I woke up this morning to the words NO HAY AGUA. There’s no water.
I don’t doubt for a second God’s plan and purpose in having us here in Peru. I am not asking for an escape. But I won’t lie to you. This has been hard.
Peru has been experiencing flooding for almost two weeks now. I’ve wanted to tell you everything I know and update you on how we’re doing and ask for prayers, especially once this started making global news, but I just haven’t known what to say. It’s the strangest thing to be living in the midst of a natural disaster, and feel like you don’t have a grasp of what’s going on at all. I’m here, and I have to google ‘flooding in Peru’ just like you do to find out what’s happening. That’s if wifi is actually available. Do I steal photos off the internet and claim them as my own because we’ve been unable to visit the worst hit areas? My team doesn’t have seven pairs of boots to go wading through stagnant, disease ridden pools of water.
The extent of my personal experience with the flash flooding, or Huaico, up until this morning had been shortened military showers, trying to stretch your hair to the fourth or fifth day before you wash it again. Much more time spent painting classrooms at the school instead of hanging out with the preschoolers as we have been unable to hold classes. Wearing my sweaty paint clothes for 7 days straight without washing because we couldn’t afford to use our limited supply of water on having clean clothing. Getting stuck downtown and having a movie day at my ministry host’s second floor apartment because the river came rushing through town again. No wifi for a week (which is totally chill, it just makes your family think that something could be very wrong if they catch word of what’s going on here). Getting things, like taxis and chacos, stuck in the mud while maneuvering around town. And an extended round about route on a really bumpy bus ride to a beach town this past weekend. Also, I got to take this super good pic in the recently cleaned town square. Apparently I’m not very good at wearing masks, but I’m not a doctor, just a super cool world traveler.
Okay stop looking at it now.
Although the water line was broken or turned off for our neighborhood two weeks ago, the school had water tanks filled with rainwater that we tapped into as soon as the line went out. For awhile, I felt unworthy of asking for help because I knew that I wasn’t facing what the people in the next neighborhood or up in the highlands are facing right now. For most, they have gone without running water for two weeks now. For many, their homes were washed away by the mud and the water. For some, they have lost what cannot be replaced–a mother, a brother, a best friend.
Even still, the Lord is good. Pain wakes people up. We are praying that the people of Peru would know God and worship Him in response to what has happened. I’m so thankful that despite our tendency to run from our Maker, he is full of grace and it is his tendency to chase us. Most of the time, that looks like him complicating things. I believe that’s what he’s doing right now for the people of Peru. And for me.
I haven’t found this month to be hard solely because of Huaico. It also has a lot to do with my team walking through a dry season relationally. Life is hard work, and people are hard work, but GAHH THIS IS ALL SO WORTH IT. We are learning how to communicate better. We are choosing joy. We are putting love on display when we operate as the body of Christ.
God comes to us in the middle of our mess. I am more alive and more in love with my God because he has brought me here and because it’s been hard. I am praying that for so many in Peru, this time of hardship would impact their eternity. That even in the loss of an earthly home, they would gain a home in heaven which is of far, far greater value.
So what are we doing here? We are here to bring hope in the midst of hardship. We are here to pray with fervency for these people and with these people. We are here to assist the school in every way we can as they prepare for the students to come back again. We are here to witness miracles, like today when 200 people were served heaping portions at lunch while we had only prepared for 100. We are here to have conversational English classes and hear about the lives of our new friends and to remind them that our God is good, and He is worthy of worship. We are here because God is forging us in the fire…or more literally in the waters.
And I am asking for your help now. Pray for all the beautiful people of Peru. Pray for me. Pray for my team. That we would be rooted and built up in love. For my teammate, Emma–that she would find relief from a severe stomach virus. Another teammate, Olivia–that her ankle would be healed so that all the trips into town would no longer be painful. For our ministry host, Maria Savage, as she pastors a church and runs a school on her own while her husband is back in the States. And for running water to be restored !!!
^^^Also what he said.
Okay, that’s all.
I love you.
Call me.
Our wifi is back at it’s thing.
Have a good life !!
Alexandra
