It’s always a little odd to be the leader of something and to have almost no idea what comes next. I had some ideas about what we needed to accomplish but no idea how to get those things done. For those of you who prayed for us/me, I want to extend a great big thank you because it was almost too easy. My primary goal of the trip was to establish a presence and gain some trust between our church and the village of Tapacocha.

Upon arrival, we unpacked, etc..., the first thing the next morning, I sent the team out into the streets of the village to begin prayer walking and to meet as many people as possible. While I was out, I took a translator and met with the town sub-mayor and the school director, by the end of the afternoon, we had arrangements to meet with the whole school for two days, a couple of soccer games arranged with the whole town, had arrangements to meet in the only building in the village big enough to hold all of us (which happened to be the local catholic church building), and the list goes on... Like I said, too easy.

The next day we spent time playing soccer, hanging out with the locals, teaching about America, our church and why we are in their village, doing more prayer walking, and then closed out the evening with a worship service that the whole village of 380 people was invited to. As a pastor, it was so rewarding to sit back and let the people of our church operate out of their gifts and accomplish so much. We watched a video in spanish that allowed us to communicate with the locals about who Jesus is and how His sacrifice makes a difference in our lives, gave some of our testimonies, sang some songs in english and spanish, and gave them bracelets that represent the Gospel story.

The end results of the trip are that there are about 125 new believers in the village, our first Peru team did a fantastic job communicating the love of Jesus to this village and we’re very much looking forward to going back in June to see what else God has planned for Tapacoha.

I’m so thankful to God for allowing us to be a part of His plan to reach the unreached places of the world, that He went before us to prepare the hearts of his unreached people, and that he uses these experiences to help us love Him more.

Here are some things that we need to continue to pray about:

1. 1.There are huge cultural barriers to these trips and even to their understanding of the Gospel. Pray for the 125 new believers that they will sustain their faith in the absence of faith leaders or Scripture.
   

2. 2.Pray that God raises up leaders for this village and that these people will be willing to work with LifePoint to spread God’s love to this village.
   

3. 3.Pray for future trips to this village, that we will have the same access (if not more) to the schools and government of the town.
   

4. 4.Pray for resources such as bibles, and discipleship materials that will help us bridge the language and cultural barriers.
   

5. 5.Pray that God would begin to stir the hearts of LifePoint members to go back to Tapacocha and potentially provide summer or full time missionaries to this area.
   

6. 6.Pray that the sub-mayor that we met will continue to hold office during his upcoming election or that the next office holder will be as accepting and excited about LifePoint’s involvement in their village.
   

7. 7.Translators are crucial to the success of our communication, please pray that God blesses us with competent translators that not only know english but who also know Jesus.