Peru has certainly happened in a whirlwind of events, and I can’t believe it is already time to move on to Colombia! In the busyness of travelling, doing ministry, and adventuring, I haven’t really given a good overview of what has happened in Peru! I really have loved all of the people, food, cultures, and places I’ve gotten to experience. Here is an attempt to catch you up on all the amazing things God has done in Peru.
Going into Peru, we knew we would have no specific ministry host. Our goal was to do ministry ATL style. ATL stands for Ask the Lord. Basically, it is spirit led ministry. Ask God for His prompting of where to go and what to do, then follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. Our team prayerfully went into the month asking God to reveal how He would want to use us in Peru.
After leaving Chile, we had about 11 days until we had to be in Lima, Peru for scheduled time and ministry with the whole squad. This resulted in a lot of bus rides as we made our way to Cusco so we could visit Machu Picchu!
We took a bus from San Pedro, Chile to Arica, Chile ~ 10 hours. Then we hopped on the bus that took us over the border to Tacna, Peru ~1.5 hours. From Tacna, we took another bus to Arequipa, Peru ~ 9 hours.
We stayed a couple days in Arequipa, a beautiful and kind of touristy town that is overshadowed by a huge mountain. While the desert stretches a long ways into southern Peru, there are glacial rivers that flow through hills and valleys. Although it’s a semi-arid climate, these rivers allow for people to have their own farms with crops and animals. It was interesting to see how people farmed on terraces. The bus ride to here was the first time I had seen green in a month, since I was just coming from a month in the desert. Being from Michigan, I remember a huge smile coming across my face at the sight of green once again!
The owner of our hostel, Ilda, was a great host! Our hostel was close to the city center, a beautiful plaza with Hispanic architecture, so we made that our main hub. We spent time resting from our travel and exploring the city, stopping to talk to and pray for people, sharing about our mission and sharing the love of God. Gail, Tom, and I had lunch in the plaza one day on less than $4. Just a sandwich with some lunch meat, and we got swarmed by a flock of pigeons. One time I accidentally shook a blind man’s hand who was asking for money as we walked through a crowd of people. I realized in that moment that with in doing missions work there will be times I fail. The next day I sat by another blind man named Ernesto Tunco. He was quite the talker, and as I was thinking of ways that I could “help” him, I realized the Lord just wanted me to sit and listen to this man. He was already a Christian, he had served in the police in Cusco for about 30 years, and now he lived in Arequipa. One fun adventure in Arequipa was our visit to Alpaca World! A free attraction where you can go see and learn about alpacas and llamas while feeding them.
(Arequipa)
The night of September 11th, we took a bus from Arequipa to Cusco. We arrived in Cusco the morning of the 12th, and I have to admit, it wasn’t what I was expecting! My expectations were totally based off of The Emperor’s New Groove. But don’t worry, my first impression was redeemed later on. We were only here for the 12th, and at about 6 AM on the 13th, we took a minivan for 7 hours to Hidroelectrica; the checkpoint at which you begin the hike to Aguas Calientes. As we were driving out of Cusco, you definitely see the “singing hills” Pacha mentions in The Emperor’s New Groove. Want to see the hike? Check out the vlog I posted: Hike to Aguas Calientes
(Aguas Caliente)
Aguas Calientes is the town from which you visit Machu Picchu. At about 4:30 AM on the 14th we got up to take our bus to Machu Picchu. The sights up there are absolutely breathtaking. Here are a few things I learned about Machu Picchu: The words Machu Picchu literally mean “old mountain.” The city was built by King Pacachutec after having run from a native invasion. The city received rain 9 months out of the year, which is how they could irrigate the terraces. The Incans numbered about 12 million by the time of Spanish invasion and the empire stretched from the middle of Colombia all the way down to the middle of Chile and as far east as Argentina. Incans kept their records by weaving string, there are no written accounts, so much of what happened can only be speculated.
Our tour finished up before noon, and the team took some time to just sit and appreciate the grandeur of the mountains around us. Then we returned to Aguas Calientes and spent time resting and exploring the rest of the town. The next day we hiked back to Hidroelectrica, partially in the rain, and took a minivan back to Cusco.
