Perhaps the cool, crisp air in Huancayo, Peru, should have signaled to our mission team that God was about to do something truly special.
The local Peruvians informed us that a strike was being organized by those who serve the nation’s department of local transportation, and it might take place on the day our mission project was scheduled to begin. At best a strike would limit our work. Worse, it could put our team in danger. We would have to walk a mile to the mission site with potential threats lurking around every corner. Having heard the discouraging news, the men on the mission team decided to walk the streets of Huancayo and ask God for a miracle.
We walked, we prayed, and then we waited.
The next day, the strike did indeed take place across the entire country of Peru—everywhere except in Huancayo. God demonstrated his power in a miraculous, mysterious way. There was no other explanation except for the power of prayer. I couldn’t help but remember the story of how the Lord protected his people from one of the plagues sent on the Egyptians. In Exodus 10:20-23, God draped a thick blanket of darkness over all the land of Egypt but shielded his people with light so they could move about freely. Thousands of years later, he made a way for a small missions team to move through Huancayo even though the transportation strike restricted everyone else in the country. I’ll never forget the miracle in Peru. It’s another clear and constant reminder that God works in amazing, unexpected ways all over the world.
