How Going to Peru Changed My Perspective on Life

It has been a while. I think the last episode I posted was like two months ago. So I have so much to update you guys on. Today I wanted to talk about my mission trip to Peru. If you've been following along with me, then you know that I had planned this mission trip to Peru back in October of last year and we went in July of this year. I haven't posted since then, so I have so many things to update you guys on. I will be talking about my experience with the whole mission trip and how it changed my perspective on life in general and just on the way I live my life. I also will go over healing in the name of Jesus and how salvation comes from Jesus alone.

First, I want to say a quick prayer: "LORD, I pray that you lift up every single person reading this right now. Please open up our eyes, our ears, our hearts and our minds to you, LORD. I pray that whatever it is that each person is supposed to receive from this episode, that they receive it and they implement it in their daily lives. Holy Spirit, consume me and move me to do the will of God the Father. Please give me the words to speak to be able to make an impact in other people's lives. Whatever it is that you want to say to them through me, Holy Spirit, give me the words to speak.  Work through me to make an impact in other people's lives and use me as a vessel for your work, LORD. I love You with every ounce of my being. In Jesus' name, Amen."

So the mission trip was from July 3rd to the 13th and we went to Peru. While we were in Peru, we went around to marketplaces to spread the gospel. We also went to neighborhoods and knocked on doors spreading the gospel and had people come to parks and common areas where we could do our gospel presentation. Then we also went to different schools.

So during the gospel presentation at all of these different places, we talked about God creating the earth, the fall of man and how sin entered in, and how God sent his son Jesus to save the world. Then we led into a prayer of salvation. After that we did a prayer of healing. While we were there for those 10 days, we spread the gospel to over 29,000 people. Out of those 29,000, over 22,000 people got saved by Jesus Christ.

This was my first ever mission trip, so I really didn't know what to expect going to Peru. I had no expectations at all. I just knew that God had called me to do it and I was going to step out and faith, be obedient, and do whatever God wanted me to do while I was there. This was an experience I will never forget. It was the most incredible thing just going out there and spreading the gospel to people that don't even speak the same language as me and seeing so many children and adults' hands come up during the prayer of salvation, seeing them truly be touched by Jesus and truly be saved, and seeing healings. There were 202 documented healings, but I'm sure there were many other ones that weren't documented while we were there.

So many of the people in Peru we're just so welcoming and loving and just all of the kids that we went to, the different schools would come up to us and just think we were famous. They'd want our autographs and pictures and try to talk to us, which I don't know Spanish at all. So we had translators there, so it was great to be able to communicate with people in another language and just having them be so welcoming, inviting, and so receptive of the gospel. It was just so incredible.

I spread the gospel to so many people while I was there. So at the different schools there were various amounts of kids that we would spread the gospel to. One of them was a high school full of 700 high school boys. There was a high school full of 300 high school girls and then there were about 400 middle school girls in that same school. So each different school we went to had different numbers of people, but in all of those schools I would get out there with a microphone and spread the gospel to all of these kids and it was just so incredible to me. Every time before I would go out there, I would ask the Holy Spirit to give me the words to speak and I just did it. If you know my story, then you know that I used to have super bad anxiety. God has delivered me from at this point now with all of the things that he's done in my life lately, I would say about 98 or even 99% of my anxiety is gone. I am a completely different person and that's all by the grace of God. That's all by transformation from Jesus Christ.

It amazes me that I was able to go out there and speak in front of all of these people, because I was the girl that almost failed public speaking class in college because I was afraid to do a speech in front of 20 students in class with me. So I waited until the very last minute when I was supposed to give my speech. My teacher had a very strict rule where she'd shut the door as soon as class started and if you were late you weren't allowed to come in. I was so scared to say my speech in front of everyone that I sat in the car for a few minutes too long and I got there three minutes late for class and I had to sit out there by the door the whole time that class was going on. Afterwards I went to the teacher's office and begged her to let me do the speech the next time we had class. Luckily she did because I would've failed public speaking because I was so scared to speak in front of 20 people. Then here I was in Peru going to multiple schools a day. We would go to two to four schools or some of them would be one school, but it would be two different presentations and we would do that a few times per day. Then on top of that we would also go to marketplaces and we had festivals every night. There was so many people we were out there spreading the gospel to and it was just so amazing. I was just so in awe of God the whole time. Also the fact that the Holy Spirit gave me the strength to do that was incredible.

