At 5,100 meters (16,700 feet) above sea level, La Rinconada, in the Puno region of Peru, is a town regularly listed as the highest in the world. The settlement lies in the midst of a mine, surrounded by snow-capped mountains and sometimes sub-zero temperatures.
A group of members and leaders of Los Andes Seventh-day Adventist Church traveled all the way from that isolated town in the Peruvian altiplano to Brasilia, Brazil’s capital city, to attend the 2024 Maranata South American Division (SAD) Youth Convention.
The Maranata Youth Convention drew almost 20,000 Seventh-day Adventist youth leaders and young people from the eight South American countries comprising the SAD for several days of worship, networking, training, and outreach. Events during the convention included an exhibition of church ministries, youth leader training, and outreach and volunteer opportunities in the region and around the world. Many Adventist academies and universities from across the SAD and other church regions also showcased their academic offers.
A Long Journey
The Los Andes delegation, which included eight people, traveled first by bus for 27 hours to the city of Rio Branco, in Acre. In Rio Branco, they boarded a plane for a three-hour flight to Brasilia. The team included district pastor Serio Cruz, first elder Franco Quispe, youth ministries director Pedro Cruz, youth ministries treasurer Isaac Soncco, Ben Elohim Pathfinders Club director Albis Quispe, Adventurers director Hayde Layme, deaconess Rosenda Ballena, and youth ministries secretary Evelyn Cari.
According to the team participants, one of their motivations for attending the event was to learn how to better train young people and the new generations in their town. “We are now eager to go back and implement some of the methods and strategies that we have learned at the Maranata convention,” they shared.
Witnesses along the Way
The town of La Rinconada has 7,000 inhabitants who, despite their constant struggle against the inclement weather and economic and social challenges, have been steadily growing. It is in that isolated place that faithful Seventh-day Adventists have continued fulfilling the mission of preaching the gospel message.
During their long journey to the Brasilia event, the group members said they had the opportunity to talk about Jesus with fellow travelers and share their testimonies and life stories. “God is our motivation. There is no distance that can prevent us from fulfilling His purposes,” one in the group said. “We feel inspired to be God’s promise of salvation to serve humanity wherever we are.
”The original version of this story was posted on the South American Division Portuguese-language news site.
