kingdom breaking forth in lima

Kingdom breaking out in Lima! We just approached and healed this man who had two broken bones in his right leg due to a karate accident. He was freaking out as he said he felt heat and warmth all over his leg bones. Then a wave of healing hit him and he kind of stumbled backwards. We said give your girlfriend your crutch and walk in Jesus' Name! He did! Minutes before he was suffering in pain. He said there was no pain and he was utterly shocked. He walked away after receiving Jesus with his girlfriend without the help of his crutch completely healed, walking in full strength! The kingdom came and then the King of this Kingdom was crowned Lord of their lives because of His outrageous, compassionate love. Thank You Jesus! He is alive and well people. Time to claim His inheritance in His image bearers as His ambassadors in all the world! Let's go!

Iris Ministries Team in Peru

OUR JOURNEY THROUGH PERU

The solid black lines are where we traveled by car and bus. The dotted black lines are where we traveled by plane. The double black lines are where we traveled by boat.

Chronicles of Peru

So, here I am in Cuzco. Tomorrow morning, I am heading up to Aguas Calientes and then on to Machu Picchu. My camera is ready and my heart is bursting for the adventure! But it seems I can’t get away from adventure. It clings to my footsteps, it hangs on my shoulders as a robe and it is held, bound to my heart and spirit. Last night was the first night in the past week and a half that I actually slept.( when I woke up, I was in a hospital bed with several doctors and nurses talking incessantly in Spanish and pushing back down into the bed each of the 7 times I tried to rise. They would say, “Sir is okay. You are fine. Sit back. Sir, lay down! Please rest. You will be fine. Don’t worry.” Needless to say, I was ticked off and would soon have ripped out the tubes from my nose had it not been for one of my team members peeking into the room to check on me…..and then I knew I wasn’t having a dream. Stupid diabetes.)But, for the each of the previous nights, I had been sleeping on 17 hour bus rides through the Andes, in a hammock lashed between poles on a boat, on concrete floors, on wood floors, in church sanctuaries and in canoes as I traveled with my team through the Amazon in search of unreached tribes. I am sure to be jumping ahead of myself a bit, however, seeing that before this adventure I spent almost three weeks just traveling down the coast of Peru, through the long and vacant desert that spans the country. That first part of Peru was, in itself, as intense as the jungle but different in that it was just traveling and not pursued ministry. Still, for the first week of Peru, I was sick as a ditched dog; sun-poisoning reeks havoc on your body. And….just a note on the side, if you are going to spend any time at a beach in Peru and then decide to try surfing for the first time in your life ALWAYS wear sunscreen. You may be strong….but the sun is a freaking slave master. Don’t try and skip him, or he will pummel you into the beautiful Peruvian sand. In fact, almost our whole team spent many days in the toilet, with all the side effects of poisoning. Haha! It was a crazy time. And even in that environment of seemingly endless torture , several hippies came to the grace of Christ just as we lived at our camping grounds in Zorritos, Peru.**********After traveling for many more days, zooming through the desert in our 5 car caravan, we made it to our first stop; Paramonga. In this smallish town, we spent almost 5 days ministering in churches, small-groups and in outlaying communities.….I say this as fact….with no joshing in between the words……EVERY person that we prayed healing for was healed. Done. Every one.This was actually a roaring faith-testimony to my own heart, for many times I have prayed for people and seen little healing, or none at all. But not this time. God is in “ever increasing mode“; I feel His courage billowing in my heart! –Nothing will ever be the same, each day that we come before our King. For, as we come into His shade, He overshadows us in His truth and in His life. Each time, let the waves wash and swirl me into His hand and heart. I change. I am shaped. I become His goodness. I become His faith. I become His light. I become His love. As I stand in His presence, the Faithful Witness takes me into Himself, so I am moved into His image. That cannot be taken away. It is His faithful work.– For two nights in Paramonga, we held holy parties in the square. The first night, we were able to pray for so many people. When the time came to pray, I set my camera down and approached a row of quite elderly men, sitting on a bench. These men seemed to be the oldie buddies who claimed the square each day for their usual men-meetings. I walked up to the first man and in broken Spanish asked if he wanted prayer. He said no, flat. So, I went on to the next man. After praying twice, the man was totally healed and was wiping tears from his eyes! Then, the first man who had rejected me latched onto my hand and begged me to pray for him. Ditto, that man received total healing. As so it went on! And as I walked down the line, each one was healed by Christ and each one received prophecy of words of life. It was incredible to see God stopping for every person. No old man would be left out. Each child received His blessing and each woman and youth received destiny upon their lives. I approached one young man, with Liney, who was sitting on a bench. Although he didn’t seem quite enthusiastic about getting prayer, he didn’t reject us either. So, went fell into it. At first, his broken index finger didn’t feel any different. We prayed again, accompanied with prophecy. He opened his eyes and moved his hand, clenching his fist. His whites grew as he looked at his girlfriend in astonishment! Total healing. He let us continue to prophecy, smiling a surprised and giddy grin all the way. The second night, a cultural meeting and festival was being held. Probably 400 or 500 people filled the square. And the mayor of Paramonga gave us 15 minutes to do whatever we wanted!! So we got up and preached the word! Whoo! A captive audience, there was no commotion in the crowd. Even though there were shops and stores to investigate, they stood silent and listened to our Colombian sister, Liney, preach the Gospel of the living King! Come on! The world makes way for the Kingdom of the living God! That’s how it should be and that’s how it is going to be increasingly manifested! Amen.