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ATLANTA – During Luis Campos’ many medical mission trips to the Peruvian shanty town of Collique, he noticed that the children seldom touched or hugged each other.

Living in extreme poverty, these children had developed a defensive instinct at an early age.

“Since they were 2 years old, someone has abused or taken advantage of them,” said Campos, medical director and president of Operación San Andrés, a holistic ministry in Peru.

Cooperative Baptist Fellowship field personnel Christopher and Jessie Rose, along with their son, Joshua, moved from Texas to Peru in February to serve at Operación San Andrés. Serving a two-year term, the Roses live in Collique, located near Lima. They help students learn math and reading, teach Bible stories and conduct classes on healthy families.

“They are helping to create an atmosphere of camaraderie and trust among the children as they seek to address the spiritual, educational, physical and economic needs of the community,” Campos said.

Operación San Andrés is a mission endeavor of Fellowship partner church South Main Baptist in Houston, Texas, which has sent medical mission teams to Collique since 2003. Other partners of the Roses include their home church, Tallowood Baptist Church in Houston; Buckner International, a Dallas-based global ministry that helps orphan and at-risk children; and other churches.

Before their move to Peru, the Roses served as teachers. They speak Spanish and have previously lived in Latin American countries. Christopher, originally from Lakeport, Calif., became a Christian while living in Chile after a missionary told him about Christ.

After their marriage in 2003, Christopher, 33, and Jessie, 31, felt called to return to South America. Friends, prayer and scripture helped the couple confirm that Collique was where God wanted them. They packed their belongings, gave away their two cats and said goodbye to family.

“Serving in Collique has been a blessed experience,” the Roses said. “God has already done some amazing things since our arrival in February in many areas of our ministry. We are serving loving, but neglected peoples in this community. It is amazing to see the joy of Christ in people who live everyday in serious and challenging situations.”

Collique children face myriad challenges. Their fathers typically work manual labor jobs, earning less than $7 a day, and many families live in shacks that don’t keep out water or cold air.

Children often eat only one meal a day. The lack of vital nutrients slows their physical and mental development, often causing academic struggles.

The 42 third- and fourth-graders participating in a tutoring program at the OSA House also receive nutritious food. Public school teachers report that the children’s academics as well as their classroom behavior have improved, said Jessie, who grew up in Shelley, Idaho, and Central Pointe, Ore.

The Roses also work with the children’s parents and other adults. Jessie leads devotions during a class on healthy families, and she plans to start a literacy class for some of the mothers.

The class also includes lessons on handicrafts, such as embroidery. Organizers hope that the new skills will help the mothers increase their families’ incomes, Jessie said.

“I talked with a mother recently who knits children’s clothes,” Christopher said. “She makes less than $1 per jacket, and she makes five jackets in two days. I told her to come to the workshop so she could expand her work skills.”

A team of women from Tallowood Baptist Church will travel to Collique in September, and will bring sewing machines, which will be used by Collique women at the OSA house. In addition to sewing, the team will teach cooking, jewelry and candle making, Jessie said. Christopher hopes to connect the Collique seamstresses with micro loans to help them further grow their sewing businesses.

“Most of all, we want to share the love of Christ with the women of Collique,” Jessie said.

To learn about partnership opportunities with the Roses, contact Chris Boltin at cboltin@thefellowship.info or (800) 352-8741.

CBF is a fellowship of Baptist Christians and churches who share a passion for the Great Commission and a commitment to Baptist principles of faith and practice. The Fellowship’s mission is to serve Christians and churches as they discover and fulfill their God-given mission.