The most beautiful work of God, however, was seen in the faces of the precious Peruvians we were there to serve. Most of these dear people are of direct Inca descent and have inhabited the Andes for millennium. Although many live in significant poverty, it is stunning to witness their ability to raise crops on the sides of steep mountains through the ancient practice of terraced farming. These little lots dot the mountain sides like postage stamps with soft colors of yellow, green, and light brown.
Carmen is a little girl that lives in the local orphanage in San Marcos. She is probably nine or ten years old, but because of the language barrier, I know little of her story. What I do know is Carmen did something that has forever changed my view of short-term mission journeys.
Our team had visited this orphanage one year earlier. We played games, gave gifts, replaced around 50 mattresses, and took lots of pictures of the children. I lost my camera on that trip and all my pictures with it. Which makes what Carmen did last week even more incredible. She walked up to me and pulled what looked like an old frayed piece of paper from her pocket. It was folded in quarters. As she opened it, the picture inside was revealed. Unbelievably it was a picture someone had taken the year before of this sweet child sitting on a bench next to me. She had kept it with her for an entire year!
The tears flowed. I swept her up and gave her a big hug, then walked her to several other team members to show them the picture. They all cried too (which made me feel a little less wimpy).
The little time we spent with Carmen meant enough to her to hang on to a picture for over a year! She said it was her way of "remembering" us. Sometimes it feels like spending a week or two in some foreign land, fighting cultural and linguistic barriers, in an attempt to take Christ's love to people is low impact at best. Honestly, what difference can a few days make to someone who is in desperate need? Carmen proved to me that this investment of time and energy does make a difference! Jesus can indeed work through us to touch hearts and lives like Carmen's!
Every day Carmen wakes up she sees the awsome peaks of the Andes Mountains surrounding San Marcos. I'm not sure how the natural beauty of those mountains impact her. But now I know that the beauty of Christ goes beyond the mountains of that place and even beyond the dear faces of that place. At least one little girl saw the beauty of Christ in the faces of a few Gringos who loved her and her fellow orphans enough to go to that place and share God's love with them.
How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!
Romans 10:14b
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