More than I could imagine
2/3/2008 6:37:28 PM

By Meg, student volunteer in Peru

While in Peru, my team specifically worked with building up the local church. What an incredible opportunity! We were able to teach Bible studies, to work with kids, and even to speak on the radio! However, God blessed me so much more through these people than I feel we did for them. Peruvians are open, friendly, and loving - such a characteristic of Latin American culture. Despite knowing this in advance, I never expected to fall in love with them the way I did.

A team from South Carolina came one week and had prepared to teach True Love Waits in the schools. Unfortunately, there were strikes going on in the schools in every village in the area and the team was not able to teach after all. They were bummed, so we told them that we'd be more than happy to teach the lessons for them since we were staying in Peru longer than them. It was going to be easy, we thought, because they had already prepared everything for us.

We told the pastor of the church that we wanted to teach on the TLW lessons and he asked us to make it a two-week study and to teach it to the church also. I agreed to be the main teacher, not knowing how difficult it would be! The first week I taught on the spiritual and emotional side of relationships - a task that I had to prayerfully and scripturally prepare for the entire week. As we were walking up to the church, I felt like I had prepared exactly what God wanted me to speak on. I was still super nervous, though.

When we got close to the building, I looked inside and saw 40 Americans. I literally stopped in my tracks. This was half-way through our trip, and seeing that many Western people honestly intimidated me. Then I realized I would now be teaching about relationships to a group of 40 American teenagers plus the Peruvian church. Now I was really super nervous! However, God is good. I was still nervous as I began to speak, and it was honestly hard to get through. At some points I had to say things that I felt God wanted me to say even though I was so nervous about the youth group's reaction. However, God still spoke through me - I had one girl actually come up and tell me what God was teaching her through what I said. What a blessing!

As I looked around the room, I realized that I could live without the American culture. I realized that God wanted me to be somewhere else for the rest of my life teaching others who have never heard of His Son or about His love. In one night I was able to witness to Peruvians, work through a tough situation with Americans, and know that I am called to full-time missions! Through even the most difficult circumstances, He calls us to keep our eyes on Him and to follow Him as His children. He gave me a peace about being there, and I truly fell in love with His people in Peru after that one meeting. He blessed me through them more than I could ever have imagined!

Serve God on mission in Peru!