Pastor, Ventanilla, Lima, Peru

Victor and his family live in one of the most impoverished areas of Lima called Ventanilla. He pastors the Baptist Church “Mahanaim.”  Along with pastoring, Victor is a gifted evangelist and often speaks at evangelistic campaigns.

Testimony and Calling

My name is Hector but everyone calls me Victor. Sadly, from a very early age I became a delinquent. I became increasingly worse until finally I ended up in a juvenile detention center. I was charged with assault and armed robbery. Instead of getting turned around in prison, I became more worldly and I was drawn deeper into the world of crime. When I got out of prison I became a body guard for a drug cartel in the jungle. The place where this cartel was located was well known for drug trafficking, crime, violence, and violent crimes against the local population. Many people feared me but there were also times when I was pursued like an animal by other men who wanted to kill me.

I also worked as a drug trafficker, taking drugs to Lima whenever I traveled there with my girlfriend and my children. I would take the drugs and distribute them to other sellers in Lima. But, I had become such a drug addict that I often consumed all of the drugs myself. My personal addiction became so strong that none of the other drug dealers wanted to trust me to sell drugs anymore. Drugs had turned me into a scourge to them, I was no longer useful to them, I could no longer do the job. Because of this I lost my girlfriend and my children.

After sinking deeper and deeper into this addiction and after being in and out of several prisons, I found myself in Pucallpa (a large city in the jungle) sleeping in the parks and in the suburbs. I slept on cardboard boxes and used plastic bags as a blanket. I remember one day lifting my eyes to heaven and I began to pray to God. I told him that I knew that he existed; that I felt him but that I couldn't see him. I had felt him since I was a youth when once I walked out on my patio and looking up to heaven I asked myself many questions about him and I cried. They were things that I could not understand. So, I continued crying out to God: "help me, please, help me!" I did not know Christ, but God sent an angel named Rene; an American missionary who worked in that city. She not only shared with me about Christ, but she also cared for my needs by providing me with clothes and food. I accepted Christ as Lord of my life.

After I accepted Christ, Rene sent me to Lima where God continued his work in me, using Pastor Carlos Antezana at the Centro Nacer drug rehabilitation center. While I was at Centro Nacer I surrendered to God's call on my life to serve him in the ministry, in the work of rehabilitation, and in the extension of the kingdom of God.

I was saved in 1987 and I have been in the ministry for fifteen years. I have been married to my wife Aracelli for 13 years and we have two children, Dayana and Caleb. We are serving the Lord together. Praise the Lord for the unmerited love that he has shown us!