This past weekend I went on another adventure! There weren’t any long bus rides or even the need to spend any money! The fact of the matter is that I over exaggerated my expectations and packed as minimal as I could. All I packed was my tent, my Bible, my journal, and an extra pair of pants. And with my tiny backpack I was off on another adventure with 4 racers and a translator.
So where did you go Matt?
Almost to that part, a little background to the situation first: Our ministry contact named Bob mentioned to us about a community that was living outside of the city of Chincha that was asking why we weren’t helping them. We figured we would head out to this people group and see what we could do there. Bob mentioned how this group was a ranching community that raised livestock and lived out near the beach. They didn’t have much and he had the idea of a small group of us living among the community for 3 days. And so we were off!
The community was called Canchamana. When we showed up at their community we asked for permission to live with them for a few days. When they heard that, all of their eyes lit up! They were so excited for us to be there and experience life with them. They walked us through their field and showed us where we could set up our tents. Then they proceeded to build us a shade shelter right next to us. In 20 minutes we were all set up and ready to get involved! Us “missionaries” were eager to learn and ready to get our hands dirty. There were cows that needed to be moved for grazing, goats to be milked, pigs to be fed, and donkeys to be ridden. Let me at em’ was my response!
As soon as the people set us up they went to do their daily routines. Every farm animal imaginable was on that quarter section of land and we started to get involved in their milking and such. In roughly an hour or so, we started to understand that we were getting in the way of things. Our hands weren’t strong enough for a quick milking session, our technique was off, and the animals ran away from us as they didn’t recognize us strangers. We rapidly felt the uselessness in the order of business on their farm. This went on for 3 days!
We went on this journey with no money, no food, only the basic things for sleeping, and the clothes on our backs. We went with the call of the Lord as our guiding light and trusted that. We had no idea what to expect and we were all trusting in what God had in store for us. So we trusted and obeyed…..we went!
It was so cool as in those 3 days, we were fed every meal without asking for it, we had a place to stay when all we wanted to do was join in, and we did whatever we could to share the love of Jesus to the people even though we felt we were getting in the way.
**Let me explain the last point there: In the 3 days, we had roughly an hour and a half per day to actually spend with the people in a group. This of course happened at night after the chores were done and before everyone went to bed. It was short, but sweet.
The last evening we were there before we left we had a church service and invited the people to join us. They all came. We shared our stories of what we experienced with them and said our goodbyes. And as we praised the Lord with our new found friends we found out more about their passion for Jesus. We had no idea that they were a group of believers and followed Jesus. I don’t mean it to sound negative at all, but they need more discipleship there. They know the gospel, the believe Jesus died for them, yet they have lots of questions. One lady even shared that she takes her Bible with her when she watches her cattle graze and is cruising through it. She’s learning about Adam and Eve and how it all fits together. It’s beautiful, but there’s so much nurturing in their faith that needs to happen.
So to conclude, I thank God for where he has led me this past weekend and what he has shown me. I was optimistic in the sense that we did as much as we could, yet I hit a frustration. I was frustrated that I couldn’t do more to help them and make their load easier. That’s not at all why we went in the first place and I learned that the hard way. All God wanted us to do there was go and be. And so we saw the fruit in that. When we left, they people shared with us that many “missionaries” have come and seen them to only share a story, give Bibles, and leave. We actually stayed with the people for 3 days and they loved it. Despite our short times together, they cherished it. They couldn’t believe that a group of white people from another country never mind another part of the world would want to stay with them and see what they do for a livelihood. Someone else cared about them and they felt the love of Jesus. The crazy thing is that as they met our every need in those 3 days, I saw a glimpse of the Kingdom myself!
Please check out my blog entitled “What does it mean to belong?” to get the whole picture on the community of Canchamana.
