Now that we are almost a week into our stay in Peru, God continues to show up in subtle, unexpected ways.
An update for anyone who doesn’t know: Team Collision is now on our second month of the Race in Chepen, Peru—after 26 hours of travel that took two and a half days. We are staying with a wonderful family (Pastor Juan, his wife Marta and their three young children) who is very hospitable and laid-back.
Last month, it being our first, I felt that God was presenting opportunities to me and my team in ways so that we could learn from them (for example, we weren’t given any type of schedule which really made us trust not only in our contacts but in God as well). This month, I feel that God is using the things that we learned from last month and putting them into practice. I keep telling my team, “This month is all about doing rather than being.”
But we definitely had to learn how to be before we can now do.
I had been wrestling with desiring spiritual gifts, but not knowing what it would look like once God had given them to me was slightly scary to me. Just as Paul talks about tongues and prophecy being the most desirable gifts, I prayed to God that He would give me those gifts; however, I was still weary about what it would look like: would I become slain in the Spirit and be struck to the ground or would the Spirit come over me and I wouldn’t be able to control my tongue? All of these questions swarmed my mind, but I could hear God say, “Believe in ME!”
It was such a crazy concept to “believe in Him” because, after all, I am a Christian…right?
The day before we traveled to Peru, we met up with the rest of the squad (eight other teams) and we all traveled together. We were able to rent out an entire bus full of World Racers, which was a blast; but it was also such a beneficial time for all of us to be able to connect with friends on other teams.
Right before we got on the bus, one of my friends was telling me of how God gave her the gift of tongues. A part of me was so happy for her, but the other part was so jealous. She encouraged me to ask the missionary coordinator to pray over me before we left. He prayed that God would give me a tongue to speak and visions to know Him more, and then told me to speak—not from my mind, but from my Spirit!
I did it! I believed and out came my own prayer language! In that moment, God gave me a vision: Jesus was walking toward me in the desert and He was giving me the choice to take His hand and be with Him, or not.
Such a powerful moment at the most opportune time!
As I said before, this month is about DOING, because God has already shown me how to be.
Our home for this month in Chepen, Peru Jessie and I painting the church stairwell
Our view from our room. Hello, desert and mountains! The Team with our Peru mom, Marta
The beautiful Team Collision at the beautiful Pascamaya Beach in Peru. God is so creative!
