(Author’s note: To all who supported me and my team with prayers and finances, a big “THANK YOU” goes out to each of you. You guys are incredible and absolutely awesome. This trip would not have happened had you not helped like you did! Together, we impacted many lives in another country!)
A couple of weeks ago, I flew out of the country for the first time in my life. Only months before had I ever flown on a plane somewhere.
As you can tell, I’m a world-renowned traveller.
My destination was with 14 students from the ministry I work with, UVA Chi Alpha, as well as a fellow intern as we all travelled to the country of Peru! Honestly, I didn’t know what to think about it. Our agenda had been set and I knew (based on how we put the itinerary together) what we would be doing.
There’s a lot I could say about how this trip was and the things that I saw, but for your sake, I will focus on what really impacted me the most (and by the end of this, what will hopefully impact you as the reader).
We spent the majority of our time in a little seaside village called Puerto Supe…
This town has somewhere around 1,000 inhabitants living in it. Most of the major trade comes from agriculture and fishing, which was terrific for us because all of the food we had during our week there was fresh. The fish we ate? Somebody had caught it out of the ocean that morning. The various fruit we had? Someone was picking from a tree that day. And it was all good!
There are a number of schools in Puerto that have anywhere from preschool to high school students in them. Almost everyday, we started out going to the schools to do skits (sin chair, Lifehouse’s “Everything”), songs with actions (“Waka Waka” and “Cristo es mi superhero”), and some VBS songs.
Most of the kids really enjoyed the “Waka Waka” song and demanded that we do it again so that they could watch and learn with us. Naturally, we agreed to their demand.
On one occasion, we got to go to a preschool to help put some fresh paint on it, and even left a mural for it…
Before
After
Our afternoons were spent working on a construction project that involves building a church for people to meet in and have a good facility. Currently, the church meets on a back patio at our host’s house, so it’s a great thing that there’s vision to have a facility built for people to come and worship the Lord.
We were able to help get out old rock and gravel to make way for new foundation to be put in…
Each evening as a team, we discussed the Kingdom of God. What does it look like? Where is it? How can we get there? Is it already here? What does it ask of us?…we answered some of these questions by studying the Bible and having group discussion each night.
We even got to celebrate a birthday on the trip as well!…
As I said before, there are many other things that I could talk about, but I want to get to what the Lord revealed to me…
The three Peruvians you see at the bottom left of the picture (the guy with glasses, the guy with the striped shirt, and the boy laying on his side in the sand) had the biggest impact for me. They followed us around for most of the week and hung out with us. Through them, I saw that God’s desire for people is that they all be reconciled to Him, no matter what background they may come from.
Now, I don’t know the full story of these guys. They may have done some shady things in their past. Or they may not have. I don’t know. But what I do know is the guy with the glasses, Jose, came in with what I believe to be a seeker’s heart–wanting to know more about Christ, and wanting someone to show him how that plays out. We played a small part in it, but God was the one that brought Jose closer to Himself. Jose is now actively working with kid ministry and has been going to some of the prayer meetings the church has!
The boy in the sand, Sergio, comes from very humble upbringings. From my understanding, he provides for his family.
He’s 15 years old.
He goes out each morning at around 5 a.m. to fish to provide some source of means for his mother (who is pretty much blind) and his sister. Later in the day, you’ll see him going around the street selling candy to get a little more income. Sergio and his family don’t have much at all. You could probably put 4-6 refrigerator boxes together and that’d be the size of their whole house. Their whole house. And they’re not the only ones who live like that. But, God cares about the poor family as well. “God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.” (Matt. 5:3, NLT)
The guy in the striped shirt, Leonardo or “Leo”, is an amateur skateboarder who fell in love with the board at a very young age. Throughout the week, he’d go around with us and hang out with us on the beach as well as some of the schools we went to. He got to practice his english with us (which was pretty good), and we got to practice our spanish with him. I believe his hopes are to go to the United States and become a pro-skateboarder. I really enjoyed getting to hang out with him! He has a kind heart, and I believe that God wants to use skateboarders to glorify His name! Leo is on path in seeking the deeper things of God, and my prayer for him is that he find them.
And (as an added bonus) last, but not least…
“The Boss”
Our host, Shelly, really made the trip a great success. Working with her and hearing her heart for the people of Puerto Supe, and Peru overall, was encouraging. She put together a lot of the things we did from the meals we had, the schools we went to, our lodgings, and interpreted things for us. The last night for our devotions, she talked on the hidden treasure in the field and the pearl of great value (Matt. 13:44-46) and what that has meant for her own life as she has been serving in Peru for over a year now, and looking to give her life to foreign missions.
Through these people, God showed me that the Gospel is the same, no matter what part of the world you’re in. It still has the same “language”–we, in a state of separation from God caused by sin, needed a Savior to bring us back to Him. That Savior is Jesus and, by his death and resurrection, we have been made right in the eyes of God. That message can speak to everyone on this planet!
My hope and prayer is that we all grasp this and that we see that God cares for the seeker, the skateboarder, the poor family…He cares for you. He cares for me.
I know we all can’t go out and do awesome things in other countries, but we can all pray for those that are in those places. So, as you think about ways that people like Sergio, Jose, and Leo can hear the Gospel message and see it in action, consider this:
- Pray for the South America Mission team in Puerto Supe (Shelly, Lindsey, Grace and Cesar Cubas–the ministers who are trying to get the church up and going).
- Pray that people would have their eyes opened in Puerto Supe. I didn’t go into much detail about this, but a lot of people focus on the worship of saints there rather than in Jesus.
- Pray that the meaning of “family” would be strengthened. A lot of families grow up without a husband/father due to various reasons. Sergio’s family is one of those.
- Pray for the people I highlighed. Jose, Sergio, Leo, and Shelly.
- Pray for the students we met in the schools that the light of Jesus would be illuminated in their hearts as they grow older.
If you’d like to take your faith a step further, prayerfully consider becoming a financial partner with Shelly and Lindsey. Like me, they both have to raise their support in order to do the work that God has called them to do. Think about how awesome it’d be to support someone who is reaching people in another country–a country that needs the Gospel in their lives!
You can support Shelly here.
You can support Lindsey here.
I encourage you to pray for Puerto Supe and the requests above for at least a month. Do some research, contact the missionaries, see what God is doing there!
-§c
Extra: It’s amazing how much fun people can make a balloon to be…
Some scenery…
Seth Collins 