The Perfect Day.

Well, our perfect day started out Thursday night. I grabbed coffee with a friend I met at Bible study and we got to have some really good conversation about what it means to follow Christ...what the difference is between religion and finding the truth in really knowing God. This girl is amazing, and it is crazy cool to watch the things God is doing in her life.  So much fun.

We went to one of our missionary friend´s birthday parties in Surco and then went to the bus station to get on an 8 hour bus that would take us to a mountain town where one of our friends lives. She has been living there for a little while, but wants to start a house church and needed some English materials. She is a strong Christian who we had been able to spend a lot of time with when we first came to Peru. She actually came to know Christ through some conversations she and Lauren had. So, she is someone that has been with us from the very beginning, and is very dear to our hearts. However, this is where the story gets fun. She didn´t have a cell phone, and hadn´t got online in a few days (which was unusual...). So, while Lauren had sent her messages beforehand telling her we were coming, we had no way to get in contact with her. So, the fun began. We got off the bus in her town and eventually ended up at the main square. None of us had been to this town before (We invited one of our other friends, Amanda, to go with us, so it was us three.) Anyways, we started asking a few random people if they knew our friend, and they did! Unfortunately, they didn´t know where she lived. They did however, have some idea about where she might be. So, it was like a treasure hunt!

We got a cup of coffee and found a hostal to leave our stuff in, and headed out to a couple of schools where we thought she might be teaching. Each place we went, the Lord opened up doors for us. In our search to find her, the Lord put specific people in our path, and we got to talk to them about the Lord. One of the first people we found was a Christian American missionary. (coincidence??? hahaha. don´t think so). We were trying to find one of these schools and Lauren spotted him. We figured he would probably be able to help us, so we started yelling at him in Spanish, but he didn´t respond. So then we tried in English. Bam, baby! He turned around, and turns out, he had lived in San Antonio Texas and had been in Peru with his wife for 7 months, along with another young couple. He was able to take us to the house of a Peruvian who was able to give us some more information on where our friend might be. While we were at his house, a neighbor lady walked by and told us to go up to the top story of her house and look at the view. So we did. Here´s what it looked like. We could see the whole city. So cool.

Lauren, Amanda and I

So we continued our search for our friend, and continued to meet people with whom we were able to talk to about the Lord. A director of a Catholic school in a gated commuinty. A precious lady that worked outside the gated commuinty in a little store. Security guards, taxi drivers, so many people. We ended up having to go to another nearby city, and when we got there, it reminded us of the scenery in the Sound of Music. Amanda and I tried to sing and record one of the songs to SOM, but it failed miserably cause we kept laughing. Anyways, finally made it back to our hostal and took a nap and headed to the internet to try to see if our friend had written us back. She hadn´t, BUT, Lauren ended up being able to get in touch with someone who knew where she stayed. And, WE FOUND HER!!! Hahah it was great..she walked out of her front door, and there we were! We went to eat dinner together, and Amanda and I decided to try cuy for the first time. So we ate alpaca burgers and cuy. It was great. But more than the food, the sweet time of fellowship that we got to share was so much fun. It was great getting to sit there with our friend and share our struggles, joys, etc.

Well, after dinner, she had class, so Lauren, Amanda and I decided to ¨pasear¨ (we don´t really have an English word for this...it just means to walk around and see what´s going on... haha) since we really hadn´t time to look around and just hang out. Well, we walked around for about 6 minutes and then we came across some homeless people. I walked past this one person whom I didn´t know if it was a man or woman, but they were groaning and yelling loudly, and no one seemed to hear.

A homeless woman.

I walked past her (turned out to be a woman) once, turned around, and knew I should go back. I eventually worked up the courage to go over to her and I started talking to her. I asked her why she was crying. She just looked at me for a little while, and kept on crying. I told her that we have a God who we can spend eternity with and that there is no pain or tears in this place. She took my hand and put it on her chest. She had some sort of tumor or something I think. I asked her if I could pray for her. I started praying in Spanish and ran out of words. Started praying in English. I asked God to heal her and as I was praying I asked the Lord to show me what to pray for. I just kept praying. I got to share the gospel with her, and she started telling me a long story about her life I think and I guess about the tumor. I couldn´t exactly tell because she was only moaning and using hand signs to explain things. She kept motioning about things that involved pain and death, but it was more like she was telling me a story of things that had happened to her. I tried to imagine her life. I can´t imagine some of the things she has probably been through. I kept asking the Lord what I was supposed to do...a million things ran through my mind, but I just kept waiting for Him to tell me. I sat there and listened to her for a little while, and then feeling the Lord say it was okay to leave, I gave her a kiss on the cheek and left.

I hope I never forget this encounter with this woman.

Well, ended up heading over to the market and looking around there for a little while and then headed back to meet up with our friend who was done with class. The rest of the night included hanging out with her, going over church planting and English stuff, getting showers and getting packed and heading to the bus station to get on the bus back to Lima. I could not have asked for a better day. It was incredible, and although we had no idea what the day would hold when we came, the Lord totally directed our path. So many more things happened that I did not include in this blog, but I am assured now more than ever that the Lord truly does direct our steps as we walk in faith. We now have a community of friends in another city a day´s journey away, and we were only there for a day. Not something we could have done by ourselves, and we know that. Thank you Lord for leading us and guiding us. And thank you for your protection. I am so thankful for the opportunity to live this life.

 

Woman in traditional dress.