These were the words uttered by our host Pastor and ministry partner for the last two days, Pastor Raul Victor. As we prepared to leave the church and potentially never see them again, (as we’ll be transitioning to work with different ministries throughout our time here), he shared with us how blessed he felt by our presence and how he wished he could’ve given us more. Though we tried to say, “No, please, you’ve given us plenty more than we deserve.” He replied, “but you deserve so much more.” That resonated with me because it pretty clearly depicts the desire and the willingness of the people here to love us, talk with us, pray with us, and encourage us.
We’ve spent the last two days of ministry doing a variety of things: we prayed for various church members in their homes, we evangelized and prayed for people on the streets, we’ve testified and preached in la iglesia Jehová es mi Pastor nada me faltará, etc. How I wish I could share every encounter we’ve had thus far, because they are all so exciting and impactful for all parties involved. However, for the sake of your time, I will share only a couple.
On day one of ministry, we were split into two groups. There are only two pretty efficient Spanish speakers within our team. One is my dear friend Ashley, who is fluent and so sweet, the other is I, yes I. If you know me, you might be thinking “there’s no way” and I would’ve been right there with you a week ago. However, thanks to my upbringing in church and my home, (shout-out to Kingsway Church, to UPLCII, to Momo and Popo, and to my sweet Mom), I know much more than I thought I did and am not perfectly fluent, but I can wing my way around a conversation.
Back to the testimony, I was helping lead group two with the Pastor’s Daughter in Callao, Perú. We arrived at the home of a church member, who I was told, was pregnant and feeling very ill. The woman told us that the doctors gave her little hope for life for her child, but that she was confident God could do a miracle. So we said a general prayer and stayed to talk with her a little longer. All of a sudden, one of the team members turned to me and said, “ask her if we can put our hands on her stomach and pray”, so I did and she said “of course”. About three of us placed our hands over her and one of the guys began to pray intently for healing. We left the place, but encouraged her that we would continue to pray for her. When we got outside the house, we noticed Vania, the Pastor’s daughter, stayed to talk to her, so we waited and waited. Suddenly, she came out with tears in her eyes, pulled me aside, and told me that the woman shared with her that the moment we started praying with our hands on her stomach, she felt the baby move. She’s only about three months pregnant, that’s not very common. Yet, she knows that it was confirmation that God will sustain her child. We rejoiced and thanked God, for we know that only He can breathe life into the most hopeless situations.
Speaking of hopelessness, the final story today involves God’s pursuit for a busy woman, and the power of light over darkness. It all started in the market place with myself and a few other teammates who asked God to show us who to find and pray for. I shared that I saw a wagon, or something used to pull a child. So, we set out on a quest to find that wagon and we saw a few that we did pray for and encourage. We approached one woman sitting on the side of the road with her child in the wagon who said she didn’t want prayer because she was eating, we told her we completely understood and walked away. A few other team members joined and we just kept looking, praying, and speaking with people. We met up with a woman we had prayed with the night before and invited her to church. Suddenly, we turned around to see the same woman who was eating in a shop with her family (about 30 minutes after we saw her the first time and in a completely different place). This is when we knew that Hod was pursuing her. My friend Ashley and I went inside to pray with her while the others stayed out and waited for us. She laughed when she saw me again, and was very open to prayer this time. We told her she was loved and wanted by God, and she thanked us immensely. Her sweet boy even gave us besitos before we went! When we got outside to meet up with our group, there was a woman standing in front of them aggressively telling them something about Easter, the Holy Mother, earthquakes. A lot was happening. Ashley began to translate and she kept saying she wanted us to know the truth about Easter and that the Holy Mother would return when the time came. Our co-leader, Sam, said “something’s not right here, I see darkness in her eyes.” We asked to pray for her and she responded quickly “no, let me pray for YOU so that you know the truth.” She only locked eyes with me once, and it was as though I was looking into the eyes of someone who wasn’t there. Immediately, one of our guys began to pray in the spirit, and she BOLTED. I had never seen anything like it. We covered ourselves in prayer and declared that “greater is He who is in me than he who is in the world”.
Many times this week I’ve wanted to say, “Peru, you deserve so much better.” Better living situations, better opportunities. Then, I realize, the Lord IS the best for Peru. He is all they need, more than enough for them. Friend, maybe you feel like you deserve much better. Please know that the faithfulness of a Good Father can meet you where you are and be more than enough for you.
- “And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.” – 2 Cor. 12:9 •
