Testimonies
Pastor Jose Fraguela --- Missions of Faith Ministries
My name is Pastor Jose Fraguela and with my wife Clara we have been led by God to establish a missionary outreach within the heart of the Amazon jungle of Peru. Our base of operations is from the small village of Bretaña, about 3000 people, located eight hours by fast river boats from Iquitos, Peru.
Our daughter Jazmin and her husband Larri Ramirez are also full-time members of our missionary team. Clara and I are focused on establishing new churches, and developing and training pastors for such, along a 125-mile stretch of river villages. One of our two vessels for doing such is pictured here.
Larri and Jazmin are now the pastors for our first church, and our base of operations, the Church at Bretaña. My testimony as to how God took me from Peru, then many years later saved me and led me back to establish this ministry, is truly an amazing story of the Love of God.
I was a builder in Iquitos, Peru when a downturn in the economy completely bankrupted me. Although I had a loving relationship with a young lady named Clara, and she was pregnant, I was forced to leave Peru and migrate to the United States to seek a better life. I was there for eighteen years in Sacramento, California and totally lost touch with Clara. I did many things while in California and eventually had success in real estate.
One morning I was sitting on my couch watching TV before going to work and Benny Hann came on. I didn’t like him but something would not let me change the channel. I literally got hooked as people lined up to be healed by him. The first person was on crutches and discarded them when Pastor Hinn touched him. I immediately thought: this is a paid actor and not true. But as I watched, eventually a young boy in a wheelchair, with both feet completely dangling and useless, was brought forward. Pastor Hinn prayed over him, then lifted him up out of the chair, and the boy stood firmly on both feet and with help started walking. I immediately thought: I need to know more about this.
At that moment, Pastor Hinn pointed his finger directly at the TV camera and said: Get off your couch, put your hand on your TV screen, and receive the Lord. With tears in my eyes I said: this man knows me. I put my hand on the screen and received Jesus Christ as my personal savior that day.
A few months later I got a phone call from a cousin in Peru who told me that I had a daughter there that wanted to meet me. As soon as he told me her name was Jazmin, I knew it was true as that was the name Clara was going to give our baby if it turned out to be a girl. I called Peru and Clara answered the phone.
Instantly I felt the love I had felt for her many years before. I asked for her forgiveness and she replied it wasn’t necessary as she had done so years earlier. She said she “loved me in the Lord” and just wanted me to get to know Him, like she did. I felt like she was taking me to the Lord for a second time.
Three months later I returned to Iquitos, met my wonderful daughter, and completely reunited with her mother Clara. Two years later Clara and I were married and God led us to Bretana, Peru to start our full-time ministry there. That is where Jazmin met and married Larri Ramirez and eventually the two of them joined our ministry on a full-time basis as well.
Through all this, I learned that God is Love. That Plan A is to love God with all your heart. And that there is no Plan B.
I pray that God will bless you, and I hope you enjoyed my testimony, and then the others also included herein.
Pastor Jose Fraguela – Missions of Faith Ministries – In the heart of the Peruvian Amazon Jungle River System
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testimonies
Rita Barker --- Central Community Church --- Covington, Georgia
My name is Rita Barker and I live just outside of Atlanta, Georgia. In 1995, as a Christian, I began to have a heart for missions both locally and internationally. Over the next few years, God began to open doors. I went to South America, Haiti, Israel and Africa.
Later, in 2005 I had the opportunity to do missions in Peru. I went with a missionary team from The Church at Covington, a team led by Pastor Judy Sutton. We originally served in Lima and later flew to Iquitos, Peru to preach and share the gospel at several churches, and orphanages where Pastor Judy had connections and translators.
After arriving in Iquitos, Pastor Judy asked me to bring a daily devotion to the team that morning before going to preach the word that night at a church. As I began to do that, Pastor Judy came to me and said God has made it clear that I was to bring the message at this church that night and she told me I have a translator already lined up to help you. That night I was introduced to Pastor Jose Fraguela, my interpreter.
There was an “instant GOD connection” between Jose and myself. He not only translated my words from God, he did it with emotion and an anointing as if my heart became his heart, and his heart became mine. My words became his words.
