Mission Peru

by Adam Beswick, West London Alliance Church

Not more than two weeks ago, a cluster of assorted high school students from all over Ontario, clogged up the baggage check-in lines of Pearson International Airport. They wore matching T-shirts and all had suitcases packed mostly by their respective mothers. We had clean socks, pressed shirts, and had absolutely no idea what to expect.

Yesterday, a cluster of unified high school students clogged up the customs lines at Pearson International Airport. They wore matching T-shirts and all had suitcases which they had managed to pack by themselves. But if you were a parent who watched both of these events occur (or a particularly observant airport employee), you might have noticed something different about us.

Because this group saw God in the city of Trujillo, Peru. As many of you know, we experienced overwhelming joy and paralyzing sadness. We shoveled like nobody’s business. We sang enough camp songs to make a person lose his mind. We learned what it is like to feel loss when the last churro is sold to the person standing in front of you in line.

And through this trip, we are a living testament to the fact that prayers are answered. We called for safety, and it was granted. We asked for opportunity and it saturated our trip from day one. We asked to be broken, and this trip rocked many of us to the point of feeling shattered. Through this trip we have proven that miracles exist beyond gringos actually managing to uphold some resemblance of dignity when playing the beautiful game with Peruvian Nationals. God literally moved mountains through our blistered hands. Nobody can look at what just happened in Peru and claim that they cannot see God in the world.

It is important to remember that miracles do not happen only when we find ourselves in a foreign land. Miracles occur every single day of our lives, it just so happens that we manage to find them more easily when we are not distracted by so much of the nonsense fed to us by our own culture.

Admittedly, nobody could have prepared themselves for the stench of the garbage dump, or the faces of children realizing that you have to leave them. But it was things that I would never have expected to hit me which were the most moving. The love in these people is overwhelming. I was bracing myself so much against the sorts of suffering I was about to see on this trip that my world was thrown for a loop when I saw the happiness, the community and the love displayed through these beautiful people. The poor in Peru acting with mentalities of things like : love thy neighbour, the willingness to share with strangers, the hope placed on God in darkness that I witnessed in Peru brought up huge, uncomfortable questions not only about how we need to help the people of Peru, but also about how the people of Peru can help us.

Our God does not see borders. Our God sees people in need and calls for action, and this is not strictly limited to the need for material possessions, but also for spiritual richness.

One day after a very tough afternoon at the worksite, I read a verse which particularly impacted me which I will not soon forget.

Psalm 127 says :

“Unless the Lord builds the house,
its builders labor in vain.”

Thank you for your outpouring of support through the blog and through your prayers both before and during our mission. This work needs to continue well after we get back to figuring out how to live our lives differently after seeing what we have been able to see in Peru.

And of course,

Que Dios le bendiga.