God is my Protector

I'm honestly not ever sure where to begin telling of the events of Thursday, July 26, 2012...the day I certainly thought my life could be forever alterted if not completely over. I don't even think words are sufficient to describe my gratitude to the Lord for his protection over myself and my brothers in Christ that day. It was definitely a day that woke up my soul, reminded me of how fragile life can be, and caused me to cry out for help in a way I've never before done. I was full of panic, crying inside without shedding a tear, and desiring to pray but lacking words in both English and Spanish. You know how they say at the moment when life is almost over you see everything flash before your eyes? That is exactly what I experienced Thursday. I heard my grandfather saying, "You're going to get killed in that country." I thought of my family and how I hadn't truly spoken to them in days, and I thought of my desire that when I'm gone people would say, "She truly loved the Lord wholeheartedly." (Sorry Mom and Dad if this freaks you out; really I'm okay. No casualties occurred which you will discover as you continue to read.)

Thursday started out as any other day. Having only gotten about 4 hours of sleep (and not good sleep) the night before, I woke up at 7:00 to go climb a mountain with friends in Manchay. Since The Oasis Center (the ministry I help with in Manchay) had vacations, some of the staff, a summer intern, and I decided to climb the mountains (el cerro) around the Family Center. We gathered at the Oasis around 9:15 a.m., we filled our bags with mandarins, bananas, and water, and we headed out and up the mountains around 10 a.m.  We had plans to climb to the tower at the top of a far off mountain, a 2 hour climb. However, due to fog and other blockades, we never reached the tower. Instead, we simply hiked further and further up and around the mountains until we were forced to descend.

It was a fun journey, although very difficult at times. We stopped to take an occasional break, and we talked throughout the trip. We helped one another climbing as needed, and we laughed along the way. At one point Liberato turned to me and said, “I remember when you didn’t speak Spanish and you never talked. Now you talk a lot.” I wasn’t sure how to take that, but everyone chuckled, and my dear friend Mary told me she likes that I openly talk now unlike before.

About an hour into our journey we reached signs that read: “Mining Session, Silence, Prohibited to Pass” The signs had fences blocking off the area behind them, so after much discussion, we decided to continue on the path in front of the signs. We were mixed on what to do, but us gringas decided that since the Peruvians climb the mountains every year, we should go with their decision. Little did we know what lay ahead.

We climbed a very difficult path; actually it wasn’t a path at all, but rather it was a bed of rocks that went up the mountain. Upon reaching the top of this bed of rocks, we all gathered together for a bit of a break. We were minding our own business, eating our snacks, and chatting amongst ourselves all while admiring God’s marvelous creation, the little bit of greenery that is found in Manchay, and pondering whether to head back down the mountain or continue further up. As we chatted, we noticed a man at the basin of the mountains staring up at us. Being friendly, we waved and yelled down to the man (jokingly of course) to bring us a car so we could get down.

For a few moments we had a stare-down with him, and we debated amongst ourselves who he was and what he was doing. As we discussed, more people joined him, and we soon realized they were armed with guns. A few of the Peruvians wanted to go down and meet face to face with the men and tell them we were just out for a friendly hike, but my gut told me that would be the wrong choice. I knew our only option was to go down the way we had come up; it was a dangerous descend, but we had to go fast. Before we were even halfway down the mountain, five men had gathered in the exact spot we had been sitting and began firing shots at us.

I’m honestly not even sure how we escaped, all 8 of us and not one even being touched by a bullet; one passed directly above my head. When I heard it, I dodged behind a large rock where I had a mini panic attack. As I sat, Mary saw a bullet pass in front of her eyes, and she knelt beside me crying out to the Lord. I wanted to pray, but nothing escaped my mouth. All I could think was, “Dios mio, cuidanos!” {My God, take care of us!} I thought of my family, how they would hear the news of my injuries or even death, and I thought of the things in life I have yet to accomplish: marriage, children, full-time missionary, etc. We sat for no more than 2 minutes before we all hopped back up and continued down the mountain. Shots continued to come at us as we rushed to “safety” at the bottom of the mountains where the streets were more populated.

