As we entered Peru after a daunting 56 hour bus ride through Ecuador, we left the tropics behind for miles and miles of desert coastline.
Oom Hendrik and Tannie Ronel, 2 South African missionaries, welcomed us into their safe haven home with their playful, black hairless puppy, Ruby, to get some much needed rest before starting our busiest ministry point of the year in Trujillo.
Wow, what a warm welcome we received from pastor Abner, Kelly and the Peregrino church with a big SA flag welcome banner, a slide show which made us proud to be South African and many faces hungry for God's word.
They carried us on their hands right through our time there, providing for us with the biggest, most delicious meals, from chicken with mountains of rice to purple corn juice to ceviche and even one of our most interesting dishes of the year, guinea pig! They also sang Beinvenidos welcoming songs and took hundreds of photos to remember us by.
We presented a workshop over the weekend on how the church can be mobilized into missions, including listening to God's voice and prophetic prayer for each other.
The rest of our week was packed with visits to numerous churches in the area, a military school, a mud city, a Peruvian beach and a community outreach. Every time we could see God's hand in preparing people's hearts and also teaching us valuable lessons through their humility while we were serving.
During this time we had, as we would like to call it, a pressure cooker moment between the guys and girls. But I got a big revelation during this time: to always ask Jesus to help us see people like He sees them. What seemed like a very tough, maybe even hopeless situation, God changed around for the better, because of His grace and because we trusted Him for it.
Our next destination was Incahausi, high up in the mountains of Peru with the bright traditionally dressed Queshua people living in their mud houses.
The girls had lots of fun being creative while helping the Queshua woman with the interior decorating of their weaving shop. It is always such a privilege to pray a blessing over a new initiative.
Jana and I also got to serve the workshop women practically by teaching them some important physiotherapy ergonomics to prevent back and neck pain while working.
We visited Daniel, our Peruvian team mate's church in Lima where his father Jorge, a very inspiring activator/forerunner for God is the pastor.
In our few days here we were showered with blessings as we prayed at numerous houses and businesses and got a unique experience in the busy, colourful marketplaces in the overpopulated centre of Lima.
Machu Picchu was a much anticipated highlight at the end of our time in Peru. Regardless of the altitude sickness and steep panting-for-air climb to the top, we were very grateful to God for the amazing opportunity.
We walked in awe through this age old, sacred Inca village enveloped by majestic green mountain tops while patting llamas and cementing this forever moment in our memories.