Another week in Peru has flown by and I’m realizing how much God has put it on my heart to go to the ends of the earth, the extremely rural places, in order to serve Him. This past week we went higher up into the mountains to the small villages of La Laguna, Matara, and Jocos. I was thriving and loving every single moment. While I was in the city of Cajamarca, I enjoyed our ministry but felt like something was missing and it was unsettling not knowing why I felt that way. Everything changed when we set foot in La Laguna. The church where we preached and slept for two nights was one small room with a dirt floor and a few old wooden benches for pews. The bathroom was a dirt outhouse with just a hole into the ground to do your business. The entire place was surrounded by the Andes highlands and it was a bit of a walk from home to home with dogs, donkeys, and cows all around. It felt like home to me. I felt God calling on my heart, telling me places like these are where I am meant to be. No real toilet or floors in buildings? No problem. I didn’t even mind killing all the big spiders for the team, which was something I don’t know if I could do in the United States! I also got the opportunity to preach in La Laguna and even though there were less than 15 people that came from the village, my heart was full getting the opportunity to share the word with a group of people that don’t get to hear it often. The same was true in Jocos. It was an hour walk from Matara to Jocos to hold a church service there. The walk was incredible, with the mountains surrounding us and the fresh air on the dirt road. Church in Jocos was so powerful for me. These people have so little but those who come to church put everything they have into praising the Lord. During worship the guitar wasn’t tuned and the voices were off key but I felt the Holy Spirit within the place and it was the most beautiful sound I had ever heard. I also go to sit next to a little boy, Alber, who seemed so enthusiastic about worship and looked to me to turn his hymn book to the right page for each song. I have hope for the future of these types of places and I know I’m called to be a part of that future. With that, I don’t yet know if it will be solely through missionary work or through nonprofits in which I can used my community, environment, and development major at Penn State and let my life be my ministry. I’m thinking it will be the latter as I’ve been feeling the Lord leading me to do work with the peace corps upon graduation. The Lord has given me this calling to the far off places before and this past week has given me assurance that He continues to tell me that I will be able to handle work for the Lord in the this way. All in all, God is pretty dang awesome if I do say so myself.
