Peru Project - May 19-29

Today was a full day.  I went with four others from ACF, Toni Kay, and Mario on a prayer walk around 15 de Enero (a town that is literally called “the 15th of January.)  We went door to door to invite people to attend VBS later in the afternoon.  Mario seized every open door as an opportunity to talk to people about Jesus, and find out if they know Him as their personal savior.  And he got us involved :)  It was an incredible and eye opening experience.

At one house, a teenaged girl invited Mario, Blake, and myself inside to pray.  Her grandmother told us that the girl experienced severe migraines and often had to remain indoors because of the pain sunlight brings her.  Mario asked me to pray with her, and I did.  I realize she couldn’t understand what I was saying since we didn’t have a translator and Mario’s english is a little rough, but tears rolled down her cheeks as we prayed for healing.  I hugged her for a long time, and Mario prayed with her as she asked Jesus to come into her life.  I left the house crying, and incredibly touched by the experience.

~Megan

This morning I woke up with an amazing sense of peace and I felt like God had great things in store for us today. Our group was given the amazing opportunity to attend Pastor Jorge’s church. It was like nothing I have ever experienced before. The congragation sang songs in spanish with more enthusiasm than I have ever witnessed in a church. They have so little compared to me, but their joy and love was overflowing. Pastor Jorge preached about family relationships and what role husbands and wives should have. With the help of J.P (our friend and translator) the message was made clear to us and he added some humor to make us laugh. After church we loaded up into our van to head back to Ola Grande before lunch, but our van wouldn’t start. We took a moment to pray for the van and after a few minutes it was running and we were on our way. It is amazing to witness God’s work around us.  We made a quick stop at Ola Grande to change and get ready for our lunch outing. Lunch was a great experience full of beautiful sights and culture at El Sol, a cafe in Pucasana. After lunch we went on an outing that excited the inner history lover in me. We went to Pachamanca to see some amazing ruins dedicated to the sun god where sarifices were made and where other temples were located. We finished up the day dinner from Pizza Hut and some games and great stories. This trip had been so much more than just a mission trip to work on an orphanage. It has been full of surprises, joy and love. I don’t think anyone will come home unchanged.

~Ashley~

This morning, it was hard for me to wake up, because I had stayed up late playing games and didn’t sleep much, but if I had only known what God had in store for me today, I would have bolted out of bed.  We jumped in our two vans as usual and headed to Pastor Jorge’s church in preparation for a day of games, music, and Vacation Bible School activities for more than a hundred children.  Pastor Jorge introduced us to the youth group and prayed over our day.  Many of the children had already arrived, but instead of immediately playing with them, a bunch of us went to the “mercado” or market, to invite children to spend the day with us. Or so we thought.  After greeting a woman at her stand, Mario began telling her that these students traveled all the way from the US, during their summer vacation, to visit and share a special message with her.  With that, he asked one of us to share our testimony and relationship with Jesus.  Dina was with us to translate from English to Spanish, and soon Mario indicated to us that she wanted us to pray a salvation prayer with her.  We traveled from stand to stand, praying with the owners.  At one stand, Mario introduced us, and then asked me to share my testimony and pray with the five women at that stand.  I felt incredibly nervous, because I could not remember ever sharing something so personal with people I did not know, and especially to those who spoke a different language! But the Holy Spirit gave me the words to say, and afterward I felt so moved that I felt my eyes welling up.  Even if the people we shared with did not truly accept Jesus that day, at least the seeds of the Gospel were planted.  After returning from the market, a little girl grabbed my hand, saying, “como te llamas?”  And I replied, “Laura.”  From the moment on, she scarcely let go of my hand.  We communicated in what little Spanish I could understand, and she was always patient with me, and laughed as it took me about twenty tries to pronounce the word for bubble.  Whenever I went away to complete another task, I looked back to see her shyly smiling at me. When we watched the volleyball and soccer games, I looked down to see our hands, white and brown skin intertwined, and realized a hint of the depth of God’s love, breaking through all cultural and racial barriers.  The love nine-year-old Stephanie, as well as many of the other children, showed me, was unlike any I had ever experienced before.  I saw God today, and I was changed.

