The police rode up on bikes as we finished a (dis)choreographed dance to some Spanish Christian music in the middle of a public square. It’s not every day here that a group of gringos performs a ridiculous, sloppy, dance while laughing and yelling next to a busy intersection. I wonder if this is what Jesus meant when he said, “You are not of this world, but I chose you out of this world…” John 15:19
The police spit some quick Spanish to Jadira, one of our ministry contacts at a church called Gospel in Ventanillas(a district in the northern end of Lima). I walked up during the exchange and asked her, “Esta bien?” and with no hesitation she said “Pasaportes. Quieren sus pasaportes,”(Passports. they want all of your passports). I froze long enough for her to double over in laughter at the fear on my face. I’ve learned to expect pranks from her.
Jadira laughing at our amazing translator, Daniel. Our gracious host, Rob, is peaking out, and Janella is laughing in the background.
If I ever need to find Jadira, I just follow the laughter coming from two rooms away.
Janella was the next young lady that we met. She taught us 6 different dances in about 2 hours. She rocked every one of them and her patience never faltered, except a couple of times when she cocked her head in confusion at our overwhelmingly white dance moves.
Left to Right: Rosy, Mackenzie, Geraldine, and Ally
A year ago, Rosy was on a mission trip when she heard her call to work with children. This woman is a saint with those kids.
Geraldine is so genuine, and humbly intelligent. She has a mind and heart for loving God.
All four of these women blessed us with their time, laughter, and friendship during our two weeks with their church.
We learned the dances in order to put on a show in the park, so that afterwards we could tell people about the church. As a group of 15 gringos, we received a remarkable number of stares even before we began.
People thoroughly enjoyed acknowledging our foreign status. Mototaxi’s honked and people yelled “Hallooo! How are ju?” It was adorably offensive. After the dances, we spoke with anyone intrigued enough to stand and watch or come up. We invited people to come to the church, or to send their kids to the camp we would be running the next week.
This is not how advertising works in the U.S. I would love to dare my advertising buddy, Glenn, to pitch this as a campaign for his next client. It may be a foreign approach to promotion, but if Gospel welcomes in a newcomer with the love that they have shown us, I’m willing to do some dancing to get that person there.
The people here are amazing, y la comida es muy rica. This community has taken us in like family, even if we stick out a little…
We also went door to door, inviting people to services, meetings, or the children’s camp that we helped run. This is how word spreads. We went out into the community, spoke face to face, and invited people into an experience of love, laughter, pain, joy, and everything in between. We invited them in to walk through these things as a family – as one body. This is a church.
