llama tell you all about peru - Explore Archived World Race Alumni Blogs

You guys, this month has been so sweet, and I’d really love to tell you about it.

This month we have been in Cusco, Peru and ministry has looked like many different things. We have been partnering with Annie and Darwin, and working with their new church here called La Semilla, which is translated to ‘the seed’ in English. Throughout the month we have held english classes for members of the church and traveled to a village outside Cusco called Chinchero, an indigenous weaving community, where we taught English to the women there so they can sell their hand-made woven products to tourists in the markets. On Saturdays we go back up to Chinchero to run a day for kids where we play games, sing, and lead a small bible lesson for the children there. Most everyone in the community there do not believe in God, but they still let their kids come and learn about Him, how rad is that?! The kids are always sent home with a snack, and Annie and Darwin were recently able to give each child a new piece of clothing; this is pretty incredible since the kids have basically nothing.

Our first Saturday in Chinchero, we set up for the day and saw little children marching and running over the pastures towards us,excited to spend the day with us! These little babes were some of the sweetest things, every single one of them were snotty-nosed from the cold, some had bloody noses, their clothes were dirty, and they tracked lots and lots of mud into our little cottage from their trek from their homes; but every single child was so excited to be there with us. They laughed and screamed and ran around during games, they giggled and danced along during our dances, and they listened and were excited to recite their memory verses. One of the girls even brought her little tiny baby lamb with her that had been abandoned by her mommy, and the way she held that little lamb and looked after her reminded me so much of how Abba looks after and loves us. She snuggled the baby lamb into a blanket, held it close to her, and even breathed on its nose when it was cold. She looked at her baby lamb like she wanted nothing more than to protect it and love it and keep it safe. Just like Abba feels for us.

Chinchero is such a sweet place ya’ll. The children are spectacular, and the women we had the privilege of teaching English to are so beautiful, kind, and loving. The day we went to teach them they taught us how they make all their own yarn from sheep and alpacas, they showed us how they clean it, how they twirl it with their fingers and stretch it to become yarn, and how they dye it from natural ingredients from the earth. They let us help them start the process of making a bag, shared their lunch with us, and then were so eager and excited to learn from us. I had the honor of teaching Delmi, their head woman in charge of the textile shop, she is so funny, so caring, so giving, and so sweet. Plus, she is the only woman that Annie and Darwin know who has accepted our Lord as her Savior, HOW STINKING SWEET IS THAT!!

Most everyone in Chinchero, like many in Peru, believe in ‘Mother Earth’. They give some of their food and drink to the earth before they eat and drink, to thank mother earth for everything that she has provided for them; Delmi even poured out a little bit of her drink the first day we were with them to show us what people in Peru do to give thanks to their god. Some people here still practice sacrificing animals to mother earth, and some, out in the far villages, still sacrifice children. This practice is on the rise in Peru, people are abducting children, taking them to a lake high up in the country, about 6 hours from Cusco, and killing them because they believe this is pleasing to the god they follow and worship. So please, pray for a renewal of hearts for the people here, pray that the people here would be brought to their knees in front of their Father.

We are also helping to set up and run a women’s tea, which is happening tomorrow!! Pray for these women to hear Annie and Ruth (Annie’s sister in law) as they preach about our Abba and how he longs to be our groom. I mean come on, how sweet is that. I often forget that God wants to be father and my groom, that he wants to chase after me and romance me. The hope of tomorrow night is that these women would see the characteristic as God as their groom, and see what they should be looking for in men, that they shouldn’t settle.

The last thing we will be doing here is on Tuesday, Halloween! We are holding a children’s festival, dressing up like animals and doing a play about Noah’s ark; and if you know me, you know I’m stoked to slap on some grey paint and be an elephant! Although my teammates are saying I’d make a pretty great lion considering my already wild hair, but we’ll see.

We have gone on epic adventures to colorful mountains capped with snow (we tried to hike in tennis shoes and windbreakers, our toes were frozen) and the vast beauty of Machu Picchu.

As you can probably tell, this month has been busy, we’ve bounced around a lot. But it has also been a month with rest, which is so sweet and much more needed than I expected. This month my team and I have really begun to press into each other and fight for one another; honestly it is uncomfortable, but I know that it is good. We have been truly vulnerable (something I’ll talk about in my next blog), we have cried, and we have laughed so much! We have made friends with the people here, we have built community, with each other and with others.

This month has been a time of restoration, it has been a time of pressing in and seeing the Father, and it has been so so good.

All the love to all of ya’ll,
Mack

ps. I attached some pics of the month so far below, I hope you love Peru as much as I do!

Delmi from Chinchero