Guest post - Emily's visit

Life with Lizzie: A Peruvian Adventure

Emily McBride visited Lizzie White in Peru for a couple of weeks this August

Lugging a suitcase load of edible British goodies through international airports is perhaps somewhat less than standard holiday baggage, which would perhaps explain why I am always the one stopped by airport security, or maybe that’s simply down to my suspicious features… Who knows! As someone who is most likely too old for gap year style adventures, but just can’t help herself, I feel incredibly lucky to have had many opportunities in my life to visit missionaries abroad. I’ve jumped right into those chances with both feet because it’s wonderfully exciting and, frankly, FUN: going on exciting adventures, widening my view of the world, understanding life from a different perspective and seeing incredible places.

God has provided me with all these opportunities to visit missionaries and, goodness knows why, but they seem to find it encouraging. This is handy because I usually feel my motives are fairly selfish; I get to see the world and hang out with really interesting people, like Lizzie, who always end up influencing my thinking in some way. Whether if it’s a privilege or a calling (both?!), it makes the travel feel as though it has a purpose other than solely satisfying my wanderlust. I was reminded that Barnabas means ‘son of encouragement’. Being an ‘encourager of missionaries’, what fun: sometimes God blesses you by using you to do what you love anyway – how jammy! (He’s pretty great like that).

The best thing in Abancay is Lizzie herself. She and the couple of other missionaries (a dentist and her husband, who’s a teacher and now dental assistant) and their two lovely little boys are the only Westerners in the city! [ed. - and another missionary family Emily didn't meet] Lizzie is entirely in charge of her day-to-day life; she’s everything, right from her boss to her admin assistant, from her driver to her factory worker, from her presenter to her project manager.

Lizzie is endlessly practical, simply summarising that this is where God wants her to be at the moment, so it’s where she is. She now doesn’t notice anymore all the things that fresh Western eyes see, such as the vast number of gaping holes around the city that are very easy to fall into; the fact that the barrier has fallen away on her route to the morning prayer meeting, leaving a 20ft drop to the side (‘It’s only recent,’ said Lizzie, ‘happened in January, I think.’); the terrifying driving (which she tells me is the second most common cause of death in Peru) [ed. - I've now checked, it seems it's the 4th most common cause of premature death] and perilous journeys; and the general inconvenience of not having Amazon delivery.

Lizzie is astonishingly chilled, giving me the opportunity to drive her 4x4 on the precarious mountain roads; planning a church youth session despite being ill and arranging to trek up an Andean mountain; and preparing an hour-long church session with children (possibly aged 3-13), despite only having been asked to do so the night before! (Lizzie is taking on the Peruvian culture by just saying yes to these kind of last minute requests).

Lizzie is understatedly ‘useful’, an adjective to which she aspires, teaching about water hygiene and providing water filters (also known as saving lives) and spending lots of time with young people by organising bible studies at the university. It was exciting that one student from the university came over to join the little outside bible study because she wanted to practise her English with the blatantly foreign, blonde girl in the group. She then stayed and engaged with the Bible study and I hope she will come back again.

I was also struck yet again by the amazing, global Christian community. As a Christian, you have a genuine family all over the world. It is astonishing and precious that I can go to such random, out of the way locations and experience significant generosity, hospitality and ‘real life’ in places that are so far removed from anything I know. Travelling the world as a Christian is, I believe, the most authentic experience you can have as an explorer of different places.

On visiting one of the villages, I thought to myself how significantly different compared with mine the lives and experiences of its inhabitants were and half wondered what God thought about them. He spoke to me very clearly with the words, ‘These are my kinda people’. I realised that of course they are - He was born in a random, out-of-the-way, unheard of, insignificant village, probably in a building made of mud. He was then brought up in Nazareth, a city that reminds me of Abancay, Lizzie’s current home, which is a new and developing city. Other Peruvians have given it the nickname, ‘Pikiwasi’, which roughly, and slightly offensively, translates as ‘bed of fleas’, [ed. - pikisiki - but the meaning  is similar] reminding me of the comment, ‘What good can come from Nazareth?’ The people who I met and who Lizzie spends her life serving are Jesus’ kinda people.

After our village visit, I was shocked to learn that Lizzie has visited an estimated 50 villages, some requiring arduous treks to reach, and all requiring treacherous expeditions up mountains to find, in order to improve the lives and well-being of the communities and encourage the small churches that often meet in people’s homes. She is caring for, loving and making a difference in the lives of Jesus’ kinda people.

Putting it all in context:

A huge spider (probably the number one reason God hasn’t called me to be a missionary in Peru).

A joyfully elated Emily after completing the most gruelling 3 day trek in the Andes – bitey flies, dust, heat, altitude, steepness, endless kilometres and I couldn’t have done any of it without…

The wonderful Lizzie! Whose kind encouragement I needed every step of the way.

And the stunning views helped

The end goal and in my opinion ‘more spectacular and MUCH less crowded than Machu Picchu’ Inca ruins, Choquequirao (which sounded enough like ‘chocolate cheerios’ for me to rename it thus)

All in a day’s work; Lizzie explaining the whys and hows of water filters:

A road-block on the way to work

Lizzie doing some kids work during the evening church service in a village

Lizzie’s friend, Deena, who accompanies her to villages and Avalina, who provided us with mountains of home-cooked food and a bed for the night (yes, one between the three of us – still surprisingly comfy!)

I was fascinated by how tiny Lizzie’s front door is

Tasty fruit, even though it resembles frog spawn. Getting fresh food into her diet can be a challenge for Lizzie. From my perspective, in the Peruvian diet, the different food groups seemed to consist entirely of 50 different types of carbohydrate. And vast quantities of them.