Returned from Peru on Tuesday afternoon, Oct. 19th. What a trip! This is what missions is all about! Exotic locations, strange foods, long travel in unusual vehicles, spiritual opposition, and powerful breakthroughs!
The ultimate destination of the missions trip was a small town deep in the Andes Mountains called, Yanas, Huánuco which sits @ 11,500 ft above sea level. To get there we had to ride 11 hours through the night on a bus, which passes through a 15,000 ft. pass before descending somewhat on the other side. The switch back curves are challenging to endure as one tries to sleep.
My friend Ron Day started the trip out roughly as he began to get sick to his stomach even as we were leaving Lima. After losing his food early on the trip out the window, he continued to have problems throughout the rest of the trip. He struggled especially as we passed over the 15,000 ft height as it was difficult for all of us to breathe. Many times throughout the night I was deeply concerned for his wellbeing but could only encourage him to hold on and prayed for him desperately.
About 30 minutes before arriving at the end of the route, I made my way down to the bathroom. It was pitch dark and I decided to use my ipod to light the way and orient myself over the potty. Just at the time that I was standing there, we passed over some rough road and curves, causing me to lose my grip on the ipod and watched as it fell into the potty and the light went out. Oh, well, it served me well for over a year!
When the bus finally came to a stop, we found ourselves in a town with the temperature only about 39 degrees. Quite cold since the bus didn’t have any heat either. We were just glad to be standing on firm ground. My host, Darwin Hilario, then told me that, years earlier he had been on the same trip when a baby died as they went over the high altitude area. It’s mother was helpless as there was nothing anyone could do and she had to continue on the journey with the dead baby until she reached her village hours later. I thanked God more than ever that we had arrived safely after all that Ron had gone through.
Finally, after another 1 ½ hour trip back up into the mountain we arrived at Yanas. The local church leaders were waiting for us and greeted us heartily and showed us our accommodations. They had recently finished building the new adobe building that would be our home over the next 4 days. The balcony and walkway weren’t finished yet, but some improvised boards made it possible for us to get into our second floor room where we found 3 neatly prepared beds with about 5 layers of wool blankets. It gets pretty cold at night!
Ron quickly crawled into bed, which he didn’t leave hardly at all over the next few days. We all took naps that day as we started recovering from our ordeal.
We also did a one hour radio program in a small local Adventist radio station inviting people to our conference and services. As I walked through the town, I was constantly followed by the eyes of the people who hadn’t seen a white man since the last time we were in Yanas 2 ½ years ago. That evening we had the opening meeting of the conference with a full church.
The next day I awoke feeling much better than the day before. The altitude affects people differently at different times. This time I felt an abiding weakness in my body, a dull headache, and fogginess in thought (even more than usual). By this second day I felt much better but would get winded quickly as I walked around the town or up the hill at the church.
The mountains here are more than majestic! From some of the peaks, there is a drop of around 4000 feet to the river valleys below. When the sun comes up, it quickly warms up as long as the clouds stay away. If the clouds cover the sun in the middle of the day, the temperature drops at least 5 degrees just in a few minutes.
On the second day, we had a day full of meetings with the leaders and pastors, interrupted only by lunch and dinner breaks and the local school culinary fair. I was invited to be one of the three honorary judges. To say the least, it was an honor to sample the local delicacies of guinea pig, potatoes, quinoa, pumpkin, trout, etc.
Ron began to feel better by the end of the 2nd day in the mountains. The first night concerned me as many times through the night I checked to how he was making it through the night.
There is only one doctor for about 5,000 people in this area. The local doctor is a recent graduate of medical school who was a young lady from Lima who is serving her year of “rural service”. Fortunately, she was one of the other 3 judges of the food fair and agreed to check on Ron for us.
To our surprise she even spoke some English, telling us she once worked at a Cracker Barrel in Pensacola, FL on an exchange program. She was absolutely amazing and caring as she checked Ron’s condition. His blood pressure was extremely high and she prescribed some medications for his intestinal problems and altitude sickness.
As she finished treating Ron, he pulled some money out of his pocket to offer to her for her services, which she promptly refused, even though she earns next to nothing for her year of service. She instead let us know that she needed some help finishing a storage building at her clinic to store donated food for the impoverished local children. She didn’t need money, just labor to finish the work. That work was accomplished this week by the men and women of the church!
We let her know how appreciative we were for her kindness and professional care. I have met many of these medical personnel who spend at least a year living in relatively primitive and challenging conditions as they provide care for these isolated people. They have a true “missionary” commitment and sacrifice and we let her know how thankful we are for people like her. She shared how hard it had been for 5 months with 6 more months remaining before her time was up.
She allowed us to pray for her for encouragement and strength. She cried as we ministered to her and spoke words of honor and encouragement. She is a true living day hero!
More to come next week of our adventures in Peru!
How many times in life do we come across deals or opportunities that appear to be such an amazing blessing just to find out later it wasn’t what it appeared to be.
Thank God for the truth we find in Ephesians 3:20 which says, Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us.