*********From Paramonga, we crusaded on to Lima, capital of Peru.Lima is beautiful. And, on a rather physical note, it has been the Capital of Starbucks so far on this trip. Ha! The first day in Lima, I think I drank 3 or 4 drinks. Maybe a stretch, but it did my heart well. Lima was basically a base for our split up teams to reconvene and head out again for different outreaches. After a couple days of chilling in civilization, a group of 13 of my teammates and I (including Zoe, the 2 year old) packed up and headed off to the Amazon! We first had to bus around 17 hours, through the Andes and into the door-city of that particular region of Amazon. Although the desire was to get as quickly as possible into the far-reaches of the forests, my team and I ended up ministering to the church which was hosting us and to the satellite churches within the city. Sometimes ministering in a church is the hardest option in ministry, but the rewards are huge; the greatest reward being that it is Christ who receives pleasure from the time and it is He who groans for the ministry to work in power! Along with that, it is easy to feel as if you have nothing left to give in ministry after you have continued on in church ministry morning and night, but it is Christ who is the Faithful Witness and it is He who gives any man or woman an abundance if they will choose to step into the ministry of helping Christ’s Bride up out of the dust. After a few days of the city, though, I was even more eager for the mysterious jungles. I should also note that I invested in a pet before heading out into the jungle. And I will also say that I have the most “bombing” baby monkey that anyone has ever seen! Haha! The more I thought about the reality of my circumstance (that I was truly going to be within the Amazon) the more I realized in my spirit that Christ has been preparing me for these days since I was a tiny child. I remember looking through dictionaries, watching the Discovery Channel and reading National Geographic all day long when I was a boy. The geographical world was a thing of mystery that I longed to discover and know. When it came to school, I could care less about American history, but world history was a passion! Even in my youth, God was creatively designing me for His adventures. He planted desires in me. He trained me, even when I thought I was simply doing fun and interesting stuff.And there I was, about to boat off into the snaky Amazon, a land that I had longed to explore since those first dreams of childhood. Crazy. God has you; even when you think that your thoughts are just your own misguided creations, God is actively painting your life in glory. But moving on along the chronicles, we began and ended our 6 day journey in the Amazon with a 18 hour boat ride. The boat was a small, double-decked flat bottom river-boat. The first deck was constructed with many beams so that over 60 hammocks could be lashed between them. The ceiling was quite short, though; not high enough for me to stand up all the way. It began to remind me of the old slave-ships. But it was a party boat for us! Close quarters always seem to bring about the spirit of awesomeness in this team. During this boat ride, I saw the most incredible sunset over the Ucayali River, spent the most incredible evening watching the Milky Way and reflected stars in the water and later I got to witness many Amazonian River-dolphins! To be sure, it was a swell ride. Our guide down this river was a pastor of the indigenous Shepibo-Kenibo peoples, Pastor Antonio. I think we spent around 3 days in this village. I can say, in pint of fact, that EVERY person prayed for during ministry times was healed! In this trip, my team saw a huge breakthrough. Along with that side of ministry, as we prayed and discerned the spiritual atmosphere in the area we knew that some shamanism was buried in the hearts of the people there. We prayed. The next night, at the church in the area, we prayed again for the people and invited them to come up for blessings and then led them in a cry to dismantle and vanquish that disease of witchcraft! Power poured out. From that village, we traveled up river to another sector of the Shepibo-Kenibo peoples. We ended up spending a night there because the locals supposedly couldn’t find strong enough boats for us to make the day long journey up to the Shanika peoples. The Shanika people are said to have virtually no contact with the outside world and are also rumored to continue to bear tribal facial tattoos and feather piercings. I admit with a jealous and groaning heart that we did not end up making it to that tribe. We made the 8 hour trip there and then were turned back because the chief wasn’t there to welcome us and because some of our local pastors grew afraid of the Shanika and didn’t want to take their children, which they had brought, into the village. Even so, from the frustration of that journey, a dream and vision was born into the hearts of my leaders, Jesse and Christian and myself. It has been prophesied that within 5 years, Iris Ministries will have at least 1 large, double or triple-decked River-Boat! This boat will resemble the old Louisianan river boats. And from this boat, a campaign will engage t reach EVRY UNREACHED PEOPLE GROUP! Jesus is holding, waiting for the people to hear. We have to catch the vision that one day……….EVERY group of people will have the word preached to their hearts. From the substance of this vision, the possibilities for the Gospel are huge. Within a short time of getting the boat, teams from around the world (who have been longing for these tribes) will be able to fly in and travel throughout the 4 countries where the Amazon runs; Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Brazil! Many different teams will be able to be housed on the boat, from forerunners to the linguistic teams helping to translate the Gospel into these various languages. From the large boat, we will carry many motorized canoes which we will be able push off at any tributary and take up river to find the many rumored tribes. The vision is large. But Christ desires His Amazonian Bride. He will have her. —–I would invite anyone who feels that burden to engage. Begin praying hard for what God will do in these next few years in the South of America.—- The rest of the travel was long and adventurous. I think that within those two weeks I slept a full night maybe once; and it continues on. But the adventure with Christ during the day gives as much energy as the sleep at night……(but, sleep is always good! And I hope that the schedule will even out again!)……………….Ending this one leg of the Peru Chronicles, Taylor McClendon, Kurt Weller and I bused back 17 hours to Lima. When we arrived it was around 5 in the morning. No one answered us from within the YWAM compound. So, we climbed up the wall to the second story window and made a human chain to get our luggage and monkeys up into the house!!! HA! So much fun. Now, it’s on to Machu Picchu!

