Past Thursday was our last day of ministry in Tambo de Mora, Peru. We were staying in the Ica province, in the Chincha region of the country. Near the beach again! We lived on the 2nd and 3rd floors of a church that we were working to plant in the town.
We were technically in Nuevo (New) Tambo de Mora because the town had been devastated by an earthquake in August of 2007. They have been working to rebuild their city for the last 7 years just a mile away from the old town. It was an amazing and humbling experience to build relationships with the people of the town, and to hear their stories of how the earthquake demolished their homes — always literally, but sometimes figuratively as well.
Throughout the month, our main focus revolved around the children of the community who were free to run (safely, I’ll add) through the streets of their close-knit town. We had children’s days and a VBS leading up to Easter weekend talking about the life of Christ. We started weekly Women’s nights in order to facilitate a small group for women that our host can continue with a beautiful discipleship program she teaches. We also had movie nights in the streets to bring more awareness of our little church in the town.
There were many new lessons learned in this month in Peru. Honestly, a good portion of the month between the team was worry or discussion regarding team changes. As sad as we were to face it at the end of the month, it really called us to be intentional about our time together as a team. To keep that time sacred. To keep our one-on-one time sacred. We reviewed our love languages and went deeper — each sharing how exactly we feel loved and what we, as a team, can do to make sure those needs are met. We made a 1:1 schedule for our last 6 days of ministry to ensure we had some good ol’ fashioned QT with each other. We made a “Deep Deck.” We laughed. We cried. We fought. We hugged it out. We said “I’m sorry.” We said “I love you.”
As I’ve been on the race, I have felt like God has been gently allowing the doors to the month to close behind me when I left. The things I learned this month were reinforcement for the things I had been learning the first three months of the race. As this chapter of my “World Race Book” closes, I can honestly say it was a good one. And as Part I of the book wraps up, I am excited to see what will unfold in the following Parts.
PART I
