ST. PAUL – For Jessie Williams of St. Paul, there’s something humbling about navigating treacherous mountain paths with a van to deliver simple gifts: radios. Looking at the Andean Mountain Ranges, she realized just how far a little faith could reach.
Williams and her friend, Faye Marie Farris, who are both from the Two Hills Fellowship Chapel, joined a team that headed to Peru for a Christian mission trip from July 31 to Aug. 9.
They helped distribute radios and audio bibles to various communities of the Quechua people of the Andean. The trip was part of Galcom International’s effort of distributing technical equipment like solar-powered radios and audio players. These radios and equipment are connected to Christian radio stations.
The mission also ran eyeglass clinics for those in need.
But it was not a trip without challenges. Williams vividly recalled the ascent, driving up and down the 11,000 feet tall mountain on narrow roads.
“We went up on a van, very narrow roads, very sharp corners,” she says, but thanked the driver who navigated these roads with great familiarity and expertise.
There’s also the risk of getting ill.
“We were informed not to eat food that was not cooked,” because people have been getting sick for some reason, she recalled. And at some point during their mission, “We had a gentleman with us taking pictures and he was sick for two days – very sick. So, we abstained basically, [from eating].”
But it was worth it. Reaching the Quechua communities, Williams says she was struck with the people’s kindness. She noticed they had limited resources, but the locals greeted them with open arms and fed them.
“They’re beautiful people,” she says, and it was heartwarming for her to see them receive the radios with big smiles on their faces. Those radios were gateways to a bigger and wider world, says Williams.
Asked about other challenges she and Farris may have faced in the trip, Williams did not mention physical toll nor the risks of their travel. Instead, she hoped she could have understood the Quechua’s language, to be able to connect more with the people.
They did have a translator, so the process went smoothly.
William recalled that as they were leaving one of the Andean communities, “Two ladies came and just gave me a big hug.”
“That was so beautiful,” she said, and whatever exhaustion she may have felt in her body disappeared. “I felt so blessed to be able to do what I could do there.”
And these interactions were more than enough to provide the team with more energy to come down the mountain before going up again to visit other communities, she says.
It was a 10-day mission. “Our days were full.”
Now back in St. Paul, reflecting on how her journey impacted her, Williams says that during the trip, everyone had trials and challenges, which is the same as life where there is temptation and fear.
“So many people fear life,” she says, but she encourages others not to be fearful.
As an immigrant herself, born in the Netherlands in the 1940s, Williams says she knows what it feels like to be a foreigner. But she says she has learned not to feel like a foreigner as she travels. She loves people, and that is what matters.