Post by Taylor Lindsey

My plan vs. God's plan

I landed in Lima, Peru the evening of Monday March
5th, on Tuesday afternoon I was in the Amazonian jungle… by the
Wednesday evening, God was making it abundantly clear that this place was to be
my new home! Just like that, so fast… it kind of took my breath away! I had
left England thinking that I was going to be travelling on with the Iris team
throughout South America and then return to Peru after a few months but I have
an absolute certainty that I am supposed to stay here in Peru now and focus on
the work that He has readied for me. His timing, as always, is perfect

Health Teaching with Urarina
leaders
The place that I will soon be calling home is “Aurora”….
“The City of Light”. It is an indigenous training centre on the banks of River
Maranon just a short boat ride from a large town called Nauta. The principle
focus of the work at Aurora is to share the Gospel message and disciple
believers, so laying the foundations for a transformed life. Then there is the
community development component which includes teaching and training on a
variety of topics including health, agriculture (malnutrition is one of the
biggest problems in the depths of jungle), trade, literacy and small engine
repairs (the majority of day to day travel is in little boats powered by these
engines. Without them, you are well and truly stuck!). The founders of Aurora,
David and Stephanie Palusky have already developed a close relationship with one
tribe, the Urarina in the years that they have been visiting the Peruvian
Amazon. Their heart is to continue developing this relationship while also
reaching out to other tribes that have not yet heard the Gospel, using the
modern technology that David is developing (http://www.renewoutreach.com/). I’m not
entirely sure yet what my exact role will be at Aurora (still one of my most
commonly used phrases is “I don’t know…!”) but I am confident that as I continue
to step into this new season, the Lord will continue to make His exact plans
abundantly clear. I do know, however, that I will be helping to meet the medical
needs of different tribes as they come to Aurora. There will be clinics for
actual treatment but our main focus will be on teaching so that illnesses can be
avoided and general health can be improved.
Since leaving Aurora, I have been with some of the Iris
team travelling from the jungle to the Pacific coast. This started with 3 days
on a boat, locally known as a lancha. This was a wonderful experience as we all
lived in our hammocks for those 3 days and 2 nights! We got on the lancha in the
hustle and bustle of the port at Iquitos, found a space big enough for the 5 of
us and hung our hammocks in a line and settled in to swing our way through the
next 3 days. It was a glorious (if somewhat smelly and noisy!) time and one
which I would love to share with any of you who want to come visit! Then there
were too many hours spent in uncomfortable buses bouncing through the mountains
(not quite so glorious!) We are now staying at a beautiful coastal town,
Mancora, as we wait for parts to come from Lima for a broken down car that was
left in Piura for repairs.
I hope to be back at Nauta and Aurora by mid-April when
Marcos, the Brazilian pastor who oversees the day to day runnings of Aurora
heads into the jungle for a month to revisit and share the Gospel again with the
28 villages of the Urarina tribe.

The river front at
Aurora
I am so excited to see how God reveals all the details of
what He has been preparing for this time and this place.
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill
cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on
the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light
shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify
your Father who is in Heaven” Matthew 5:14-16

