Pacasmayo Peru and Mokhotlong, Lesotho
I have entered month four of the Race! It is crazy how fast it has gone by, but at the same time it feels like I have been on the Race for a minute. Last month my team and I were in Pacasmayo, Peru. It is located on the coast, so I was able to experience Christmas at the Beach! The sunsets were amazing, we were on the west coast and it was so beautiful watching the sun set each evening. This past month, I was able to see the beauty of God our Creator in the waves, and as the sun glimmered off the water. It was so special! The ocean is one of my favorite places to be, my soul was so happy and it felt like I was at home. One thought that crossed my mind as I was walking the beach one day was this this body of water touches every part of creation. It touches where I have been and where I have not gone! God’s creation is beautiful.
His people are beautiful! The people we met while in Peru, loved the LORD. They loved serving His people. We got to experience this through the different ways we served this past month. The first week we were there, they had an afterschool program that we helped with. This included a lot of soccer and pushing kids on swings! I loved it. I have not played soccer in ages, but since being on the race it has come up multiple times. After we played with the kids, they had a meal then went to tutoring. We helped with tutoring the best we could, but it was mostly in Spanish! After the first week the kids went on summer break, which blows my mind! I am so use to our break being a short one that is was crazy thinking these kids were entering into two months of summer break!
The second week we were there we did a lot of cleaning and organizing. The previous month I read a book from Brother Lawrence (you should google him if you do not know Him, he was an amazing man of God!), and his life he lived doing everything out of love for our Heavenly Father. I love how he lived; it is an amazing example how to walk with the Father. One of my favorite things about him is that he enjoyed doing the mundane things of life because he did it for the Father. An example of this is that he used to not enjoy doing dishes, but He changed his focus to doing it out of love for our Father. Thinking and living in this mindset produces a deep joy because we are not focused on the earthly thing we are doing, but on our heavenly Father, how He loves us and how we are falling in Love with Him. This is where I am, am heading, and desire to live out every moment in this manner. So, all of this to say, even as we spent most of our month cleaning, I found joy in it because we were serving our Father and His people. I think of these scriptures:
Colossians 3:23 “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the LORD and not for men.”
1 Corinthians 10:31 “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”
In both of these scriptures, our focus is not on earthly things, but how to honor and glorify God!
In addition to working with the kids and cleaning, we also taught an English class three evenings a week, and evangelized the other nights. The English class was a lot of fun! I was able to teach and plan lessons, I didn’t realize how much I missed being in a classroom setting like this. There were a mixture of adults and kids so it was a little challenging because everyone was at different levels in their knowledge of English. They were hungry to learn so that made it really enjoyable to teach them. Many of the students were members of the church we partnered with for the month and came from Venezuela. I was in love with them! They brought a lot of joy. They have been through so much and yet contain so much joy. I was very encouraged by them! One day, they stopped by our house and brought us homemade ice cream that they sell on the streets, and it was some of the most delicious ice cream I have had. It could be in part of the heart of gratitude they came with, but I felt so much more blessed by them than they could have been by us!
Our last week in Pacasmayo, our team was split up as half went to visit Machu Picchu and the other half stayed home. This week was Christmas, so our hosts gave us two days off which was nice! The four of us that stayed were invited to spend Christmas with this family. We were excited to be a part of a Peruvian Christmas. We were picked up at 8:30 PM Christmas Eve and did not return to our abode until 3 AM! They start to celebrate Christmas at Midnight. We ate around 11:30 and once the clock struck midnight we are went around and hugged and wished everyone a Merry Christmas. It was so beautiful! After we did that, the children open their presents and got to enjoy them for a little while. After this there was sparklers. It was such a fun evening. We ended the night where evening went about and shared about the goodness of God. Our hosts for the evening, we found out through this time that this past year God has been so good to them and from that goodness they desired to invite everyone over to celebrate Christmas with them. They provided everything, so blessed from this night!
On Christmas day, we were invited to go to our hosts house for an American Christmas meal. It was lovely! We played games and it was very relaxed. Oh, and on Christmas Eve the four of us had a small Christmas Eve service before we were picked up. It was so good, and felt like home. This is my favorite part of Christmas, and well back home Christmas morning breakfast??.
A few days after Christmas we began our journey to leave South America to go to Lesotho! We started with a 10-hour bus ride from Pacasmayo, Peru to Lima, Peru. There we spent two days before we met the rest of our squad at the airport on the 30th of December to leave South America. From there we took a twelve-hour plane ride to Madrid, Spain where we had a 16-hour layover. We of course took the opportunity to explore while we were there! From Madrid we took a 7-hour plane ride to Dubai, then from there a 7-9-hour plane ride to Johannesburg, South Africa. We spent the night there, and on the 2nd of January we took a 10 -hour bus ride to Mokhotlong, Lesotho! This is my current location for the month and it is beautiful. The people are beautiful, they welcomed us with a delicious dinner and we worship with them the first night.
This month I will not have Wi-Fi, I have to go to a Wi-Fi Café to use it. I am excited for this, to be more present with the people, my team and with God. He has taught me so much to be grateful for what is given, and what is not available. This month running water is hit or miss, we get to bucket shower, it is warmer here in the day and no fans, there are flies that love us, we wash our clothes by hand, and in all of this I am blessed and thankful for the opportunity to walk through this. I am grateful for when we have these things, but I know that the people we are living among this month have a gratefulness that runs deeper for these blessings!
Philippians 4: 11-12 “Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.”
January is my final month of fundraising! By the 20th I should be fully funded. I am believing that God is bringing it in His perfect timing. He brought me here, and I know that He has the funds coming to complete this journey. I am going to do one more, small fundraiser to finish it off. I need 2,000 to be completely funded! I think that it is exciting that it is so close to the deadline, and we are going to see the faithfulness of God come through! Hopefully soon after this blog you can see on Facebook or Instagram the fundraiser I will be doing. Please help in sharing it if you feel led to! Our God is faithful, and I am trusting Him with His timing.
In the link below you can see a glimpse of my month in Peru!