Upon arriving at the bottom, we talked with the “watchman” who told us that a few weeks ago there had been an invasion of people wanting to steal homes from the people in this specific area of the mountain. The men have been told if they see anyone climbing the mountain they are to do whatever it takes to get rid of them. Little did we know, we had crossed over onto private property, and these men were simply following the directions they had been given.

Even as we walked on the road back to the Oasis Center, we could still see them men at the top of the mountain, and we continued to hear the occasional sound of shotguns being fired. Once inside the safe haven of the Oasis, we all gathered together, and each one of us offered up a prayer of thanksgiving for the protection the Lord had provided us.

As steep as our dissension was, there is no possible way each one of us could have physically made it down that mountain as fast as we did without falling and getting hurt. Aside from that, with over 50 shots fired, some passing right before our very eyes, I can’t help but know that God had his guardian angels surrounding us like a shield. The Lord had every detail in his hands, and he protected us the whole way. People who had said they would come hadn’t. For them their absence {while they were missed} had been a blessing in disguise; the Lord’s protection over their situations. Those of us that had gone, were physically strong enough to handle both the climb and anxiety that came with the dissension. The large rock behind which I hid could not have been better placed in order to throw off the shooters even if only for a few moments as we gathered together and took a breath in order to continue.

My God is a God of love. He is my protector, and He is always faithful. He plans my steps before I take them, and He offers me the free will to choose the path in which I take. While I may not always make the best or right decisions, He uses all things for His glory. He has brought me through valleys and times of doubt and difficulty to mountains steep where I am able to shout of His goodness. He is always with me, He always hears me when I call out to Him, and He has provided me with more in this life than I deserve.

While tragedy awaited me (and my friends) Thursday, the Lord has bigger plans for us. He permitted each one of us to escape unharmed with a story to tell. He gave each of us another day of life. He used this experience to awaken my soul and remind me that He has every detail in His hand. I was reminded that the Lord is always by my side even when I can’t feel or hear Him. Most importantly, I was reminded that nothing in this life matters apart from my salvation in Christ.

As a friend said earlier this week, “If you are not living to serve, your life is not worth serving.”
The events of Thursday definitely cause me to think twice about the purpose of my life. Am I here simply to enjoy myself, do things I want to do, and live selfishly? Certainly that is not the purpose of the Lord. My job on this Earth is to serve people, to love them as Christ loves me, and to do whatever I can to bring more people into His kingdom.

If this story of the Lord’s protection serves the purpose to share with the unsaved to help them comprehend how deep the Father’s love truly is, then I will tell it until I truly do find myself on my death bed. Or perhaps this event only happened to awaken my spirit. Either way, I cannot effectively communicate how grateful I am for the Lord’s protection and faithfulness daily. If you don’t know him as your personal Savior, Counselor, and Confident please feel free to ask me any questions you may have. I don’t have all the answers, but I do believe I’ve got some pretty good evidence the my God certainly is real. There is no other way to explain the outcome of Thursday’s events.

Just for fun {for those of you not on Facebook}, here's a few pictures from our adventure.

Love these people!

We made a great team :)

{Picture taken at the very beginning of our climb.}

Manchay from above!

It's a growing city, and God opened my eyes, mind, and heart to the people there this year more than ever. I <3 Manchay!!

A view of the path the lies ahead.

This was the easy, flat portion of the journey.

It wasn't all this easy going...

This picture is taken from above. We are literally crawling up the mountain.
There was no path to follow, and it was super steep!

This should have been our warning to turn around and head back.

But we continued on, and found a nice grassy area to relax for a bit.

This was our last rest before we went running down the mountain the same way we had come. 

Once we got down the mountain we saw this notice:

Private Property!

We were all in a bit of shock after our little adventure.

Aside from the "attack", we had a blast!

It was fun to be able to laugh over lunch about our little outing.

Of course, during all the laughter, we continued to praise the Lord for the protection he provided us.