post by Bridget Carrol

ShabaShika Baba- It's jungle time

Goodbyes are necessary to create new hellos. As the convoy of all-american vehicles rolled up in the second most dangerous ghetto in Lima to whisk us away, I admit that I didn’t want t go. Though I could barely communicate with my family, they are some of the people I respect most in all of Peru. Dislodged from familiarity and feeling vulnerable, it was time to meet the rest of the trips’ wild family.So, if my counting is correct, our group currently consists of 24. Our aim and mission is to love God, love people and bring revival into the hearts of the broken. Another thing you should know about our team – we don’t really do schedules.Hence, the day after I arrive to meet everyone, we make the decision to go deep into the Amazonias to reach tribes that have never before seen “gringos,” or “whiteys,” as I more affectionately call us. To help you be a part of this epic journey into the jungle and back again, I will give you a snapshot of each leg of the trip.Lima to Pucallpa15 hour bus ride, again cankles, altitude of almost 3000m, altitude sickness, snow-capped mountains, falling out the toilet on a corner and mooning the back of the bus, man with gun on bus at 4am in the morning asking for money. Did I happen to mention the angel that sat next to me? His name was Manuel and he was such a papa: When we stopped he bought me food when I spoke he listened patiently and helped my spanish along, when it got cold he took his jacket off to his own detriment and gave it to me. Wherever I have gone on this journey God has put treasure on my lap, selfless people like Manuel. Seeing the gold in people is one of life’s great privelages and I am intent on discovering more in this smorgasboard of different cultures.Pucallpa to CacoPucallpa is a jungle city of around 200,000 people. It is hot, humid and wet with an average temperature high of 31 degrees. We were able, during our transition time before the jungle, to speak in a couple of churches around Pucallpa. I love being able to encourage other christians and churches through words and stories and just generally by being joyful. It was a privelage to see people in the church revamped and revitalised. As nice as Pucallpa was, we were fired up to go and visit tribes along the Ucuyali river that feeds later into the Amazon.We arrived at the dock, at 4pm on a Tuesday to catch the boat ride up the river. As I scanned the line of boats I was encouraged to see two “3 – deckers.” Sturdy looking things, that could traverse the wild river easily. Dismay started to creep in as we progressively left those comfort models behind, and the words ’surely not,’ crept into my brain on seeing the tugboat “Miss Adonai,” in all her grunge splendour. I can’t really describe to you what sleeping with 40 other people on this tiny boat in hammocks looked like so instead I’ll give you some pictures. 14 hours later, having been on this tiny boat on this river full of crocs snakes and more excitingly pink dolphins, we arrived in Caco, the first village.Caco to Nueve NazarethCaco has a shop, volleyball courts, a giant satellite and a radio commetary station: did not see that one coming! Here am I all prepared for thick forests, poisonous snakes and cannibalism and it turns out the Shipebo – Conibo people are more civilised than I am and probably wash a great deal more. We had a great time getting to know the villagers for a couple of days and to bond through things like fishing, cooking and a lot of volleyball. Many people came to hear us speak and come forward for healing prayer. A decent amount of the villagers complained about having bad dreams and headaches so we just asked God to heal them, praying for each individually. The next night more than 5 villagers came up and shared that they had sleep free of demonic dreams and the pain in their head had ceased. Praise god!Nueve Nazareth to Lost in the Amazon. So it turns out the boats get smaller. Equipped with 15 people and 15 peoples’ luggage on a small dugout we set out to visit the Ashaninka tribe. These people have suffered a sad history being enslaved by the spanish, being kidnapped by guerillas and having had land stolen from them progressively over the last 50 years. As a result they were forced to flee deep into the jungle – and I mean DEEP. Because our boat was flooding we were forced to stay in another village for the night to get another boat (I enjoyed this option more than slowly sinking into the Ucuyali river with all it’s fun creatures.) Little did we know then, what the next day would bring.HelpSo, high in spirits and ready