Why her parents named her Veronica, she doesn´t know. She never met her father, and her mother was always drunk and irresponsible. Their family’s small, neglected farm offered a bleak future. It didn´t help that she came from the beautiful and renowned Cuzco region, home to ancient Inca nobility. Eventually her aunt couldn’t bear to watch the tragedy any longer. She took Veronica and ran away—anywhere, just far away. What was the use of a depraved home in a beautiful landscape?

Together they landed in the dusty outskirts of Peru’s second largest city, Arequipa. Thousands migrate from rural areas into Peru’s cities, driven by economic hardship and poor education. Yet amidst the rising migrations to Arequipa, new evangelical churches are forming. In fact, in Veronica´s immediate vicinity was a church with a breakfast program run by SIM’s Arequipa Children’s Ministry (ACM).

Struggling with school, Veronica took refuge in a relationship and became pregnant. After the birth, she married her baby’s father and together they started to attend church. Veronica visited ACM’s mother-child support group called "Dorcas” where she took great interest in a Bible study with other young mothers. A new track was laid for the young family.

Meanwhile her husband took an internship as a chemistry teacher, but the money was nowhere near enough. So Veronica packed dried herbs and spices into small bags to sell. For many Peruvians, minimal daily wages make it impossible to manage a large inventory, so small packages and daily rations are popular.

Veronica’s sealed and neatly stapled spice bags sold very well in the shops of her district during the Christmas season. One day, carrying her baby in a wrap on her back and loaded with two more bags, she set out on her usual tour. She knew her route and her customers personally. Veronica´s cheerful aura was appreciated by all, but on this day it was put to the test. For the first time, a different spice vendor visited her area. Veronica couldn’t sell anything in the first shop, nor in the second! Frustration mixed with desperation until she began to boil inside. Her bitterness and anger turned on the unknown seller. That woman should sell her goods somewhere else! Where shall I earn my income? I’m dependent on it!

To make matters worse, in her distress she left one of her bags of spices somewhere. By the time she realized it was gone, she couldn’t remember where she left it. She retraced her steps, but the bag was gone.

Depressed and aimless, she shuffled on. A flash of inspiration came to her mind and she paused. Why am I angry at a person I don´t even know? Doesn´t she have the same right as me to sell? Do I know how many hungry mouths wait for her at home? Don´t I trust that the Lord will still provide for us? Isn´t my life in his good hands?

As if by an invisible hand, her anger dissipated and she walked on, free and victorious. As the day progressed, Veronica found other stores to sell her spices. Grateful, she told her husband in the evening, "Imagine, though I lost a whole bag of spices, my earnings were the same as usual! Today I experienced God's help in a special way and learned to trust him anew! Instead of getting angry about others, I want to believe in His love and tell others that Christ came to share our concerns and to bear our failures!"

Veronica means the “victory bringer”, and this has become her mission: devotion in everyday life. Now she is a "spice-disciple" as it is described in Colossians 4:5-6: "Be wise in the way you act towards outsiders... Let your conversation be always full of grace and seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”

SIM partners with the Peruvian Evangelical Church (IEP or Iglesia Evangélica Peruana) to be the hands and feet of Christ towards people like Veronica. Using a network of children's clubs, SIM and the local church reach hundreds of children in Arequipa and surrounding areas. Through authentic relationships with youth and their parents, the love of Christ and the hope of the gospel are shared in these communities.

If you would like to learn more about Arequipa Children's Ministries (Project #89266), Siegfried and Dorothee Reuter would love to speak with you. Please contact them via webtalk@sim.org. Thank you in advance for your partnership with us!