During our first few days of ministry in Peru, we decided to do a spiritual “treasure hunt” as a way to get oriented to our new surroundings and find out where God wanted to lead us for ministry. We already knew our ministry host had a vision of building more relationships in the community, but they also wanted us to practice listening prayer to get a more precise direction on how to do that. We thought the treasure hunt would be something fun and interactive to accomplish all the above, so we each prayed and asked the Lord for a word about where He wanted to lead us, if there was anyone specific He wanted us to talk to, where He wanted us to go, etc.
I was teamed up with Jenny for this particular task. The word she got from the Lord was a vision of children, and she felt led to go toward the beach. For me: I heard the Lord say “way of the sun,” and He spoke to me through Scripture – the passage He led me to is 2 Kings 2, where the kids make fun of the prophet Elisha for being bald.
Now, for our month in Peru, we were stationed in Nuevo Tambo de Mora; but the beach is by Old Tambo de Mora (about a mile away). I should also note that Peru is on the WEST COAST of South America, which means that the sun sets directly off the coast, right over the water. We reasoned that the sun begins to head in the direction of Old Tambo de Mora during the afternoon (remember, the Lord gave me the word: “way of the sun”), so we waited until the afternoon and then headed that way.
I wasn’t sure of that was the full meaning of my word, and my logic told me to be on the lookout for suns (pictures of suns, any signs that read “sun” or sol) – I had already been doing this for two days (since I’d prayed about it during our first day of ministry), and so far I’d come up empty-handed. Just in case, I went ahead and did the same thing on our way to Old Tambo de Mora, stopping at a local tienda (a small store where they sell food and drinks) when we saw a big, red sun on the helado (ice cream) cart outside. That didn’t produce any results, so we kept going.
My eyes scanned the area, searching and searching for a sun or the word sol. Had I heard God correctly? Or had I merely heard my own flesh? I questioned myself, praying that I wasn’t making some sort of error. I don’t know why I began to doubt so much – every time I don’t see immediate results in something God tells me, I always start to question myself. It’s hard to remember that things are in His timing, and that His timing is PERFECT. For for some reason I always seem to forget that and start doubting my ability to hear from the Lord.
That is exactly what happened in this situation. And as we turned toward the beach, already having passed all the tiendas in town, I started doubting BIG TIME…but then something caught my eye on the trash bins at the public park that sits adjacent to the beach.
“Hey, Jen? Can we chill here for a sec?” I eyed a trash bin. It was dark green with a large, white label pasted on the side. The label had what looked like a city emblem: the words TAMBO DE MORA were printed around a colorful design, and the design itself?
It was a sun.
No sooner had we sat down on the bench than a kid flew over on his bicycle and came to a screeching stop right in front of us. Five minutes later, we were completely surrounded by giggling, chattering children.
This group of kiddos turned into our “beach ministry” that we did on Wednesdays. I brought my guitar and taught them some songs, we sang and danced around, and I even taught one girl the chords to “Todo Podoroso.” It was a lot of fun and very special, especially since the Lord is the one who led us there. I’m so thankful that our team leader Kate suggested the treasure hunt, and I’m glad we took it seriously and prayed in earnest about where God wanted us to go. That led us to the kids of Old Tambo de Mora, and I am so grateful for the opportunity to have met them.
Oh, and in case you were wondering about the last part of the word, the one that had led me to the story of Elisha: As Jenny and I were walking back, we passed a family that was sitting outside their house. One of the family members was a man whose head had been shaved TOTALLY BALD. It was so bald that it was smooth and shiny, and it reminded me of Kojak. 🙂
I stopped and, in Spanish, explained to the man that Jenny and I were missionaries and that I would like to pray for him. I didn’t really give a reason – I just said that I wanted to. To my surprise, he said okay! And as it turns out, he actually needed prayer. His family was having health problems, and he wasn’t just receptive to receiving the prayer. He was very appreciative, too, which was a rarity around that time. This isn’t anything I’ve talked about, but there was a span there where people were being pretty apathetic to prayer. Some people even straight up declined, saying they didn’t need or want anything…that’s very unusual in most circumstances (even atheists will usually let me pray for them), but it seemed like that was a point where I was constantly striking out on the prayer front.
That wasn’t the case with this man. No, this man really wanted prayer, and he eagerly received it. It was very exciting and a lot of fun, and I can say with confidence that was the last piece of the treasure hunt puzzle. I LOVE IT when God shows up like that. 🙂
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the Creator of the heavens and the earth and everything below and beyond and in between. He is so GREAT, and He is so, so KIND and MERCIFUL…I love my Savior! Praise Jesus, who disarmed the enemy and conquered death and the grave! He is ALIVE. Amen. 🙂
Never before had there been a king like Josiah, who turned to the Lord with all his heart and soul and strength, obeying all the laws of Moses. And there has never been a king like him since. 2 Kings 23:25
