Peru in Review

By Christie Ballmann, Ben Nicholson, and Kailyn Reesman

Life changing. Amazing. Stretching. These were just a few reflections from team members of the CollegePlus! missions trip to Peru, February 23 to March 11, 2008. We had a great team, crafted by the LORD. As one of the team leaders, I was thrilled to watch God work in and through our lives. We learned new dimensions of trusting in His strength, experienced the joy of fellowship with native Peruvian Christians, and the delight of sharing Jesus with hundreds of children.

A Taste of Peru

For most of the 13 students traveling, it was their first time overseas and there were so many new sights, sounds (Spanish), tastes (Alpaca meat!) and people to encounter. Our team posted a live blog during the trip where we described our many lessons and adventures. We invite you to take a peek!

Two Testimonies

CollegePlus! looks forward to partnering with Global Encounters to sponsor another trip like this in the future! There is much to say about Peru and the lessons God showed the team, but I thought I’d let you hear it directly from two CollegePlus! students who participated. The first is from Ben Nicholson, a student from Texas who is majoring in business with a specialization in general management.

Taking the Jump

“God is trustworthy.” It’s fine and nice to say that in a recliner, but in reality, to make this truth your own, sometimes you have to “jump.” God asked me to jump recently. Here’s how it happened. On February 23 I traveled to Peru with 15 others from the CollegePlus!/Global Encounters ministry team. Our first week we stayed in Lima: the capital of Peru. A large percentage of Lima’s 6.4 million people are extremely poor living in huge shantytowns. There were miles and miles of “shanties,” or crudely constructed dwellings oftentimes made out of scrap plywood, metal, or whatever families can put their hands on. We had the opportunity to do children’s programs in one of the larger shantytowns and words can’t adequately describe the excitement that we had working with them. They were all starving for love and attention. The smallest act of kindness meant so much.

What We Did

I was the leader of the story telling team, and each day my assistant and I told a Bible story to each crowd of kids. It was fun figuring out both how we would capture the children’s interest and use the story to illustrate the Biblical principle we were teaching them that day.

Bread From Heaven

I’ll never forget the day we provided lunch for all the kids. We went to a local grocery store and bought out their supply of bread, deli meat, and cheese. We didn’t know that there would be two or three hundred kids more than we expected, but it’s hard to catch God by surprise. The meal team actually passed out the very last sandwich to the very last child! If that’s not a miracle, I’m not sure what is!

Missions For The First Time

CollegePlus! student Kailyn Reesman also traveled with the team. Kailyn is a communications major and lives in Ohio. The CollegePlus!/Global Encounters trip to Peru was my first international missions adventure. Working with the Peruvian kids was an amazing experience. It was an honor to show God's love as we taught them, sang with them, and attempted to converse with them in Spanish. While the children's programs were the main reason our team was in Peru, I found that God challenged and stretched me the most during my time outside the classroom, on the playground and in the shantytowns.

Sharing Christ's Love

One of those moments occurred one night in Lima. It is not uncommon for children to be doing tricks or selling things late at night in an effort to make enough money to survive. We were approached by a couple of these kids; Juan was one who juggled for us. One of our leaders encouraged me to tell the kids about what God had done for me. Being put on the spot like that made it difficult, but I looked to God for strength; with His help I shared with them about when I was saved. In the end our translator, a local pastor, prayed with Juan and he and his cousin received Christ!

Seeing His Strength

I pray God would grant me the grace to serve Him here in the U.S. as I did in Peru. He can prove His strength over and over again if I will only stay open for Him to work. I would say that a missions trip is probably the very best way to truly understand that.

What About You?

Maybe God is calling you to serve him for a short time overseas! If so, check out next year’s CollegePlus! missions trip to Latin America. We’d love to have you join us!

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