Over 50, Still Kickin'

You might be wondering what we did for ministry in Peru. My daughter, a "veteran" missionary with a couple of trips to Mexico under her belt, assured me that we would spend our time passing out flyers and dishing up food at a soup kitchen, but we would definitely NOT be praying for people on the streets or in the crusades, as we had been informed.

"Mom, they are not going to let a bunch of rookie nobodies come in there and do the preaching and praying! And besides, why in the world would people out on the streets run up to you and ask for prayer? If you ask them to let you pray for them, they are going to wonder what kind of a nutcase you are!"

Well, "¿Puedo orar por ti?" to you, too! Sorry, my dear, you were partially right, and partially wrong-o. We did visit an orphanage where we dished up food, and we passed out lots of flyers for the evening crusades. Most of the people were hungry for literature. Many people asked for flyers before we got a chance to offer them, and many asked for several, to give to friends and family. They immediately read them through from cover to cover.

And they wanted us to pray for them. Let me tell you about the morning in the plaza at Chepén. We started handing out flyers, and within five minutes, someone wanted prayer for a health problem. I don't know how that came about; maybe one of our folks asked if the lady was sick. Seeing the foreigners with their hands on somebody created a stir among the people in the plaza, and they started crowding around and lining up for prayer.

It doesn't take much of the language to do an effective job praying for the sick. If they haven't already asked for prayer, you ask them. "¿Puedo orar por ti?" (Can I pray for you?) I don't think I got a single no answer. "¿Está enferma?" (Are you sick?) "¿Dónde?" (Where?) Hand gestures help the process. Once we found out where they were hurting, we prayed. Sometimes we didn't know what was wrong, but the Holy Spirit knew. After we prayed over them a bit and commanded healing, we asked, "¿Hay dolor?" (Is there pain?) Sometimes they indicated there was less, but it was still there. We prayed again, until it left. Many times they were healed the first time.

The look on their faces, when the pain was suddenly gone! The light of heaven was all over them. They cried and exclaimed, "Gloria a Dios!" (Glory to God!)

Paul and I prayed with people who received healing from many types of back and joint pain, headaches that had been nonstop for years, blindness, breathing difficulties, abdominal distresses, and heart problems (the heart pains immediately left). Others on our teams prayed for large, palpable tumors which disappeared on the spot. The deaf and dumb heard and spoke. Many children with high fevers were healed. A lady who could not move her arm because of a stroke instantly regained the use of her arm.

We had a translator close by, but he was busy most of the time, so Paul and I were pretty much on our own. The translator told us later that when people didn't get healed the first time, he asked them if they had unforgiveness in their hearts. This was usually the case. He helped them through the forgiving process, and then prayed for them again. Usually they were healed, once they took care of their unforgiveness issues. He also led many, many people to the Lord.

One man could hardly see out of one eye. We must have prayed for him four times as a group. He went from barely seeing shadows, to seeing the trees but not being able to distinguish the leaves, to seeing the individual leaves, to being able to see the power lines hundreds of yards away. He was a very happy man.

We prayed for a couple of ladies who had experienced nonstop migraines for years. Can you imagine what that must have been like? The pain instantly left.

We prayed in that plaza for 2 1/2 hours without let-up. Just after the last person in line had received prayer, something strange happened. It never rains in this part of Peru. Never. Big rain drops sprinkled all over the people in our group, but there was not a cloud in the sky. It was the rain of heaven -- a sign from God.

During the crusades, there were also many verifiable healings. One lady had been completely deaf for decades. One simple little prayer, and she could hear. The man who prayed for her whispered English words in her ear, and she repeated them out loud for all to hear. Many deaf people were healed.

There were also hundreds of people saved at the crusades. Hundreds may not sound like a lot, but considering that the top crowd at any one time was about 2,000, hundreds is a good number.

We also went to several churches, and were able to pray for people there. The street and church ministry times were more fun for me than the crusades, because we could spend more one-on-one time with people in those settings than in the crusades.

On the Serious Side

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