February 9, 2025
Of the thirty-three million inhabitants of Peru, over one-third (12 million) live in the capital city of Peru. The rest are sparsely populated throughout the rest of the country. The most sparsely populated area is The Highlands represented in the green areas of the map above. The two major indigenous groups are the Quechua and the Aymara people. Transportation difficulties remain a real issue in the Peruvian highlands, with travel nearly always slow and precarious. This is an extremely poor area, where the people engage in agriculture, ceramics, and weaving to provide some type of income.
Today, I spent the day with three men who are making a significant impact in these communities.
Rino Beretta’s father was born in Italy. After moving to Peru, he used his understanding of wines to help rural farmers certify their grapes. This birthed in Rino a love for rural communities. But Rino did not follow in his father’s footsteps. He went into the arts, becoming an actor, entertainer and mime. He traveled for many years touring the world as a performer. After returning to Peru, he went four years to seminary and hoped to incorporate his love for the arts into his ministry.
Rino began his ministry by traveling to Tarapoto, Peru. This rural Highland community is a 25-hour drive from Rino’s home in Lima, so Rino began taking a 50-minute flight and staying/sleeping in a small community center. Although Spanish is Peru’s common language, the people spoke many different dialects, so Rino began his ministry with the most common language-music. Rino then began to use Thirdmill’s most simple teaching curriculum to help the people improve their language skills and further build a collective sense of community. Many now travel to Tarapoto to partake in Rino’s growing ministry.
Fernando Sevilla Ruiz is the Peru Country Director for Langham, a Pastor training & Preaching ministry. He trains Pastors throughout the country including in The Highlands. Peru was severely impacted by Covid and the churches which play a vital role in these communities were forced to shut down. Fernando used the Thirdmill virtual leaders’ curriculum to help continue to serve these communities. As in Tarapoto, many of the participants routinely listened to the materials to also improve their Spanish. Fernando reports that without this resource the residents would have felt a greater sense of isolation.
John Pierre, age 29, is the leader of one of our Thirdmill Institute Learning Communities in Lima. He is teaching young leaders how to utilize the materials to serve the needs of their communities. A dynamic young man, he is the conduit for the next generation of leadership in Peru.
I realize that many people are turned off by hypocrisy they see in the church. I understand. I saw it also. When I had to revisit my own faith, I also had to revisit my own failures. I found that when I thought someone ought to be more loving, it was usually me. Hypocrisy is seen in business, entertainment and government. It is just so much more pronounced when someone professes to be good and does evil. Yet, redemption is open to everyone, if they will ask for it. I challenge you to find one person who asked for God’s grace and did not receive it.
For some years I was part of a large family practice group consisting of physicians, psychologists, and a school psychologist that serves over 10,000 patients in Central Florida. Throughout the year each nurse would be sent on a short-term mission trip. They were all so excited to bring hope to those in need. Without exception, they all returned with more hope than what they left with. The people they met had very little, but they did have hope.
Today, I spent the day with three men who deliver it.
Thanks for traveling with us.
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