Peru
Guerilla Fighter Finds God
CBN News
CWNews.com–---Every morning, Rosario Rivera and a group of volunteers prepare food for more than 500 poor children in the Comas district of Lima, Peru. It's an unexpected twist in the turbulent life of a woman who committed herself to guns and violence in her teens.
She said, “When I arrived at the Orolla police station, I saw four workmen tied up. Who knows how many days they had gone without food, and they were being beaten with sticks on the head and arms. I felt such furious anger in my heart, and that day committed myself to armed resistance.”
Determined she would start a revolution, Rosario traveled to Cuba at the age of 18 and returned to Perú as part of the "Tupac Amaru" guerilla movement. She was preparing to enter Bolivia in 1967, alongside communist fighter Che Guevara.
“Then, right there on the border between Perú and Bolivia, I felt something strongly in my heart, and I told the commander that I thought it wasn't the right time to go into Bolivia,” she said. “Then he got so angry with me, he came up to me, spit on me and dismissed me from his army. And that's why I am alive today.”
When she returned to Lima, Rosario attended a Luis Palau evangelistic campaign and felt so challenged by the message that she planned to kill the preacher. But one morning God revealed Himself to her and she could not resist His call.
Rosario said, “And then God did a very personal work here in my house, and He cleaned out all the garbage in my mind and converted me.”
Ever since then, Rosario Rivera has given her life over to Christ. Today, she is a Christian who shows her love for God by helping her neighbors.
Brígida Cortés, and Acts of Love volunteer, said, “Our sister Rosario Rivera is the founder of the children's feeding center. The work of Love in Action is to give free meals from Monday to Friday.
“With this help and support from Sister Rosario, said Rómulo Ayanico, “we are able to help our children progress both nutritionally and educationally.”
Currently the ministry provides daily meals for 527 children from this area.
Why has she chosen this work? “Because,” Rosario said, “the Lord Jesus says, ‘Whoever gives a glass of cold water to the least of these, is giving it to me.’ I owe Him a lot because so many of my sins were forgiven and whatever I do will always be too little -- because the Lord deserves everything wonderful and beautiful, and that all of Peru should come to know the Lord.”
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