:9-10, I bowed my knees and prayed this to the Lord: “I confess to you my sins, make me your child. I receive you as my Savior, and I desire to know you with all that I am. From now on I will serve you, and I will give my life to your service.”

From that moment everything changed. God changed my life, and He changed me. I thank God for having saved me the way He did. This happened when I was 15 years old at the seminary, shortly after I had finished high school.