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I Was Here First

Month 2: Peru. Week 2.

Most of the Semesters team left for Cusco to hike Machu Picchu during our second week leaving 4; Desiree, EJ (Emma Juliet), Caroline, and their leader, Emily.

Our ministry that week was at a place called Kingdom Tables; ran by a beautiful woman named Julia. It’s a place for disabled and special needs children and adults to come and play, or simply be. Her heart for the people here is so clearly evident in everything she says and does.

She’s multilingual; Spanish is her first language but she has learned some English and is pretty fluent in Sign Language.

Our part in ministry consisted of the following:

Playing futbol and other games with the kids, teaching them to dance, helping prep for a fundraiser, making Christmas cards with the kids, assisting Julia in a sign language class celebration, and making boxes for the fruitcakes that are delivered to each family for Christmas.

Julia is even on a nation-wide board for the disabled that is working to get Sign Language taught in schools and classes tailored just for them implemented. She is such an example of being passionate about a cause and doing everything in her power to see change.

She also shared with us something that truly convicted me and I would like to share it with you. She told us the story of the Paralytic man in the Bible (Mark 2:1-12). This is a story I’ve heard several times but she shared a couple different aspects of the story I had never thought of before:

The friends had to bathe him, help him to the bathroom, dress him, and feed him. Not just that, but carry him all the way to Jesus.

Then, they couldn’t get even get their friend in the doors because of all of the people who turned their backs and said “I was here first!”

She then said how many times do we, the church, turn our backs on the people who need assistance getting to Christ and give that exact response?

“I was in line to Jesus first.”

WOW. That, my friends, is the feeling of conviction.

A second part that she mentioned was that Jesus saw the faith of the friends first. The faith of his friends was what moved Jesus to forgive his sins and heal him. The forgiveness of his sins probably made them frustrated and thinking, “we brought him here so Jesus would heal him!” but, Jesus understood that if he dealt with the inner healing first and then the physical, the man would have a heart change.

That’s why she does what she does; she’s also one of several reasons why I’ll be learning ASL as soon as possible.

 

Another highlight of the week: Hillsong United came to Lima!! We jumped on the idea of getting to see them in concert and I’m so very glad we did! They are so amazing and God was truly in that place. They sang songs in English and Spanish, new and old, but what they sang didn’t matter. Every voice raised to heaven making a joyful noise and feeling Holy Spirit moving no matter where we were from or what language we were singing in.

Every Nation, Tribe and Tongue.

3 Comments

  1. That’s awesome that you got to worship with Hillsong. They are amazing. I love that you got to minister to kids with special needs. They are so loved by God and yet so often forgotten or ignored. Good for you for learning sign language

  2. I loved Julia! Sam and I both posted different videos of her on our posts if you want to share them! ??

  3. I’d be happy to teach you some signs! ( I was a Sign Language Interpreter for over 20 yrs). so cool that you got to see Hillsong! I love their music!!

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