My first week of ministry in Trujillo, Peru has been a wonderful experience. I spent the week helping put on a Vacation Bible School (VBS) for the neighborhood kids. Everyday we sing a song that talks about Jesus being our superhero, the kids love this song.
Anyway, My team was responsible for the drama portion of the VBS program. Each day we were given a story from the bible and we had to bring that story to life in a relevant way for the kids.
We did the “The Good Samaritan”, “Jonah and The Big Fish”, “The Fiery Furnace”, and “The Resurrection of Jesus”. As I started the week I wasn’t excited to be working with all the kids. My exact thought was, “VBS, oh no. Looks like I will be painting the wall with my brains by the end of the week”. My perception of VBS in the states is that it is glorified baby sitting. Parents who are loosing their mind because their kids have been home all summer get a week long break by throwing their kids into a VBS program. Yes, I am being slightly sarcastic but my perception of VBS wasn’t the best.
So going into this last week I wasn’t sure what to expect. As we began to interact with the kids I felt God asking me to pay attention to what He was doing with them and the plan that He had for the neighborhood and community we are serving in.
Trujillo is a relatively large city in Peru. It is situated between a range of large mountains and the sea, so it is basically a hot and dry desert by the sea. The landscape is wonderful. The mountains are large and beautifully barren. The ocean is green and cool.
The part of Trujillo I am in is filled with hopelessness. As I walked through the dirt streets, I passed dead animals rotting in the road with 100’s of flies covering them. Trash is strewn everywhere: dirty diapers, bottles, rotting food, and plastics. Pools of sludge are scattered throughout the neighborhood. People burn their trash in the streets, creating clouds of black toxic fumes. Gangs and drug lords have a large presence in our neighborhood. Drug lords push the toxic sludge left over from making cocaine, into the streets. It is insanely cheep and will get you high but it can also kill you after only one hit because it is so toxic. Alcohoylism is a very big problem here. Most of these families make very very little money, less than a few dollars a day, and many families must survive on much less because the men drink it away. At night, it is common to see women helping their drunk men home after a day of drinking. Many young kids (5+ years of age) roam the streets all night because it is safer than going home to a drunk father or stone older sibling.
As I was putting on these plays for these kids, God impressed on me the importance of raising a generation that won’t put up with the broken lifestyle of their parents. A generation that has a solid foundation in what is good, what is right, and what is just. A generation that has a foundation in God, one that will rise another generation like them. One that won’t be ok with the drugs and alcoholism that is destroying their families and communities.
As soon as God showed me this, I was so excited to be a part of that restoration that He wants to bring to this place. My team and I poured everything we had into those dramas and it was awesome. In the end, I think that I learned more than the kids did but I know that as they left every day, we had a positive impact on their life.
My prayer for them is this: That God continues to pour into these kids and this community. That He brings the resources and the workers to continue and expand the good work that is being done here. I’m asking God to cast out the spirit of hopelessness that has such a firm grip on this community and replaces it with a spirit of restoration and love.
