Mission Peru

by Jasmine Frost, Bramalea Alliance Church

My head was swirling, my heart was pounding, and I was sucking on my Jolly Rancher as hard as I could to prevent the inevitable post-takeoff ear popping. This was my first time on a plane, and already I was starting to second guess my reasoning for going to Peru on a short-term missions trip in the first place. But after about thirty seconds, we were flying! I took a peek out the window, and seeing the sea of clouds swell below us made me forget my momentary discomfort. I suppose that this was just a primer for God taking me out of my comfort zone during this trip, and already He had exceeded my expectations. As we settled down for the long, bumpy eight-hour flight to Lima, Peru, people from the team started to get up from their seats and get to know each other. For the most part, it was a lovely ride – I really just felt like I was in a very large car – but most importantly it gave me time to self-reflect, pray through my doubts and fears, and prepare myself spiritually for the journey ahead of me. However, towards the end, I began to wrestle with frustration, feeling like I would forget everything that I had learned up to this moment, and sudden sickness; the combination of which made me aware of the spiritual warfare that was attempting to remove me from the events of the trip spiritually, emotionally, and physically. This reached its climax during the final descent, and my head was filled with the worst pain that I have ever experienced in my life; my teeth felt like they were being pulled out all at once, tears were forced out of my eyes, my ears rung, and my brain felt like it was being reduced to dust inside a hydraulic press. Even after the flight I was not fully present as I stumbled through customs with the rest of the team. Some may write it off as the unfortunate experience of a first-time flyer, but I just know it was more than that.  Through under-my –breath prayers for strength and discernment, God used that tumultuous flight to make me aware of the spiritual threat that I had been dangerously ignoring. He used it to prepare me to recognize it more quickly throughout the duration of this trip, and beyond.