Yesterday was so exceptional that I have to blog about it by itself! I've been in Nueva Esperanza for the last day and a half staying in the house of my friend Dimas and his family. Nueva Esperanza is about an hour south of where I live at. The reason why I've been here is because I was invited to speak at Dimas' church yesterday night and its just more convenient. Aside from that it's been cool staying in a different area (I'm always interested in the culture in different areas). Dimas' family have been very kind and the food here has been good just as it has everywhere else in Peru. We went to get breakfast about 20-30 minutes from here at a place that is famous for “Chicharrones” which is a popular Peruvian breakfast. It's pork, cooked/sliced sweet potatoes, and onions in a lemon-juice sauce in between some bread made like a sandwich. To me this sounded more like a lunch but apparently served with coffee this is a popular breakfast! Needless to say I was not disappointed!
Church is where things got interesting. Like I said in my last post, we had Church at night because the presidential elections took place during the day and in Peru it is mandatory that every citizen vote. (On a side note, Ollanta was the winner). I knew that I was going to be speaking last night, I even knew what I was going to be speaking about (missions/evangelism), so I thought I was prepared. What I didn't know is that I'd be singing! Some of you who know me know that I'm a terrible singer. That being said, I never would volunteer to sing but I really had no choice. One of the worship songs that was sung was in three different languages, one of which was English. I was lucky enough to be in the front row and next to a girl whom I had previously met who knew I spoke English and she just happened to be a member of the worship team and had a microphone. When the English parts came up she put the microphone up to my mouth and I had no choice but to sing... I gave it my all but I'm still glad I didnt have to hear myself. The picture is actually on facebook, you should look at the faces of the people around me...I have yet to determine if those are expressions of surprise, horror, or both. Either way it was fun and I had a good time. To me the most amazing part of the whole night was seeing different people from different parts of the world worshiping the same glorious God. Once I got to the pulpit I told them that it was my first time singing on a microphone in church, and that for their sake I hope it was also the last.
As I said, my message was on evangelism and missions because that's what I was asked to speak about. I really enjoyed preaching, to me the most enjoyable thing to do is to share/teach others what I know about God and what he has revealed to us in his holy Word. I came away from last night with more confirmation about my calling. It's fitting that my first time preaching in a church to a congregation was to a Spanish speaking congregation in the very country I feel called to. Afterwards I also received some very kind comments from some of the people about my preaching. The most encouraging comment was, “I hope I get to hear you preach again.” I hope I have the opportunity to in the future, but hopefully next time I won't need a translator. I definitely think there's a reason for some of the desires we have, if they are Godly. I believe there is a reason why God has given me a desire to study his word and a reason why I get joy out of sharing what I learn with others, and a reason why I desire to learn the Spanish language, and a reason why I love the culture, and why I'm here now. I would be very surprised if this is not indeed where I have been called to, we'll have to see what God does in the future and how he uses all of these things. I do thank him for the gifts he has given me, and for the desires I have. I always pray that he would make his desires mine, so that I am always walking in his will and not only doing what he has called me to do but delighting in the service he has appointed me to.
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