The Riches Of His Inheritance

This is the second installment to my experiences so far in Peru. It has only been five days but…

There is so much that is happening all the time. It has been an incredible experience. Every moment is sweet. The Lord is so good to me!

Saturday after we went to the Palacio Del Gobierno basically everyone went to their rooms and fell asleep. I went to the men’s study lounge and journaled. It took me a long time because so much had happened. When I finished journaling another student on campus named Daniel asked me if I wanted to go evangelizing. I was so excited! Praise God for someone who has been here for four semesters and has gone witnessing at a park every Friday. So I went to Parque Kennedy with Daniel and two other brothers, Jesse and Joel. I believe that Joel is only sixteen but he is in love with the Lord! At first we thought more people were going to go, but they all gave excuses, that it wasn’t their call or they didn’t feel like it, or that they would sit this one out. It was somewhat discouraging and almost made me not want to go. But that didn’t deter Daniel, so we went! We walked to one of the main roads and signaled a taxi. All of us were gringos so it was hard to get a fair price. We had to ask three different taxis. Finally we got one. Daniel sat in front and Jesse, Joel, and I sat in the back. It was a full taxi! Immediately Daniel began witnessing to the taxi driver in Spanish. Meanwhile Jesse, Joel, and I talked about how pumped we were to evangelize, how God had called us, how He appoints and ordains such moments, and we began to pray for God to move and to anoint us and use us for His glory and that He might save people through our conversations.

We got off at Parque Kennedy and began walking, looking for people to talk to. I wanted to talk to every person I saw, but I was limited/hindered because of the language barrier. I can speak some Spanish, but only some. We kept walking for a while and I was just bursting wanting to share the good news. We walked past a man who was getting a taro card reading with an old lady on a bench. (There were a lot of people at Parque Kennedy… a lot of people! It was around 7:00 in the evening). At first we walked by the man, but Daniel stopped walking with a concerned look on his face. We asked him what was going on. He said that he had a strong conviction and burden on his heart to tell that man that he should stop looking at the taro cards and stop seeking truth in the wrong places. With a little hesitation he went back and did so. Both the man and the woman ended up yelling at him to leave. But, at least he was faithful and obedient to God’s leading. We continued on and Daniel seemed a little shaken and off kilter by the incident so I suggested we stop and pray. We did. Soon after Daniel saw a man walking and stopped him to talk with him. Jesse stayed with Daniel while me and Joel went and talked with a man sitting on a bench. He was an older Peruvian gentleman. I introduced myself in Spanish but when he began to speak, I had a difficult time understanding. Luckily Joel is fluent in Spanish. He is the son of a missionary and lived in Ecuador for many years before coming to Lima. From what I gathered from the conversation that ensued was that the man was an atheist. He believed that we die and that is it. He believed in evolution. But in addition, he kept changing subject and talking about unrelated things. Later a young woman joined us as well. She was Catholic, but she was confused and had mixed and contradicting beliefs. I know that Joel was a little overwhelmed by the things they were saying. He can speak the language and understood what they were saying, but he was not able to keep up with them so much intellectually. The whole time I was trying to listen to hear and understand what they were saying, but I was having a difficult time. I probably should have spent a little more time praying for Joel and the people we were talking to. I kept feeling like, if I could only speak the language, I could answer their questions and make a rebuttal to their claims. But God convicted me that He saves, not me. And that apologetics is a tool, but it is not the power of God unto salvation. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation! As far as I could tell, Joel shared about the crucifixion of Christ. I do not think that he mentioned the burial and resurrection of Christ which are crucial to the gospel. I also do not think that he shared about sin and God’s holiness, righteousness, and justice. I know Joel’s heart and I believe it was pure. I also know that God is faithful and I trust that He will use our feeble effort to share truth and love the people of Peru. I definitely realized my great need to learn Spanish.

While we were talking to this man and woman, a little boy, maybe three years old, came up to me with a pack of gum and started tugging on my pants and making really cute faces and noises. At first I thought he was just playful and somewhat lost, a loose child that had escaped the grasp of his parent for a little while, but I soon realized that he was a salesman! He was trying to get me to buy gum! His mother came soon afterward with the bigger box and the rest of the gum. It was cute, funny, but also sad. I pray that God will provide for her and her son and clothe them, feed them, and give them shelter.

