"A Story of Transformation" (Peru - October 2003)

The Lord of the Harvest has answered our prayers for the city of Tacna, Peru by bringing forth 1273 new believers and 5 new churches using your prayers and a team of 15 North Americans combined with a team of 14 Peruvian missionaries that we trained earlier in the year! Thank you for your faithful prayers over the past week for God has surely heard and answered “exceedingly abundant above all that we could ever imagine or ask for”!

It is hard to connect with these kind of “numbers” having not been there to experience it. That’s why we focus on equipping and working together with nationals and their churches so that the ministry continues long after we have come back to the States. To help you connect, take a few moments to read the story below:

On Tuesday afternoon I was supervising at a new church start located in a remote and impoverished district of Tacna known as “New Jerusalem”. Thousands of people live in this area although the amenities are few. There are water spigots placed occasionally throughout the development but few of the homes have their own running water. Most of the houses are made from straw mats and a few from cinder blocks with corrugated tin roofs. I was excited to be a part of this initiation service for the first evangelical church in this physically and spiritually thirsty community.

At around 4 pm the mother church jumped a wire off of the power line and rigged up about 8 light bulbs around a dry little patch of dirt that will one day contain a building. They also brought out a sound system and cranked up the children’s Christian music attracting the attention of multitudes. As the children came running in, the adults of the mother church greeted them and began to teach them the songs and dance moves (yes, it is biblical to dance for the Lord!). I enjoyed being a part of that, but was eagerly anticipating the 7 pm evening service.

At around 6 pm one of my national leaders approached me and told me we needed to make a visit. I questioned him, partly because it was getting dark and its not wise for a “gringo” to wander around in the dark, and partly because I didn’t want to miss the service. After much prompting I asked why we needed to make a visit so close to time for the service. That is when they introduced me to Alesia – a short Peruvian mother wearing the traditional clothing and carrying a small baby strapped around her back using a long piece of brightly colored cloth. They told me that Alesia had prayed to receive Christ the day before and that her husband had become angry and forbid her to have contact with the church because he did not like “religion”. So there it was, a third reason why I didn’t want to go . . . an angry husband that thought that we had undermined his authority. Nevertheless, my friends convinced me and we slipped away from the loud music and began to make our way down the dusty path into the darkness.

With the music still within hearing distance we broke off from the path and made our way toward a house. Just before we got there a shadowy figure appeared pushing a bicycle. It was Alesia’s husband – Serapio. One of my friends introduced us and began to talk with the man, but it was obvious that he was not comfortable with our being there. Meanwhile, Alesia slipped behind the gate and into her small home out of sight. After about a minute of talking, my friend motioned for me to go on through the gate and I reluctantly did so. Once inside the one-room home I looked around – it was about 12 feet by 12 feet and contained two small single beds, each along separate walls. There was a dresser with clothes and things piled up on it and a few wooden stools, one of which I sat down upon. The room was dimly lit by a single candle that hung from the ceiling on a disassembled coat hanger. The husband sat down directly across from me on the edge of a bed. I got straight to the point and began to share my testimony in my feeble and broken Spanish explaining how my life had been transformed by a relationship with Christ. After that I took out an Evangecube which clearly tells the story of the gospel through pictures. I explained the pictures and noticed that the stern look on his face had not changed much.

I had just about come to the end of my Spanish when Serapio jumped in and began to explain his disillusionment with religion because his parents had been Adventists and he had never connected with that. After he shared a little bit, one of my friends began to explain the difference between religion and a relationship with God. His tense look had dissipated significantly, but he still was not convinced.

In all, we shared for about an hour – all the while hearing the service broadcasting through the loud speakers on the other side of the sand dune. I knew we were missing the service, but this guy was beginning to open up. Before I knew it, my friend looked over and said, “He’s ready to pray and receive Christ.” We led the man in prayer and when he looked up the biggest smile was on his face. We talked a little more and he was laughing and joking – a total countenance change! And then my friend challenged him to be a godly husband and father and what happened next amazed me. Serapio stood up and walked over to where his wife had been quietly sitting and breast feeding the baby. He sat down beside her and put his arm around her and apologized in front of all of us! Wow, what a transformation! When we were leaving he was still embracing her. We encouraged them both to walk up to the service, which we figured was just about to end. After all, this was now their church!

As I climbed back over the hill the sound of Pastor Bustamante preaching grew louder and louder. The little light bulbs hanging from the wire stretched light across the dark little hillside revealing about 50 adults and at least that many children all listening to the Pastor explain that this church was to be theirs – a place of refuge for the forgotten community. As the service came to a close, I looked over and there was Serapio, Alesia and their baby – his arm was still around her and now they both had smiles on their faces. After the service we mingled through the crowd and then I made my way over to the young couple to give them a Bible for they did not own one. Those of us that had been in their home signed our names in the front and wrote encouraging notes to the couple as they embarked on their spiritual journey together. All around us the children were laughing and dancing, still singing the tunes they had learned earlier about Jesus’ love. I couldn’t help but think that their generation would grow up on that dusty sand dune – but now they all had a spring of water welling up from within to quench their spiritual thirst. As I embraced Serapio one more time before he and Alesia disappeared over the dark hill, I praised God once again for the “Divine inconveniences” of life that allow me AND YOU to be a part of something so beautiful and so lasting as seeing husband reconciled to wife and both reconciled to their Heavenly Father!

Thank you for your prayers and financial contributions that made this and 1271 other stories of transformed lives happen last week in Tacna, Peru! Who knows, maybe you’ll be there with us this time next year??? Could it be that God has a “Divine Inconvenience” for you?