We went to Puno to find a house this weekend. And we had a task at hand, for sure. We searched for a day and got nothing, then another and still nothing promising. Seven people left, but some of us stayed to look some more. On the third day of looking, we were able to make a deal and get a house. I don’t actually have a picture of it though…oh and did I mention we didn’t actually see inside where we’d be living. It’s kind of a long story, but after a lot of faith in the pastor and just an overall sense of peace, we made a deal. We made a deal to rent a house of 2 floors for 3 months. That way we’d have somewhere to land in Puno. We also only signed for three months to give us the option to find somewhere else, if this place doesn’t work.
That’s all well and good, buuuut more interestingly, I had a revelation or however you call, it this weekend.
So on the way to Puno, we pass through the city of Juliaca. Now Juliaca is bigger than Puno and even has it’s own airport and it’s about an hour from Puno. It’s actually a really ugly city. It’s in the middle of nowhere and it looks like no one finishes any building. It’s just dirty overall, but it is home to the factory of the world's best coffee. I had been thinking about Juliaca earlier in the week, and even looked up on Extreme’s website if it was going to be a district. I watched the video online about Juliaca, and well just set it aside.
On our way up, we passed through Juliaca and I had this burning feeling for the city of Juliaca. Almost a burden for the city, but impossible to explain.
Cool. Well, later that night my partner Geremías comes up to me and says, “Hey you know I was talking to this lady today and she was from Juliaca. She was a really nice woman and I was just wondering if anyone will be working there in Juliaca.” I said, “Waaait, have you been thinking about Juliaca today?” He said that he had been, and I explained to him the story I just shared above. Crazy? We decided that we’d pray about it and ask for direction.
It keeps going. The four who stayed, went back on Wednesday morning. On our way back, I had a vision. The first one in my life, that I can recall. I didn’t really know what to call it, or that it was a vision until I was explaining to Chad what had happened. Then he was like, “So you had a vision.” Anyways, we were on our way back, about thirty minutes outside the city going through this district called Paucarcolla. A tiny mud hut town of about, my guess of, 1000 farmers of cows and alpacas and stuff (more animals than people.) Well, we were going through it and I saw myself living there. Whaaaat? Living there? I saw my partner and I building a mud brick house, with tin roof. And living there, with the people. 100% immersed, 100% showing them what it is to be a Christian through actions, not just words.
One of my friends here was telling me a story about how he was working with people, showing them what it is to serve. He said, “If we’re just simply telling people about the gospel, not showing them and loving them into a relationship with God, we’re nothing more than the Mormons or Jehovah’s witnesses.” Very true, I had known this before but not really put it into words.
It’s all an answer to prayer, because in reality, I have been stressing which districts would be for best…which should I choose? Well it only makes sense that they would choose me, isn’t that the best way anyways? More prayer, fasting, and I’m sure I’ll be confirmed about these districts.
On a side note, we were actually able to experience weather in Puno. 99% here in Arequipa has been the same. While we were there it rained, it poured, and it hailed, too.