The next day Pastor Judy invited Jose to have lunch with the team. He brought Clarita, whom he would marry a few weeks later. In minutes of being in her presence you could since she was a strong, powerful Christian woman. I will never forget meeting her in the ladies restroom, and how our eyes connected. When we sat down to eat lunch, Clarita told the team that she had been praying and God told her that she was to meet a woman and that she would actually see the glory of God in her eyes. I later learned that is what happened in that bathroom.
This was the beginning of a forever bond, one appointed by God. When I returned home from Peru, I kept in touch with Jose and Clarita via e-mail and an occasional phone call. Over the next ten years. I prayed for them daily and their desire for ministry on the Amazon River. They had a tremendous need for a river boat to help establish Christian churches throughout a 125 mile stretch on the Amazon. After church, for months, I would share their need for a boat when out to lunch with friends. We would pray and ask God to make a way. The cost was around $5000. I literally did not possess such funds. One day I was getting ready for work and I heard a knock on the door. There stood a gentleman whom I knew but not very well. I opened the door and this man said, with tears in his eyes, God would not let him quit thinking about the need for the boat in Peru. He reached into his pocket and handed be a roll of money that equaled $5000. I forwarded the money to Jose, which allowed them to purchase a boat to go up and down the river to minister to the churches in the villages. This was truly a miracle of God.
Years later I had another opportunity to help Jose and Clara, this time via prayer. Jose found a bigger boat that he could have for free, if he could figure out how to get it out of the muddy banks of the Amazon. The boat needed to be refurbished but the frame and the deck were in good shape. The boat was completely underwater and stuck in deep mud. We literally prayed that boat out of the mud. God not only sent help to get the boat out, but also sent funds their way to refurbish it and make it a stronger and better boat. Jose now had two boats to do ministry up and down the Amazon River. God is good!
Jose and I desired deeply for him and Clarita to come to the United States for a visit; but it took nearly ten years for the proper paperwork from the Peruvian government to get approved for them to do so. Before they arrived, I prayed deeply that God would open some doors to help get support for their mission work on the Amazon River. God revealed three possibilities that might help in their ministry while they were here. The first was my childhood church, Cornish Mtn in Covington, Georgia. Second, my current church, Victorious Life, and lastly a pastor who had started a church in Stone Mountain, Georgia.
We visited the first two options where Jose spoke and received a love offering, but no commitment to support them on a yearly bases. The day before they were going to leave and go back to Peru, I received a phone call from a dear Christian friend. As we talked on the phone, she stated that she knew someone who was a pastor in Stone Mountain, Georgia who had a real heart for missions. His name was Bobby Atkins. My face immediately lit up knowing this was a confirmation from the lord to go see this man.
We were able to make phone contact with him immediately. While very busy that day, Pastor Bobby graciously agreed to meet us for one hour if we could come right then. Within forty five minutes, we were there at pastor Bobby’s church. After several minutes of myself and Jose explaining the vision of the ministry, Pastor Bobby stopped us and pointed to Clarita. Looking at her and smiling he said: “I want to hear what she has to say.”
After hearing from her, he told us his church was small in numbers and he was not sure if they could help, but would earnestly pray for God’s direction in this ministry. Later that afternoon, Pastor Bobby called a close friend, Pastor Barry Clingan in Trophy Club, Texas, who also led a church with a heart for missions.
He said to Pastor Barry: “Bishop, how would you like to go to Lima, Peru?” In July 2017, the two of them put together a mission team that included myself and others from Georgia and Texas. We traveled to Lima, then to Iquitos and later to Bretana, Peru. Bretana is the base village for Jose and Clarita’s ministry. It is located deep within the Amazon jungle river area.
The trip from Iquitos to Bretana by boat took about 8 hours. This was my second trip to Bretana. My first trip was alone with Jose and Clarita, where up close I saw the vision that they shared. My heart became truly glad to see their ministry’s growth.
I continue to pray and support them, and stay in touch with them and their family, who are now all involved in this ministry as well.
testimonies
Pastor Bobby Atkins – Truth Tabernacle of Praise – Stone Mountain, GA
I am the senior pastor for Truth Tabernacle of Praise church in Stone Mountain, Georgia. We are a spirit-filled, God-fearing, fundamental, blue-collar congregation, filled with people that love our Lord and Savior. We understand the power of prayer, the power of healing, the power of music, the speaking in tongues, and the casting out of evil spirits.
