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Hello!
I hope your summers have been going well. I just wanted to thank you for all your prayers and support this summer and share with you some of the amazing things God has shown me during my six weeks in Peru.
"Who am I, that the Lord of all the earth
Would care to know my name
Would care to feel my hurt
Not because of who I am
But because of what You've done
Not because of what I've done
But because of who You are"
During intensive training we kept hearing the lines to this song while we were driving in the car. While we were in the mountains when we made the drive from Cusco to Urubamba driving through clouds (attached picture) and seeing the view of the stars and the moon the words of this song came to life. I was reminded of Psalm 8:3-4 where David says, “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him.” God is so much bigger than we can comprehend, yet he still chooses to love us for who we are. I was reminded of this love in seeing how much God loved the people in Peru and desired to know each of their names and hurts. During each of our presentations whether it was in the main plaza, marketplace, or local university people were hungry for the gospel and you could see in their eyes that they were hurting and looking for something greater to fill them. Our team leader shared how about 5 years ago there was no response to the gospel in this area. After seeing an overwhelming response to the gospel during each of our outreaches, we knew that it was not by the effectiveness of our body worship, skits, testimonies, or anything we were doing, but it was only by the power of God and the work He has been doing in the hearts of His people already.
Even in our first outreach in Cusco it was dark, cold, and wet and there was a drunk man trying to distract the crowd and a drum band playing nearby. Despite all these distractions, the people stayed to hear the gospel message and it was clear that God was pursuing these people. At each outreach God knew who would be walking by the market buying groceries, or going to class, and He knew the exact number of people that would respond. There was one small village we visited, Chinchero, where it was pretty late in the day and we had just finished VBS at the local schools, but we decided to do an outreach in the plaza even though the market was closed. We went out on the streets to invite people and about 15 people had gathered for our presentation. There was only one person that came up to accept Christ that day in comparison to other outreaches where there were greater responses. I was reminded that God does not care about the number of people, but He cares about the hearts of His people and He knows each person by name. If it is just for that one lost sheep, He will go out of His way to find that lost sheep. God is faithful and loves His people too much not to do anything.
In looking back at these past six weeks in Peru, I can truly say that God’s grace is amazing. The words of the song continue to ring in my head as I think about the things that God has shown me. Who am I that the Lord of all the earth would care to know my name and would care to feel my hurt? Who am I that I would have the privilege to see God’s heart of compassion for people and His power at work? I realize that I cannot just let this trip be an experience and have nothing change, but I need to respond to what God has shown me. This trip should not end now that I am back home, but I should continue to have that same urgency for people and that heart of compassion for the people around me really sharing the love of Christ with them. I'm excited to start work in about a month and really start living out the convictions God has placed on my heart. Honestly, adjusting back to life here in the states has been difficult so far, but please pray that I would never forget the things God has shown me this summer. I hope that our partnership would not end here, but whatever missionfield God has placed us in whether it be work, school, family friends we can continue to share the love of Christ with them. I just wanted to leave you with a couple of quotes that I pray we could all live out.
"Let me come to the end whether soon or late- and be able to say to a family, a church, a city and the unreached peoples of the earth, "For your tomorrow, I gave my today. Not just your tomorrow on earth, but your countless tomorrows of your ever increasing gladness in God." -John Piper-
"We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us." -I Thessalonians 2:8-
Your Partner in Christ,
Timo
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