to meet this amazing tribe, we set out in two dug-out boats. The sun was shining and it was such a treat to go deeper into the jungle, where the jungle is more thick, and the beige river snakes itself elegantly through the overhanging greenery. Butterflies flutter around the boat and monkeys playing in the surrounding trees – you get the picture, we are in a good mood at this point. Because of our small motor, heavy load and roof on our boat, our guide, (the pastor of the last village) advised that our groups should split up. Probably a bad idea, however ignorance is bliss. Isn’t it?After 5 hours following progressively smaller rivers, which became so tight that our boat would bang into the side because it couldn’t turn fast enough, I started getting a little nervous. “How far are we away?” Pastors’ reply “Oh just an hour and a half, we’re getting close.” Having not seen any civilisation for a solid 4 hours except the occasional logger I really hoped this was the truth. Soon after this little discussion, our guide’s son at the front of the boats’ demeanour started to change, he looked frightened. Turns out that the son and the pastor had no idea where they were going and everytime there was a fork in the river, they would just choose the larger option.Glad to find this out when we are lost in the middle of the amazon. Bless their hearts, they were trying so hard to help us. Anyway after being separated from our group for a long time (5 hours) and knowing the sun would set in two hours we miraculously managed to find some illegal loggers who directed us towards the tribes river and assured us we were only 45 minutes away. As we were again following down this weird little river, we became sceptical of the direction we were going and stopped for a moment. In the distance we could hear the sond of another motorboat on this labyrinth of Amazonian rivers. “UNINTELLIGIBLE YELL SOUND!!!!!!” Our dampened spirits brightened and the colour rose in my cheeks on realising that in the middle of this chaos we had found our friends.We discovered that our friends had been very close to the tribe when they were met by Ashaninka people in boats and asked their business. On believing that we had come to impose our culture on them and to colonise them they asked our group to leave (the weapons they were holding were also encouraging us to leave.) We managed to explain that we had come to learn about them and their culture and they said it was fine to visit, but it just so happened, that weekend was one where they were having crazy drunken celebrations and the authorities were out of town. This didn’t really phase us, we knew we were meant to come, we were SO CLOSE after the craziness of the day.However, it was not to be. The pastor on the other boat grew so fearful he would not budge. We asked him to take us to the tribe and he flatly refused. He didn’t even argue he just turned into a dictator, switched the engine on and turned the boat back in the direction we had come after taking 7 hours to get this close to this amazing tribe. There was absolutely nothing we could do. I sat fuming for the ride home which by the way was 4 and a half hours long, in the dark, in the amazon with only two small headlights which were almost dead. This route was hard enough in the day time. We just prayed and bailed water and sang crazy songs out of our own delirium until our arrival back at Nueve Nazareth.Reluctant Returns.The return trip seems a blur of frustration and disappointment. We promptly caught the boat back to Pucallpa after having our first meal in 2 days. By this point I have been wearing the same sweaty, dirty shirt for 5 days, drinking unclean village water and my hair is starting to dread at the bottom. I don’t even care that you have to dodge mangy chickens and jump over a live boar to get to the top deck. Sleeping in a hammock is a big blessing after concrete floors, up where the swarms of mosquitoes and biting flies can’t get you. After spending the night on the boat we arrive in at Pucallpa at 4am in the morning and that same morning catch a flight back to Lima.One day in our lives at the moment could be a full – blown blog. The lessons we learn along the way are too numerous to count like forgiving the pastor for sabotaging our mission and loving him anyway, coming into a culture not to force on them your own ideals but to learn and encourage, share in their lifestyle whilst sharing your own.I promise to keep you updated more regularly so my blog isn’t so long. Will tell you all about Macchu Picchu in the coming days.Love you all and keep praying, we really need it!Charlotte.

