If someone would have asked me why we went to Pisac a few days ago, all I would have been able to say was that the Lord was telling us to. When my team sat down to listen to where the Lord wanted us to go after Training Camp, Pisac was heavy on my heart. One of my teammates said that she heard the letter P and another teammate said that they saw us doing something with women. But other than that, we really didn’t know why Pisac. Nonetheless, we obeyed.
Tuesday, we got a taxi from Cusco to Pisac and got checked into our hostel. After settling in a bit, we just went and walked around the town. We knew a little bit about it since we took a day trip there last week, but we wanted to explore more. By dinner time we were walking around looking for a place to eat. Every place we went to was either out of budget or already closed. We finally came to one of the little food markets. There was only one place open. They were getting ready to close, but the women offered to make us some food AND it was in our budget. We got the food and oh my it was INCREDIBLE. I truly believe it was some of the best chicken I have ever had. Plus, the portion sizes were huge.
After we ate, we went back to our hostel and headed to bed. We had decided to take Sabbath the next day. It felt slightly strange getting to a new place and immediately taking a day of rest, but it was definitely needed. Due to noise in our hostel, I was unable to get to sleep until 3 am. By the time I got up it was after 11 am and I was ready for lunch. I met my teammates and we decided to just go back to the same place we had dinner the night before. The women there greeted us with big smiles and were just so kind. The food was just as AMAZING as it was the night before. That evening at our hostel, my team talked about how we wanted to bless them somehow the next day.
When I woke up on Thursday, I remembered how we passed some people selling flowers. I thought we could buy some flowers and write a little note for the women. We also decided to go back for breakfast the next morning. Breakfast was amazing that morning! But what was so fun was the women’s smiles on their faces when they saw us! When we went back for lunch, one of my teammates asked them some questions. We found out that they originally were from Venezuela. It was a mother, Dina, and her daughter-in-law who did the cooking. They had been in Peru for over two years now. We also had seen Dina’s son around with her grandson, Mattias. He was almost two and oh so adorable! Before we left lunch, they asked if we would be interested in a Venezuelan dish that they could make us for dinner. We were all so excited! Before we went back for dinner, we wrote up a little card (thanks Google Translate ha!), bought some flowers, and got a little toy for Mattias. It was so fun just showing how much we appreciated them with those little gifts. We also took some pictures. Dina even took a picture of us eating the Venezuelan dish they made! Which, by the way, was incredible as well!! This morning we went back for breakfast, prayed over them, and said goodbye. It was bittersweet.
It’s funny when I think about our time in Pisac and how most of it was spent eating. But while we were eating, we were building a relationship with these sweet women. It may not seem like much, but we were sharing the love of Jesus with them. Plus, we got some amazing food right in our budget. I mean, how cool is it that the only option we had to eat on the first night became an opportunity for us to build relationships with these beautiful women! Isn’t God so cool!? One thing I’m learning right now is that the Kingdom is in the little things. Sometimes I get so caught up looking for the big encounters, when Jesus often times shows up in the small ways. It may seem insignificant in our eyes, but it’s not in His, because we do not know all the work He is doing behind the scenes. And my friends, He is working!
