PERU 2012 - Our Journey Through Peru

The solid black lines are where we traveled by car and bus. The dotted black lines are where we traveled by plane. The double black lines are where we traveled by boat.

PERU 2012 - Machu Picchu: Claiming the Inca Empire for Jesus

Aguas Calientes, Peru

Sunday, March 25, 2012

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Machu Picchu: Claiming the Inca Empire for Jesus

I feel blessed beyond measure that our team was able to travel to Machu Picchu, which is considered one of the "seven wonders of the world." We flew from Lima to Cusco last week and stayed two days in order to get acclimated to the elevation of 10,000 feet. From Cusco we took a bus two hours north, then hopped on a train for another hour and a half and arrived at the city of Aguas Calientes. We stayed at a nice hotel, but were only able to get a few hours of sleep since we were wanting to travel to Machu Picchu early in the morning in order to watch the sunrise over the ruins. So at 5:30 am we boarded another bus that would take us a half an hour up the mountains to Machu Piccu.

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The only word to describe the ancient city of Machu Picchu is breath taking. We were able to climb different trails in order to get different views of the ruins and also explored the ruins. As a part of our group package deal, we were able to take a guided tour of Machu Picchu. Our guide was a Quechua man who filled us in on the very interesting history of Machu Picchu as well as the Inca civilization itself.

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The city of Machu Picchu was discovered in 1911, and was most likely built in the 1500's. Machu Picchu is one of one hundred Inca sites, all which have a tremendous amount of importance to the indigenous people. Many people make pilgrimages to all one hundred sites, which represent one hundred constellations, and perform various rituals that are required. The Inca people worship the sun which they call, "Father Sun," and the earth which they call, "Mother Earth." Every morning the residents of Machu Picchu would welcome "Father Sun" with singing and dancing. Machu Picchu is the name of the large mountain overlooking the Inca city. No one really knows the name of the city. Within the mountains that overlook the city one can see what the people say look like a condor and a puma, both which hold spiritual significance both to the Inca and the pre-Inca civilizations. The condor was said to be the vehicle which would carry the spirit of the deceased to "heaven," and the puma represents strength, which marked the Inca empire. The Inca were hard workers, which enabled them to not be conquered by the Spanish until later in their history. In fact the Spanish never made it to Machu Picchu. There is the Inca trail which runs 84 kilometers to Cusco. This is significant because it helps modern historians understand better the relationship between the different Inca cities. In fact, in order to get messages from city to city, relay runners would be camped every two kilometers along this trail and hand off ropes made from different colors and with knots in various places, which the Inca would easily be able to decifer. Each Inca city, including Machu Picchu had a high priest who would never eat meat and had demonic powers to be able to know the past, present and future. There is even a hidden city called, "Paititi" which is said to contain ancient Inca gold. The Spanish took 1% of this gold on boats back to Spain, but 99% of this gold is still said to be hidden in the jungles. It is also said that the Inca guard this treasure and that anyone with the spirit of the white man can never see it. In fact, some of the tribes in these regions are still cannibalistic who kill and eat foreigners. In the midst of such darkness, there are many things in the Inca culture that we believe would be eternity in their hearts, yet have been twisted by the enemy. For example, the Inca use the rainbow flag and it represents their anticipation of the last Inca who will return someday to save their people. We were able to glean quite a bit about the Inca civilization from our Quechua guide.

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All of this insight into the Inca empire caused our team even more so desire to worship, take communion and in unity usher in the Kingdom of God into the region. And this is just what we did. We believe that the strongholds of the area were confronted as we pleaded the blood of Christ over the land. We sang together. One of our team members had a song that God had given her to sing at the top of Machu Picchu. She also heard from God that we should shout a call and response from Machu Picchu. It went like this, "Who enters the gates?" The response being, "The Lord strong and mighty! The Lord mighty in battle!" Our team linked arms and yelled this chant at the top of our lungs. As we did this, a security guard came and blew his whistle in our faces ordering us to stop. He said that we were yelling like crazy people. Full of laughter, we responded, "Somos locos por Jesucristo," or in English, "We are crazy people for Jesus Christ!" We saw the security guards heart melt with the love of Jesus as we hugged him and loved on him. What a great way to end our day at Machu Picchu. Heaven knows the full extent of what took place as our team gathered in warfare prayer on behalf of the indigenous people who have been in bondage for centuries.

