Chincah, Peru Observations
-Not much greenery
-Pretty Oceans,
-Beautiful Sunsets! Like absolutely beautiful!
-Lots of dogs
-Lots of little stores to buy snacks (Bodega’s)
-Beautiful People
-Generous
-Loving
-Beautiful Smiles
-Adorable children
-The kids love to play
-Love to sings songs
-Love to spin around in circles
-Lots of Taxi’s also called Moto’s
-Almost everything is cheaper than that in the states
-The people love to sit out in the plaza and talk at night (it’s
the hang out place)
-All love Volleyball… seems like there is a net (mostly just
rope or something that resembles a net) on every street… if they don’t have a net they definitely have a volleyball.
-Americans/White People/ Gringo’s (that’s what white people are referred to, not a bad thing)… stick out really bad!! It was actually pretty funny…
-Most everyone is doing some kind of rebuilding from the earthquake
-Some people are still living in tents, a lot of people are living in Huts that the Japanese came and build after the earthquake, but much of these are falling apart… I mean straw and tarps don’t last that long… especially with the strong heat and the rain
-Ever heard of sweeping dirt? Well most homes have dirt floors… it’s a common household chore
-Open Markets are the way people shop… forget about Walmart… need a shirt? A pair of pants? Food? Hardware? Meat for dinner? Go to the open market and you will get your fix of whatever you need.
-Mango’s are very popular here! Fruit in general is a very popular snack
-Traditional meal…. Rice and Chicken… yep… and let me tell you… there are a million ways to fix it…
-Peruvian Ice Cream is amazing!
-Loud music is a must… parties, church, in the car… you name it… if there is music… it is loud
-Not much rain… out of the 5 weeks we were there, I would say that it rained maybe 5 days… It is a very dry place
-The terrain was surrounded by mountains (the Andes Mountains), trash everywhere, piles of rubble everywhere, dirt everywhere, the ocean was always near by, also a lot of sand
-Most families don’t own much, but you can almost find a TV in every home
-Church services usually last between 2 to 3 hours
-The roads are not the smoothest ride
My time spent in Chincah, Peru was beneficial in so many different ways. Over the past year my walk with the Lord has suffered immensely. Somehow my relationship with the Lord had just taken the back burner… and I had allowed many other things to take first importance in my life. I didn’t realize how long it had been since I really spent time with the Lord until I went to sit down and soak in the Word… I felt like a stranger… I didn’t even know how to pray. So as I began to read day after day and pray and commune with the Lord I realized that he had never left me, I had just forgotten about the importance of my spiritual being spending daily time with Him. Oh how sweet it was to meet with Him again. I’m on week 7 of the World Race and my relationship with God is flourishing. Lately He has been teaching me about the Authority that I have through his son Jesus Christ (Eph 1:17-23)… I want the first thought that comes in my head when Satan attacks not to be fear but to be authority in Jesus Christ. MMMMMM… So good right? Satan has no chance to win when the battle is against him and God’s Sons and Daughters… We always win! We have the Victory over Him. I love knowing that! Praise the Lord for all the spiritual blessings we get through his Son! We are chosen in Christ, blessed in Christ, adopted through Christ, we have redemption through the blood of Christ, we know the mysteries of God’s will through Christ (the Kingdom of God), all things are united in heaven and earth through Christ, we have an inheritance through Christ, we receive the Holy Spirit through Christ and are sealed with its guarantee… TO THE PRAISE OF THE FATHER’S GLORY (Eph1:3-14)!
Another way that my time in Chincah was beneficial was that I was able to accredit all good things to the Lord! Here are some of the things that happened while we were in Chincah.
1) We prayed for Teresa in Los Jardines with bronchitis, and the next day when we went back to see how she was feeling it was completely gone… She gave the credit to God alone! She completely understood that it was not us but God who had healed her! It was a beautiful thing!
2) We were able to put a huge garden in Lost Jardines… and all the plants, trees, and flowers were given to us by the government. God provided when we had no funds to by the supplies ourselves… once again the credit went to God
3) We were able to get Tambo De Mora fumigated for free through the government… Once again something we could never had funded ourselves. Only through God’s goodness was this able to happen.
4) I was sick 2 different times, and both times the Lord healed me and allowed me to be back to my fullest!
5) A lady was possed by a demon and 4 of the guys on our team were able to cast it out of her. Not on their own strength but through the authority they have in Jesus Christ!
6) Los Jardines had been without Electricity and bathrooms for a long time, and we were able to provide both… Not through our own doing, but once again through provision of the Lord.
7) A little girl named Caroline who has some major things wrong with her brain might get the chance to be flown to the US to have brain surgery. Not through our own doing, but through the grace of God.
8) We got permission from the City to show the passion of the Christ, and 12 people were added to the family of God that night… they are all being discipled by the church we had been working with… Not because of anything we did, but because God showed up and revealed himself… and people accepted his gift of salvation.
These are just some of the ways that I saw the Lord work during my time in Chincah. Should I really be blown away by the work he is doing? God is huge, who am I to question what he can do, and how he does it? I’m so excited to be apart of making his Kingdom come to this Earth…