Yesterday morning at about 10:00 five of the team went with us to two schools in Benjamin to make invitations for volleyball and soccer competitions today. The two schools will play each other in two games each, and then the winner will play a team of “Gringos” :-). We made invitations in almost 30 different classrooms at the two schools focusing on the high school students. Please pray for the opportunity that we have today to show Christ’s love and deliver His word to this age group that is often hard to reach in any place. God’s hand is evident that it would be a group of college students to speak to them about a relationship with Jesus. I believe God has prepared some hearts to receive Jesus today. Pray with us!!

The team met the children at Hogar de Ninos yesterday afternoon and spent an hour of free play time with them. The children had a game going with Brandon playing the role of abuelito, “little grandpa”. He ran around with a knit hat on trying to catch everyone. Then everyone took turns playing abuelito. I was so blessed by the smiles and laughter. I remember the days when Brandon barely smiled at all.

Today Jordan, Heather and I volunteered to do some painting at Hogar and we had barely started working before kids streamed out of the classrooms into the courtyard area where we were working for their recess.  There is a small playground for the kids to play on and as I was painting a wall with my back to the toys, I heard a little voice calling Mira Mira!, which means look look! A little boy was perched at the top of the slide calling for me to watch what he could do.  He proceeded to go down the slide head first, which made the mother in me say “oh dear..this is not a good idea…”  But at the bottom of the slide where he safely landed, he looked up at me, big smile on his face, looking for approval from me.  It was touching to know that even though I was a stranger, this little boy, whose name I don’t even know wanted to share something he was proud of with me.  The sounds of the ninos playing, shouting, laughing was the soundtrack to our painting.  We went there to to a service for Hogar, but were actually blessed by children wanting to be with us, hug us, kiss us, talk to us.  It was a great reminder of why I’m here.  Sometimes I get sidetracked by my own ambitions.  I love photography and making images, especially when it involves service.  But it can be easy to focus on getting the images I want instead of on things that are more important in the larger scheme of things.  I feel like God has called me to use photography for His glory and I know from experience that He provides great photo ops for me, but really I’m here to love the kids I meet and help make a home for ones I never will.  And so today God told me, it’s ok to put down my paintbrush, or my camera.  Sometimes it’s more important to watch a little boy go down the slide.

Kerry

The day begins early, Heather and Kerry paint at Hogar de Ninos while Brother Felix gives his thumbs up. The rest of the team are back at sidewalk digging, window framing, and more. A few of us will go out this morning into two local schools to invite the children to come on Saturday for a soccer and volleyball match in the morning and VBS in the afternoon. We are going to be working with the youth at Pastor Jorge’s church to do the VBS on Saturday.

Hola!  Today was our first day of work on Hannah’s Hope.  We split into three groups; my group worked on leveling the ground for the sidewalk, and the other two groups worked on the actual structure, studding the walls and putting in window frames.  Here’s how the orphanage looks so far:

Here’s what my team did ALL day:

We finished leveling the ground, and after a little more work tomorrow morning, we should be ready to fill it in with concrete for the sidewalk :)  We have a lot of fun working together, which helps to make the digging go by faster.  Luckily it was cooler today, so that made shoveling a lot easier.

My favorite part of today was actually after we finished working and were cleaning up the site.  I was on the second floor of the orphanage watching as my peers finished their work.  As I looked around, I could see how the different rooms are laid out, and I started to imagine what it may look like when children live in them. I wish I was able to capture what the moment felt like to me, but words fail me at the moment.

God is moving in powerful, beautiful ways here.

Saludos de Peru! Today was our first day on our mission trip and I can feel the excitement radiating off of everyone. After a long flight, we arrived at Ola Grande around 3 in the morning and went straight to bed. Luckily we were allowed to sleep in this morning and then we were off to tour some of the communities we would be ministering to and to see Hannah’s Home/Hope, the site where we will be working. We also went to the home of Gisella and Mario, missionaries who are planning to build an orphanage, a retirement home, and a retreat center in the complex they own. God is already at work here and we are here to continue his plans. Although, I came to Chilca last summer and there are many familar faces and places, I know God will be at work, teaching me and leading me in new directions. I know my faith will be strengthened, but also tested on this trip and I cannot wait for it to begin!

~Heather