From The Andes Mountains

     Easter can sometimes make my ‘mama heart’ a little sad. It seems lonely to not have my children home at Easter, or to have little children around! Yes, that is a hint that I am ready for grandchildren! However, the joy my heart feels when my children are serving the Lord with their lives, far outweigh any loneliness. Today’s devotion is from Brittne, my 23 year old daughter, serving the Lord on the mission field out of Lima, Peru. She travels from Lima to different villages and ministers for weeks and months at a time. While in the villages, she has had to learn to live without the conveniences she has been accustomed to; for example: traffic laws, heat, running water, showers, food she is familiar with, ice, healthy food choices, comfortable beds, and silence to sleep by. She has endured stomach and intestine problems from a parasite, infections, and as of late, stomach sickness from unknowingly drinking the water. She has taken all of this with a servants heart. I must admit, I do not always do as well when I get a 7:00 a.m. phone call from her, in a far away village, crying, and telling me she is sick. Those have definitely been times of trusting the Lord for her care because there is not one thing I can do to help; other than let her hear her mama’s voice telling her it will be okay. She is proud of her new record for the number of days she has gone without a hot, real shower: 23 days! She has learned to fit well into her culture! The love she has for the Lord and for the people there has empowered her to walk this journey of missions. I love her, respect her, and admire her for the spirit in which she serves!

*********************************

 (From Brittne)
I will be spending my Easter week in a village in Peru. Easter here is not just celebrated on Sunday but is celebrated throughout the whole week. This past Sunday kicked off “Holy Week”. The people here marched around the village carrying palm branches and singing songs. Then they went to mass in the Catholic Church. Thursday and Friday is “Holy Day” where they all bow down before the cross in the church and worship God. There will also be processions throughout the streets in the village. In the front of the crowd they will carry some kind of idol of Mary, a figure of Jesus or the Virgin Dolorosa; following these will be the villagers. A band will be playing music. Saturday is “The day of the glory of the Lord”. In the Catholic Church, they each will have a lit candle representing the light of the Lord. Then the priest will “bless” the water and sprinkle it on the members of the church, to cleanse them of their sins. Sunday is the “Day of the Resurrection” and everyone attends mass.
We will be in the village this week sharing the true meaning of Easter. We have formed a study about the crucifixion and resurrection and how it applies to our lives. Most of the celebrations this week are conducted because of tradition and nothing more! They go through all the celebration but do not truly know the story or understand its significance. This week, God will use my three person team to share with them how Jesus came and died in order for us to gain salvation. They will hear the truth…the Gospel. God has helped me to focus on the true meaning of life. It's easy to get busy or to get caught up in traditions during holidays and even in our everyday life. Remembering my purpose in life is to glorify the Lord above all else and allowing that to be my focus is something the Lord has been teaching me. I won’t be home with my family this year to go to church, have a big Sunday meal with friends and family, or hide and hunt Easter eggs. However, I will be able to worship my Lord for what He has done for me, to share His message with others, and concentrate on the true meaning…all traditions aside.
Jesus sacrificing His life on the cross to offer us the gift of eternal life with Him, is the one and only reason for Easter. Yet, the villagers in Peru make the whole week about Mary, Saints, Virgins and traditions. I think it is very interesting and I wonder how much we do the same. Do we make Easter about our traditions and things that have nothing to do with Jesus? Even in our day-to-day lives, are we glorifying God; which is our one and only purpose, or do we make our lives all about what glorifies self? How often are we distracted with what we want to do, what we want to own, where we want to live etc. and we lose focus on what we are suppose to be as followers of Jesus? How often do we get caught up in tradition instead of getting caught up in pleasing our Savior?

Jesus prays before they arrested him:

My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified. My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one. Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I gave given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one. I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.

John 17:15-26