Peru in a nutshell

You should go.  If you ever get a chance, you should definitely go.  

I must confess that when I learned that my name was on the list as a visitor for the Special Meetings in Peru, I wasn't altogether convinced that I wanted to go. Peru has mountains that you have to walk up and down. What if I can't do it?  I'm loving my field this year (as always), and I really don't want to leave it.  I don't know how to be a visiting worker; that's really for people with more experience than I have.  

Then, somewhere along the line, I learned that I would be one of only four visitors, shrinking down to three partway through the rounds.  

Then I learned that each of the visitors would be on a different route until the last two weeks of the rounds.  That meant that I would be the only visitor that some of the Peruvian friends would get! 

Add all that up, and you have a recipe for frightening!  

But I went.  And I LOVED it!  

Peru has mountains that you have to walk up and down.  Along with plenty of mud.  Peru has roads that jounce you to the point of making you wonder if your liver and tonsils have perhaps traded places.  Peru has many places with very little in the way of modern conveniences.  Peru has hard benches, kitchens with wood fires, outhouses, and ornery pigs.  And Peru has a very large place in my heart.  

My anthem in Peru was:

"Break your bread with hand unsparing;

Rich the harvest you shall reap.

Prove your heartfelt love for Jesus;

Feed His lambs and feed His sheep."

And I proved that the promise in the second line is true.  When we give everything, we gain everything.  God is never a debtor.  Peru enlarged my heart.

So, if you ever have the opportunity to visit Ramoscucho or Tarapoa or La Flor or Cajamarca or Olmos or Coyunde (or anywhere) in Peru, I highly recommend that you take advantage of it and GO!