By: Obed Pineda
“Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when the desire comes, it is a tree of life.” (Proverbs 13:12)
We had finally arrived to our destination. After several unforeseen setbacks, delays, tough personal trials, and very little sleep, we had finally reached Arequipa, Peru. Even though my sister, future sister-in-law, bride to be, and I placed our hands on the plow several months prior, the time had come to begin to work the land and stop being distracted by self-doubts and uneasiness (cf. Luke 9:61-62). Admittedly, landing in Arequipa heightened my nervousness because arriving there meant that this experience was real. I was no longer speaking in future tense, but rather was speaking in present tense of participating on a mission trip. Having the desire to be a faithful worker of the Lord, I had to focus the lens of my mind’s eye on the task at hand and let go of any anxiety that could entanlge my feet and cause me to stumble. (cf. 2nd Timothy 2:4-7). For this reason, I sought to emulate the Master who “when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51, cf. 1st Peter 4:1). Yet, when the group of almost 60 US Christians crossed the exit doors of the airport and were received with great excitement by a small group of around 10 Peruvian Christians, the frigid hands of fear that had attempted to firmly grip my heart were quickly thawed by the fervent love displayed by them. The genuine, kind smiles that filled their faces and brightened their eyes unveiled to me the great desire they had to work side-by-side in the Kingdom of our Lord. Later in the week, I would learn that the elders of the overseeing congregation of this marvelous work are very selective of the congregations where they send these missionary groups to labor. I learned that one of the requirements that must be met is that the congregation being assisted must already be actively evangelizing their community. It was made clear to the Church in that area that our goal was to help them spread the Gospel news of salvation, and not do the work for them. Discovering this tidbit of information revealed the other objective of our journey there: to encourage and strengthen our brethren in their efforts. Their resolve of sowing the seed of the Gospel, despite their limited resources, reminded me of what happened in the first century when Saul “made havoc of the Church” (Acts 8:3-4). There is no question that Saul’s persecution of Christians limited the amount of resources available to those who were forced out of their homes in Jerusalem. Still, this was not seen as an excuse to stop preaching the Word of God to the people. The Bible records that “when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the Word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, who, when they had come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit” (Acts 8:14-15). There is no question that Philip was doing extraordinary work in Samaria by himself (cf. Acts 8:5-8), but the arrival of the apostles Peter and John helped increase the spiritual strength of the saints in that region. Peter and John arrived to complement Philip’s ongoing work, and not to take over or to replace him. Thus, it was important for my companions and I to comprehend this as well. It was of great value to remember the words of the Savior to His twelve, as He promulgated, “‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors” (John 4:37-38). This knowledge aided me by humbling me and preventing me from thinking too highly of myself. Truthfully, their joyful acceptance of more hands to assist in plowing the field allowed me the great honor to see with my own eyes the meaning of Paul’s words describing Jesus’ “own special people, zealous for good works” (Titus 2:14b). This tiny congregation, numerically speaking, was exceedingly large in spiritual zeal. Their profound desire to serve the King of kings served as a beacon of light that guided us to their side. They echoed that Macedonian man in Paul’s vision who “stood and pleaded with him, saying, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us” (Acts 16:9). Us heeding their plea for help was the source of their thrill when we arrived to Arequipa. God used us as a cup of cold water that would refresh their souls with encouragement. Their humble and meek disposition, clearly exhibited their mighty conviction of the Scripture that states, “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor” (Ecclesiastes 4:9). Personally, it was refreshing for me to be in a place where there existed no territorial mentality that lamentably often plagues us in this country. There is no doubt in my mind that these brothers and sisters did not categorize us into factions based on the home congregations where we are from, because they only saw fellow Christians who had accepted their invitation to come and work together in reaping the beautiful harvest they had been diligently laboring to sow. It was amazing to observe the great desire the community surrounding the Church had for receiving the truth. I was astonished to pick up that the Arequipeños (as they are proud to be called) were ready and willing to have an open conversation with us about their religious beliefs, with our Bibles in hand. Very few accepted our offer to study the Word with them with a combative spirit, ready to defend their views and contradict us every step of the way. On the contrary, more times that I ever could have imagined, I watched several of those people we studied the Scriptures with audibly express their realization that they had been deceived by false teachers espousing false religion without us ever saying first since our goal was to teach the Scriptures, and only the Scriptures, so that glory belong to God and not us (cf. 1st Corinthians 2:4-5, 2nd Corinthians 4:2, 7). This marvelous event unfolding before my eyes, proved to me that there were souls in Arequipa that could relate to the inspired Psalmist who penned, “O God, You are my God; early will I seek You; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water” (Psalm 63:1). Although there were faithful Christians in Arequipa, they were few in comparison to the population of Arequipa who hungered and thirsted for God’s righteousness (cf. Matthew 5:6). We would soon find this out when it was announced that we had encountered a unique problem that was good, but still required an immediate solution. To be continued…