When Joel and I finished talking to the atheist man and confused Catholic woman, we met up with Daniel and Jesse who had several short conversations with different people. We shared about what happened in each of our groups and prayed together. Joel mentioned that he had to get back home soon to take meds for an ear infection and I asked if we could pray for his ear to be healed. So we prayed and I asked him how it felt. He wasn’t really sure, which meant that it was the same (Often it seems that people feel pressured to say that it feels different). So I said that we should pray again. Before we did, Daniel also asked if we could pray that he would be healed from his epilepsy. Apparently he had given up asking for God to heal him believing that it was his thorn in the flesh, kind of like Paul. But recently he has begun to believe that he can be healed and to asked for healing. So we prayed for Joel’s ear and Daniel’s epilepsy. Before we prayed I told them not to be afraid to pray and that all of us could pray, not just one of us and then we are done. So we all prayed and it was amazing! While I was praying for Joel’s ear, I felt like I should rebuke the infection… I felt kind of strange about it. But Jesus rebuked Peter’s mother-in-law’s fever. So I rebuked the infection in the name of Jesus Christ. We finished praying much later. When we finished I asked how Joel’s ear felt and he said that when I rebuked it, he felt some sort of light and something like a pop. I don’t know if it was healed or not and I have no idea what that means, but it was interesting to say the least!

Right then as we were finishing praying and talking, Daniel saw the man who was reading the taro cards walk by. He told us that he saw him and I suggested we pray for him again, but before we could, he came over to us and began talking to us! He wanted to know why Daniel chose to talk to him and no one else. Daniel shared how God spoke to him and put it on his heart. From that point we began about an hour long conversation with this guy. He was searching for answers and Daniel had some things in common with him concerning their testimonies and lives. The man had done a lot of drugs, sex, alcohol, and he seemed somewhat broken. Definitely searching… We shared the gospel as best we could with our limited Spanish. At one point the man said that he felt separate and alienated from us, possibly because of the language barrier. So near the end of our conversation we began to talk about music. He really liked a lot of American bands, especially old rock and roll and hardcore music. At the very end an older Peruvian gentleman came up to us with a Bible and was excited to see us out sharing the gospel. Christian Jesus (that was the name of the taro card guy… ironic right?) was there when this man spoke to us. We gave Christian our emails and the church service times and address as well as the Bible College address. Who knows what will happen!

On Sunday we went to Calvary Chapel Lima. It is a Spanish service. John Bonner, the pastor of the church introduced us (the students) to the church body. The worship was amazing as was the service. I loved it! I understood a lot more than I thought I would. It is easy to understand John’s Spanish. He also uses power point so you can read the main points (howbeit in Spanish). The church just began a new study on the book of Hebrews. John gave an introduction to the book and taught on the first three verses. He spoke about the superiority of Christ and that the main theme of Hebrews is that Jesus is superior in all aspects. He is the greatest! The book of Hebrews is considered by some as the “fifth gospel” to the Jews. John spoke of God and how He is eternally existent with no beginning and no end. He is completely other! He spoke of the different ways in which God has spoken in the past giving examples from the Old Testament and how in these last days God has spoken to us through His Son, Jesus Christ, and that this way of communication is so much greater and superior. We have Christ! God lives in us! He spoke about listening to God and hearing His voice.

God keeps bringing this up, listening, abiding, hearing, discerning His will. In teachings and in devotionals and in testimonies and in my circumstances the Lord continues to bring me back to this point: I must learn to hear His voice, to listen, and to obey. This is part of abiding in Christ! This message was similar to the message the youth pastor gave at the Friday Night Live worship meeting. It is the same message I get from listening to David’s testimony.

After church we came back to the campus and had lunch. I wandered around for a little while not really sure what to do with my time. I began to play the guitar when Daniel said that Aaron, a Peruvian that I met a day or two before was looking for me. I had forgotten who he was until I saw his face. He asked me if I wanted to go with him to a park in Magdalena. Magdalena is a municipality in Peru. It is a nicer district and it is the district in which the Bible College is situated. The area where Aaron was going is a little less affluent however. Many of the kids’ parents work long hours in the market and so the kids are left alone to play at the park all day. So Aaron goes down there, often by himself, and plays games with the kids, sings some songs, teaches, and then gives the kids pictures to color. He teaches them about Jesus and he teaches them Bible stories. He asked me to come because it is hard/difficult to bring all of the materials to the park by himself and usually he cannot bring the guitar because of the difficulty. So I went with him. Something that I had prayed for and wanted to do was serve and do ministry. Since I have been here for the past few days, God has given me ample opportunities! On the bus ride over to the park, Aaron told me that he had been praying for a kind-hearted, nice gringo to help in the ministry at Parque Magdalena. He taught me some Peruvian gestures and what they mean, like how to say “I stole it” or “I’m broke.” We went and played with the kids and it was a lot of fun. I couldn’t understand a thing they said because little kids slur their words, still it was fun. We played jump rope and we played with a parachute. We also played a fun game with a ball. Afterward we sang a fun little song about Jesus being King and then Aaron shared a little about the story of Jacob and Esau. Then the kids colored the pictures and we gave them drinks or “refrescos.” There were some other people who showed up to help: Rosa, another woman whose name I forgot, and David. Usually they don’t show up and Aaron has to do everything alone. There a lot of kids too! So he spoke to them and challenged them and asked if there hearts were really in the ministry. I couldn’t understand most of what they said. They were talking fast! I think that a lot of the kids tried to talk to me and I ended up ignoring them because I didn’t realize they were talking to me or I didn’t understand or know how to respond. I heard some of the Peruvian parents standing around saying, “He doesn’t understand anything we’re saying.” Well, I understood at least that much! Rosa, one of those who came to help was a very sweet lady. She was kind enough to talk with me slowly and help me understand what she was saying. We all prayed together at the end and packed up the materials. We walked together to the street to catch the bus back to campus. Rosa saw some ladies she knew who were Muslims. She had worked with them. I got really excited when I saw them. I am still not really sure what God will do with me concerning Muslim people… What is my calling God?