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Christian Young

PERU 2012 - Amazon Jungle VIDEO

PERU 2012 - Lost in the Amazon: Search for the Unreached Ashaninka Tribe

Nuevo Nazareth, Peru
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
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Lost in the Amazon: Search for the Unreached Ashaninka Tribe
After two days in Caco, our team prepared to head back out onto the Ucayali River to make contact with the unreached Ashaninka tribe and stay in their village. We had thought it was all planned out. Pastor Antonio said that he had received permission from the chief in an Ashaninka village for us to visit them. We had also thought we would only need Pastor Antonio’s boat to get there. After  loading ourselves and our belongings onto the boat and traveling over an hour upriver, we pulled in to another Shipibo-Konibo village called, “Nuevo Nazareth.” Pastor Antonio’s cousin was the pastor in this village. To our surprise, we were informed that we could not make it to the Ashaninka village in one boat and that we would need to spend the night in this village, and the pastor would bring his boat as well. Conveniently, another church service was convened for us to lead. A pattern was developing. We would hear one thing and another thing would take place. This was a bit frustrating to say the least. Extending grace, our team agreed and stayed the night, bringing the glory of God to another Shipibo-Konibo language.
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The next morning we loaded both boats and headed even further upriver seven hours. Somehow, our boats got separated and Pastor Antonio who was captaining our boat became lost in the Ucayali tributaries. We were lost for about four hours, navigating the river and following golden butterflies which we believed had been sent by God to guide us. Our team wasn’t too worried, but time was against us as it was getting dark and fear began to arise within Pastor Antonio and his son. Finally we heard our other team mates on the other boat close by on the river. We were relieved at this, but heard shouts from them that they needed help.
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The reason they were asking for help began to unfold. Their boat had made it further up river, only 45 minutes from the Ashaninka village. Then, some Ashaninka loggers from that village chased down their boat and began to interrogate them. When asked why the team was going to the village, the local pastor replied that we were wanting to plant a church there. This of course was a foolish thing to say and was a part of his agenda, not ours. They then scolded the pastor and the team, telling them that they weren’t welcome and didn’t want a church. Liney tried to clarify our teams intentions to simply visit the tribe, learn about their culture and make friends. To that the loggers were much more willing to accept. But at that point it was too late. The loggers warned the pastor about a fiesta that was happening where the tribe always is drunk and violent, and that they had killed other foreigners who had tried to visit the villages. This of course didn’t phase our team, as we had heard from God to visit the Ashaninka people. But the pastor refused to take them further in his boat, turned around and wouldn’t talk to our team members. This is what our friends on the other boat were asking for help with.
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Jesse, the team and I on our boat immediately came into agreement with our team on the other boat and put our foot down, saying that we were supposed to go to the Ashaninka tribe in spite of the risks. The loggers had also said that the chief was in Pucallpa and we wouldn’t have permission to talk with the tribe unless he was there, yet we had been informed that we were cleared by the chief to visit. Again, things that had been said to us before weren’t panning out. Both pastors vehemently opposed us in our desire to continue on 45 minutes to the Ashaninka village. After a battle over this, we finally had came to the conclusion that we were on their boats and we realized they weren’t going to budge. A spirit of fear, religion and pride were thick all around us in the local Shipibo-Konibo pastors. I was freakin’ pissed off that the enemy was having his way in this, yet our hands were tied. Being only 45 minutes from the Asheninka tribe, we turned around and headed another seven hours back to Nuevo Nazareth in the dark, using large flashlights to guide us and dodging large crocodiles on the river. But before we began to head back a rainbow appeared in the sky right over where the Ashaninka village is. I felt that it was God’s promise that He desires for that tribe not to be destroyed but to be saved, and that we would send missionaries back to them.
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Christian Young

PERU 2012 - Ministry Among the Shipibo-Konibo People

Caco, Peru

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

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Ministry Among the Shipibo-Konibo People

We boarded a boat in Pucallpa that would take us 16 hours up the Ucayali River to the Shipibo-Konibo villages. We all hung our hammocks in the middle of the boat and slept through the night as the boat cruised along the river. All of this was after witnessing one of the most breath-taking sunsets from the top of the boat.

