Day Eight - Andean Quechua and I ate Alpaca cooked in the ground!

Our sick members are improving but not good enough to make the long trek to altitude of 13,000 feet to reach the Quechua people in the Andean mountains. Altitude has affected everyone but we are acclimating slowly. Our first night in Cusco I kept waking up gasping for oxygen. The hotel has loaned us an oxygen tank that we have all shared to help us acclimate.
We drove three hours through the mountains to reach the Quechua Tanca Village. The scenery was breathtaking, God painted snow-capped mountains and beautiful valleys for us.
We arrived at the church in Tanca and went into the church. The youth of the area were having a retreat and they wanted to have us speak to the youth. Over 100 teenagers gathered all around us, they were so cute and small. At 6' 2" I feel like a giant here (won't mention my weight).
They sang us a few worship songs songs in Quechua, they sound so much like other native groups around the world. Click here for the video. For a moment I couldn't believe we were here.

I was told as I walked in that I was to speak to the youth on romance and dating relationships. Within five minutes I was on stage speaking, I'm used to that by now. I preached to them from Genesis and Isaiah about waiting for the right person and for the right time. I shared my personal testimony of how God found my wife for me and not the other way around. I invited those that needed special prayer to come forward, they rushed the stage. I was overwhelmed and asked my team to help me pray for each one. As they were praying, the Spirit began breaking them down, many were in tears in brokenness. It went on for quite a while as they repented and looked to God for help.
After the retreat we were invited to eat . . . we were in a hurry but we were told that the Quechua people take rejections like this very seriously. They had cooked Alpaca (Llama that looks like sheep with long necks) . . .in the ground with hot rocks. I couldn't believe it . . . they saw how curious I was so they uncovered one of the Alpaca's from the rocks. See Picture on the Left and Video here.
My PLI team did not want to take a risk and eat Alpaca cooked in these rocks since we were all struggling with our health but we did not want to offend them either. Our solution was not perfect but it include the leader (me) eating it and taking it to go in little baggies since we were in a hurry to leave. I had some concern about my stomach but then again, I ate Mopani worms in Botswana, Crocodile in Kenya and unmentionable meats in other countries. "I can do this". I took a bite and it was spicy and hard, not very tender. The Quechua leaders were satisfied and we left feeling really great about the ministry.
We drove back and met the sick members at the flood refugee camp. More on this tomorrow!