This week wrapped up the end of my time in Peru. And as I sit here and reflect, I thought I’d share with you all a bit about the different types of ministry I did this past month, along with some of my favorite memories made in the beautiful country of Peru.
This month I was in Trujillo, the third largest city in Peru. However, we weren’t living in the city by any means. We lived in a small community on the outskirts of a town called La Esperanza (which in English translates to “The Hope”). It is a very poor community located in the desert, surrounded by mountains. We stayed in a compound built by our ministry host, Joel Savage and his wife Maria. The compound, along with having dormitories to house our squad and other missions teams that visit, held a small church, pastored by Maria’s mother, and a free preschool that the ministry had established for local children who could not afford other schooling. This month was squad month, which means, rather than our small group of five, we had a group of 45 people staying in one place, doing life and ministry together every day. You might say living with 45 people in the small confine of cement walls could be a bit overwhelming, and at times you’d be right. For instance—when you were looking for some good, quality alone time; when the girl in the bunk next to you snored so loud that the room echoed; when you were going on day number 5 without a shower and had to reserve a spot in line for the freezing cold, ONE shower that you shared with your 44 other roommates…
But more times than not—a good 9 out of 10—It was my favorite thing in the world.
Between doing ministry and just spending time with my squad on off days, I could come up with 100 memories from this month that have touched me deeply or have had me on the floor laughing. But instead I’ve narrowed it down for you—So here it goes! 8 of my favorite things from my month in Peru:
1 Working with the most adorable, Peruvian children
The first week we spent in Peru we worked with the church at our ministry to help out with Vacation Bible School. We had so much fun each day, sharing a bible story with the children, doing crafts together, having snack and playing all sorts of crazy games. Though VBS was only a week, the rest of the month we got to work with some of the kids in the preschool at the ministry, helping them with their letters and their days of the week, playing games together and making glittery, glue stick art projects. I’m going to miss my sweet-faced elementary school class.
2 Celebrating my 23rd Birthday!!
If you haven’t already heard about it, this was my favorite birthday in the history of birthdays. Read more about it below in my blog post titled “My Peruvian Birthday Party”. It was a pretty spectacular day, and one of my favorite memories from this month.
3 Praying over the sick
A few members of my team visited the hospital in Trujillo one afternoon with some members of the church. My teammate Jess and I split off from the group with a woman named Marelena and visited a separate wing of the hospital. We prayed over a lot of people: most very old, some way too young; some without legs, some close to death, some too weak to move. That day we saw at least four people come to Christ (in our small group of three alone). Two of those people were a teenage boy named Elvis and his father. We believe Elvis had Tuberculosis. He sat in his bed, weak, with a mask covering his mouth, and his father at his bedside with a matching mask. We asked Elvis what he wanted us to pray for, and although he himself was the patient, he asked that we pray for his family. (As you can imagine, I’m sure his family was struggling having their son sick in the hospital. But I also think Elvis was afraid of spreading his illness to those he loved and wanted prayer for their health and protection). After we prayed, Elvis decided he wanted to be saved and give his life to Christ. After seeing how assured his son was in giving his life to The Lord without any hesitation, His father made the choice to do the same, as he leaned over the hospital bed of his sick son. It was a beautiful day and a day to see lives changed.
4 Sand boarding!
On one of our off days we had the opportunity to go sand boarding down some of the sand dunes in Peru… although, a better name for it may have been sand tumbling. However, the wipe-outs only made the day that much more fun. This is definitely one of the things that can be checked off my bucket list.
5 Prison ministry
Men’s prison:
One morning my squad woke up at 6 AM and took a trip to the men’s prison. Outside of the prison was a line that wound back and forth, across the entire dirt yard in front of the prison, filled with hundreds of mothers, sisters, wife’s and girlfriends bringing bags of food and clothing to their men who were serving time. We performed skits and dances for the women to Spanish worship songs, in hopes of putting a smile on their worried and gloomy faces. Afterwards, we went around the prison yard and asked the women if they needed prayer for anything. Though I prayed for a handful of women, I had two specific mothers who really broke my heart. I held them and prayed over them as they cried on my shoulder. They wanted prayer for their sons, the ones who were in prison and the ones outside of prison, desperately hoping that they would not go down the same paths as their brothers. One of these women also asked for prayer to help her forgive her son, because she didn’t know how to. She told me this, with tears pouring from her eyes, and I could feel the disappointment and pain in her heart, along with the intense love still there for her child. This was a rough morning for me. I walked away in tears, feeling the pain of these women and the hurt of the men behind those prison walls and the need for forgiveness, healing and redemption that can only be given to them by the Father.