Machu Picchu intercession time

Peru Amazon jungle trip

Machu Picchu

The Church Awakening in Peru

The Lord opened doors for us with a local church as we had been praying. We met with the leadership on a Saturday and I knew in my heart they would invite us to have the services the next day, that is exactly what happened. The pastor of this small church had gone to be with the Lord a year ago, having passed away because of cancer. The numbers had decreased as that man had so much invested in the people there. His wife was so receiving and honoring of us, which I believe caused God to command the blessing from His mouth because of that. She said in the leadership meeting, O we need revival; we are hungry for a move and awakening of the Holy Spirit. We were glad and excited to hear their faith and hunger level was expectant and ready for God to come and go wherever He wanted to go with them and us, who had the privilege of ministering to them.

We held what we called two “Revival Services” on Sunday. The worship was powerful as it ushered in the Presence in both of them. David brought a word on belief and the power of the Resurrected Christ in the morning. Many people responded as we called a time of impartation. Mass weeping and falling to the floor under the weight of His presence in sued after the Word went forth. Those manifestations of the Spirit were nothing we preached or said should happen if the Holy Spirit is really present; it just did due to the transference in authority and anointing the leadership granted us in releasing the Word we were carrying. Angels and demons recognize were authority has been given even by human, God ordained agents, which He put in place, and a lot of times that will determine whether light is advancing over the heavens in a certain place or not. Demonic spirits recognized that Paul knew Jesus and came in the full authority of His name at Ephesus (Acts19). Many people were being set free from different things.

One of the things we really felt to pray as we made our way over to the church for the night service was the God would be so thick in that place that the Presence would draw random people off the street to receive from Him. The worship once again created a shift and focus on Jesus. I got to bring the Word that night, I felt such fire all over my body as I felt lead just to start if off by prophesying over a couple of people the Lord highlighted. I also felt the Holy Spirit saying to leave the worship leader up on the stage and to let him strum and continue to usher in something greater, so he gladly played the whole time I spoke. What I am being burdened for in these days for the Bride is a real awakening in the NT identity of who Christ is in us and who we are in Him. Right believing will produce right living in the grace of God. Every action springs forth from a mindset that is deeply rooted in how we see ourselves in our identity before God and people. I love John 13:3. This verse depicts what really enabled Jesus and how He lived in a revelation of who He was and His Father who lived in Him, being one with Him. It says, Jesus knowing all things that all authority had been given to Him, knowing where He came FROM and where He was GOING, in that revelation He was able to live the perfect selflessness of the cross centered life. He was able to lay everything down and wash other’s feet from that place of utter boldness and confidence in the full revelation of His Sonship. He knew He was the Son of God and therefore all He ever manifested was according to that nature and power. He could freely lay down His life on His own accord and take it back up again at His own choosing because He lived in the jubilant, joyfully assured by God Himself hope of the glory of God (Rom.5)…………….

