“Tatiana,” she quickly typed into her phone notes. “Alicia,” she added.
“That’s someone else I need to remember to pray for.”
For Melissa Hanberry of Mississippi, this small church in Lima situated across the street from the national cancer hospital was exactly where she needed to be.
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Families come from all over Peru to seek treatment. Iglesia Bautista Victoria Total (translated Total Victory Baptist Church) rents space on the second floor of a nearby building. From this small worship center with a kitchen, church members feed 30–40 people Monday-Friday, most of whom have family at the hospital. Some choose to join for worship on Sundays.
Hanberry, who was part of a recent women’s mission trip with the International Mission Board, had a few minutes to share the testimony of God’s faithfulness through her daughter Maggie’s cancer diagnosis and passing in 2018, when she was just 20 years old.
‘Nothing’ wasted
The testimony resonated with mothers in the church, who sought out Hanberry after the service for encouragement and prayer. On another day, she was able to encourage a pastor who had lost his son this year.
“Nothing is wasted with our God,” Hanberry said. “I’ve got their names, and I’ll pray for them. My daughter was faithful and always full of hope. It’s only through the Lord that we face sickness and death with hope.”
During the weeklong missions trip, testimony after testimony filled debrief times and tears flowed freely. Many women pointed to the purposes of the Lord to use them for His glory in just the right place at just the right time. This became a recurring theme during the week.
Twenty-six women from 12 states and 20 churches joined the October trip, hosted by IMB missionaries.
Naomi Fowler, from Florida, signed up two years ago, when the trip first opened. “I really didn’t know the reason, but I knew God wanted me to go,” she said.
After being assigned to work with women who have experienced domestic violence, she said, “I know why I’m here.”
During the week, she shared her history of enduring abuse growing up and again in her first marriage. Fowler’s vulnerability gave her an instant connection to the women who came to a multiday health fair hosted by a local church. In addition, she is a nurse practitioner with a concentration in women’s obstetrics. She was in just the right place to offer counsel and care.
Casual conversation
Michelle Chitwood and Tara Dew first envisioned the trip in 2023, which started with a casual mention.
“Wouldn’t a trip together be great?” Dew quipped, during a shared meal at New Orleans Baptist Seminary. Dew’s husband, Jamie, is president of the seminary. The initial idea took root, and plans began to form for women who wanted to serve alongside IMB missionaries and their partners.
“Women are influencers!” Dew said. “I have wanted to see this happen for so long — for women to catch the vision for reaching the nations and influence their families and their churches.”
Chitwood, who serves Southern Baptists alongside her husband IMB President Paul Chitwood, has continually affirmed how God is using women to reach the nations.
“I love to see women experiencing missions overseas and knowing they can be a part of what our missionaries do every day,” Chitwood said, while in Lima. “This is such a strong group, and the women are seeing exactly why God wanted them in Peru right now.”
‘All-hands-on-deck’
Part of IMB’s strategy to mobilize volunteers on short-term trips is to connect them with missionaries who have a committed presence overseas.
It was all-hands-on-deck for the women’s team in Lima, with 26 missionaries helping to host the group and facilitate the ministry sites. The current team of missionaries in Lima includes workers like Lisa Taylor and Amy Fisher who have each served more than 20 years in Peru.
It also includes Journeymen, one who joined the team in retirement, and career missionaries who have planted their lives among the lost in the Americas for the sake of the gospel.
All missionaries were quick to point to the Peruvian churches and the local believers who are carrying the gospel into their communities and beyond.
“This trip couldn’t have happened without our national partners,” said Dodie Glover, who leads missionaries focused on Lima with her husband, Jake.
“Our Peruvian partners — including pastor’s wives and other women’s ministry leaders — have the relationships with IMB missionaries, churches and communities,” she explained. “They often struggle to meet the needs of the women around them, so they were very encouraged to have the U.S. women help them facilitate the events. These unique partners in Lima also lead to ongoing impact after short-term teams.”
Jennifer Brungardt and her husband, Mike, lead missionaries who serve in the Americas. Their role is referred to by the IMB as Affinity Group Leaders. Brungardt echoed Glover’s sentiments. “We want to keep pointing to the strength of local churches and partners. We’re here to help equip them and our greatest work comes through them.”
When the women from the U.S. divided each day, they went to ministry sites in local churches. They emphasized, through interpreters, that families in the community could find people who loved and cared for them at the church.
While speaking to women in a small church on the outskirts of Lima, Elizabeth Westbrook told the story of Jesus meeting the woman at the well. Then she emphasized that the pastor, his wife and others in the church could teach them more and answer any questions they had about faith.
Westbrook had been on numerous mission trips but never through the IMB. Her husband, the pastor of Providence Baptist Church in Town Creek, Alabama, mentioned the women’s trip to Westbrook when he first heard about it at the SBC annual meeting in 2024. Later, feeling like their church needed a stronger mission strategy, Westbrook reached out to the IMB.
“They gave me the contact info for a missionary who was assigned to our church,” she said. The missionaries happened to be in U.S. and close enough to meet for coffee on a Tuesday.
“And on Wednesday, they were speaking at our church.” Soon she was committed to the IMB trip to Peru and has a new vision for how short-term trips can be a part of long-term strategies.
Value of support
Chitwood said she prays that more women, like Elizabeth, will understand the value of supporting Southern Baptist missions.
“I want them to know what God is doing through the IMB,” Chitwood said, “and to lead their churches to be faithful partners with us. Southern Baptists are the best at sending and sustaining missionaries around the world. I want for each of these women to be a part of that work.”
Susan Ruckman testified to the power of a praying grandmother. Heidi Lopez, who is fluent in Spanish, had no trouble with communication and could serve others in the group. Michaelene Beall was diagnosed with breast cancer just six weeks earlier, but it didn’t stop her from the trip. Each day the testimonies of God’s providence and goodness flowed through the women.
Each woman is different. Each journey unique. But for one week in Peru, their shared experience resonated with the same message. They were right where God wanted them.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Leslie Peacock Caldwell and originally published by the International Mission Board.
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