Sarah's Story

Sarah Doucet was only 11 years old when God whispered a call to her soul. Missionaries to Peru were visiting her home church and sharing about their ministry with the congregation. Though she was just a little girl, Sarah was confident that God was calling her to Peru to share his love with the poor and the broken. Not knowing how or when this would happen, Sarah waited with the faith of a child.

And as she did, God began to cultivate a love for the nation of Peru within her heart. Sarah spent more than 10 years pouring out her prayers for Peruvians, and when she learned that she’d been assigned to minister in Peru for her in-field TREK experience, she cried. Though this would be her third time to Peru, Sarah would soon discover that the journey back to her beloved country was just the beginning of a brand new love story that God was about to write.

God has carried Sarah through the various struggles of her life and brought healing to the pain of growing up without a father. But when she arrived back on Peruvian soil, God began to show her something different – his Father heart – a side of God that she never fully understood, and a love that she didn’t realize was so deep or so special.

Pastor Jano Lopez and his wife Angelita welcomed all six TREKers – five girls and one guy – into their home and their hearts for three and a half months of ministry in Lima, Peru. Right away the pastor and his wife asked the group to call them “mami” and “pappi.” Of Pastor Jano’s role in her life, she says, “I needed to hear ‘You’re my beautiful daughter and I love you.’ Every time he said it I felt it from God too.”

But what God really did for Sarah is open up her heart to have the capacity to love many. Every day they were meeting new people – pastors, children, and youth. The needs were great and oftentimes overwhelming. But she felt such love for the people. She had prayed the promises of Isaiah 54, that God would enlarge the place of her tent and stretch her tent curtains wide. This is what she felt God was doing to her heart. He was pouring His love into her so that she could embrace it and pour it out on more people. It was in those moments when she was holding a baby in her arms, or watching women singing worship songs to a God that they might not know, that her heart would burst with love. God enlarged Sarah’s heart, and she learned to love to the deepest capacity that He gave her.

Understanding the Father’s love has brought new life into Sarah’s heart. Loving the Peruvians with God’s immeasurable love has been a joyful and painful process.  When she left Peru she felt like she still had a lot of loving left to do. Though it hurt to leave, loving deeply was worth it. Sarah knows that God’s spirit is still alive and at work in Peru, and that He’s continuing what started.  She hopes to continue there with Him one day.