Andean Aid

UPDATE: Pastor Perez's contractor has broken ground on the house. He has received 20% of the funds he needs to complete the house. A school in Rubio, Venezuela, has held a fundraiser for Pastor and his family. And best news of all, Pastor's wife Angelica is responding positively to cancer treatments and slowly improving. Praise God!

Greetings! Thank you for considering this fundraising effort for Pastor Jose Perez and his family. As the Executive Director of Andean Aid and a friend of the Perezes for the past 10 years, I am privileged to have seen a transformation in the lives of hundreds of at-risk children through the work they have done in the poverty-stricken community of Buenos Aires in Cucuta, Colombia, where we operate a Help & Hope Center. Thank you for reading Jose's story below, and for any gift you can make to help these wonderful servants build a house. We want to be the hands and feet and love of God to them in their hour of need.

THE NEED

Our faithful servants, Pastor Jose Perez, his wife Anjelica, daughter Daira, and son-in-law Samuel, urgently need your help. They have had to vacate the home they’ve lived in for 15 years after Pastor Jose retired to help Anjelica as she receives rigorous cancer treatment. The home in which they lived was part of the church property, and it has been transferred to the new pastor.

Even as Anjelica continues treatment for a malignant tumor, the family has moved out of the house they called home for 15 years - but they have no permanent home. A hard worker, Samuel, has saved enough money to buy a plot of land where they can build a house but has no funds left to build it. After a lifetime of ministry, and without a pension, the family places their faith in the God they know loves them deeply. We want to be His hands and feet to the Perez family in this desperate time.

JOSE’S STORY

José de Dios Pérez was born on May 29, 1949, in El Carmen, Norte de Santander, Colombia, to Ana Gregoria Pérez and Luis Rodríguez. The youngest of 7 siblings, Jose’s world shattered when his father abandoned the family when Jose was only three years old.

At the age of 21, Jose’s mother noticed a difference in his behavior – a loving and gracious attitude toward his family and those around him. When Jose explained that he had come to know Jesus Christ as his Savior, his mother wanted nothing to do with him. As she continued observing the transformation in her son’s life, she, too, wanted to know Jose’s God, and he led her to Christ. José took care of his mother until her death.

While studying at Ocaña Bible Institute, Jose met and later married María Angélica González Pedraza. They had two daughters, Daira and Darlin, and adopted a young girl, Stefany, who was without a home of her own.

Pastor Perez began his ministry in 1972 as a leader of the Los Olivos del Carmen church. Six years later, he pastored his first church, Ayacucho Cesar, and then transferred to the church of Guamalito (El Carmen), where he served the LORD with devotion until 2009.

Jose began pastoring at Getsemani Church in the Cucuta barrio of Buenos Aires, where the family lived in a home owned by the church. For the past 15 years, Pastor and Anjelica, as well as daughter Daira and husband Samuel, have served the community through the church and by operating one of 13 Help & Hope Centers sponsored by the non-profit educational organization Andean Aid. Through the Perez family’s faithful service, thousands of at-risk children and their families have seen Getsemani as a beacon of hope and light in the community.

In 2024, Angelica began receiving rigorous cancer treatments, and Pastor Jose had to retire from the ministry to care for her. A new pastor has taken his place at Getsemani, and the Perez family is now without a home.

For the past several years, Jose and Anjelica’s son-in-law Samuel has been working hard to buy property where the family can build a home. He recently purchased a small plot of land in the same community they’ve served for the past 15 years, and he hopes to build a house for them all. Samuel, Daira, and Jose all plan to continue working for Andean Aid.

After a lifetime of service to God, Jose knows God is in control, and he is trusting his Lord to show the family His plan for their lives. Will you help the Perez family by making a gift to build them a home? Our staff contractors are standing by to begin the project when the funds are in place. Thank you and God bless you!

Below photo: Jose, Anjelica, and Daira Perez with Andean Aid director Brent Walker.

Pastor Jose Perez

Pastor Perez visiting a neighboring church in barrio Camilo Daza

Jose's daughter Daira works with Andean Aid students on their schoolwork every day

Samuel has been a teacher and leader with Andean Aid for many years

Pastor Brent Walker and former Andean Aid student Bladimir Gomez visit Pastor Perez at his church