Turning water into wine. Telling fishermen to be his followers. Followed around by spiritually-hungry people, searching for truth. Feeding five thousand people with a little boy's lunch. Setting people free from law and leading them into grace. Yes, that's my Jesus. This same Jesus allowed Distant Worlds to get a taste of what that felt like during our week in the Andes mountains.
It was a dream come true. Rattling, shaking and bumping up zigzag mountain passes to the village of Incahuasi. This was where we would sleep for five nights. We drove for four hours on 100km on a single-lane, dusty, serpentine path. In the Andes Mountains. I almost couldn't believe it.
The mountains were colossal, stretching 3130m into the heavens. My eyes were as wide as saucers as we drove past mountain villages, with hand-sown rice fields and horse-drawn carts. The women wore the most beautiful, colourful, handmade clothes. Not much has changed in these villages from 100 years ago.
We shared bibles with many far-away schools in isolated towns. The average amount of students were 40 in the whole school. It was interesting to note that most of these people had never even left their mountain town. They didn't know about things such as beaches, skyscrapers of drive-thru McDonalds. They knew more about mountain trails than LonelyPlanet and their diet consisted of things they had planted and cultivated themselves. A whole new world. "Lord, what do I say to these children? We come from two different worlds. We don't even speak the same language - they speak Quechua and I only speak primitive Spanish. Holy Spirit, speak through me please..."
It was at a school in Sangana that first day that my perspective of ministry changed. We had driven about three hours on a dusty road to reach them. They lived in a remote part of the mountains and were intrigued to see nine foreigners with "ojos de diferente colores" (different coloured eyes) and "pelo como un maniquí" (hair like a mannequin). We did a drama for them and handed out bibles. Angél, a man working with Gideons International and a good friend of Oom Hendrik, started explaining the New Testament to them.
I went and sat next to a girl that was out of hearing range of his explanation. Her face was wonderstruck as she paged through her new blue Spanish New Testament. I greeted her in Spanish and she shyly smiled and greeted me back. I then asked her if I could explain how the New Testament works. She nodded and with primitive Spanish and many hand gestures and pointing, I could explain all the features of the book she had been gifted.
I then asked het if she knew about Jesus. She replied that yes, she did, and her whole family knew him too. I was amazed. Even people living in remote areas such as these knew about a Creator God that sent His son to die! All because one man had heard Oom Hendrik share the Gospel many years ago and had gone back to his village to share it. This girl's father heard the message and shared it with his family, shared it with his daughter. His daughter who now sat in front of me, testifying that she had given her heart to Jesus.
This sparked a two hour conversation in which questions about God were mixed with questions about the outside world. I got to share about Jesus as the ultimate Best Friend, about God as her Padre (father) and about the Holy Spirit as her Advocate. Her smile grew wider and wider as the Holy Spirit ministered truth... Ministered love... Ministered hope...
My perspective changed. Often we think that people from isolated communities don't ever have the opportunity to hear about God. But we serve a sovereign God... A God that used one man from Sangana to go to Incahuasi on a specific day that Oom Hendrik shared the Gospel to a man outside in the street. That man's life was changed and returned to his village. He then shared this message of hope with his family and neighbours and they came to know Jesus as their Saviour.
God uses everything. Even such a simple thing as a trip into Incahuasi. Or a Bible-sharing adventure to Sangana. Or a girl sitting in youth one Friday night last year, when an ex-Global Challenger came to share about his journey. Everything.
This must have been what it felt like to be Jesus. He got to share the Good News with countless people and see the truth light up their eyes. He then gave me a taste of what that feels like when I spoke to that girl.
A few days later, we visited another school in a region called Lanchipampa. It was just Luiza and I, traveling with Oom Hendrik, Luís and Angél. We shared the statue drama with about 80 students, handing out bibles and sharing the Good News. We then went to another class. About 30 students followed us, peeking in at the windows and crowding in the doorways.
We went to the high school then, and even more of the students followed. I laughed and commented to Luiza that this is what it felt like to be Jesus. It's true, though. Jesus often gave up his personal time to spend with his disciples or teaching others. Even after John the Baptist got beheaded, Jesus had compassion on the crowds that followed him and taught them. This speaks to me about vulnerability. Jesus didn't mind living his life as an open book. He had no privacy and was okay with that. No alone time to speak to God about his friend being killed. No personal time to just have a quiet lunch with his twelve disciples. No time to steal away and speak to his mother and brothers when they visit.
He lived out a principle that God has been teaching me: my time is not my own. It's not my choice to take some personal time away from ministry because I'm tired or hungry or just want to be alone. You know why? Because there is no such thing as ministry time. We are constantly in ministry time! When we go to work or wash the dishes or eat lunch, we are ministering. Testifying to God's grace. Living out His love. Stepping out in the identity He has created for us.
God is faithful. He used that week in Incahuasi to speak truth into my life and to show me His heart for His people. I pray that He would allow me to return to the mountains again someday. Someday :)
Philippians 3:8
"Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ" ♡