Peru Project - June 6-13

written on Thursday

Dear Family, Friends, and Branson Christian Church Family,

The week has been so full of new experiences.  I have been in awe of God’g revealing himself to me again in such a myriad of ways.  I have been overwhelmed with my awareness of how everything is related, at the connectedness of  of the many part parts of God’s creation.  I’ve spent a few days thinking “I scarce can take it in” and feeling that I didn’t have the words to describe what I am feeling.  Then it came to me…”How great thou art…” That melody and its words express my awe.  And thinking of that has also connected me to many of you who have a close association with that beautiful hymn.  Associations…I want you to know that my “associates,” my missions teammates on this trip have been wonderful.  I am surrounded by a group of people who DO know (KNOW, know)the “secrets”‘ of abundant life because they practice!  Prayer and scripture, “ocean devotion,” one-on-one and group time have begun and ended our very full days–days full of work and full of sharing the deepest part of ourselves.  I’ve learned  that one cannot go on a missions trip without experiencing the change that God has planned!

Que Dios te bendiga….from Punta Negra, Peru

Linda Endicott

I was so happy to be in Peru again, and to see Ola Grande! It probably helped that I literally had to run into Ola Grande when we first got here because I had to go to the bathroom so bad…but either way… haha. I am now affirmed to the truth that my Lord led me back here, even when I had other plans. God showed me that He still had Peru set before me, and He got me back here. Even though it was only the first day of work, God is already at work in my heart and in the hearts of those around me, stirring us to do things and say things for His glory. And giving us what we need to do so.

As soon as we left Ola Grande to head to Hannah’s home, we were already bombarded with a moment to trust our Lord and His hand in our mission. For some reason our bus had to stop at a check point (I still don’t get why because last year we didn’t have to…) and we got stopped for awhile. When Amy came back on the bus and said that Mike wanted us to pray, I knew that it was going to be yet another opportunity for God to prove Himself to us. He never lets me down, so as soon as we started praying I was just waiting for Mike to come back in and say that we were free to go. After the third person got to a close, sure enough, Mike came in and told us that we were good. My heart litterally jumped, because I love it so much when Jesus comes through for us, and I know He smiles when He does it, too. We later found out that our bus driver’s permit expired May 31 and that our bus was very close to being taken from us…but Mike was prompted to tell us to pray. Lord, thank you for rescuing us again today, in a very tangible way.

Another moment when I saw God’s hand today was during our work. Jerry (aka Herry b/c the Peruvians can’t pronounce J’s) and I didn’t have any shoes because they were in our suitcases, so because of safety we got our job switched from constuction to painting at Hogar de Ninos. About halfway through our day, we finally figured out another reason why God decided to have our suitcases take a detour. Jerry, Annessa, Eli and I were painting the top of the orphanage. If we had our shoes we probably wouldn’t have had that job today, and it was such a blessing for us. We got to interact with the kids the whole day, and I met two very special boys, Jordin and Michael, who helped us paint…well they helped us paint the wall, their clothes, our faces…haha. I watched as Annessa communicated patiently with them through painting, and I was encouraged. Also, I got to play with the kids a lot and form relationships with them as their joy from the Lord overflowed from their hearts into mine. I was reminded of the beattitudes in Matthew and I watched the poor in spirit be blessed. I love it!!!

I am so excited for God to reveal the other things He has for us to do for His glory this week. I love being a part of what He is doing in Peru, and I am so blessed to be a part of a church that acts out God’s word. I love getting to know those He has also chosen to be here and I am encouraged by their stories.

If you want to laugh, listen to this story…
As I am sitting here writing this, there was a waterfall in the lobby! The tube busted out of the water box and Mike got soaked. Hahahahaha just picture it…

He is marvelous, beautiful, glorious, matchless in EVERY way. I love Him and He is the holder and the healer of my heart.

P-nut, AJ, mom, dad, Shelley, lk and hoi, shurl gurl, alis, chris, ashy…I love you and miss you. I can’t wait to tell you all He is doing in Peru.

~Kailey Jones
Psalm 37:4

Wow! What a journey! It has been such an amazing week  and God has been at work all over the place! Today the verse, His strength is made perfect in my weakness became so real to me! I woke up today and was beyond tired, after a long night and having a little bit of a upset stomach, but I knew there was a mission to be accomplished today. As we started out the work day I was trying to think of how I was going to make it through the day and it was at that point Iwas asked to work on filling the huge hole up with dirt! I couldn’t imagine how I was going to do that, and in that moment God reminded me that it’s in my weakness that He is strong! At the end of the work day I praised God because I know that only through His strength did we finish working on our digging/filling project and were able to Praise God for being so faithful! What a mighty God we serve!!!!!

Robin Marsh

So much has happened but I have to pick one thing to blog about. I want everyone to know about these teens on this team! Eli, Ashton, Dakota and Caleb! VBS has been incredibly AWESOME and these teens have really made it with their drama in the skits and just watching their fearlessness as they love on the children of Peru and as they step out of their comfort zone. These teens have not complained one time about anything. Every day our bus gets stopped at the check point and we have to pray through it and God shows His Glory and Power EVERY time! It has been a pretty lengthy stop most days and again NO COMPLAINING from anyone, nope not even the teens! I know WOW!!!

