Thus far, Peru is full of new things…new living situation, new ministry, new culture, new surroundings, and so many new things in my heart.
We arrived in Trujillo, Peru on February 3rd after 2 overnight bus rides and 12 hours in a Peruvian border town. We were beyond excited to arrive to the blessing of not having to sleep in our tents this month, although because of the heat indoors many have chosen to sleep in their tents anyhow. As for me, I’m still in my bunk bed, but with my tent on top of my mattress to act as a mosquito net because the bugs are really bad here at night…somehow I’m finding that the things I decided to leave at home last minute (like my mosquito net) are the things I need! Haha but I’m definitely learning to improvise…like the way I rigged up a clothing line made out of cinching straps and gear ties today! It's a whole new lifestyle of handwashing clothes, carrying toilet paper with you wherever you go and having no internet…but I'm loving it, the Lord is teaching me a new definition of abundance 🙂
I should really take a video of myself getting up to the top bunk and in and out of my tent without a ladder, it’s funny stuff 🙂
This month we are with the whole squad at the same “compound”, as they affectionately call it 🙂 Inca Link, our main host ministry, has multiple ministries that we get to be involved in this month. It’s exciting because each week will look different for us for ministry! Week 1 our team and team Veracity (an all-girls team my good friend Emily leads) completed multiple construction projects around the compound. The end goal is to turn this compound into a home for many orphans and children with unfit parents, most of whom currently live in a trash dump. Although most of what we did this week was prep work for construction – moving bricks and dirt, leveling ground, demolition, digging trenches and holes, clearing trash and weeds, etc. it was so rewarding to know that we were laying the foundation for what will soon be a home for hundreds of sweet children.
The Lord gave me an interesting revelation as I was stacking a big pile of bricks this week: As I was stacking, the Lord was speaking to me about community and how in a lot of ways we as a body resemble the brick pile…wait for it, it will make sense in a minute 🙂
Revelation #1: We stacked multiple piles of bricks and it was obvious, especially as the stack grew, which piles were set on a solid, level foundation and which piles were not. I was reminded that our firm foundation in community and our “base layer” always has to be set firmly in the Lord. It may not seem like a big deal at first, but as the numbers grow everything becomes very unstable if your foundation is not set and established in Jesus.
Revelation #2: As I was stacking I found that many bricks were misshapen, had chunks taken out and in some way or another just did not resemble the mold they were created to look like. It was tough to stack bricks that weren’t all exactly the same shape but I realized that I was able to bring stability to the bricks that would not stand on their own by surrounding them with more stable bricks on both sides. I was reminded that most of us don’t fit the “mold” and may have had chunks taken from us as we’ve walked through life, but in true godly community a bunch of broken people can form a beautifully solid community by coming alongside one another and standing in the gaps for each other.
Construction teams! Veracity and Kingdom Seekers!
We are blessed this month to be able to be in community together as a squad and walk through the process of solidifying our foundation in Christ and to find out what it looks like to start standing in the gaps for each other.
The Lord has also shed a lot of light on my past and has been doing a new thing in my heart this month…He is taking me out of where I was and He is bringing me into a new place with Him.
“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.”
I’m looking forward to walking into the new things God has for me this year. It has to be a conscious choice to forget the former things and dive into the new things the Lord is bringing me into. The part in that verse that strikes me is “do you not perceive it?” It would be tragic to miss or not perceive the new things the Lord is leading me into. I’m praying for open eyes and a ready Spirit to receive all the Lord has for me.
“I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels…the nations will see your righteousness, and all kings your glory; you will be called by a new name that the mouth of the Lord will bestow. You will be a crown of splendor in the Lord’s hand, a royal diadem in the hand of your God. No longer will they call you Deserted, or name your land Desolate. But you will be called Hephzibah (my delight is in her), and your land Beulah (married); for the Lord will take delight in you…as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you.” Isaiah 61:10, 62:2-5
Just a few of the new things the Lord has done/is doing in my heart:
- Helping me shift from being performance-based to grace-based
- Shifting my identity from being in others and the world to true identity in Him
- From Deserted to Hephzibah, and from Desolate to Beulah
Walking away from the items that used to define me and into what the Lord has called to define me: Christ alone.
God is moving here in Peru…I can’t wait to share more of the new things He leads me into this month 🙂
This week my team and I will be headed to do ministry with a community of Peruvian people who live in a local garbage dump. Please pray for God’s leading to be strong in the direction where He wants us to go, as the needs we will see will be many. It is an awesome opportunity because many of the children we interact with this week could be children that might be housed in the orphanage at Inca Link once it's finished!!
Watch this video to learn more about what our ministry looks like in Peru!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=qDgyWjjULQ0
Love you all!!
PS- sorry for how long this blog became! We will only have internet once a week (maybe) so the updates this month might be a little longer! Thanks for those of you who managed to read the whole thing!!) 🙂