Back in Cusco, the team only had a couple days before having to travel to Lima. This was used for a mixture of rest and ministry. God brought multiple people into our paths, one of which was Clare, a young woman from Britain who was staying in the same hostel with us. My teammates Abigail and Nicole had the opportunity to speak and develop more of a relationship with her. I walked around the Plaza de Armas and went to one of the markets with Catherine. It was fun as many people would come up to us attempting to sell us a number of random things: massages, artwork (we met multiple people claiming to be “Pablo Picasso”), food, clothing, etc… We did get some good churros from a blind man and I tried an awesome strawberry pineapple juice from one of the women in the market. It was blended and made fresh right in front of my face! In a random chance encounter, Sarah ran into her cousin’s wife’s twin sister! Lastly, on our last night in Cusco, Tom ended up talking with the other woman who had been staying in our room. Turns out she is our age and lives in Iquitos, Peru. This was the exact place we planned on travelling to for our time after Lima. She was only studying for a few days in Cusco and would be in Iquitos the same time we would be. Abigail got her WhatsApp number and our team prayed for continued ministry with her.
(Cusco)
The next day the team hopped on the bus that would take us from Cusco to Lima ~23 hours (woohoo!). We travelled to the YWAM, which is where we would be staying at for the next 10 days with the whole squad. Lima is a very modernized city. There is Pizza Hut, Dunkin Donuts, Little Caesars, McDonalds, KFC, and a couple big malls with anything you would expect to find in any big mall in the United States. Our time in Lima consisted of rest, teachings, worship and ministry. For ministry we went to a couple parks on different days, reaching out to different people. We met a myriad of different people, including some awesome dancers and professional slack liners. Abigail, Alyssa, and I met some kids in a skate park, and they attempted to teach me to skate (it didn’t go well). Right after that we met 2 Venezuelans: Ernesto and Jocelyn.
Ernesto had only been in Peru for 2 days. He had been fleeing the crisis in Venezuela. Jocelyn had done the same thing about a month before him. Now, they were jobless and barely had a place to stay in. In talking with them, we were able to joke around and laugh a bit, but I could see the exhaustion and worry in Ernesto’s eyes. He could only stay in Peru for 3 months. In that time he had to find work and a better place to live, only to leave it when the government would kick him out. I asked him what he would do after the 3 months and he said, “Corre o esconde,” run or hide. This hit straight to my heart and it really opened my eyes to real world problems. We told them we were Christians and I asked if I could pray for them. Their faces lit up at this and after the prayer they said “Gracias por todo” and I could tell that they meant it. Just afterwards, I ended up playing soccer with a 16 year old Venezuelan who had been sent to Peru by his family. He was living in Lima with his younger brother until their family could find a way to reunite with them.
Please take a moment to pray for these people.
One day our squad dedicated 24 hours of prayer over Lima. Each hour 1 or 2 people signed up to shower the city in prayer. Rob Ames (Rob’s blog) had wanted to stay up all night, so I decided to accompany him for a few hours. We started at midnight, and began praying for specific prayer requests over the city. We prayed anything that came to mind during that time: scriptures, healing, salvation, protection, encouragement, reconciliation, power, freedom, salvation, safety… We ushered in each new hour with a new prayer with whoever had signed up for that time and it would put new things on our heart to pray for each hour, as well as repeating prayers from previous hours. I only made it until about 3 AM before I turned in for sleep. Rob stayed up for a few hours more, and I’ll definitely remember how powerful that prayer session was.
(Fun times in Lima)
Our time wrapped up in Lima on September 28th. Spending time with the whole squad was fun, but I was ready to move on to our next adventure: the jungle of Peru. Throughout our time in Peru we had been communicating with Waldir, the man in charge of YWAM in Iquitos, Peru. Iquitos is located on the Amazon river in the jungle of Peru. Our plans to travel to the jungle were approved, and our flight out of Lima was at 4 AM on the 29th. On the plane, excitement and passion began to fill my heart, and in my next blog I will welcome you…
TO THE JUNGLE!
Peru fun facts:
Over 3,000 different kinds of potatoes are grown in Peru
The Condor in Peru is the biggest flying bird on earth
The first census was created by the Incas. Also people still mine salt the way of the Incas
One time a guy from Boston visited Peru while wearing a red hat
The Amazon is actually the longest river in the world
Peru has the second most shamans in the world
Peruvians make one of the most expensive coffees in the world from the poop of an animal called the Coati
3 quarters of the worlds alpacas live in Peru
