The love that the people of Iglesia de Ventiocho and surrounding churches showed us this month was real, sincere and hard to forget. They truly don’t know how to give superficial hugs and kisses.
We loaded the bus and held it together.. Fairly well..
Until brother Dean (that we met one time) ran down the bus and delivered us a thermos of the most delicious hot chocolate that he knew we loved.
One extremely long day, a loving Peruvian gentleman, and hot chocolate? That makes for tears. Yep, you bet.
Ministry on the race looks very different day to day. This month, I believe our ministry was encouragement. There were times this month when I found myself wishing that I could be painting, building or creating something that would give me concrete proof that there was “ministry” done in Peru when we left.
However, majority of our scheduled ministry in Peru was attending church services and building relationships within each community. There are many new churches that are rising up and expanding the kingdom in the surrounding areas of Huanuco. Random acts of encouragement to uplift these churches was the name of the game this month.
Sometimes that looks like attending “flash mob” practice and and making a fool of yourself.
Sometimes ministry is attending a 2 hour small group discussion on Deuteronomy that you misinterpret 3/4 of. (That’s probably giving myself too much credit)
Sometimes ministry is praying over the sick woman next to you in the hospital. And sometimes she invites you back to her bed to pray three more times because the Holy Spirit was all about it.
Sometimes you stop by a house to ask for their prayer requests and you end up staying for three hours to worship and eat unfathomable amounts of fruitcake to avoid being disrespectful.
Sometimes you perform David and Goliath for the kids and find out you’re really bad at falling on command (timberrr)
Sometimes you sit around a campfire and sing your favorite worship songs in Spanglish while giving lessons on how to prepare a S’more. (That was a tricky one)
Sometimes you walk city streets with banners and chant for peace and change within the government that is experiencing corruption.
Sometimes you don’t like your team and they are your ministry. Many days, you have to choose to make loving them like Jesus loves them a top priority.
What I’m trying to say is “ministry” looks different not only each month, but each day.
But God is in the details.
He is the ultimate encourager, so who better to learn from?
The Lord continues to show me that I need my fill of Him to be able to fill others.
I left Huanuco with a throbbing ankle, tear-filled eyes, Thanksgiving belly and most importantly, an encouraged heart. Recharged and ready for His next adventure.
Here we come, Ecuador!