One of the days, we did a water filter project where we went to these communities and they had houses all on the desert hill. I don't know how they even stay structurally sound. While we were there, there was an earthquake and the houses were fine. So we went to this place and each person got a water bucket and we gave them water filters. We did a presentation on it and we showed them how to use the clean water filters and they're good for 10 years. So now they're able to have clean water because both of these communities were using one water spigot and basically what their source of water is, is a hole of water in the dirt that they all have to use and share and they have to take buckets of it back and forth to their house and that's how they get water. So it was so incredible being able to give them these clean water filters that are going to last them 10 years and they will have clean water.

Before we even got to Peru, I met some amazing people that I was going to be traveling with in Miami. So a lot of us flew from around different places, but we ended up in Miami and then had a connecting flight from Miami to Lima. Then we went from Lima to Tacna, which is where we stayed in Peru. In Miami I met some amazing people, but I met one person in particular that is a big part of my story now. I'm sure you will see a lot of her and hear a lot more of her. I'm not going to spoil everything but her name is Lauren. Whenever I first met her I was like, "Yep. I don't know what's going to happen but we're definitely going to keep in touch." I just instantly felt like we were going to be best friends one day.

So I met some amazing people while we were in Miami and then when we got to Peru, I was able to meet even more amazing people. It was just so incredible being around so many people that had all different stories about God and we were just all there for one mission, which was to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ, for healings and salvations by Jesus, and to just be the hands and feet of Jesus. It was just so incredible being in a room full of people from all different states, but we all had the same goal in mind.

While we were out spreading the gospel we were broken up into teams. So my team consisted of five of us in the team, but then there was also two team leaders on top of that and one of the team leaders had her four and six year old kids and then her mom also was there to help with the kids. Then we had two to three translators each day. I'm telling you guys, I had the most amazing team. I'm so grateful for them. Those little kids that were on the team, they were incredible. The little boy told me they had been on 13 mission trips. They have double trips that you can go to where it's one after another back to back and they count that as two trips. So he's probably been to a couple every year, which is insanely incredible. That little boy and girl would get out there in front of hundreds of kids when we would go to these schools and they would be a part of spreading the gospel. We each had different parts that we would say on the microphone. So depending on which part we had, we would say different things, but those kids knew the parts just as well as all of us, if not better than all of us. It was just so incredible to see.

Each night we would have adult festivals and then I think it was two of the nights we had kid festivals as well. During the festivals they would give out prizes, do gospel stories, and they would do the salvation and healing prayers. It was just a whole big fun night full of faith filled stuff. Being there with the team and all of the people in Peru just gave me a whole different perspective on life and made me realize the way that we live in North America. The stuff that we do is so mundane and we just go about our day being busy all day every day for no reason and there's so much more to life. I was just so full of joy being there.

Now let's get into some scripture:

Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few. Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest.” -Matthew 9:37-38

In these verses, this was Jesus talking to his disciples. There are so many people out there that need to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. There are so many untouched and unreached places that have never heard about the gospel of Jesus. The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. It was just so incredible to go there and just be a part of the harvest and see other workers all working together for Jesus and this is what God calls us to do.

"Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

-Matthew 28:19-20

This is what all of us as Jesus disciples are supposed to do. Go out and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them all that He has commanded us. It's so easy to get caught up in this world that we live in and we forget the whole reason why we're here. The whole reason why we're here is to have a relationship with Jesus Christ and to let other people know about Jesus Christ so they can be saved and have a relationship with him also and go to heaven whenever it's our time to go. That's the whole point of this, bringing as many people as we possibly can to know and have a relationship with Jesus and commune and have fellowship with other Christians and all come together as one.