In early 2017, I was sitting in my office when the phone rang. I chose to answer it. On the other end of the line was a wonderful Christian lady I had met several months earlier, Ms. Rita Barker. While I did not know Rita very well, I knew her to be a strong prayer warrior for God and a lady with a love for missionary work.
She explained that she had a missionary couple from the Amazon Jungle region of Peru having lunch with her at her home and asked if I would make some time to meet them as they were scheduled to fly back to Peru the next day. I had a very busy schedule that afternoon, but told her if they could come right over I would find a way to free-up an hour of time. They arrived forty-five minutes later.
Rita introduced me to Jose and Clara Fraguela and proceeded to update me on how they met. Jose explained his ministry until I finally stopped him and said I wanted to hear what Clara had to say. Her English was very marginal so she spoke to me in Spanish with Jose interpretating. He did likewise for me in return. It became very obvious that these two people both shared a deep love for Jesus, and a deep desire to spread the word of Jesus throughout the Amazon River area around Bretaña. Bretaña was a small village of 3000 people, an eight-hour “fast boat” ride from Iquitos, Peru, and their base of operations.
What really caught my attention was their vision for a pastoral training building which they called SOS, the School of the Supernatural. It was going to be a two-story structure with sleeping accommodations for both men and women, and would truly be a “super-natural” building for only God could bring about the revenues and resources that would be required to build it.
As they finished and were preparing to leave, I shared with them that our church was a very small blue-collar group of people, and while we would definitely start praying for them, we did not have the resources to help them financially. We prayed together and they departed.
As I sat there thinking about everything I had just heard, God spoke and said He wanted me to lead a missionary team there as soon as possible to assist them on-site with their work. I picked up my phone and dialed one of my best friends, Pastor Barry Clingan of The Church at Trophy Lakes in Trophy Club, Texas. Barry and I went through school together and the two of us had already made a number of mission trips together to various countries. When Barry answered his phone, I simply said: “Bishop, now would you like to go to Lima, Peru with me?” He was shocked as just a few minutes earlier, while waiting on his flight to Jackson, Mississippi, he had just watched a large plane takeoff from the Dallas Ft Worth airport bound for Lima.
A few short months later we put together a team of people, which included myself, Barry, Ms. Rita Barker, and several members of my church. In July of 2017 we flew to Lima, then boarded a local carrier to fly to Iquitos, which is the largest city in the world (one million people) with access only by air or water. After resting for a day, Jose loaded all of us and all our baggage onto a single engine vessel he had that barely contained us all. What normally takes eight hours to get from Iquitos to Bretaña, due to our load took us nearly sixteen hours. We did take a break at the large village of Requena, which was about half-way to Bretaña, but our last several hours to Bretaña was on the river in the dark.
Our time there was really hectic as Jose had established nine remote village churches and desired to have us visit and minister to them all. Worship services included singing, preaching (with Jose interpreting) healing, numerous baptisms, and even the casting out of evil spirits, all of which occupied our time. I’m not sure who was blest more, the villagers, or our missionary team.
In July of 2019, Barry and I returned to Bretaña with a new team, one member from my church and the rest from Barry’s. Everyone experienced the same joy of fulfillment as our earlier group. On this trip, Jose did not try to take us to every remote church so we got to minister a lot more to the villagers and school children of Bretaña.
testimonies
Pastor Barry Clingan – The Church at Trophy Lakes - Trophy Club, TX
In 2017, I was sitting at a DFW airport terminal on Monday, February 12, when I noticed an American Airlines 777 rolling for takeoff. Even though there were 1,850 flights per day, I knew a 777 was not going on a short trip. I took my iPhone (they make an app for this) and quickly discovered this particular flight was leaving for Lima, Peru. I thought that was very interesting for the time of day and closed my laptop to begin boarding my flight to Jackson, Mississippi.
