Happy Semana Santa, everyone! (Semana Santa is “Holy Week”,
or, the week before Easter Sunday)
Speaking of Easter, for those of you who are curious, they
do not eat ham for their Easter dinner here in Peru. They eat fish, “the food of our Lord”, since
that’s mostly what Jesus ate. Pretty
neat concept. But my rebellious nature
can’t help but crave the huge, tasty, Jewish-law-breaking ham that is
traditionally served in the U.S. But this
year Walter and I will be celebrating with a group of missionary friends who
are providing a smorgasbord of chicken salads. I guess it doesn’t matter what you eat as long
you understand the reason for the celebration: not only that Jesus Christ died in
place of us to pay for our sins, but that he defeated all sin and was
resurrected to heaven where he awaits our arrival into the perfect eternity he
so graciously offered us through his sacrifice.
John 3:16 (NIRV) says, “God loved the world so much that he gave his one
and only son. Anyone who believes in him
will not die but will have eternal life.”
If you just skipped reading that because you think it’s cliché or lame,
I encourage you to go back and actually read it. Think about it. If you don’t understand it or never really
gave it any thought before, feel free to send me an e-mail at ashleyinperu@gmail.com and we can chat
about it or any other verse you might be pondering. I’m no expert, but I’d be willing to share
whatever the Lord has revealed to me about his Word.
I’m happy that, here in Peru, I get the chance to share the
Word with others by being a part of a team of Peruvian average Joes who
volunteer their time and talents to organizing bi-weekly youth meetings in
town. This youth group is called Alto
Voltaje (“High Voltage”). We come
together once every two weeks for a time of fellowship, fun, worship and a
biblical message. As I’ve mentioned
before, Walter is part of the team that organizes games and activities and he
also is part of the praise band. I work
with Jimmy Sisley to come up with the biblical message for each week and use
the internet to research other tools such as videos and stories that pertain to
the lesson.
Last week we had to cancel the youth group meeting due to
violent protests in the city over gas prices.
The protests were going on in another city a two and half hour drive
away as well. During this time no
gasoline or food was coming into Pucallpa and most people didn’t risk leaving
their homes. School and work was
canceled. Thankfully it only lasted
about 3 or 4 days, but those were some long days of staying locked up inside to
avoid getting attacked by angry protesters who would steal your tires and burn
them in the street. Unfortunately, a few
people even died during these protests, though I doubt that made headlines in
any newspaper. It may have made the
news, but most of us don’t know since the city of Pucallpa turned off power and
water for a day or two as a threat to get everyone to settle down. It worked.
Everything is now back to normal…even the gas prices. Here are a few pictures that some other
friends or missionaries managed to get during the protests.
Burning ties in the street
Police try to control street fires
The streets were empty and all the stores/business were closed
Those who had no choice but to go out paid off police to escort them for protection
I don’t mean to scare any of you by telling stories like
this, but this is part of life here in Peru.
It’s not that protests such as this are common, but they’re certainly
not abnormal either. The corruption
amongst the government and the people is out of control. I know that everyone says that the United
States is on a rocky path right now, too, but let this story be a warning to
the chaos and loss of control that will come if the American people don’t start
standing up for themselves and educating themselves on how to take care of our
nation.
I know that the purpose of this blog is not to be a
political soapbox, but I believe that the political realm is a missionary field
as well. The Lord sends some to far-away
countries, but to others he says, “stay.”
That doesn’t mean that those who stay are not called to be
missionaries. It simply means that they
are to be missionaries right in their home country. Jesus taught us to feed and clothe the poor,
but don’t you think that if we cleaned up our nation, took care of the
corruption, there might be less poor to feed and clothe? What if instead of giving a poor man a coat,
I dedicated some time to research political candidates and vote for the one who
will put more jobs in place, allowing this same man and many others the means
to buy their own coats. Is that not also
a way to clothe the poor?
Ok, I see that I’m starting to get preach-y so I’ll end it here. But please do think about these things. Please spend some time listening to Lord and
asking him how He would have you serve him in the context of your own culture
and home-town.
If you’ve gotten this far and are still reading, thank
you. I hope that the length and
intensity doesn’t make you decide to not read my blog in the future. My next blog will probably include pictures
of my newborn son, who is due to grace us with his presence in about 5 weeks,
on May 22, 2014! If you’re less of an
analytical thinker and more emotional, you’ll probably appreciate that one, so
stay tuned! Thanks again for
reading. God bless!