"They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and signs were being performed through the apostles. Now all the believers were together and held all things in common. They sold their possessions and property and distributed the proceeds to all, as any had need. Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple, and broke bread from house to house. They ate their food with joyful and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. Every day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved." -Acts 2:42-47

When you're doing the will of God the Father, you are walking by the Spirit, you're keeping in step with the Spirit, and you are being in community with other people, this is what it should look like. I got a glimpse of that in Peru. Just seeing all the people there together for one reason and all saved by the same Savior, the only Savior, the way, the truth, and the life Jesus Christ. He's our messiah. He's the Risen One. It was great having everyone come together and letting other people know about Jesus, spreading the love of Jesus Christ to them, and being part of seeing them get saved and healed by Jesus.

"For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life." -John 3:16

"He forgives all your iniquity; he heals all your diseases."

-Psalm 103:3

They came to Jericho. And as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a large crowd, Bartimaeus (the son of Timaeus), a blind beggar, was sitting by the road. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Many warned him to keep quiet, but he was crying out all the more, “Have mercy on me, Son of David!” Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” So they called the blind man and said to him, “Have courage! Get up; he’s calling for you.” He threw off his coat, jumped up, and came to Jesus. Then Jesus answered him, “What do you want me to do for you?” “Rabboni,” the blind man said to him, “I want to see.” Jesus said to him, “Go, your faith has saved you.” Immediately he could see and began to follow Jesus on the road. -Mark 10:46-52

This man had so much faith in Jesus. He knew that He could heal him from his blindness. So Jesus said, "Your faith has saved you." He healed him right away and Jesus still heals today. He didn't just heal back 2000 years ago in these stories that we see in the Bible. There are so many stories that we see of Jesus healing people, but He still heals today and He gives us authority to heal people in his name. We cannot do it by our own strength, but only by the strength of Jesus Christ and in His name.

"After he left the synagogue, he entered Simon’s house. Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked him about her. So he stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up immediately and began to serve them. When the sun was setting, all those who had anyone sick with various diseases brought them to him. As he laid his hands on each one of them, he healed them. Also, demons were coming out of many, shouting and saying, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew he was the Messiah." -Luke 4:38-41

"Summoning his twelve disciples, he gave them authority over unclean spirits, to drive them out and to heal every disease and sickness. These are the names of the twelve apostles: First, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him. Jesus sent out these twelve after giving them instructions: “Don’t take the road that leads to the Gentiles, and don’t enter any Samaritan town. Instead, go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, proclaim, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those with leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you received, freely give. Don’t acquire gold, silver, or copper for your money-belts. Don’t take a traveling bag for the road, or an extra shirt, sandals, or a staff, for the worker is worthy of his food. When you enter any town or village, find out who is worthy, and stay there until you leave. Greet a household when you enter it, and if the household is worthy, let your peace be on it; but if it is unworthy, let your peace return to you." -Matthew 10:1-13

So in these verses here we see the instructions that Jesus gave His disciples and He gave them the authority to heal and to drive out demons and all of these things. He gives us as His disciples the same authority.

So now I just want to tell you guys a couple of stories of healings that I saw while I was in Peru. So the first one was actually the very first place we went to. It was a marketplace and we just set up in a random spot in the marketplace and started spreading the gospel and just saying our parts. There was this drama that we would perform every time we would go to do a gospel presentation. It was about Jesus coming onto the earth, dying on the cross for our sins, and healing people. It was just a little play that we did to show about Jesus and spreading the gospel to them. So we did that at this marketplace and then afterwards someone led the prayer of salvation. After the prayer of salvation we did the prayer of healing and then anyone that needed healing would pray this prayer. If they got healing from Jesus, they would come up and share the healing that they had received.