To be continued after we get back from Machu Picchu! Yes, it is one of the Seven Wonders of the World! We have very different intentions then many tourists who go merely just to gaze at its vastness. We go, sent by God, bearing the One who became a curse to redeem all the land of Peru from her bloodguilt through a long, demonic history of human sacrifice. We will take the Lord’s body and blood and partake of Him and plead that mercy would triumph over judgment on the highest temple we can find in that place just as we did in Tikal, Guatemala at the Mayan center of their ancient civilization. Now it is time for the Incans and all their descendents throughout all Peru to have the blood of Christ fight for them, declare them righteous, and continually cry out from the ground, speaking a better and perfect, sure word of their redemption (Heb.12)!

Let us hasten His return in the manner of His presence we walk in and manifest,

By Ben Cuyler

peru journey and amazon jungle photos

The vast, mysterious Amazon jungle before us had our hearts stirring with anticipation and excitement as we set out from the capital of Peru. We had now experienced the Amazon jungle of Ecuador and felt slightly more prepared this time as we headed even deeper from the Peru side. Completely covered in bites from the gnats, flies, and mosquitos we fought to not scratch our skin off because with a...ny wounds or blood it would make us an even great target for the giant piranhas that the locals continually told us were numerous in those rivers.

This entire area of the Amazon rainforest was flooded and many homes with only the roofs showing out of the water. We followed the small river systems for hours with deep jungle on both sides but no land because of the flooding it was just water everywhere beneath the green jungle bush. Pink Amazonian dolphins jumped alongside of our boat and monkeys shook the trees while they swung from branch to branch. We hoped to see an anaconda without getting too close and did not but did go past a larger river snake and many crocodiles and colorful birds and butterflies.

Our journey started with a 15 hour bus ride over top of the Andies from the coast to the jungle on the other side. It was beautiful when we reached the top and there were ice covered mountains with the moonlight but all of us were pretty miserably sick from climbing to 17,000 feet elevated in such a short time. We went through the area where the main terrorist group in Peru occupies and had an armed guard board and ask money from us to protect us as we passed through that area with skinny, muddy roads on the edge of a cliff above the river we were all a little excited at 4:30am as we sensed the danger in our experience. We arrived in the town of Pucallpa and boarded a boat up the Ucuali River. We strung all of our hammocks close together in the bottom of our boat and set out up river for our first 15 hour boat journey. In the first village with the Shapibo Kanibo people we stayed a couple nights and the village gathered together and we ministered the Gospel and prayed for them. Everyone we prayed for was healed. A man was healed from deafness and so many other people had pain instantly leave their bodies as we laid hands on them. Most of the village came forward and followed us in a prayer corporately repenting of witchcraft and shamanism. A large portion of the people there came forward and gave their lives to the Lord after the Gospel message and shared testimonies of how the Lord healed them. We then headed out in smaller boats up the small river channels searching out the ureached villages. Our boats got separated in the jungle and after being lost hours and constantly taking dead end turns our boats were reunited. The other boat had made it really near to the village of Ashakani people and were warned that it was dangerous there because the village leaders were not present and there were in a time of festivities and drinking their alcoholic beverages.

