Peru, where mountains proclaim: "Jesus is Lord!"

This month God used us to reach the hidden world as we missioned into Andes mountains, and returned with more stories than we can blog... 

Firstly, our team is finally complete as our 10th member, Rihard, joined us at last! Before we went into the Andes, we literally did a drama round every corner of Matarani, a small fishermanstown, and God gave us the opportunity to give bibles to all the schools in town. The major of Matarani invited us to do a drama at a local town meeting, and the Spirit moved mightily as God reached the decisionmakers in town, and we also had a chance to pray for the major too. In Arequipa we witnessed a miracle as God multiplied our bread. As most of you know, our team is challenged financially, but that little problem means nothing to God. He fed us all with more bread than we bought.

We were welcomed into the homes of  two missionaries in Ferranafe, who spoke Afrikaans, which was really a taste of home. And as the rains softly fell on our heads at 4 o'clock in the morning, we climbed into a truck with which seemed like an entire village of people, enough bread and mangoes to feed them all and a lot of boxes of bibles. We rode through a few rivers and round some shaky corners, but God brought us safely to the mountains. Our first villiage was Waka Pampa, where the church was locked down, and flees ruled the floors. We walked for a few hours to deliver bibles and preach the gospel to the colourful people living in the mountains. Some of them were so hidden from the world that the children cried when they saw white people. What a culture shock! After a few movie nights and a lot of prayer, the local church opened it's doors and all the Christians in town were gathered for the first service in months. We left for Kanaries with thankful hearts and itchy legs as the devil sent his little minions (fleas) to chew on our flesh, but God strengthened our hearts and minds for what lied ahead. 

Once we were all the way in Kanaries, we learned that the previous bibles that were brought there were burned by the Catholic church in Kanaries. It is so sad to see how these beautiful people are so tied to their old ways and ancestors, and they just won't see the light. The only way these people earn a living is through weaving, selling small crops and owning little spaza shops. They have a cute tradition where the men throw little rocks on the womens hats when they are interested in them. With our backacks filled with bibles, we walked for 6 hours round and over the mountains to evangelize and God provided amazing opportunities to minister and pray for the people. Sickness overcame a few of our members as the enemy tried to hold us back. One of our team members had the symptoms of Denge fever, which meant that she needed to be hospitalized and stay in Peru. But God was faithful, like always. When she went back for the results of the tests, the symtoms were gone and God completely healed her the following day.

The team is in good health as we are preparing to enter the Amazon, where more than 80000 people are left homeless because of floods, and the rain season only ends in June. There is a lot of relief work to be done, so our team is splitting in two to reach more people. Please keep praying for our health as the Amazon is full of dangerous diseases. Peru, you and your beautiful people will truly be missed! Dios te bendiga!

To donate directly into the Hidden world bank account, use the details below:

Bank:                                      ABSA

Account Name:                       Global Challenge

Account Number:                    9206958383