So there was this lady that was kind of off on the back where the marketplaces were. She had her head down and you could just tell she was in a lot of pain. So one of the ladies that I was on a team with, she said, "Let's go over to this lady and see if she needs prayers." So we went over to her and the translator came with us and we talked to this lady and she said that she had been in a lot of pain throughout her whole body for two to three years and she had really bad migraines. So we prayed for her again because the first healing prayer she didn't feel any difference. So we put our hands on her and we were praying and I could feel the Holy Spirit. I could feel the heat radiating off and I could feel the Holy Spirit working whenever we were praying. I knew and I believed that it was going to happen. After we prayed for her, she jumped up and her whole demeanor changed. You could tell that she felt better and she jumped up and she was dancing and she said she was completely healed, her headache was gone, and her pain through her whole body was gone. That was the first healing I had ever experienced. It was just so incredible because I could just see such a difference in that lady. She was so happy, appreciative, and she just kept hugging us and thanking us, and it was all Jesus. We have no healing powers on our own. We literally cannot do anything on our own, but it's all given to us by Jesus Christ. He gives us that authority, it's all in the name of Jesus, and He's the only one that has the power to save and the power to heal.

So I did mention that we held these festivals every night, and during the festivals at the end they would do a healing prayer. So if anyone had been healed, some of the people would come up to the stage and they would talk about what had happened. There were a lot of healings that I had witnessed. There are just a few that I want to share. So one of them was a lady that was on crutches and she said that she had gotten a healing but she was still on crutches at the time when she said she got a healing. She reported that she had this problem with her leg. She couldn't walk on that leg. She had gotten injured somehow. I don't remember exactly what had happened, but basically she needed crutches to walk. Then after the prayer she no longer needed those crutches and she took the crutches off. Going up to the stage you have to walk up steps and she walked up the steps by herself and gave this testimony that she no longer needed crutches because Jesus healed her. It was so incredible to see.

There was also someone that had gotten healed from being blind in one eye and we checked to verify the healing on that. There was someone that had gotten healed from being deaf in one ear. One of the days I was doing crowd control where I was sitting out there and just making sure that people didn't come up to the stage when they weren't supposed to. There was a little girl that was out in the crowd and she was just sitting there listening to everything and soaking it all in. I kept seeing her and smiling at her and she was just right there by me. During the prayer of healing they said that if you have anywhere that needs to be healed or anywhere that's hurting, put your hand where that is. They specifically said, if you have any tumors that need to be healed, and whenever they said tumors, she put her hand where her tumor was at on her back and then they said the prayer of healing. Afterwards they said, "Do you feel any different? If anyone feels a difference, let us know." I could tell after that prayer, whenever that little girl had put her hand where her tumor was at and then afterwards she was so shocked and she kept touching the spot. It was on her back and she was facing forward in front of me so I couldn't see her back, but it seemed like it had been healed. She was so shocked because she kept feeling it. Then I was going to try and get her to come tell her story but she ended up just kind of disappearing in the crowd. So I can't really confirm exactly what happened, but it was amazing to see the demeanor change of that little girl and you could see her faith whenever she was praying that prayer.

I know having faith is a really big part of healing. You may be reading this and you may be thinking, "Okay, I've never seen anyone be healed before. People have sickness and disease all the time and it doesn't get healed." But a big part of healing is having faith that Jesus will heal you. Just like he said to the blind man, "Your faith has saved you." He said that to multiple other people in the Bible. Because of their faith, they were healed. Jesus can heal you just because, but you have to have faith that he's going to heal you. Sometimes people just don't have faith that He will heal them and they just don't have faith enough to ask for Him to heal them.

That was just some of the incredible things that had happened in Peru. if I sat here and tried to tell you every single thing that happened in Peru, we would be here for a whole week or more. So we had very long days. We would wake up around 6:30 AM every day and then not go to bed till like 10:00 PM every night. At 6:30 AM we'd wake up, we'd go to breakfast at seven and then at eight we'd get off, go to our different buses with our teams and we'd go to schools, marketplaces, or neighborhoods and spread the gospel. We'd do that until about two or three every day. A lot of the days we had peanut butter jellies on the buses because we would just eat in between going to spread the gospel and then we would come back and there was a couple of the days where there were services. So the founder of Global Ventures, he would hold a service where he would share things with us. Then we normally would have dinner around five or six and then we would go to the festival right after. The two days where there was a festival for the children and the adults festival, we ended up just eating there in between because we didn't have time to eat at the hotel in between. So it was very long and very tiring days, but very rewarding days.

