By Pastor Jerry Bryant

I am often asked why it seems God does more healing and miracles in Peru and other third world countries than He does here at home. The answer is simple: ministry is unusually easy and people readily take gospel tracts or are willing to let the team pray for them. Does God love Peru more? Is He more open to meet their needs than ours?

Every time we go to Peru, we find openness and spiritual hunger, as well as real need and dependency upon God. Amidst the poverty and lack, these people have learned to trust God to meet their needs. They are grateful to have someone who cares and shows compassion to pray for them, and they show a remarkable trust for us as ambassadors of Christ. We feel so honored that God uses us to ease the discomfort of their lives and we often say upon returning home, “We received more than we gave.”

Back at home, we're so accustomed to the abundance we have that we take it for granted. We don't feel the need to really trust in God’s provision.

There is an old Persian proverb which says, “Trust in God, but tie your camel.” It acknowledges the tension we often come up against when we talk about trust – what is God’s part and what is our part? When does trust mean that we do nothing except let go and sit and wait for God? When does trust mean that we get active and make some plans and start to do things and allow God to empower and guide while we are in motion? What does it mean to trust? Trust is found in our unswerving belief that the God of Heaven will indeed work on our behalf to bring His perfect will for our lives into being.

Jesus called his disciples to trust God through any and every circumstance of life. Most of us say that we trust God, but there are times when trust is not so simple. Trusting God means we believe in that which we cannot see and sometimes may not understand. We are learning many of these practical lessons during our journeys to Peru.

Kermit was right: “It isn’t easy being green!”

Ryan is looking forward to returning to Peru for his second trip. Last year, his group went to Arequipa and ministered to a new Vineyard there. He knew immediately that he was in God's will. The intensity of the Spirit and of love was overwhelming. He recalled, "This was the first time that I could look at someone and see them as God sees them. I saw how beautiful they were on the inside. I had an unexplainable love for people that I had never met." He was able to share his testimony and minister to men in a drug rehab center. He led several of them to the Lord. Although last year's trip was awesome, he knows that God has even more planned for this year.

This will be Shawna's fourth time to Peru. She has ministered in Lima, Iquitos and Arequipa. She is looking forward to ministering to the people, but she also can't wait to get ministered to. "The Spirit of God seems so tangible; it's very intense. I have had some amazing experiences during our times of worship on the rooftop of our hotel in Lima. I have had visions, seen healings, and experienced God working in me in a way that has fruit even to this day." This year she has also been collecting money from Vineyard’s Noah's Ark classroom to help the children's ministry in Arequipa. "We have been looking at Peru on the globe and talking about the children in Peru. I think it is important to get children interested in missions at a very early age."