Today was our first day of ministry. We are staying in Lima, Peru in a very nice community center-such a change from last month.
While we are here we will be doing things from putting wheelchairs together to visiting an orphanage. This month has so many cool opportunities in store for me and my team. If you know me, you probably know that my dad is in a wheelchair so when I heard about that ministry it hit home.
Today, four of us went to help with wheelchair distribution. In order to get a wheelchair delivered to you you eitherhave called the church or someone has gotten your name from the city. When we get to the house we take the wheelchair out of the box and start putting it together. Once we finish building it we go into the peoples house and hear their story, tell them the Gospel, pray for them, and show them how to use the wheelchair. The beautiful thing is that if the wheelchair breaks or something is wrong with it the church will come and fix it or even bring them a new one.
Here are some testimonies from today:
We went to three houses and we built each wheelchair straight out of the box. The first home we went to was for a young woman about 31 years old. She was working for a company and was assaulted by people from an opposing company who thought she had money and information about their company and they shot her. The bullet got near her heart and spine and she is now paralyzed from the waist down. She has to wear diapers and it is very hard to understand her when she speaks. She was only 21 when this happened to her and now her mother takes care of her and her 11 year old daughter. She was so grateful to hear the Good News and receive a new wheelchair.
The second place we went was for a young man and it seemed as if he had cerebral palsy, but was also mentally handicapped. His mother said that he had been able to walk and talk when he was little. Now he just listens and smiles a lot. He has to wear diapers. We told them about the Gospel and explained that Jesus is a healer. He listened and smiled the whole time we were there.
The third place (which we almost didn’t go to) was for a man who had also been shot. He was 22 years old walking down the street to get to the bus and was hit by a stray bullet. The bullet had hit him in the back and messed up his spine and now is near his heart. He is now paralyzed from midtrunk down. The stray bullet was from a drunk off duty policeman who seemed to have shot the gun at an inconvenient time. Since he was a policeman he claimed that this man was a criminal. The man was able to go back to work and his company was giving him money to take the bus. However, he wasn’t making enough money to live off of, so he used the bus money to take care of his family. Instead of taking the bus to and from work he would roll there in his wheelchair. He was depressed because of his physical condition and attempted to take his life. He fortunately was able to seek psychological help and to understand that this is what the Lord had in store for his life. His wife passed away a few years ago and now he is helping take care of his grandson while his daughter goes to work. The wheelchair he had was 4 or 5 years old and he had tried many times to weld some of the metal pieces back together. He was so happy to receive a new wheelchair and to hear the Gospel.
2 Corinthians 5:1-2 For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands. We grow weary in our present bodies and we long to put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing.
This is only day one and I cannot imagine what the Lord has in store for the rest of this month.
Our last two months of the World Race are coming quickly! Prayers that we could stay present and focused on what the Lord is doing here are greatly appreciated.
