We're not in Chiclayo anymore...to the mountains we go!

After being in Chiclayo, Peru for a week, the Southbound team has moved to the Andes mountains! 

On Tuesday we travelled via bus to a small town called Incahuasi. From here, our team has joined up with a YWAM team, and another team of 6 other SouthAfrican people to go into the surrounding small villages to hand out Bibles.  On Wednesday, the group split up into 3 smaller groups. My group of 9 + a Peruvian man who spoke the language of the village we would be going out to, headed out for a 2.5 hour hike to a school just over a couple of mountains. Though we had received verbal instruction of how to get to the school, along the way we made some wrong turns and ended up at another school. Due to lack of time to recalculate and go to the school we had planned to go to originally, we decided to see if we could speak to the people at the school we had ended up at accidentally. When we first arrived at the village, the people seemed very scared of us. When we would put out our hands to shake theirs, they would turn away in fear. But then, we asked if they wanted to play soccer. That broke the ice! Soon, we received the word from our translator that we were allowed to share a drama and speak to some of the kids at the school. Once we had gathered all the kids, we did a drama that showed that life without Christ is like being lifeless and showed them that only the Word of God can bring them to life. We then explained to them the gospel. As we were finishing our presentation, I was drawn to this little boy name Pedro. I soon discovered that He was deaf and mute. As a group we asked if we could pray for him. After permission was granted, we started to pray for this little boy. I cannot explain to you the scene. Here was this little boy, surrounded by a bunch of foreign people who were praying, who were surrounded by a crowd of kids, teachers, and parents. After praying in the name of Jesus and declaring God as a Healer, the coolest thing happened.  This little boy who had never been heard speaking a word in public before was now hearing and speaking to the people around him. The teachers stood to the side with their mouths gaped in amazement! The people of this village had seen a miracle performed in this little boy and could not deny what had just happened before their eyes!  As a team, we broke out in praise and thanksgiving to God and the people of the village were cheering and smiling over what had just happened.

    We then asked if anyone else needed prayer. Before we knew it, there was a line of people. There were people with both physical and spiritual problems that wanted prayer. One after another we shared with them the gospel, we prayed with them, they received Christ as their Savior, we prayed some more, and they were healed completely! As people were being healed and the gospel was being proclaimed, people came to us and asked us how they can receive Christ. It was amazing! Honestly, there were so many people that came to know the Lord that day and there were so many people healed. God was truly amazing in that place!

As we left that village and were on the hike home, I was reminded of how epic our day had truly been. Although we had been lost and ended up at the “wrong school,” it wasn’t the wrong school at all; God had a plan. As we were faithful that day and sought after Him and were expecting Him to use us to reach these people, He did.  As God spoke to us, we were obedient and God honoured that faith and obedience and healed people. As people were healed, the village people began to believe and testify of what God was doing in their community and they went to tell their neighbors! As a result, many people were healed and there are at least 30 new brothers and sisters in Christ! As I was reflecting on the day, God spoke to me and reminded me that every day is meant to be epic. I was not created for the ordinary and because of that, I should not expect anything less or settle for anything less. God is alive in me and that day, other people were made alive because of the light that is in me.