During the recent Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Americans thrilled to see their first-ever women’s bobsled team win a gold medal. One member of the two-women team was Vonetta Flowers, a track star from Alabama, not exactly a center for winter sports, nor was Vonetta experienced with winter climates or activities. When the opportunity for track star Vonetta to be on the bobsled team came open, she took it — and the rest is history. She’s the first African-American to win gold, or any medal, in Winter Olympics history.

An old Spanish proverb says, “When God closes a door, He opens a window.” When Tom and Carolyn Pace look back on their 35 years as missionaries in Peru, they see both open doors and windows and worlds of opportunity to expand the frontiers of the gospel. And whether they are looking forward to continued service in Lima or back on those 34 years, they do so with infectious enthusiasm and love for their field.

Tom and Carolyn’s involvement with missions began early in their Christian lives through the influence of their alma mater, LeTourneau University in Longview, Texas. In fact, that is where they both came to know Christ in a personal way, even though they had been raised in Christian homes. Even before attending LeTourneau, Tom and Carolyn had established a foundation for life. They had married at 19 and 17 after being reared by parents who were good friends in the same church in Texas.

LeTourneau University’s curriculum was also instrumental in cementing their early decision to follow the Lord into missions. As Tom puts it, “While there we enrolled in the Missions major. We were required to complete a missionary internship program in 1965, spending a semester with missionaries in Peru. At that time we were able to visit the Andes Mountains, desert coast, and Amazon jungle of Peru and felt that God wanted us here permanently. Very few missionaries were doing survey trips before going to the field, but it was definitely a blessing to us to be able to see the need and learn what other missionaries were doing. We knew what we were getting into.”

The year was 1966. BIMI had been in operation for six years when Tom and Carolyn applied and were accepted to return permanently to the land where they had fulfilled their missionary internship. Deputation was “a very positive experience” of about a year’s length, one where the Paces met people and churches who are still praying for and supporting them. They state, “We have no regrets about being ‘faith’ missionaries with no guaranteed salary, but rather consider it a privilege.”  Tom and Carolyn, who at the time had one child, Becky, spent a year in Cochabamba, Bolivia, learning Spanish before returning permanently to Peru in 1968.

Those of us who have not served as full-time or career missionaries tend to have one-sided views about deputation and language school. We might see them as periods in the missionaries’ lives that they must endure but which slow down the actual work they could be doing. But the Pacesare quick to defuse any ideas about these experiences being “necessary evils.” In fact, Tom recalls a little bit of culture shock they experienced during deputation. “We moved from Texas to Chattanooga after being approved by BIMI in 1966.   One of the first churches we visited in Georgia was during a preacher’s fellowship.   The first night there I was in a room with 200 Baptist preachers who all started praying very loudly at the same time.   I had never heard anything like that in my life, and it took a while to get over ‘culture shock’ and learn to pray along with them. But we thoroughly enjoyed meeting all these folks and in a few months the Lord gave us a faithful group of supporting churches that have stood behind us with prayer and finances for over 30 years.”

So within two years of graduating from LeTourneau, Tom and Carolyn were on the field, but not alone. “When we arrived in Peru, the Lord had a special blessing in store. BIMI missionaries Doug and Mildred Craig invited us to work with them in the new church they were starting in Chosica, just one hour east of the Pacific, up in the foothills of the Andes. Since we had no pastoral experience in the States before coming to the field, this was our opportunity to work with godly mentors and learn from them during our first term. We will never forget them and their patience with new missionaries. Perhaps because of their steadfast example, we are still in Peru 34 yeas later.”

Thirty-four years!  A lifetime — or almost ­­— for some reading this page. The Paces realized long ago that if missions service were an Olympic event, it would be a long distance race, not a sprint. The first nine years of those 34 were times of adjustment that they confess are now hard to remember. The first nine years were a time of adjusting to a larger family as well as a new culture, as Kathy (1968), Steve (1971), Andy (1972) and Abe (1975) joined Becky as Pace siblings.

Since Peru has been their home for three and a half decades, the Paces have seen history unfold in this politically volatile South American country. In early years many food items were scarce or unobtainable and electrical service was unpredictable. Although Peruvians now enjoy a democracy, during their time in Peru the Paces have lived under a communistic military dictatorship and ten years of terrorism when 25,000 Peruvians lost their lives. Lima, where the Paces now live, is a city of eight million people suffering from poverty, pollution, and overpopulation, with an added mix of wild traffic and wild politics. Situated on the Pacific coast, Lima is the capital and cultural center of Peru and is surrounded by shantytowns filled with desperatly poor people who have moved from the Andes in search of some kind of economic betterment. But Lima is also home to a large middle and upper middle class of business and professional people, and these classes are comprised of significant number of immigrants or immigrants’ children from China, Japan, Palestine, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Mexico, and Russia. A recent Peruvian president was of Japanese origin.