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We arrived in Pastor Antonio's village called, "Caco." This Shipibo-Konibo village has a population of 1,200 people. Their simple homes and muddy roads, mixed in with many mosquitoes, gnats and biting flies made us very aware that we were in a remote area of the Amazon Basin. We ministered at the small church the first night we were there. Everyone who came forward for prayer was healed. The following morning we had a tribal worship time as a team and asked God for his wisdom and revelation about the village and people as we felt much resistance in the Spirit the night before at the church service. We were delighted that Pastor Antonio shared with us the past and present history of his people and we became aware that most of the people in the village, as well as in the church made recent visits to the shaman for help when they are sick.

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After visiting house to house in the village of Caco and praying for the sick, we held a second church service that night. the tension was thick. It was as if the enemy knew his grip was being loosened from the people's lives. Thirty people came to Christ and many more were healed. Then we confronted them with the need to publicly repent from going to the shaman and practicing withcraft. Three of us were physically attacked by a demonic spirit during this time and Jesse said that there were people doing witchcraft against us in the church service. God was victorious! Almost the entire church gathered and publically repented from witchcraft and we prayed for the baptism of the Holy Spirit over them. Thank you Jesus! We heard reports from Pastor Antonio that the entire village felt the presence of God after our arrival and ministry among the Shipibo-Konibo people. Now we pray that this fire spreads to the surrounding Shipibo-Konibo villages.

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Christian Young

PERU 2012 - Arrival in Amazon Basin

Pucallpa, Peru
Sunday, March 11, 2012
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Arrival in the Amazon Basin
After a grueling 16 hour bus ride over the Andes mountains we finally made it to Pucallpa from Lima. The ride to Pucallpa was crazy and beautiful at the same time. At one point we were at 17,000 feet elevation where we saw snow covered peaks illuminated by a full moon. Our heads ached from the altitude and our chests felt tight as though we couldn’t breathe. A man in uniform boarded the bus at 4:00 in the morning, who was most likely a guerrilla impersonating a soldier scaring us with stories of the area we were entering and asking us for money so that he could “protect” us.
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In Pucallpa we met up with Jen’s Jungle Ministry and ministered in quite a few of the local churches. In one church meeting we prayed for the people and they were all covered in gold dust by the end of the meeting. Jen’s church, “Luz Divina” is full of excitement, We were able to minister at that church as well. Life in the jungle is much different. At one point we had a torrential rain that turned the street that we were staying on into a giant river.
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Christian Young

PERU 2012 - Iris Latin America Team in Peru VIDEO

PERU 2012 - Outreach in Pativilca VIDEO

PERU 2012 - Four Keys to the Kingdom

Paramonga, Peru
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
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Four Keys to the Kingdom 
God’s favor is upon us. Signs and wonders continue to chase us. Revival is breaking forth. The other night we were supposed to do another outreach in the city center of Paramonga, but they had a huge festival going on. We decided to join in the festivities. Many who had heard about the healings found us and had us pray for them in the midst of the festival. We laid hands on them and they were healed. God’s favor was so strong upon us that the mayor of the city asked us to pray for him and share about Jesus with the entire city. They even interviewed us on a radio station. We always try to partner with local churches and organizations everywhere we go. As we have been evangelizing and praying for the sick we have had the local pastor and their church accompany on us. First we would show them how to pray, then they would join us in laying hands on the sick, and then we would have them pray. These people need to continue to usher in the Kingdom of God after we leave.
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The local pastor asked if I could speak at the Sunday evening service. As soon as I heard this, I began to pray and ask God what I was to share. God began to speak to me about keys to the kingdom from Matthew 6:19. God revealed to me that there were four keys to the Kingdom that were specific to Paramonga: (1) Intimidad (Intimacy), (2) Unidad (Unity), (3) Compasion (Compassion), and (4) Poder (Power). Faithful to Holy Spirit’s prompting I shared these keys with the local pastor and his congregation last Sunday night. The message was well received. I even found four old keys, wrote on each one of them and prophetically gave them to the pastor at the end of the message. Then we had the congregation stand up with their hands out in front of them, while our team prayed an impartation of these four keys to the Kingdom over them. It was an amazing time. More came forward during the service and received healing. Some of our team also met with the youth and young adults after the service, We prophesied over them, getting words for each of them. There were many tears. Repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation took place among the youth, too. Although our team was only in Paramonga for one week, I believe that an eternal deposit was made that will lead to the transformation of the entire city and usher in the Kingdom of God.
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Christian Young

