Fearless and Faithful in Peru

On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand; All other ground is sinking sand, All other ground is sinking sand.

As I was lacing up an old pair of shoes with elastic laces for the handsome young man that sat in a wheelchair above me, I noticed I was humming a tune. I am pretty sure it was the same chorus I was singing over and over in my head all day. So, I took a minute to think about the words. On Christ the solid rock I stand... all other ground is sinking sand; I really love those words. In an instant my brain flashed an image from The Princess Bride where buttercup was swallowed by the lightening sand in the fire swamp. Then a more normal thought came to me about the storms in the north east and how scary it would be to go through them in a house built on the sand. I was so content in that moment, I looked up from the laces and at the young man, who's leg kept jumping involuntarily making the both of us laugh, and thought how blessed we both were. I was blessed to be able to serve this sweet soul and he was being blessed by receiving mucho love, prayers and of course, a new wheelchair.

I stand on a solid rock, my life is not perfect, I am far from perfect... but Christ is perfect and it is Christ who is the foundation for my life. He is why I flew far away from home to serve the people of Peru that need a solid rock to stand on (or sit on for now). So many of the people I met today are going through storms and need a solid foundation. The stories from my 'mission mates' have blown me away, but the common thread in all of their stories was that they got through their storms or they are getting through them because they stand on a solid foundation.

There is a lady here from Ecuador that anyone would love if they met her. She has one of the most amazing stories of all the people I have ever met. A real deal life change from getting to know the love of Jesus. When she speaks about the saving Grace of God through Jesus Christ people listen! I am not just saying that to sound all mission trippy.. I really mean it. I was honored to be in one of our 'toads wild ride' taxi adventures with her and all of the sudden I noticed she was talking to our driver with conviction and being that she only speaks Spanish I was unable to pick up the majority of what she was saying, but I knew she was telling him about Jesus being raised from the dead after tres dias. Would you like to know my 'mission trippy' reaction to it? I thought: this guy can't wait for us to get out of his taxi, but he sure is being polite. Then I noticed he was asking her questions and he sounded serious. I am happy to report that he accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Savior in the taxi ride. The next day I heard she was witnessing again to her taxi driver and then another and well.. let me just tell you that she led 3 of them to Jesus and it's only Monday!

Our day today was really great, there were over 25 wheelchairs and several walkers fitted and donated to families in need. There were not as many as expected, however, several of the chairs that were fitted today took several hours to adapt. The sweet eight year old girl I was privileged to have this morning took about four hours to get the chair just right. I hope to have more pictures in the blogs to come. I was supposed to be assisting Cindy today for a few hours to see how the process goes and ease into having my own seating station, but God had other plans for me, He always does. I started out helping Cindy with finding a chair and a walker for our first child and while her chair was being worked on another little girl came in and Cindy asked if I would like to take the lead on it.. I told her no thank you :) so she asked some questions and we were off to find a chair. We thought we found a good one and tried to adapt it (didn't work). So, somehow when I was off finding another chair with our fearless leader, Jill (and I do mean fearless) Cindy started to work with someone else and not so slowly allowed me to "take the lead" with my precious Arianitta and just like that I had my own seating station.

We had a very humbling time together as a group Sunday night wherein I had my hands washed by someone other than myself (not my manicurist either) and then I was prayed for, during this time I asked God to wash off all the fear from my hands and allow them to work for His glory in order to proclaim the love of God. I believe He did that and the evidence was the outcome of Arianitta's chair and her Mother's reaction to receiving it.

We are all excited to say that 27 people accepted Christ today and 10 have re-dedicated their hearts to Him. Even if it had been just one person finding the Love of Jesus today.. I would say Thank you for supporting us.. but it was 27 + 3 taxi drivers :) The Holy Spirit is present here and it has been obvious from the moment we missed our connecting flight in Lima. What better way to get acquainted with 'mission mates' than 11 hours in airport chairs? Thank you to our supporters for your continued prayers and for all the support provided prior to us getting here. What happens here is impossible without all y'all.

In this next story I will change the names of the characters to protect the innocent.

Our job at the distribution site came to an end and we all got into our taxi's 3 or 4 at a time, being very careful to make sure there was a Spanish speaking person in each car. When my wild ride came to an end at the guest house I was greeted by my friends telling me that when Lucy got out of her taxi she realized her bag was still in the back, but the taxi was already about to round the corner and vanish.. so what did Lucy do??? She booked it and ran after that taxi shouting "taxi.. stop.. taxi" Well, Ethel wasn't about to let Lucy run off by herself, after all she was told by our fearless leader NEVER to go anywhere without at least 2 or 3 people especially after dark and especially without a man present. Even though Ethel ONLY speaks Spanish and Lucy ONLY speaks English they were together, they couldn't communicate, but they were together.

The problem was not that they ran after the taxi, the problem was that they were gone for more than 5 minutes and the street was not that long. So, my very kind taxi driver used his radio to call in the case of the missing 'bolsa' and within 6 minutes the taxi with the bag arrived to return it. Awesome.. that bag had some pretty important things inside, we will find out just what they were later.

Lucy and Ethel were beginning to worry us, they were still not back and we couldn't call them. I prayed they were okay and felt God was with them, but we are in Peru, it was dark and there were only 2 of them. We tried not to panic. Phone calls came in eventually and Lucy was able to say she was okay before the phone call ended. When they finally arrived back at the guest house we heard a story that almost didn't surprise us.

Lucy was running down the road yelling "taxi.. stop" and so a taxi did stop, not the one she was after, but it stopped. Lucy was trying to explain to Ethel that she left her bag in the back of the taxi and Ethel (no English remember) tried to convey the message to the driver. Ethel went on to tell the driver that her friend Lucy left some important things in a taxi they were chasing.. a camera from Africa. If you are wondering where that information came from, check out the picture of Lucy's bag.

So, the driver heard this and somehow figured the bag contained a camera with film from movies that were made in Africa and said "that is terrible" and took off speeding after this vanished taxi carrying all kinds of important documentaries. Ethel says it was a car chase like in the movies.

So, while Ethel and the driver are busy chasing the taxi that wasn't even the right one.. Lucy was in the back making the phone call to say she was okay, when she heard the bag was already returned she was relieved and conveyed this message to Ethel who also was relieved and began a more sane conversation; She asked the driver his name, "John" he said unknowing of what this answer would get him.

"Oh John" said Ehtel "he was a disciple of Jesus" and she went on to tell him about a loving Jesus that could forgive him of all his sins and by the time the 3 of them returned to the front door of the guest house, it was evident that God used this crazy event to bring another child into the Kingdom. John asked Jesus into his heart this evening and even though some rules were bent.. okay broken.. there was victory and celebration. Our Lucy and Ethel were back home and safe with a fantastic story AND Lucy's husband, Ricky, gave her immunity and didn't vote her off the island for breaking the very rules that she made ;)

I am very fond of Lucy, as a matter of fact, I Love Lucy. (sorry, but you had to know it was coming) I want to thank Lucy for being fearless and thank Ethel for being so incredibly faithful and contagiously loving of ALL people.

Don't you wish you were here too???