Reports From Peru

Peru is a beautiful country and I have cherished every moment here. After the dozen or so mission trips to Mexico I felt very comfortable in Peru. One of the funnest and scariest parts is the driving, much like Mexico. There are really no rules, well at least rules that are followed. Stop signs are optional, red lights are recommended and the horn works as a tool for communication. Yet in the midst of seeming chaos and almost complete traffic jams, Peruvians seem to still stay positive and there are also no accidents, at least not in the week we were there and believe me, after watching the driving for 5 minutes I expected to see at least a few accidents daily. Another funny thing with Peruvians is time is really just a philosophy or great idea but a poor invention. They do not seem to be too worried of the time. Many times we would wait a while for the different local pastors and leaders.

There was a couple interesting things that happened. The first night we were still in a state of euphoria with the idea of being in a new country and the excitation of the days ahead. We were given our room keys and go to our rooms. My room was on the side of a VERY busy road not to mention all the honking. I could not sleep at all and it was a very good thing I brought some Sleep MD. Chicken is the main staple food, more prevalent than good clean water, no joke. So we literally ate chicken for every meal, now my first point is the chicken is the best chicken I have eaten in my life. It is all rotisserie and amazing. However after the first nine times in a row it became out of control. Now I must mention that there was a Starbucks only a parking lot away that I frequented every morning to do my "vanille latte con hellado" as well as the most amazing cinnamon roll that cost about $0.80 US. So finally ten meals in, that is lunches and dinners we end up at a high end outdoor mall that was pretty cool. Finally a food court, anything you would want including American fast food, yessss! No, because all the meals were included in our trip and they paid for them all at once, so guess where we found ourselves? Pardo's chicken, 10th time in a row. It will be a good month of Chicken Sabbatical for me.

The leadership conferences were amazing. God always does the unexpected. We were expecting about 200 at the fist conference and about 300 or so at the second, totaling 500-600. I personally was expecting about 70-80 youth pastors and leaders total. The first conference totaled just about 500 and the second was 500+. So with a total of over a thousand combined, I had about 100 pastors/leaders at each conference. They were hungry for learning and philosophies on ministry. I really felt that God had given me some great leadership ideas and strategies to give to these amazing people. One of the neat things is a couple days later when we were doing a children’s program at a little village a lady came up and told me that she was at one of the conferences with me and that it was 'excellente'. It was amazing to see one of the people in their own area of influence and that they were blessed by the conference.

At the second conference there was a homosexual couple that came in to see what was going on and got convicted so they returned that night for the service and wept knowing they were living in sin. Pastor Larry who was on our team who had been a missionary to Ecuador for many years ministered to these two guys and through tears of shame found God and left new 'men' of God.

I have never been so stretched in my life. The two conferences were in two days in different city/states, the first one in Lima and the second in Ica. These were about 5 hours away. The first conference was Tuesday, it began at 8:30am and ended at about 7:30pm then we all went for dinner, chicken. Rode the cab to the bus terminal (like our Greyhounds) and left about 10pm. We arrived in Ica at about 2:30am and then found our hotel and got only a few hours of sleep to make it to the next conference that started at 8:30am. This same schedule repeated that day ending with the drive back to Lima. Then the next morning up at the same time around 7ish to head to do some street ministry with the team that was here doing ministry while we were at the conferences. That day lasted until 11pm with a couple chicken meals in there for our pleasure. So three days of about 4-5 hours and then standing and walking for about 13 hours and ministering is one of the most exhausting things I have done. I ran my body to fully empty relying on fumes then ran out of fumes by Saturday.

Then Saturday was a day to shop and eat and see the country, it was great and beautiful. Then Sunday I preached at a church in Lima with a couple hundred in attendance. On my way the Book of Hope leader in Peru told me that the mayor goes to this church and will be there, nothing like pressure, eh. God really moved on me and even though I felt too sick to minister I always depend on God in those times and as I approached the pulpit the sickness was not able to follow. I poured my heart out with a message that God gave me for this church talking about how the gift of God, His son, is effective in our life. Myself, the church and the pastor all seemed blessed. Prior to the service the pastor led us through the church introducing us to all the teachers and pastors and as we were entering the Sunday School class for the teenagers the Sr. Pastor told my translator that I would be teaching the class, again nothing like pressure. I had nothing prepared but God led and I followed. When we are sick and at the end or feel great and have high energy God always comes through.

This trip was amazing and everyone that supported us in prayer, thank you. I was invited back again next year and really hope to return. The burden of leadership burns in me to return again. So be praying about considering helping me get there next year monetarily and in prayer. Oh and an interesting bit of knowledge, where we stayed the last rumored time that it rained was about 10 years ago, other than that it hasn't rained for hundreds of years even though it is on the coast, it just mists a lot.