PERU 2012 - Man Deaf from Birth Healed

Paramonga, Peru
Saturday, March 3, 2012
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Man Deaf from Birth Healed

Last night our team partnered with the local church here in Paramonga to do another night of outreach. We included some of the same elements that we did at the outreach in Pativilca the night before, including break dancing, rap, skateboarding, drama and preaching. The healing anointing was so strong at the meeting last night that before we had even started the meeting, a woman had asked for prayer to be healed, got completely healed of the pain in her head and testified of her healing to everyone over the sound system.
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Dianne had asked me to come and pray for a man named Luis who is about 30 years old and who had been deaf from birth. We confirmed that he had been deaf from birth with those who were with him and knew him well. I put anointing oil on my fingers, put them into his ears and in Spanish began to command that his ears would open in the name of Jesus. Dianne, the local pastor, some children and others joined me in praying for him. After praying for him the first time, I checked both ears by snapping my fingers and asking if he could hear me snapping. With a bit of shock and a lot of joy he motioned that he could now hear out of his left ear. Calling for Jesse and others to come join us and press in for a complete healing. After praying for him a second time and testing both ears by again snapping my fingers, he clearly responded to the snapping in both ears and was totally healed. We all rejoiced in the Lord together. Luis even began to try and talk after never hearing or talking since birth! I told the pastor that they would need to work with Luis and help him learn how to talk as they would teach a child. Again, THIS MAN HAD NEVER HEARD OUT OF HIS EARS SINCE BIRTH AND CAN HEAR NOW!!! Glory to God!!!

PERU 2012 - Arrival in Peru

Pativilca, Peru
Friday, March 2, 2012
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Arrival in PeruI arrived safely in Lima, Peru yesterday morning and was met by Jesse and Addison at the airport. We met up with Ted and Liz who drove the Suburban to get us at the airport. A group of our team is staying in the suburbs of Lima. It was great to reconnect with part of our team upon my arrival. Then Jesse, David and I headed north up the coast to Paramonga, where the rest of the team was staying. Although the coastline is always beautiful to me, Peru looked nothing like what I would have imagined it to look like. I thought there would be lush rain forests, but all I saw was dry desert land as far as the eye could see. It looked as if we had arrived on the moon. Not only that, but the poverty level is high and it reminded me of some of the poorest places in Mexico that we have traveled, with little “houses” made of four walls and a piece of tin on the top. After traveling for about three hours we reached Paramonga where we met up with the rest of the team. It was so great to reunite with the ones I had traveled with and lived in community with for months at the beginning of our Latin America journey. They were all very happy to see me and we immediately bonded once again, sharing stories of what has been happening in our lives over the past few months.

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Outreach in Pativilca
On my first day in Peru we did an outreach in the town square of Pativilca. People began to gather in the evening as Jesse, Benjamin and I did some break dancing and skateboarding. Benjamin also rapped and sang, giving his testimony of how God rescued him. I sang a worship song in Spanish. David preached the gospel and one young man who had been in a fight earlier came forward to receive Christ. Then we performed our famous luchador skit which went over great. I explained the skit in Spanish and asked that if anyone needed healing in their bodies to come forward as our team would pray for them. Many came forward to receive a touch from God. One man that I prayed for received complete healing from all pain in his leg and ankle. Out of appreciation, he took me to the little shop and bought our team a 2 litre of Coca Cola to share. It was touching to the Holy Spirit poured out on this little town. We had many great conversations and were able to pray for many. The next couple of nights we will do outreaches in Paramonga.
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Christian Young