The Smoke of a Thousand Villages

These past few weeks of visiting the States have been a great time of renewal, rest and fellowship with family, friends and churches; however, this Friday I will begin the journey back to Cusco, Peru--my home now.

As I go back, 2012 looks to be a very intriguing year with so many opportunities. As we have already begun the work in the Quechua community of Ampay, I look to the amazing things that God has in store for that community and it's people, but also to the countless others that are still out there. This is the year that we get to them with the life-changing Message of Jesus, through proclamation and demonstration. We are looking towards a year of supernatural ministry as we are guided by the Holy Spirit into communities, homes and lives.

I love to immerse myself in stories. Especially stories of missionaries from the past. One quote from Robert Moffat (a Scottish missionary to Africa and father-in-law to David Livingstone) has continued to stick with me as we continue to allow God to use us for the Quechua-"I have seen, at different times, the smoke of a thousand villages - villages whose people are without Christ, without God, and without hope in the world." Missions was truly a different world then, but I can imagine Robert sitting on the banks of the Vaal River near his home, looking out across that vast continent and seeing the smoke of villages, some that perhaps he had been to, but many that he hadn't. That charged him up because God had given him such a deep and profound love for those people that he would stop at nothing to see them come to know His Savior. How do I know that? Well, another quote helps paint the true picture of his heart: "Oh, that I had a thousand lives, and a thousand bodies! All of them should be devoted to no other employment but to preach Christ to these degraded, despised, yet beloved mortals."

So, that quote continues radiating through my mind and spirit. Why? Because I know that there are just as many villages of the Quechua that are "without Christ, without God and without hope in this world." As with Moffact, that spurs me on. Our vision and declaration over 2012 is this: "The Quechua for Christ!" Declare it with us!

"And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd. "
-Jesus (John 10:16)

'Til they all hear, Eric

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