Testimony - Lima, Peru
July 1997
I went on my first foreign missions trip in July of 1997. I would like to give you a short account of the events that transpired at that time. The trip was to Lima and Comas, but we also visited Ica and Paracas.
Lima is a very busy city. The first thing that you will notice in Lima is the traffic. They try to squeeze as many cars onto the road as they can, and they don't stop beeping their horns until the car stops. Then you will see the street vendors everywhere, selling their goods. It is like a country wide garage sale. If you ever need your car fixed, all you have to do is look to the center of the road. You see racks of car parts (mostly stolen, from what I understand), and a pit dug in the ground. Drive over the pit, and a man will install anything that you want. I did not see a lot of power tools there. Most of the labor is done by hand, like we used to do things over fifty years ago in the USA. Garbage is not a problem... they just put it in a pile in the middle of the road, and burn it. The smell of burning garbage is everywhere. It is a different world, and the needs of the people there are very great.
We ministered to many of the people in the Lima and Comas area, and visited some of the schools. We were lead from classroom to classroom, handing out pencils, small toys, candy, etc., and gave the children a short gospel message, and prayed with them all. Some of the children, after they had prayed with us, wanted to go with us and do the same thing that we were doing, so about fifteen of them came along, and became part of our team for a while.
One day, we drove past a government building, and there were several thousand people out in front of the building. We all got out and some of us were witnessing to the people in the crowd, while Sonya got up to the leaders of the group, and they let her have the microphone. In less than an hour our group had prayed with over 900 people in that crowd. Suddenly, I saw Sonya (one of the missionaries that we were working with), and she was running. She yelled at us to get back to the bus, and fast. We stopped what we were doing, and everybody ran back to the bus. After the bus took off, and we were all safe, Sonya explained to us that this was a protest rally against the government. The Government had raised their water bills, and the people didn't want to pay the extra money. Everything had been all right, until the doors of the government center closed, and the officials would not talk to them any more. Then, because the people were so upset, they turned to the next available group, and started picking up stones. They were talking about "Getting the 'Gringos'!" I learned an important lesson that day. When your leader tells you to run, you had better run fast! However, over nine hundred people got saved while we were there. Praise the Lord!
As soon as we went to Ica, I new that there was something special about that place. On the first night, as we were going to minister in one of the local churches, our bus was jostling and bumping along over ruts and holes, and it was very dark. Suddenly, I felt as if there were a million bugs that were hitting me, all over my body, on my legs, and even in my hair. I didn't know what kind of insects were in Peru, and I really hate bugs. I started swatting at them, and stamping my feet, and screaming for the bus driver to turn on the light. Finally he did, and I found out that my bugs, were in reality a bag of sunflower seeds that had been placed in the overhead bin. They were spilling out on me, and I had killed them all. There were crushed sunflower seeds everywhere. This little incident was not the special thing that I mentioned before, but it was hilarious. The special part comes next. I just had to share that with you.
We ministered in a Methodist Church and a Baptist Church while we were there, and to our surprise, about half of their congregations got saved on each night. The anointing was so strong, and we found out later that the pastors of the churches had been praying for revival. God fills the hungry heart, and they had revival that night. People were healed, and touched by the power of God.
The next day, we were doing street witnessing in Ica. The people came in waves, and as soon as we were finished with one group, another would come. Then we found the University. As soon as some of the Christian students found out that we were here, they were determined that we were going to go to every classroom and pray with all of the rest of the students. Many of the members of our group started to go into this classroom, or that classroom, and I was left pretty much on my own. My Spanish was very limited at that time, and I didn't want to just burst into a classroom, and try to explain to the teacher why I was there. If I would have had an interpreter, then I would have gone. Because I didn't, and because of the language barrier, I thought that I would just stay out in the courtyard and pray. Then some of the kids at the University saw me, and were determined that I was to go into one of the classes, too. I tried to explain to them why I couldn't do that, but they wouldn't take no for an answer. They went into one of the classrooms, and brought everyone out to me. My Spanish was not a problem, because what I couldn't say, they filled in for me, and everyone prayed to receive Jesus.
When we got back to Lima, we were given the opportunity to visit the Presidential Palace and the Congress. I have included some of the pictures of the palace and other sights that we saw in Peru on the next page. It was interesting to see the disparity between the classes, with on one hand, the people living in dirt, just tacking a couple of board together, propping them up against the side of a hill until the next earthquake would come along and knock it all down, and the Presidential Palace with it's opulence. When we went into the Congress, we were allowed to see where the ambassadors go in their waiting room, and we went around to all of the chairs in that place, and laid our hands on them, that the anointing of God would be present in that place, and that every man that would sit on those chairs would feel the presence and the power of God, and that God's wisdom and perfect will would be done in this place, and that those officials would be saved.
We prayed with many thousands of people during our ten day stay. It was an awesome trip, but somehow on the last night, I felt like there was something still lacking... something not yet finished. Everyone else was preparing to go to bed, but I was not ready to go to sleep at all. I talked to another young man in our group, Tom Pipes, and he felt the same way. We decided to go out on our own, after the evening meal. We got together first, and started to pray. We asked God to show us signs and wonders and miracles, just like in the Bible. Then we went out on the streets.
Just around the corner from our hotel, I saw an older woman sitting on a bench. She was one of the street vendors, selling chichlets and other trinkets. I went up to her and started to witness to her in my (very bad) Spanish. She kept shaking her head, and saying something, and the man next to her explained to me that she could not read the prayer, because she could not see. I looked at her then, and yes, I could see the white film over her eyes.
I told her that she did not have to read, that she could just repeat the prayer after me. She prayed with me for salvation, and then I had my friend Tom come over to ask her if she wanted us to pray for her eyes. (We had just been praying for miracles, you know.) Tom asked her if she want us to pray for her, and she said no, that we should just pray that all of the stuff that she was selling would sell by morning.
I started to pray for her, and then I realized... she didn't know what I was saying! I was praying for her in English! So I prayed that God would heal her eyes, and that she would be healed from the top of her head to the bottoms of her feet, and that all of her stuff would sell before morning. I didn't feel any special anointing. I was praying in faith, believing that God would do it. We didn't see anything special after my prayer, so we went on down the street.
About an hour later, a woman approached me. I was praying for someone, and ministering to him. This woman interrupted me, and said something like "Tu ore pora mi." I knew that "ore" meant pray. I kept trying to figure out what this woman wanted from me. Did she want me to pray for her?
She finally pulled out the tract that I had given to her an hour before, and then I connected. I understood. This was the same woman that we had prayed for to be healed. She looked completely different. Her eyes were clear, and sparkling with joy. Tom came over and she told us that not only had her eyes been healed, but her neck and her back were healed, and half of the stuff in her box was gone. I think that when the healing manifested in her body, everyone around her came over to see what had happened, and then they bought her stuff.
After that, I was ready to go home, but a part of Peru would be indelibly imprinted on my heart forever.
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