They were somewhat hostile toward foreigners because up until the year before white had been coming and stealing and killing their children to sell their organs. We trusted that the Lord had led us this far and insisted to continue to the village because they were totally unreached. The pastors refused and were afraid and because it was their boats we were in we had to turn back. Night set in and we had no lights and the moon was not out so in pitch black of night we attempted to guide our boats home with dying flashlights yelling to the back of the boat to tell the pastor with the motor which way to turn. It was a difficult challenge which seemed to never end. Often our turns were late on this narrow windy Amazonian river and we ran into the bushes and nearly tipped. We were very afraid of tipping as we would often spot crocodiles near the boat the along the river. God kept us safe and after a 17 hour journey with no stops and no food for a day and a half we made it back to village we were previously at.

We all felt pretty disappointed and discouraged about not staying at the village but through this experienced God downloaded vision and dreams for us for the future to reach all the unreached villages left in the Amazon jungle. We are planning that within the next five years we will by big boats and smaller boats and set up teams and long term missionaries in different areas of the Amazon jungle in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Brazil and focus on the most unreached places and furthest away areas. We are believing God and hear the Spirit saying that then within ten years there will be no more unreached people groups and villages left in the Amazon. So after our ten days in the jungle we returned here to Lima and now are preparing to go to Macchu Pichu tomorrow to take communion together and pray for this nation and the people to be free from deception of the enemy to fully know and love Jesus.

Man Deaf from Birth Healed in Peru

Paramonga, Peru
Saturday, March 3, 2012
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Man Deaf from Birth Healed

Last night our team partnered with the local church here in Paramonga to do another night of outreach. We included some of the same elements that we did at the outreach in Pativilca the night before, including break dancing, rap, skateboarding, drama and preaching. The healing anointing was so strong at the meeting last night that before we had even started the meeting, a woman had asked for prayer to be healed, got completely healed of the pain in her head and testified of her healing to everyone over the sound system.
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Dianne had asked me to come and pray for a man named Luis who is about 30 years old and who had been deaf from birth. We confirmed that he had been deaf from birth with those who were with him and knew him well. I put anointing oil on my fingers, put them into his ears and in Spanish began to command that his ears would open in the name of Jesus. Dianne, the local pastor, some children and others joined me in praying for him. After praying for him the first time, I checked both ears by snapping my fingers and asking if he could hear me snapping. With a bit of shock and a lot of joy he motioned that he could now hear out of his left ear. Calling for Jesse and others to come join us and press in for a complete healing. After praying for him a second time and testing both ears by again snapping my fingers, he clearly responded to the snapping in both ears and was totally healed. We all rejoiced in the Lord together. Luis even began to try and talk after never hearing or talking since birth! I told the pastor that they would need to work with Luis and help him learn how to talk as they would teach a child. Again, THIS MAN HAD NEVER HEARD OUT OF HIS EARS SINCE BIRTH AND CAN HEAR NOW!!! Glory to God!!!

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Our team was interspersed throughout the crowd praying for the sick and saw healing after healing take place. As this happened, many others on the outskirts began to beg for us to pray for their healing as well. I wonder if that is how Jesus felt with the crowds thronging him to receive their healing as well? One lady asked if we would pray for a tumor and pain in her left breast and a bladder problem. I had her put her hand on her chest and had the women who were with me on her team place their hands on hers. I told her that she was going to feel something like fire as we prayed for her. After we prayed, she was overwhelmed with joy, thanking Jesus for her healing as she exclaimed that while we were praying for her she felt something taking place inside of her body. This lady is now pain free. These are only a couple of stories of how healing and miracles are breaking forth here in Peru. Tonight we will have an outreach in the same plaza at the same time. Many of those who were healed will bring their friends and family to also receive God’s touch. We want to delve deeper with them into the fact that God wants to heal them spiritually as well. Would you pray that God would open the doors for that to take place?

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Team Family Time in Barranca

Earlier in the day our team took a 15 minute drive to the city of Barraca where they have good beaches and restaurants. After sharing a meal together, we drove up a hill where a giant statue of Jesus stood and had an awesome time of worship together, seeking the Lord’s face and sharing words and visions that God was giving us about what He longs to do in this area.
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Christian Jung

photos from colombia by taylor lindsey