We were there for 10 days. Thursday was just a whole day of traveling. So Friday was really our first day there. Well, by that next Wednesday my flesh was tired. I was just ready to go home in the comfort of my own bed. Part of me was like, "I'm so grateful for this opportunity." It was so rewarding and I felt so blessed. Then the other part was like, "I'm ready to go home in the comfort of my house. I'm tired. This is a lot." I was just getting exhausted. It just so happened that that day was one of the days where there was a service where John, the founder, shared some stuff with us and one of the things that he shared was a video about the School of Missions. The School of Missions is basically a school that they had made to help prepare people for ministry and for the harvest. They teach about evangelism, biblical studies, mission work, the harvest, basically just preparing people to for missions or some type of ministry. That video was a two minute video about the School of Missions. Immediately as soon as the video started playing within seconds, the Holy Spirit told me "That is where you're going next." I just told you guys that I was exhausted that day and my flesh was fighting it. I was like, "Yep, God wants me to do this." I was not trying to hear it. I was like, "Oh Lord, please don't tell me this."

The school is in Oklahoma and there's no online classes. In order for you to attend the school, you have to live in Oklahoma. Also the school started September 2nd of this year. Now mind you, this was middle of July whenever I watched this video about this school and the Holy Spirit had put it on me to go to the school. I want to share so many more things with you guys, but you're going to have to come to the next one to hear about everything with God putting it on my heart to go to this mission school and how I was able to move from Kentucky to Oklahoma in one month and how my now roommate also did that as well. So I will go over all of that in our next episode. I actually have a few episodes in store for you guys because we have another mission trip that is coming up in June and I know where I'm going to go, so I want to announce that as well.

Before I end this episode, I did want to just take a second to mention, if you have felt the tug in your heart to go on a mission trip, do it. I know you may be scared, it may be something that you've never done before in your life. You may be thinking, "I have no idea how I'm going to get the funds. I have no idea how I'm going to get the time off of work. I have no idea what I would even do when I go there. I'm afraid." Maybe you're not a people person. Maybe you've never sped the gospel to anyone in your life. Maybe you don't like going out and speaking in public. All of that pertained to me and I'm here to tell you, God will work it out if He has been putting it on your Spirit to go on a mission trip. He has already provided and He is already preparing the way He just wants your "Yes." All you have to do is take the first step, step out in faith, sign up for the trip and watch God work. Whenever He tells you to go, you go. Whatever He tells you to do along the way, do it. If he tells you to be still then be still. It's as simple as that.

So many people try to make it so complicated, just everything in life honestly. I mean following Jesus and every other thing that we do in life, they just try to make it so complicated. It's really as simple as just keeping in step with the Holy Spirit, listening whenever God tells you to do something, and trusting and believing that Jesus has it all under control. He's in complete control of everything. We can trust in Him completely. When He puts something on our heart to do and the Holy Spirit is guiding us or prompting us to do a certain thing, He is going to provide it. I have testimony after testimony of Him providing over these past few months, over the past few years and over my whole life. He has always provided, even in the times when I wasn't faithful, He has never stopped being faithful.

So whatever it is that God is calling you to do, maybe it's not a mission trip, maybe it's something completely different. If you feel that tug in your heart and you know the Spirit is telling you to do it, do not hesitate. Walk in faith, keep in step with the spirit. Take that step of obedience and just do what God's calling you to do and just watch Him work. Watch Him do what only He can do. That is it for today's episode. The next episode is going to be about how I got to Oklahoma, how God provided along the way, and about this school admissions and what I'm gonna be doing while I'm here. So just stay tuned for the next episode.

I love you guys so much.

Never forget to choose faith over fear.

-Lorena Camille (Faith Fuels My Fire)

p.s. If you'd rather listen to Faith-based, spiritual growth, mindset, and mental health tips, then check out my podcast. There I will share my personal experiences, stories I've never told before, and bring you along with this hot mess life of mine. New episodes every week.

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Scripture taken from The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.