Inka Wasi - a trip into the mountains

Last October Eric and I had the great privilege of traveling to Inka Wasi, a peruvian pueblo sitting at 13,000 feet in the Andes. Inhabiting one of the two largest unreached people groups in Peru, we traveled north with 5 others to investigate. We had heard that there were 22,000 people in the Quechuas of Lambayeque with only portions of scripture and one evangelical church.

We arrived in Inka Wasi at 10:00am to a welcoming committee of 

very drunk men, settled in ourhumble sleeping quarters, and set off to find Trinidad Ángeles, a local Peruvian missionary we had heard of. We found him in the church outside of town and followed him to his house where we learned much about the Quechua people. He told his story, how he had left the coast 25 years ago to take the Gospel into the mountains (which Peruvians believe as backwards-living), and we saw a glimpse of how much he -even as a Peruvian- had sacrificed to be living among these people. He also shared with us the New Testament that Wycliffe missionaries had been working to translate into Quechua for 15 years. The Quechuas of Lambayeque received scripture in their own language just 3 years ago! He shared with us the struggles of working with the Church in the rural mountains: confronting rampant (100%) polygamy, incest, transforming animistic thought, alcoholism, strong belief in witchcraft, lack of resources (both material and human), having to walk sometimes 10 hours to reach the next pueblo to meet with a group of 2 or 3 believers or pray for someone’s dying animal or crop. He may have been the most humble, gentle, joyful, and godly man we’ve ever met. He was an absolute joy to sit and talk with. We easily compared him to a modern day Paul.

It was so exciting to hear what an impact Scripture is having on the small community of believers as they now are beginning to really understand its words and truths. Thanks  to the work of the Holy Spirit, the Wycliffe translators, and Trinidad, the church is growing throughout the rural, unreached mountains of Peru. Where a short time ago there was only one church to speak of, there are now four throughout the Quechuas of Lambayeque!

It was also wonderful meeting and spending time with some of the local men, women, and children. Rosa and her three beautiful children spent the day playing and dressing us up in their local clothes, and I later made a friend Lindaura, who taught me some beginner’s Quechua, taught me how to tie my ‘chullo’, so that I would fit in with the other women. They were a precious and colorful people. 

Please pray for Trinidad Ángeles and the church in Inka Wasi - that the church would grow and be strengthened, that missionaries would be called to the area to share in the labor, that Trinidad would be encouraged and protected, and that the Gospel truth would be heard throughout the land.

For more pictures, click here.