It’s kind of incredible how time flies don’t you think?
I’m already half way through month 3 and as I sit here and write this blog it’s just so crazy to me how the time has just flown by! Peru was a pretty incredible and very different month! For the first month it was just team TONKA out in the middle of nowhere Bolivia in the quiet, quaint little town of Apolo. Month 2, not so much!
Month 2 consisted of 45 people all staying together in one “compound”, with a total of two bathrooms (4 toilets total) and one shower (for most of the month), in the 3rd largest city in Peru, with malls and wifi, all within a 15-20 minute taxi cab ride.
Yeah I guess you could say it was different.
But with all of the changes and challenges that came with those differences, also came some incredible times. And for that reason I wouldn’t have changed month 2 for the world! Peru was an incredible time where I was able to build great relationships with people that I didn’t necessarily get to hangout with or talk to much before that month. It was also a time where I grew A LOT! Peru was a time where Dad began showing His Fatherly love to me and a time where He challenged me to step out in boldness in order to share that love with those around me.
Let me share with you a little story that pretty much made my whole month!
One day we were sent out into the community to hand out fliers for a church service that was happening the next day at a local church. Now if you know me, you might know that street evangelism/handing out fliers isn’t necessarily my cup of tea. But I decided that I was going to do it and I was going to have fun doing so. So we went out on our mission with two young local guys that were a part of the church and began passing out fliers. For most of the time with was the two young men that were doing all the work, knocking on doors and doing all the talking. I decided now was was the time to step out in boldness and since I didn’t know a lot of Spanish, this was going to take quite a bit of boldness! But I remembered one phrase from the previous month, “Quiermos invitarlos a la iglesia.” Which means “we would like to invite you to the church”. So with that one phrase, I began looking for my own people to invite to the church. After a lot of walking and handing out fliers I eventually got down to my last two fliers. I began looking around for someone to hand these two fliers to and to be honest, part of the reason was to just be done with handing out fliers. So I looked around and saw two women walking down the road so I set my sights on them, prepared my Spanish phrase in my head a few times, and then went in for the “kill”. As I approached the two ladies, accompanied by Jordan Chepke, we greeted the ladies, handed them the fliers, and I said my little phrase and little did we know that was not all that was going to happen during this encounter. The women began asking where the church was and seeing as this was not my home turf and we just walked through a maze of streets, I had no idea how to explain where the church was. Oh and did I mention I’m not exactly fluent in Spanish?! (Although there is a joke on the team that I am!) So I called over Jhonny (yes that’s how you spell his name, I didn’t mix up the letters) and had him talk to the ladies and explain how to get to the church. What seemed like would have been a simple, “take a left here, turn right at this corner, go straight, and it’s on your left”, quickly turned into Jhonny preaching to the two ladies and sharing the gospel with them. At the time, the only thing I could gather was that one of the ladies head was hurting and something was wrong with it, so my first through was that I wanted to pray for her. The only problem was, I didn’t know how to say that and no one near is spoke both Spanish and English. So I asked Jordan to run and grab Adri so that she could translate. When Adri got there she began explaining that the lady had really been hurt by the church because she was looking for healing but never received it. She also explained that when she was younger and wanted to go to church, her sister would lock her in a closet/room and keep her from going so she was still afraid of her sister. And then one last thing she explained was that she thinks that someone had spoken witchcraft over her some time in her life. What began with a woman who was very resistant and wanted nothing to do with going to the service quickly turned into a woman who was desperate and deeply saddened. Finally, we got a chance to pray for her and we just began speaking life over her and breaking chains over her life. After praying for her we talked a bit more with the women and then really encouraged them to come to the service the next day and then we left.
The next day, we went about our day and kind of forgot about whether or not we would see the two women that night. My team and I went to a different church service that night and didn’t return until pretty late. But upon returning to the compound (which is also where the local church is located) I noticed two familiar faces sitting in the very back row of the congregation. The two women that we had met the day before were both at the service! So I walked up to them, hugged them and greeted them and then took a step back. Then Jordan came running up to me with so much excitement and began to explain to me that both of the ladies walked up to the front of the service when the pastor asked if anyone would like to give their lives to Jesus!
This was just such an incredible reminder to me that there is nothing bad that can come out of stepping out in boldness for Jesus. The worst thing is they can say no, but the best thing is that a life can be saved for eternity!
With that I challenge you, if you feel like the Holy Spirit is challenging you to step out in boldness for Him, don’t hesitate, just move!
Because what’s the worst that can happen?!