Women’s prison:
This might have been my favorite day of the Race so far… (I have the feeling you’ll be hearing that phrase from me a lot over the next nine months). But if you want to know about this amazing ministry opportunity, read my post below titled “Amazing Grace”.
6 Church services for the adults and youth
A big part of our ministry for the month was leading church services on Sundays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Whether it was my team preaching or another, we all went to support each other. We prepared messages for church, performed meaningful skits and led worship, which, if you know me at all, it’s a huge deal to get me to sing for people, let alone on a stage… into a microphone… and… occasionally… in SPANISH. That there people, is the Holy Spirit, because it sure doesn’t sound like Jordan.
But, after each service, no matter what team led, we were all asked to come up to the front and pray for people. One by one, these Peruvian men and women would make their way to the front and ask if we could pray over their lives. And even though we did not speak the same language, we knew we were speaking to the same God, and whether we speak to Him in Spanish or in English, He hears our prayers.
7 Soaking in my squad
August was a rare gem in our 11-month journey. During this month we had the opportunity to all join back together as a squad, doing ministry and living with the other 44 amazing people we fell in love with at training camp. The cool thing about this month was not just the opportunity to laugh and joke and be goofy with our friends we had missed, but it was the opportunity to learn and grow from each other. With 45 people comes a wide array of personalities, struggles and most of all, a lot of different life stories. I really used this month as an opportunity to get to know my squadmates better and to get to know myself a little better. Having the ability to walk up to anyone in a group of 45 people and just start having a deep and meaningful conversation about what you’re going through spiritually, and sharing your battles and your victories with one another, is a blessing and something I have never experienced before. It is pure freedom. I will miss all my beautiful new brothers and sisters in the months to come. But, I know they will always be there, and we will be continuously growing together, no matter the difference in our locations. I also have four amazing sisters in Christ that I have the honor and blessing of sharing and laughing and growing with every single day for the next nine months and beyond (ya team Lutroo!). So, either way I’d say life is pretty good, and the gift I’ve been given of living in community is a remarkable one.
8 Yo Soy Libre
This was the anthem for our trip. “Yo Soy Libre”, or in English, “I Am Free”. This is a song by the Christian band the Newsboys. I remember singing it in youth group growing up, on youth retreats and even belting it out at the actual Newsboys concert itself. But for some reason the lyrics of that song never rang more true in my ears than they did jumping up and down in our small, church sanctuary in Peru or shouting them out in the middle of dirt streets with 35 other Peruvians. We sang the song one night in the service for the youth, and I guess they must have noticed the excitement it generated in the room, because they decided to make that song a regular part of every church service. I think we all saw it as a common ground—a bridge that broke through the language barrier. Whether we were singing it in English or in Spanish, we were all singing the same, liberating words: I Am Free! Yo Soy Libre!
“I am free to run. I am free to dance. And I am free to live for you Jesus!”
And we would never sing it just once. We would sing “Yo Soy Libre” multiple times in a row, always jumping and singing and dancing with the same level of excitement we had the first time we heard it.
Our last church service was held on the dirt street outside of the compound, with lights strung up in the trees and a compilation of wooden and plastic chairs set up in rows. At the end of the service we sang “Yo Soy Libre” not once, not twice, but NINE TIMES. The youth cranked the volume up so loud that we blew the speakers and the lights out four times. But even when the sound cut out, that didn’t stop us. We danced and jumped and praised our Savior so hard that we all ended the night sweating and out of breath.
And if you stop to think about it, isn’t that what we all want?—The type of freedom that takes our breath away?
I know I do.
So there you have it, the amazing opportunities that the Lord placed in front of me last month. And guess what? There are more to come! Isn’t that insane?
After a few days of travel, and a couple long, smelly bus rides, I am just starting my third day now here in Quito, the capitol city of Ecuador, and I can already tell that this is going to be one of my favorite months.
I can’t wait to tell you guys more and keep you updated with all the amazing, exciting opportunities and experiences the Lord hands me this month.
I love you all, and again, I cannot thank those of you enough who supported me and made it possible for all of this to be a reality.
