Dear Friends,
As promised, here I am to write straight from the field and ready to live out this big vision: become an overflow of God’s love by receiving His love through intimacy, community and activating passion for mission wherever we are.
It‘s been over 2 weeks since we arrived in Peru (the first country of this mission trip around the world) after almost 60 hours of travelling (please watch great video below made by my friend Adi with awesome soundtrack by my other teammate April). Cusco is 11,152 miles above sea level and altitude sickness is a real issue here (planes are so close that it seems like they are about to touch the buildings!), although the local traditional cocoa tea helps! The journey to our host ministry base has been a literal roller coster through remote mountain villages, farms, picturesque fields and valleys. I usually get sick when I travel or fly but this time God surprised me with a little big miracle because I was totally fine the whole time. Isn’t amazing that God, the Creator of the Universe, cares even for our little stuff? This actually touched my heart immensely and I was so moved by the grace of the Lord!
Peru is a beautiful country characaterized by huge mountains, bright colours and breathtaking views. It has been for long time dominated by the Spanish conquistadores, so people speak Spanish alongside Quechua while the main religion is still Catholicism. However, it is still spiritually dark in many areas because Christian beliefs are mixed with the worshipping of ancient pagan gods, mainly due to the Incas who lived here.
This month we get to partner with a local church, Esperanza Viva Calvary Chaper, whose main mission is to bring the light of Christ in the neighbourouhood by sharing love with practical actions and letting people know the truth in the Bible. It has been planted by a young family from USA about 5 years who felt the Lord was calling them to leave their home country in order to serve this comunity. They already taught me that ministry is not made by spectacular actions and that is not a sprint but rather a marathon, trusting God with all your strengh for fruits even when everything seems so dry and pointless!
Our ministry so far has been varied and each day looks different. We work a lot with the Orfanage down the road, we help with some projects of the church and the youth group, we take prayer walks, we do some evangelizing and outreach activity. Moreover, last weekend we also participated in a fundraiser to raise money for one man in the congregation to help him bringing his family over from Venezuela by cooking and selling over 120 chickens. That was funny!
Each activity, from painting, cleaning, sharing or making crafts teach us something but I would like to report here 2 episodes that spoke to me in an incredible and unexpected way!
We have been asked to sand down some old furniture of the children’s home in order to prepare and enhance the wood for new painting. It was in the middle of this manual labor that I had a sort of divine revelation or vision. In particular, my efforts of evening out the rough surface and getting rid of the scratches made me think about how God “prune“ us by scratching away the dirt and the ugliness in our life to prepare us for the next stage. This might hurt but at the end of it, you come out as a new creation and God is ready to do something new on you and through you. As my teammate Alicya underlined, we walk in this world and we go through things in life which create bruises and sometimes we are all damaged, but God go through a process of buffering us and it might be painful or it might seems that more scratches are added but at the end of it is a mess that turned into a masterpiece! In other words, the more you allow God to “sand you down” in life the smoother and more beautiful you come out of it!(see also what Jesus says in the Gospel of Jhon chap. 15 verses 1-8).
Another experience that challenged me a lot was when I was asked to spend the whole day to an Orphanage for boys and to look after C, a 8 years child with special needs. This children’s home is different from the one we usually go to. It has been founded by a policeman in the middle of the countryside and it is actually a farm. The founder personally told me his story and showed me how he is actually working on planting a church right there. Praise the Lord! It is a magical place and the surrounding mountains look like they are embracing you! That morning started on a surprise note. I found out that day was an important one for C. because he was about to be transferred temporarly in this new boys home because the director of his previous one had to leave the country for personal reasons and could’t find other places that would or could accept him. Therefore, this little tiny Peruvian boy was there waiting for me in the car with a mesmerized look on his face. The driver, a kind Christian gentle man from America with a cowboy hat, decided to take a detour and bring us first to see the open local zoo up to this hill with stunning views. It was there that I got to know more about C. and his condition, to see how he struggled walking and talking and how his brain development was delayed; at the same time, I got to realize how sweet, brave and determined he was. When we got to the farm, I witnessed the exchange of documents for C. and tried to pick up some details from the conversation in Spanish they were having about him. The lady who accompanied the boy was trying to convince the stuff that he would have been independent and that he wouldn’t have needed much special care. Unfortunately I knew that wouldn’t have been the case. I couldn’t do or say anything in the moment except praying that Jesus would have protected C. in the near and far future. When the lady left we wondered around and brought C to his room to range his stuff and bed. At that point, all the children have been called out to greet him. I was absolutely amazed at how they welcomed him, at the genuinity and affection in their hugs and in their smiles.
However, the more I was spending time with C the more frustrated I was by seeing him constantly falling on the floor and getting super dirty by trying to catch the many puppies around. I felt angry and powerless. I was questioning God telling Him that it was totally unfair that he was that way, not independent and even abandoned by his own family, not having access to the assistance he needed. I was feeling powerless because I could see his struggles and I couldn‘t change the situation. And guilty because I hesitated to hug him as I didn’t want to mess up my clothes and I wasn’t able give him the love I wanted to or I was supposed to. Then it was lunch time and they invited me to sit with them. I was in this huge table with other 23 children and I can‘t even start to describe what I felt In that moment. It felt like I was watching a movie, one of those fairytales I used to watch when I was a child where the main character was an orphane. But only this time it was all real. They all started to pray for the food and C did the same. Then after the meal, peacefully and diligently, they all did their chores and cleaned up the kitchen and the dining room. I was moved. They didn’t have a mum or dad to look after them, but they had each other and most importantly they had God who had adopted them in His special family and had already provided for them by putting them in this loving place and will continue to provide for them not only on this Earth but even in His kingdom when HE will welcome them with open arms (“What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived – the things God has prepared for those who love him”- (1 Corinthians 2: 9). They made me visualize so clearly why Jesus said “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven (Gospel of Matthew chap. 18, verse 3)“. Carlos himself showed me his unique beauty and what a real fighter is, you get up each time you fall even if it is hard and difficult. You try again and again untill you wil be able to stand up on your own, make another step, walk and finally run.
We also had some discovery and adventures days: we visited beautiful downtown Cusco, the Historical Capital of Peru, with its majestic Cathedral and Inca ruins where we made friends with a dog which we named Soul and where we admired the most wonderful rainbow ever; we did some exciting challenging trekking and went up to Rainbow Mountain; we met a herd of llamas, check pictures below or in the section at the left side menu of this page!
Thank you for reading and please keep following my journey by subscribing to this blog with your email address to receive a notification when I post (hopefully once every 2 weeks).
ALSO If you are led to and would like to participate personally and practically to this MISSION, a donation of any amount would be so much appreciated! Thank you:)
