YWAM Outreach in Peru (A Lot Can Happen on a Bus)
YWAM missionary students traveling to remote villages in Peru.
“I didn’t expect to see God move in ordinary places. The mundane places. Places like the city bus.”
The following story was written by Levi Zook, a YWAM Orlando student missionary who just returned from Peru. When students return from outreach and begin debrief, Tommy trains them in storytelling and public speaking, and helps them prepare the stories they’ll present to friends, family, and guests attending graduation. Levi’s story is one of many.
Just a couple of weeks ago, me and the rest of my DTS were on outreach in Peru. I went into the outreach expecting to experience God moving in amazing and powerful ways - and he did! We experienced the beauty of God’s creation in the Andes mountains, and we built fruitful relationships with the Christians there. We traveled deep into the Jungle and baptized people in a river. We even went into schools where the government had previously banned the church from teaching and we saw God move in the hearts of the schoolchildren.
But here’s what I didn’t expect: I didn’t expect to see God move in the ordinary places. The mundane places. Places like the city bus.
Students were washing their laundry on the banks of a river. They shared the Gospel with local Peruvians. The Peruvians accepted the Gospel and asked to be baptized.
Let Me Tell You a Story…
We traveled around by bus inside the city of Lima quite a bit as we were [doing ministry]. One afternoon, on the way back to the church where we were staying, one of my outreach leaders came up to me and [encouraged me to share the Gospel with the passengers on the bus]. … I was nervous and felt like I didn’t have the words to say… I was really afraid of what people would think. But David encouraged me and I felt the Holy Spirit nudging me to go ahead, so I stood up in the front of the bus and, with the help of a translator, I shared the simple Gospel with the people there.
Just before I was ready to sit back down, I felt from God like I should ask if anyone wanted to receive the gift of salvation through Jesus. A lady that I had noticed listening intently, began to weep and accepted the invitation.
One of the Peruvian members of our team connected with her and the lady ended up coming to church the next Sunday.
I don’t know her story, but I saw the impact simply sharing the Gospel had in such a short amount of time. I was amazed to see God move in the most ordinary of places, on a bus.
YWAM DTS students sharing the Gospel at a school. Prior to this moment, the local church had never been granted access to the school grounds.
Can I Tell You Another Story?
A few days after that, as we were sitting in the back of another bus on the way back from a time of worship and evangelism on the streets, one of my team members began to play the guitar and worship the Lord.
Several of us began to join in. I felt nervous about how I sounded at first but the more I sang the more the Lord gave me confidence.
Soon I was worshiping the Lord without fear of what other people thought and other passengers on the bus started showing interest in what was going on.
My team got to share the truth about Jesus and show his love to these people in the midst of their everyday lives.
Openly and boldly worshiping Jesus impacted people and opened doors to share about who He is. I saw once again how God moves in the ordinary - even on a bus.
God met our outreach team in the mundane. And I believe God wants to meet you there, too. When you leave here, I am praying that you’ll be attentive to God’s voice as you travel on a plane, or take an Uber, or other form of public transportation. You never know what God might do on a bus.
Levi Zook, 2023 YWAM Orlando Discipleship Training School Graduate
During his outreach, Levi’s team ministered to over 800 people. They shared the full Gospel more than 600 times, and 74 people made decisions to follow Jesus.