It is with these middle class people of mixed descent that the Paces work in the La Molina district of Lima. They have found that these groups have recently become more open to the Gospel. The La Molina church that the Paces began is a thriving body of over 400. Tom explains its ministries:  “The La Molina church has helped start several new churches in Lima and also help construction projects in other areas of the country. We support fifteen Peruvian missionaries and projects, and Lord willing, next year will send our first couple to a Muslim country. Beto and Gina were saved, baptized, married, and called to ministry here. They are young professionals who we trust will be the first of many couples to go to other needy people groups.”  He continues, “La Molina Christian School has turned out to be a very effective evangelistic tool for the past five years. Just this last semester nine parents and many of the students were saved. Using the A Beka curriculum in English as a foundation, this school for Peruvian kids is gaining a reputation for outstanding education. Our son Andy and his wife, Stephanie, are heading up this ministry. Carolyn enjoys teaching second grade.”

Three truths become clear when corresponding with the Paces. First, their hearts are in Peru, and their enthusiasm is focused on finding and utilizing new ways to spread the gospel. For example, the Lord opened a ten-year “window” allowing them to use television. Although that window is now closed, they were later able to help set up FM radio stations in ten different cities, stations that are owned and operated by local churches

Secondly, they appreciate all their co-workers in Peru, and they know that the urgency of the Great Commission overrides any differences in personality and background that might come from other Bible-believing and Christ-committed Baptist missionaries. They mention by name the many BIMI missionaries with whom they have worked over the years: Doug and Mildred Craig, John and Regina Barker, Wayne and Frances Witherell and Phil and Bonnie Winfield. They especially admire veterans Vernon and Velma Miller, who as deaf missionaries established deaf churches and trained deaf leaders, and whose work is continued by Lee and Eva Johnson and Nancy Burns. The Paces also thank God for missionaries from ABWE, Baptist Mid-Missions, and other fundamental boards. Along with the leadership of the church, Tom teaches in a Baptist seminary operated by another mission board in Lima.

Third, the Paces are unabashedly happy in Peru. They have not taken a full furlough since 1984, although they do come back to the U.S. to visit their children and grandchildren and take the opportunity to visit supporting churches. Daughter Becky and her family live in Michigan; son Steve and family are pastoring in North Carolina; Abe and his family reside in South Carolina. The Paces will soon be joined by their daughter Kathy and her husband, Rick, and family, who are on deputation for a future ministry in Peru. During the children’s upbringing, Carolyn homeschooled them for the eleven years prior to their moving to Lima; after the move the children attended a missionary kids school. Their education at home and school was supplemented by the chance to live biculturally and to visit the spectacular scenery and historical sites of the Andes Mountains. They remember trips over a 16,000-foot pass in the Andes to get to a valley 11,000 feet above sea level!

The Andes, however, was more than a vacation spot for the Paces. It was their first home and place of service in Peru for eleven years. Tom recounts those years, “Up in the Andes, most of the people are Amerindians, descendants of the Quechuas who formed the Inca Empire. They are responsive to the Gospel but rather distrustful of outsiders because of the abuse they suffered under the Spanish conquerors as well as neglect by the ruling classes in Lima. While up in the Andes, we operated a local church Bible institute to train preachers. One of the pastors trained there continues that ministry with a strong Bible seminary in his church.”

Tom and Carolyn began their work there at the invitation of Doug and Mildred Craig, not totally sure when they entered Peru what God had in store for them. In a sense, after 34 years, they still don’t know all God has in store but they are as open for God’s plan as they were in 1967. “We would like to continue here in Lima. There are many open doors to reach young professional and business people with the gospel. We hope to see young families going from Peru to Muslim population centers around the world.” They offer this strong and positive encouragement: 

In light of this attitude of excitement about their future in Peru, as well as the past and present, the Paces ask us to pray for La Molina Christian School, an exciting project with much potential impact. They would specifically like to see more land acquired and teachers for K3 through high school hired. They would also earnestly desire that they grow in their own faith to believe God for great and mighty things in Peru and that God’s work would be perfected in them.

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Philippians 4:7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Richard & Patty Comer -  CENTRAL AMERICA
Brian & Jamie Cone -  THAILAND
Richard & Elizabeth Conrad -  JAPAN