Los Urruchis en Peru!: Proverbs 19:21

says: "The human mind may devise many plans, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will be established."
This was the theme of the week over the last couple weeks! As humans, we like to plan...and as Christians, usually our path is considered through much prayer. We go or do what we feel God is leading. Sometimes, God uses you where you are, but steers you in a direction you may not have considered. That's exactly what happened to the team I was with last week. We started the trip thinking we were going to one people group, in a certain village, and ended up somewhere completely unexpected! This story is fun!
Last week I set out to the jungle with a group from Oklahoma. We flew into Iquitos, and the plan was to go the town of San Antonio (the church has adopted that village), to work there with the believers. We had a little trouble with the boat when first set out on the river to head to San Antonio. The weight was too much for the boat, and after heading back to the dock twice to try to readjust weight, the team decided to rent another boat to distribute the weight between the two boats. So we set off again, successfully this time! I, along with 4 others were in the first boat. About two and half hours into the trip, the motor shut down, completely broken with no hope of revival. So we turned around heading back towards the second boat with the help of a tiny motor, barely moving. We met up with the other boat, and there we were, stranded in the middle of the Amazon, with a broken boat! The team discussed what the next plan of action would be. After concluding it was impossible to make it to San Antonio, due to gas, time, money issues, we decided to head to the nearest village, Mishana, and ask the leaders if we could possibly work in their village for the next week. Everyone was in agreement, that it was evident God did not have in His plans for us to go to San Antonio! We headed to Mishana, and found there was a small group of believers in the village. The pastor was more than eager to have us there to work with him!
As we started talking and sharing with the people in that village, it was absolutely apparent that the Lord had brought us to the village. His plan was for us to be in Mishana, in spite of the fact the trip to San Antonio had been planned by this group for many months. It's hard to put into words how plainly we saw the Lord working there in Mishana, but I will try to share a few examples. There was a young pastor in this village, Pedro. The first full day we were there, he shared with us that the church was struggling. At one time, it had been a thriving church, but now only a handful of people attended regularly. He shared that he had been praying to God for the last month or two, asking Him to send someone to his village that could help him. Wow! He had asked God to send someone to help and encourage him, and here we were! It was never our plan to be in the village, but it was obviously God's! He had answered the prayer of one of his devout servants, and He was using us to answer that prayer! How humbling! (I still get chills and tears in my eyes when I think about it!) Pastor Pedro also shared there had been a division in the church. Years ago, there had been another older pastor. I'm not sure what the exact circumstances were, but somehow after the meetings started to cease, Pedro decided to start holding the services. As a result, there was division between the older pastor and Pedro, and the church was divided as well. Pedro did not tell us who the other pastor had been, except he was till in the village. Well, a few days after we had been there, the other pastor came to talk to a few of the men in our group. He explained to them that God had been burdening his heart to forgive Pedro, that they needed to be reunited for the sake of the church. He asked for the support of the men on our team. As they were going to Pedro's house to talk, Pedro met them half way! There the two men reconciled, prayed, and committed to work together in their church, and work together to meet the needs of their community! What a blessing! After the reunion, every church service had a completely different atmosphere to it, praise to God!
There was a sweet family there in that village, Wagner and Sylvia, with their kids. There were believers, but had strayed from the church. They said they felt God was pulling on their hearts, to go back to church, to live for him. They just hadn't made the step yet. They told us that our visit to their home, was the last little push they needed. They rededicated their lives to the Lord this past week!
Wow! There is just so much to share! Two teenagers, brother and sister, accepted the Lord last week. Pastor Pedro baptized the first person he every baptized! We taught Pastor and Pedro and the other pastor how to hold the Lord's Supper. (They were both eager to pull as much knowledge as possible from our group!) Oh, It was plain that God was working, healing his people, his church in that town of Mishana!
There's more to share, but I'll save that for another day!