Coming to Peru has been a shock to my system. The never ending jungles of Ecuador has been exchanged for a sea of sand. Currently we’re smack dab in the middle of a brown dessert. There’s dust and sand everywhere-on the ground, in the air, and mainly in my lungs. The poverty level has increased greatly and the days are quite chilly. Not exactly the most beautiful place, but it’s growing on me.
Billy and I spent the past week with a team in a little town called Chepen. We jumped into painting, children’s programs and meal preparations (can I just say how thankful I am that I love rice because we have it at every meal). We even got to help host a surprise birthday party where we had to come up with a game that could cross language and cultural boundaries. So, we ended up playing musical chairs with 18 year olds. It was a riot to say the least!
Through this week I learned a hard lesson. And to be honest, I wasn’t expecting it at all. While we were in Chepen, I was attacked by some super dessert bugs. I’m not sure what they were, but I can tell you that my body hated them. For seven days I had blotchy red bites all over my body and unlike any mosquito I have ever encountered (and being from Minnesota, I’ve encountered a lot), these things itched a lot. And to top it off, I started having a severe allergic reaction to them. The little pea size bites became the size of silver dollars and started spreading. Before I knew it, they covered ever part of my body.
I was absolutely miserable. I hated being awake because it itched so badly, but I couldn’t fall asleep at night (because it itched so badly). And when I did eventually close my eyes, I would wake myself up by all the scratching I was doing in my unconscious state. And that wasn’t all. Before my third attempted medication started to work, my fingers started swelling from the new hives that were forming. We were far from home, so I yanked off my wedding band and put it in my wallet for safe keeping. Only to then discover, when I attempted to pay for our vegetables, that my wallet was gone. And so I cried. A lot.
But God was quick to speak. This week in Chepen we read something that challenged me. It was a psalm (13) written by King David. David was asking God how long God would hide from him and was pleading with God to change his circumstances. But then, just as swiftly, David proclaimed that He would TRUST God, REJOICE in Him and PRAISE Him. Nothing had happened yet. God hadn’t answered. God hadn’t changed David’s life. God hadn’t done a single thing. But that didn’t matter to David. David chose God. And I want the strength to do the same.
So even though I’m still covered in itchy red blotches and I no longer have a wedding ring, I will choose joy. I will choose to rejoice. I will choose greatness because that is what God calls me to. Because my God is better than anything this world can offer. I will choose Him. I just hope next time I have such a big lesson to learn, I can do it in a less painful and expensive way!
