A Typical Day in Pucallpa Peru (The Jungle)
8:00am Breakfast- Usually Cereal or Bread and Jelly…
1:00am Lunch- Whatever Maria faithfully cooks. Usually something awesome like chicken and vegetables
7:00pm Supper- Usually some kind of meat and potatoes
8:00pm Volleyball with other local missionaries (they are practically like professionals)
My team and I got a little bit of a scare this week… Around 12:45pm, right before lunch- I walked up the 5 flights of stairs to the top of our house. Maria (our mom) was there cooking lunch… I put something in the fridge and begin walking towards the stairs to go back down. Before I reach the stairs, I suddenly begin to feel the building sway back a forth. The ground under my feet was shaking! I hear loud noises and children screaming. I immediately look at Maria and see that her face is full of contemplation and concern… I soon realize I am experiencing an earthquake! “What do I do?” I frantically wonder… “Should I run down the stairs? Should I step out onto the balcony?” I look at Maria in hope of some direction. “Jesús” She says. I thought,”yes! Great idea.” I grab her hands and we step out onto the balcony, looking over into the street. Kids are holding each other and motor taxi’s are stopped. We begin praying “Jesus, Jesus…” Then, Maria- somewhat calmly- hurries toward the burner and points downstairs. She turns off the fire and we quickly scurry down the 5-flight stairwell. I think to myself, “My mom is going to be so mad at me for coming on this mission trip!” By the time I reach the bottom, the earthquake has settled and I meet my team directly outside the front door. Some are quite anxious, others quiet, and others still in shock.
We all learned a valuable lesson from this experience no matter how terrified we were. Some of my teammates realized what urgency there is for sharing the gospel with family members, considering they may not always have that chance. Others saw that no matter how much they wanted to curse God for letting this happen to us, he is in control of every situation, he doesn’t need our permission to do whatever he pleases. We are so small…
We are so thankful that we not harmed in any way and that it was somewhat of an “awakening” experience for us all. I am so grateful that I had Jesus to turn to in that moment where I had no control. How faithful and Great is our God who listens to the cry of His people!
