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