So far I am loving Peru! I cannot express how happy I am and how excited I am to be here. It has been incredible so far!

I left with Aaron for Parque Magdalena around 3:30 and we didn’t get back until 6:00. Immediately after we arrived and we put away the stuff, I had to leave to go to Enfoque or Koinonia, another service and time of fellowship at Calvary Chapel Lima (CC Lima). This service is bilingual. So we walked to Enfoque and they had a special guest speaker, Jeremy Swan. First, however, John, the pastor shared for a few minutes in Spanish about his trip to the US and about his vision for possibly getting a new building or a bigger space. Currently CC Lima rents a space and only has access on Sundays. Also the Bible College is growing and they need more space. So he was just sharing about the trip and asking the church to pray with him. Then we worshipped again in Spanish. It was a little more difficult because the projector wasn’t working like it was earlier at service and I didn’t know the lyrics of the songs in Spanish (though they were all popular English songs).The guest speaker, Jeremy, was a missionary from a poor jungle region of the Amazon near the borders of Colombia and Brazil. He shared about his ministry, what God was doing there, and certain prayer requests for the work and the people.

Jeremy then got into the word and shared about John 15:1-8. I have heard this passage taught many times and never have I heard it taught in this way. He brought out new things that I had never seen or realized, or rather, he taught the same things in a different way, he shed new light on the passage. He spoke a lot about agriculture and specifically caring for a vine or a vineyard and what it entails. It takes a lot of care, a lot of time, a lot of effort, a lot of skill. If you neglect it even a little bit, it will die or not bear fruit. You must tend to a vine/vineyard every moment of every hour of every day of every week of every month of every year. God, our Father, is the Vinedresser. This shows just how much God loves us! How incredible! He tends to the Vine (Jesus) and the branches (us). In that passage Jesus talks about abiding in Him. That word abide… My Spanish-English parallel Bible gave me a new understanding of this. The word to abide in the Spanish translation is “permanecer” which makes me think of the English word permanent. We are to permanently stay connected to Jesus. PERMANENTLY. We are not to fluctuate and sometimes be connected and sometimes not. It is permanent. Jesus said that we cannot bear fruit unless we are connected to the Vine, unless we abide in Him.

Jeremy also spoke about and illustrated the process of grafting in branches to a vine; taking a branch from one vine and grafting it into a different vine. The process is delicate and difficult and it often fails because it requires a lot of attention. The vine must be cut, deeply gashed in order for the new branch to be put in and secured/tied to the vine. The branch also is usually shaped and formed a certain way to facilitate acceptance and growth. The point of grafting in a branch is to produce fruit. In the Bible it says that we as Gentiles (non-Jews) have been grafted in to Christ. In the same way as the vine is cut and gashed in the process, so Christ was crushed and bruised for our sins and for our healing, and just as the branches are formed and molded, so are we when we abide in Christ. The depth of the illustration that Christ used astounds me! We can  do nothing without Christ. Every effort we put forth apart from abiding in Him does not bear fruit. God revealed this anew to me and it ruined me. How much I have done apart from Christ! Even in the name of Christ. Show me Lord what it means to abide!

After Enfoque we returned to the Bible College and I prepared my school supplies for Monday. I organized my supplies and my thoughts and wrote out my schedule. There is a lot going on in the next few months!

Now it is Monday. I woke up at 6:00am (4:00am San Diego time). I went to breakfast at 7:30am. I ate and then went to my M199 (Practical Christian Ministry) at 7:45-8:45am. I help clean up breakfast and the kitchen. I went to morning devotions from 8:45-9:20am. We are learning Preaching 101 for a few weeks and then we will rotate as students giving the talk. Then I had my first class on Romans from 9:30-11:30am. I helped move a stove from an apartment to a house and then I went to lunch at 12:00pm. Then I went to the study room and began to write this entry. I just went to Men’s Discipleship from 3:00-4:00pm.

It takes me a lot of time to write out these entries and remember all that has happened. I don’t think that I will have time to do this anymore… I have a lot of homework! But I am very excited to do it! I love Bible College!

I am overjoyed in my Savior Jesus Christ. He is so good! I want to know Him more. I want to have total satisfaction in Him. He blesses His children exceedingly! Lord, all glory to You! Be glorified! High and lofty King! Shed Your grace on Peru! Have Your way in me and through me. Save many! May Your will be done. Amen.

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~ by Seth Baumhover on August 31, 2010.