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Several months ago I had the chance to travel to Peru with Kirby Woods Baptist church. The following is an account of a conversation on that trip that I used to introduce a paper.

Eight hours from any semblance of a paved road, high up in the Andes mountains of Peru, lives Jesús María. As my team and I explored the streets of San Francisco de Sangalleco, she approached us. “Sir, my head is aching. Are you a doctor?” I told her we were missionaries and that we had no medicine to give, but that we would like to pray for her. We followed Jesús María through the rocky streets between adobe buildings to her home. The mud walls were stained from the constant exposure to smoke from the cooking fire. The wooden beams were pierced with holes bored by bumble bees. After we prayed for Jesús María and her husband, we began to converse. They told us that they believed in God. They also affirmed their belief in Jesus.

I looked at the husband of Jesús María and asked “Who is Pachamama?” I knew that Pachamama was the force of nature that controls the outcome of harvests and weather, among other things. But, I wanted to know who Pachamama was to them. Then, I asked “Do you believe in Pachamama?” “Oh, yes.” he replied. “How does Pachamama help you?” I asked. “If we have enough faith, Pachamama will give us a good harvest” was the reply. Then, I asked “Do you make sacrifices to Pachamama?” “Of course we do.”

I had one final question for the elderly couple. “Who is more powerful, God or Pachamama?” The old man stared. It was as though the question had never crossed his mind. And, why should it? Pachamama and God live in two distinct realms. Pachamama is intimately tied to the everyday work of growing food for survival. God is confined to the Catholic church that sits in the plaza. The two never cross paths. Both must be revered and appeased, but to think of them as interacting is foolish.

The current religious state of the Quechua in the Peruvian Andes may be accurately summed up by this conversation with Jesús María and her husband. The Quechua live between two religious worlds, Roman Catholicism and Incan tradition. What has resulted is a dichotomous worldview in which two pantheons reign over their respective territory. However, one ought not assume that these two are completely distinguished one from the other, far from it. Often it is difficult to distinguish between Catholic saints and traditional Incan gods.

Syncretism plagues the efforts of evangelical missionaries as they seek to make sense of the Quechua worldview. Therefore, in the development of a strategy, the missionary must first understand the religious structures in which the Quechua function. To assume that an understanding of Catholicism is sufficient will lead to a woefully inadequate engagement. Likewise, to assume that the Quechua are simply ignorant worshippers of nature will yield similarly poor results.

. . . these past three weeks have absolutely flown by. It’s been hard to get into a “sabbath rhythm.” We’re so busy learning Spanish, meeting new people, figuring out how to buy eggs, that it’s easy to forget why we’re here.

Yesterday, I started reading “Don’t Waste Your Life” by John Piper. I’ve only read a few chapters but it’s already helping me to focus in on who I am/why I am here. In a nutshell: The Bush Family is in Peru to glorify Christ through a fully devoted life to Him.

It’s weird, because that changes everything and at the same time it changes almost nothing. We still go buy eggs, learn spanish, and meet new people. But, we do it in the Spirit. We do it with a passion for His glory and with our eyes wide open for his direction. We do it with a grateful heart and a sense of deeper purpose.

However, the habit of living life in relationship to God, in EVERYTHING, only flows from times of intimacy with Him. It only happens when we are spending time in his word. Spending time talking to Him. So this is what we need to focus on: Knowing Him.

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We spent a good bit of time with the Hutchison family in Lima. You might remember the infamous driving incident. This is a report that was done by a Lima news channel a few years back.

Reportajes – Hutchison Family from Ryan Bush on Vimeo.

A group of students from MABTS are serving in Santiago de Chocorvos, Peru this summer. Kirby Woods Baptist Church has adopted a people group segment there and are working towards planting several indigenous churches in the area. I had the opportunity to go to the area just a few months back.

David Cole, team leader and recent graduate of MABTS, just sent an update from Santiago. Here’s a paragraph from his email:

We have also told some stories to Celia (the hostel keeper) and her family. We even had them act out the story of David and Goliath as we told it (Randall was Goliath!). She remains very open. Her husband works in Ica and is rarely here in Santiago. This family has two Bibles and the entire family can read.

Justin Hartzell, one of the team members, has been posting updates to his facebook. Here’s a snippet.

6/1, 10PM. Sitting in my bed, typing on the good old Dell Inspiron B130, which has long since been discontinued. The first 36 hours in Santiago de Chocorvos has been nothing short of eventful. We arrived yesterday around 3pm, after a long, long trip in taxi’s up a muy peligroso (very dangerous), very narrow, and very unpaved road. I must say that the scenery was amazing. Skies so blue that you hurt to look at them . . .

