When we arrived in Ventanilla Tuesday morning, we found ourselves at the bottom of a huge mountain with local Pastor, Roberto, leading the way up. I’ve never climbed such a mountain in all my days, (and it’s evident by the soreness still felt in my thighs and calves), yet all week, we worked with people who climbed this beast every day and never complained once. Ventanilla is known to be the district of Lima where the men and women from the jungle eventually migrate. However, in the neighborhood we did ministry in, there was no distinction between “jungle people” and “city people”, the men and women were unified because of where they dwell.
That had me thinking of the church. The body of Christ comes from all kinds of different backgrounds, preferences, denominations, convictions, you name it. Yet, we share the commonality of dwelling in Christ. Because we are in Him, filled with the Holy Spirit and in communion with the Father, we are one.
It was evident during our time in Ventanilla that the people are accustomed to two things:
- Working hard for what they want, or even need
- Extending hospitality to everyone, even to the stranger
On the second to last day of ministry, Saturday July 13th, we had the opportunity to go door to door handing out gospel tracks and praying with every person at the door. We visited many impactful homes, but there is one that stands out among the rest in example of working hard for what you need. At the last home of the day, we found ourselves and the house of a woman who served actively in the church we worked with. We had seen her all week, but today we got to really knowher. She shared with my team and I that her daughter had a lump in her breast, her husband a tumor in his stomach, and her grandson an issue with his left eyesight. We prayed for healing and asked the Lord to be all in all for this sweet family. As we talked with her a little more, with tears in her eyes she said in Spanish, “I’m always fighting for my family. The enemy is attacking us, but I’m fighting back.”
The determination in her voice has yet to leave me. In the midst of trouble and heartache, she stands and lives out what the Psalmist says of the Lord, “You teach my hands for war and my fingers for battle.”
Secondly, even when there isn’t a lot to offer, the people are giving. From inviting us into their homes, to making us tea all the time, to teaching us how to make churros, to offering us a place to sleep during the breaks between services, etc. We were welcomed into their lives the moment we stepped off the bus on the first day. Though we were strangers before, today, we’re family.
- “For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.” – Romans? ?12:4-5? •
