Let me tell you a story about our last day here in Chincha, Peru.
After what felt like maybe the longest 2.5 weeks on the race (kind of checked out, distracted, longing for home, and not super passionate about our ministry here), there was redemption on this last day.
For these last 2 weeks, our ministry each day has consisted of 9am morning worship and devos, daily prayer walks around the community, lunch, and kids ministry in the afternoon. Tbh, I tried to be on service duty (aka manual labor) as much as possible to minimize my time doing kids ministry.
Even though The Lord has slowly been changing my heart towards kids throughout the course of the Race, this month I was just feeling so done with kids…
That is, until the carnival today.
Let me back up for a moment. The first day we got here to Chincha—a little beach town 3 hours South of Lima—we asked the Lord for words for this month. Most of my team heard words like “victory” and “celebration” over this community. (and then there’s me who heard rest and restoration, but that’s besides the point….)
So with this theme of celebration, we had been planning to end our time here with a big carnival for the whole community. To me, it sounded like a lot of work and I wasn’t very excited about it, but I sucked it up anyway and prayed that The Lord would change my heart in that.
And the heart change started to happen when my team went to the beach on our rest days. The Lord started to break down my heart and gently remind me to press in here. He reminded me that we will always be wishing for other things in this world, and we can only truly be satisfied when our eyes are fixed on Jesus!!
Those 2 days at the beach were all I needed to get my mind back in the Race. I don’t know what the Lord did but I suddenly was excited to finish out ministry in Chincha with everything I had!
So back to the carnival. We’ve been buying stuff and planning for it for about a week now. Some of my teammates spent hours building the different games while Caitlin and I spent a whole day in the kitchen baking cupcakes. Still though, in the back of my mind, I just didn’t even see the point in the amount of effort that we put into this carnival when the kids would be perfectly content playing soccer.
But alas, God knew what he was doing when He told us to plan a carnival.
So today, we rented the nearby soccer field, lugged all of our supplies over, set up some tooons, and went to our assigned stations.
Here I am, standing at my little ball toss station waiting for the kids to arrive, wondering if anyone will even show up…
And then one by one, they start to come. And two by two, and three by three, and suddenly it seems like the entire community is at our carnival!!
And as I’m looking around at these kids, I see the pure joy and excitement on their faces and I realize that they’ve probably never been to a carnival in their entire lives. They run up to my ball toss station with huge smiles and cupcake crumbs all over their faces and I feel a love rise up in me that I’ve only felt a handful of times on the race.
And then I heard that little voice of the Holy Spirit whispering to my heart: This is how much I love my children.
And suddenly all of the work that we put into this day all washed away. I wanted nothing more than to look at each one of those kids and genuinely smile at them. I wanted every child to feel seen and loved. I wanted nothing more than for them to feel the love of the Father through this carnival. Because EVEN IF only one out of those 100 kids experienced the love of Jesus, the whole carnival would be worth it. Because Jesus seeks the one. And today I felt a sliver of that genuine compassion that Jesus feels for his kids.
What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ [Luke 15:4-6]
Jesus goes out of his way to search for that one lost sheep. Sure, it may be a nuisance and a hassle and maybe he had to search for hours or days and climb up a few mountains, but it was all worth it. Because no sacrifice of time, energy, or money is “too much” in Jesus’ eyes.
Jesus sacrificed everything for our sake, so how much more does He empower us to share that love with others??
I finally see the value in sacrifices for the Kindgom. In going all out for a cause and going above and beyond to serve someone. Because surely Jesus went all out for us!! The whole community came alive today during that 2 hour carnival, and that was our prayer at the beginning of the month, so Praise God!!!
I also now understand (a little more at least) why parents sacrifice so much for their kids. Because they love their kids so much that they would literally do anything to make them feel loved. And that’s exactly what The Father does for us! And that’s exactly what I want to do for others: live out of the overflow of what He has poured out on me. And I feel like today, I got a glimpse of the pure joy that comes from loving others. Putting days of effort into a 2 hour carnival was worth it because of the laughs and smiles that I saw on those faces.
And more than that, I’m believing that that love goes beyond this carnival. I’m believing that today, something shifted in the atmosphere of Chincha. I’m praying that those kids felt special and celebrated for who they are. I’m praying that they tangibly felt the love of The Father while running around with sticky fingers and candy in their mouths. I’m praying that they read the gospel tracks that we gave them and that there are decisions to follow Christ today!! I’m believing that my teammates and I left an impact on this community and ignited a flame that turns into a revival!!!
Thank You, Lord, for changed attitudes and changed hearts, let’s conquer these last two months together!!
In Jesus’ name, Amen!!
P.S. if anyone needs some carnies for their local fair, we’re qualified now
