Lima, Peru
This month we had a 36 hour bus ride into Lima we crossed the border around 4am and looked like a herd of zombies walking through customs but we made it through with ease. We were partnered with YWAM (youth with a mission) for the month and would be living a mile from the coast and right outside the heart of Lima. We helped with the new church they were starting, passed out fliers, led an English club and did a few other small things.
In month 3 we had Christmas. This was first time in my life that I missed our families Christmas celebration at my gran’s house. Christmas is easily my favorite time of year. I love snow, warm drinks, and the excitement of gift giving. In Peru it was hot and I was thousands of miles away from my family but my team and I did our best to make it feel real. We did a secret Santa exchange and bought each other food (we didn’t want to carry around any extra weight. Most of our packs are heavy enough) or an item we had lost, destroyed or just needed more of (aka the much needed socks I received from HannahBeth.) We stole a tree branch (sorry Peru) and made homemade decorations. On Christmas Eve we made Christmas cookies, a huge brunch, and a festive dinner. We stayed up late playing card games and fish bowl and then at midnight in true Peruvian style watch the fireworks being shot off all around town. And on Christmas Day, in true American style, we went to Starbucks and FaceTimed our families haha.
At the first English club we hosted we met Victor and Ana who had left Venezuela to leave and work in Lima. We exchanged phone numbers and began hanging out with them in our free time. They showed us the good places to get food and the good beaches to visit. They quickly became our friends and we so enjoyed hanging out with them. On our last night in Peru they came over to tell us goodbye and eat dinner with us. We taught them our favorite card game and procrastinated our goodbye for as long as possible. Ana and Victor taught how valuable friendships are even if you only get to share a short amount of time together. I still get to text with Ana and stay up to date with how they are and I am so grateful to know them.
This month I learned a lot about God’s sovereignty. Since we lived only a mile from the beach we often walked to the shore for worship or to watch the sunset. I was looking through the notes on my phone and found something that wrote during one of times of worship and I think it really captures all that I learned that month.
I am sitting on the beach in Peru watching the sun go down over the Pacific Ocean amazed by the beauty and the power in the roaring waves.
The ocean is wild. Unruly. Untamed. Unknown. It makes up 70 percent of the earth and about 95 percent of the ocean remains unexplored. It contains so many mysteries and it continues far beyond what I can see. Sometimes my life feels like the ocean. It feels like the future and unknowns are out of anyone’s control. There are days when I feel like I’m leisurely floating beside the shore and there are days when I feel like I’m drowning without a familiar thing in sight. The pending outcomes of my struggles can feel like the depths of the undiscovered sea.
As I am sitting in amazement of something that seems so uncontrollable I am reminded that even the vastness and unpredictability of the ocean still is under the command of my creator.
[“Should you not fear me?” declares the Lord.
“Should you not tremble in my presence?
I made the sand a boundary for the sea,
an everlasting barrier it cannot cross.
The waves may roll, but they cannot prevail;
they may roar, but they cannot cross it.]
-Jeremiah 5:22
I read this verse and was immediately reminded that there is not one struggle or hardship that is too big or too uncontrollable for our God. He is far more powerful then our troubles and has the authority to command our storms to bow to him.
[They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”]
-Mark 4:41
Sometimes struggles and hardships are necessary for our growth and to bring us closer to the Father. They maybe difficult and it may be very difficult to see the hope in the middle of the struggles but we have been promised by the father and creator of the world that he will care for us and see us through.
[“I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire them to fear me, so that they will never turn away from me.“]
-Jeremiah 32:40
No matter what we are facing or what is happening in our lives we can trust that our Heavenly Father is caring for us and that he loves us so deeply. We can be confident that He is in control of the waves that may toss us around. He knows every creature that swims in the most remote parts of the sea and he knows what the days of our future will hold. I am confident that they will be good because they will be full of Him.
We had the opportunity to help run a Christmas event at a village outside of Lima!
Adventure day at the beach!
Christmas Eve card games!
One of our beach worships!
Our last hangout with Ana and Victor!