As soon as I was seated on the plane, my phone rang and it was one of my best friends, Pastor Bobby Atkins, from Truth Tabernacle of Praise church in Stone Mountain, Georgia. His first words were, “Bishop, are you ready to go to Lima, Peru?" The minor coincidence of just seeing a flight take off to Lima Peru and 10 minutes later receiving this call, when I had never thought of Lima Peru in my entire life, quickly blossomed over the next few weeks into a full-scale providential move of God.
The confirmations and connections that have come afterwards have given full affirmation for our involvement in this missionary trip. The plan was that we would be working with Pastor Jose and Clara Fraguela in the village of Bretaña in the Peruvian Amazon. They have a strong testimony of God's call to work in this area. Their daughter, Jazmin, and her husband, Larri, had also joined in their ministry efforts for the region, and we would be working with them as well.
It was Pastor Jose’s and his wife Pastor Clara's vision to build a school of supernatural ministry (SOS) to train pastors for all of the villages in their region. They have a vision of raising Spirit-filled men and women of God to be witnesses in these last days to the villagers of the Amazon River area.
Larri, their son-in-law, who is an outstanding carpenter, not only constructed the church at Bretana, but is also constructing the SOS building.
On this mission journey we took in July of 2017, there was a total of nine people that went on the trip. We prayed that God would allow us to do the following in every village we ministered to: --- Manifest the Love of the Father for every spiritual orphan --- Announce the Kingdom of God is present --- Actively believe God for signs of the kingdom --- Manifest healing, demonic deliverance and other signs and wonders. --- Witness many to come into the kingdom of God through the new birth of salvation.
In July of 2019, I returned to Bretana with Pastor Bobby, a member from his church and eight others from mine. Our team ministered to many villagers in Bretaña as well as several remote villages where Pastor Jose has established a local church.
Our activities included worship services, baptisms, faith healings, casting out demons, ministering to local school children, and many more. The entire team returned with a renewed spirit of just how great God is, and how He is using Jose, Clara, Larri and Jazmin so mightily throughout this region of Peru.
testimonies
Jim Thomas --- The Church at Trophy Lakes --- Trophy Club, TX
My name is Jim Thomas and my wife and I are long-time active members of The Church at Trophy Lakes in Trophy Club, Texas.
In 2017, our senior pastor, Barry Clingan, participated along with his close friend, Pastor Bobby Atkins of the Truth Tabernacle of Praise church in Stone Mountain, Georgia, in a missionary trip to Bretaña, Peru. Pastors Jose and Clara Fraguela were led by God fifteen years earlier to establish village churches throughout that area of the Peruvian Amazon waterway, and Barry’s trip was to go onsite in support of them. Upon his return, our church body started providing support for this ministry.
In July of 2019, Pastor Barry put together a missionary team to go to Bretaña, and after much prayer I eventually received word from God that I could be a part of this team. Having had God speak to me over the years, I have learned how to recognize His voice. But I never experienced anything like what happened on this journey as God instructed me over and over again on what He wanted Irma and I to do.
I got the opportunity to actually work on the Bretaña church while there and saw first-hand their lack of equipment. It became very clear to my wife and I that the Lord had taken me on this journey to impress upon our hearts to help Jose and Clara financially in ways we would have never imagined; such as assisting with a much-needed land acquisition and with providing new tools for the construction of future buildings.
The machete I’m holding in the picture above was a “symbolic gesture” of cleaning off a two-acre plot of land next to a new pastoral training building that was under construction. The ministry needed this land for teaching remote village pastors how to grow and cook various types of crops. The owner of the land had resisted for years selling it to Jose, but after we prayed over it and symbolically cleared it off, he sold it to them within the next fourteen days.
From our base in Bretaña, out team went forth to visit and minister to several remote village churches. Soccer and volleyball are the major sports within all these villages, and it was such a joy to take balls, pumps, and other athletic items to give to them.
I truly learned how to pray more in-depth during this trip. In my Christian walk in the USA I had never before experienced true healing via faith and prayer first-hand; and certainly not the casting out of demons. Both these experiences happened multiple times while we were there as Pastor Barry and Pastor Bobby led very effectively in these efforts.
I returned home, more committed than ever, to be an active supporter of this ministry with financial aid, consistent prayer, and seeking other churches to also support this ministry. There is a possibility that God may allow me to return this year to Bretaña, and I am so looking forward to that opportunity, if it happens.
