I love roughing it. I love even more roughing it with great community.
This month my team of all girls has ministry in the rural, middle of nowhere mountains in Peru. After a two hour rickety truck ride and riding a horse carrying our luggage into the village where cars cannot go, we arrive to our new home. We cooked on open fires together (and struggled to make the fires together), braved the cold and the bugs together, prayed together, sang together and took in God’s beauty together. It was hard to dwell on the fact we did not shower for 6 days and used a hole in the ground for potty purposes because we were all in it together. This was life and we embraced it. I thought this roughing it would be the highlight of this mountain trip. Although it was great, I fell more in love with the native people we began to build relationships with.
We made one house visit to a man which changed my entire perspective of this place and the need that is here. The pastor came with us. We sat and chatted for awhile, ate a wonderful meal and talked some more. Their questions astounded me-both from the man and the pastor.
What is communion and the purpose of it? What about the leftovers?
What about people who say women should not wear pants?
People use verses from the Old Testament to justify lifestyle choices…
Do you think marriage is a good thing?
What about the food we eat?
Their questions screamed, “What do we do? How are we supposed to live?” There is such a hunger for the Word of God, yet they do not have the tools. Their mindsets need to be reset. It is not about how we are SUPPOSED to live life. It is about learning to walk in the love and grace of Jesus. There is no “right” way for a lot of their questions. They looked to us to give them answers.
In some ways we do have the answers. We know and have learned the power of the Gospel, the joy of walking in relationship with the Father, the grace that abounds when we inevitably mess up. These are things many have not grasped. My heart aches for these people. They know they believe in God, that He loves them and died for their sins. It pretty much stops there.
My team decided to invest in some materials for the people living in the mountain without resources. We found a small, local Christian book store in town where we purchased study tools, Bibles, children’s materials and devotionals to give them. We are so excited to have another opportunity to visit to give the gifts, talk more with them, preach at church and put on a VBS type program for the kids.
Pray for a revelation of God’s Word in this place! It is so, so needed, and they are hungry for it. Pray for more people to hear and want to come to disciple these churches.