You can read the rest of Justin’s entry here.

Kirby Woods Baptist Church, REAPSouth partner, has been working among the Quechua in Ayacucho for several years. I had the privilege of serving with John Floyd, Matt Akers, Matt Gillis, and David Cole on a 5 day assessment trip in April. Our main goal was to reevaluate KWBC’s strategy in trying to plant a church there.

Here are a few shots from the trip. I took these on a Kodak disposable (I dared not travel with the D40).

What’s a trip up the mountains without some car trouble? Matt Gillis (the designated driver) managed to shake the battery loose. Not that he’s a bad driver. He’s actually a very skilled mountaineer. I think he’d make a good taxista if he ever needs work.

Want to get an idea of mountain travel? Watch the first few seconds of this video.

Solomon Grados accompanied us up the mountain. Not so much because we needed a translator (3 of us speak spanish), but because he spent two months in Santiago. He’s a local hero. He could run for mayor. He’s legendary.

Solomon is awesome. He was a translator back in the day when Amanda and I were on the REAPSouth team. So, we’ve got some history.

Each day we ate at a small store. The owner, Nelly prepared breakfast, lunch, and dinner for us. If you could actually see through the window, you would see us sitting at a little wooden table consuming large amounts of rice and cow intestine. Actually, Matt Akers ate all the cow intestine. He couldn’t get enough of that stuff!

Solomon did a great job centering this photo. We were visiting another village and came across a Pollada. It was some sort of fundraiser for their school. David Cole and I partook.

Dr. Floyd, missions professor at MABTS and missions guy at KWBC, has more years of experience in cross-cultural ministry than I have of life. He was a missionary in the Philippines and also in Europe.

One of the most enjoyable things in the Andes mountains (and probably most places) is interacting with the kids. They’re great.

This is the only window in the school where we ate the Pollada. I thought the shaft of light cutting the streamer was nice.

I met Liz (above) about five years ago on my first trip to Santiago. She barely remembered me. She was only 5 at the time. But, we hung out. I told her a lot of stories from the Bible.

The soccer match between Santiago and a nearby village brought the town to the stadium. Santiago won.

After one of the goals, the guy who scored went running down the field, ripped his shirt off, and twirled it over his head in front of the crowd. He got a yellow card.

David Cole and I got our own soccer match going. We smoked some Peruvian chili (kind of). Here’s David doing a dance after scoring a goal. After the next goal he took his shirt and twirled it over his head.

Dana Palomino ate dinner with our team the night before we left for the U.S. She is currently teaching English and Italian, teaching Sunday School, and translating for Compassion International.

Mike and Kathy Weaver also joined us for dinner. Amanda and I worked for the Weavers during our stint in Peru. I tried to hint around for Kathy to cook for us. She’s an amazing cook!

Dr. Akers took this shot. I was talking to this elderly couple about their experience in making sacrifices to Pachamama in order to ensure a good harvest.

The toilets flush backwards here.

The team will fly out of Lima tonight at midnight arriving back in Memphis mid-morning.

Last night I went to an English Fellowship class. Arnold let me play a few songs (just like old times!) and share with them about what has been going on in my life. It was mostly new folks, but there were a few familiar faces.

I read this a few minutes ago:

All of us must die eventually. Our lives are like water spilled out on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. But God does not just sweep life away; instead, he devises ways to bring us back when we have been separated from him.

That´s from 2 Samuel 14. Read the whole story for the context. It´s good stuff.

I´m sitting at a computer in the municipal building in Santiago de Chocorvos. We don´t have running water most of the day, but we do have internet. Go figure.

It´s impossible to put words to the range of emotions and feelings that have berated me since I stepped off the plane in Lima. I didn´t know they were there.

We´ll be travelling back to Lima tomorrow (Monday) stopping in Ica to meet with the director of a Bible Insititute there.

No, no bbq guinea pig yet. But, there is still time.

Oh yeah. I also managed to completely empty my stomach on the way up the mountain by vomitando about 10 times out of the truck window. So much for being a seasoned Andean missionary.

Last night I had the honor of telling the story of Cain and Abel to a household.

I’ll be in el Perú for 6 days with a group from Kirby Woods. Boosh!

Peru from Ryan Bush on Vimeo.

I had the privilege of leading a prayer room on “Missions Day” at MABTS a few weeks back. For obvious reasons, my room was focussed on Peru. Check out the video I put together for it. For more info on the SAM Region, go here.

Peru from Ryan Bush on Vimeo.