“The first one scared me, but later, it became almost like a game,” says Maricela Chavez of the 176 scorpions she and her family have found in their house. “We thank God that none have harmed us. It’s true—living like this is uncomfortable, but it’s part of our reality.
“It’s what we chose.”
Maricela and Pablo Chavez—former pastoral couple at Iglesia El Buen Pastor in Orange Cove, Calif.,—and their three boys chose to leave their home in California in 2022 for a life on mission with Multiply in Peru. They faced criticism for this choice; those who knew what it had cost for their families to immigrate from Mexico and settle in the United States in the first place challenged their decision, even calling them ungrateful. Watch the story of their journey into global mission in the video, “God is Calling.”
“We left behind a comfortable lifestyle and weren’t sure what to expect,” Maricela says. “For example, we had been told that Almirante was a land of rich agriculture. It is a desert. Everywhere you look, there’s sand. The heat is almost unbearable.”
When Pablo and Maricela arrived in Almirante, Peru, it soon became evident that the true beauty was in the people: They were kind, caring and welcoming.
“They received us at the airport, (and) they received us in their churches,” Pablo says. “It took a little longer for them to receive us in their hearts, though.”
This reluctance came as somewhat of a surprise to the Chavez family. Being of Mexican descent, they had assumed that the transition to life in Peru would be relatively easy. To their chagrin, they faced a chasm of difference.
“Even our Spanish wasn’t the same,” Maricela says. “We had many of the same words but with completely different meanings. I had to pay very close attention to what people were trying to say. That was a shock for me—I had expected communication to be easy.”
Pablo agrees.
“It was crazy,” he says, shaking his head. “Sometimes they would be speaking to me in Spanish, and I would just stand there with my mouth open, thinking, ‘What on earth are you guys saying?’”
Being relegated to the status of language learners was only one of the humbling realities of life in Peru.
“One time there was an event that required food prepration, and I offered to help,” says Maricela. “They told me that I was peeling the potatoes wrong. I have been peeling potatoes my whole life.”
She laughs at the memory.
“In the end, I just handed over the knife and asked them to teach me how to do it right.”
Taking a humble posture of learners was critical in building relationships in the community.
“We had to remember that our role as missionaries was not to come and be in charge of things,” Pablo says. “It’s not up to us to make decisions for Peruvians or to direct them, but to see what God is doing and to walk with them on their journey.
“Learning their way of speaking Spanish, learning their way of peeling potatoes—all those things were needed for trust to be built, before they would open up and tell us about their real needs, the conflicts in their churches, the problems in their marriages, the brokenness in their families.”
Trust was a two-way street, the couple realized. Even as the church leaders began to invite Pablo to help with conflict resolution on a conference level, addressing issues of moral failure and sin, he also shared his own struggles with them.
“On a personal level, I went through a period of depression in the ministry,” he says. “I lost the joy of serving, and I needed their compassion and support.”
While life in Peru has been challenging for the Chavez family, it is also difficult for Peruvians.
“The level of suffering we witness is terrible,” Maricela says. “At least one person is dying every week. There are always so many who are sick and needing prayer. Sometimes I think that the only things that can thrive in this desert are the flies, mosquitos, lizards and scorpions. But somehow, the Peruvians persevere and grow crops here.” She pauses, pensive. “In a way, that shows their heart. They don’t give up; how could we?”
Pablo says, “These last three years have not been easy, but we didn’t choose Peru because it is easy or pretty or comfortable; we chose it because of the people. We chose to surrender, we chose to follow Jesus, we chose to serve the ones he loves.
“By God’s grace, this is what we still choose.”
This article was first published in the Fall 2025 issue of Witness magazine and is used with permission.
In her role as a writer with the Multiply Media Team, Nikki White focuses on telling stories in such a way as to mobilize prayer for mission and Multiply’s global workers. In addition to overseeing the content for the Daily Prayer Guide (DPG), White teaches workshops on intercessory prayer and personal prayer ministry.