It is all God, I have NEVER been around teens this long and see them get along so well. These kids have worked just as hard as the adults and kept up with us every step of the way. Eli is quite the preacher! Bill be ready to spend some time with this one! He thinks you are great!

The one thing I want to say is that yesterday I was working on digging a 4×4 hole for a water pump.  Ashton was on my team and Caleb came along to help out. I was taking the wheel barrel to dump the dirt and as I was returning I heard Ashton and Caleb talking about the work, not sure what they were talking about it but I heard one of them say: “Well it’s for Jesus so we will just keep working!” That moment in my heart I knew there was still hope for our future!

I love you Ashton, Eli, Dakota and Claeb! Keep on serving Jesus!

Carolyn

I am going to blog about yesterday because it was one of my very favorite days in Peru ever!  I felt pride, I felt humbled, I felt confirmed, and I felt renewed.  Marching in the parade was an amazing experience that I will not forget.  It was such a privelege to be a positive representative of our country and of God.  The government leaders of Chilca were so welcoming to us and openly complemented us in the middle of the parade over a loudspeaker for the work we were doing to help their country.  Wow!  What a God moment!  Another God moment occured at Shalom later in the evening.  I was asked to give my testimony, and I felt so inspired by this trip that I chose to use my testimony to rededicate myself to Christ.  God has been working in my life in so many exciting ways this week.  I love the Peruvian people and their loving hearts.  I love this team and the way we support and encourage one another.  I love this place where God has given us so many opportunities to do his work and help others.  In the spirit of this environment, I felt it was the perfect time and place to make a promise to God with my whole heart.  I feel renewed and my heart is full!  God is good!

~Amy D.~

There is no words to put to describe all God is doing here. For those of you who have experienced a missions trip, you know what I mean. It is a completely different perspective on the leadership side of missions. It is something that you can’t explain until you have experienced it for yourself. You prepare and pray and expect God to do great things… and now I have learned, you wait and you leave the rest to God.

 I can understand the verse in 1 John where it says I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. My joy on this trip has seeing this team come alive to God and to see the light bulbs going off. I have heard so many awesome stories of God’s working in hearts and it blows me away because it is proof that the God we serve is ALIVE and is MOVING in the hearts of every person on this team.

Our days have been so full…full of ups and downs. I have never been on a missions trip where there has been SO MANY obstacles….literally. We have gotten stopped EVERY DAY at a bus checkpoint….and we just start praying once we get there….we had the bus get stuck in the sand today after arriving at VBS….we have seen God work in every obstacle and I believe they have all been to force us to point our eyes to OUR HELP….HIM!

Today was a great day finishing up some projects at Hannah’s Hope, we had an awesome time at VBS…and I even got to give some haircuts today!

After the bus got stuck just after arriving at the VBS site, we began to go into the villages and invite the ninos to come…30 minutes later when Amy Delaney was leading the children in prayer, I looked up to see…”Bus Driver…MOVE THAT BUS!”  God moved our bus out of the sand! Awesome!

There are so many stories I could share…but I will leave them to my team to share when we arrive at home…God is moving…so please be ready to listen! I am amazed at the youth of our team. They all have made me so proud. Do you know what a joy it is to see teenagers sitting on the beach at 7:30 in the morning Bibles open and pens writing….tell me God’s not working! They all have SHINED Christ brightly! They are eager to help, Caleb and Dakota were inviting the kids to VBS IN SPANISH through the microphones today….that brought a huge smile to my face! I am so proud of each of them….they are connecting with the children…and with the team…it’s O mazing!

WE are having a blast and I know as much as we are missing loved ones…we don’t want to leave! Thank you all for your prayers! We love you all!!!

Amy Hayward

Well today i had the time of my life!  I started my day by having a prayer in my bed,and one of the things i asked god for was to help me get more close to the chilldren and to help me have the strength to dig the swimming pool. well when we arrived to the vbs location i felt soo happy! i didnt think i would be that good about communicating but luckly there are translaters. So there i was acting for the little children for god,i didnt know how much fun that would be until i did it, and usually i am not that good at acting but i feel so welcome here with my church family, that i wont get juged on what i do or what i wear or anything,thats why i love it here.the little kids dont care what you wear or do. They just love it that your servin god and havin fun. i am soo glad that god choose me to be on this mission trip,the thing that i love is that god doesnt choose random, so he put me on this trip for something. And that is what i am trying to find., so god, give me your eyes!

                                                 -caleb batson

Today has been an incredible day and it is not over yet, tonight we are going to church at Shalom in Lima. Today we had an incredible Ocean Devotion where each of us spoke about we praise God for. I praised him for the ability to get away and serve the same God we all know and Love in a foreign land. Also for the ability to focus on what God has to show us with out all of the normal distractions we have every day at home. 15 of us had the opportunity to march in front dignitaries of the city of Chilca Peru to celebrate flag day. I never knew it was so difficult to get 15 people to due a true military march in unision. I had the privilege of leading the group carrying the Red White and Blue. It was really special to me because I am extra proud of the flag, since I was born on Inedpendence Day.I had to even salute the Peruvian dignitaries when we passed by and yell “America Salute’”. i was actually told to roar like a lion LOL. We are all have a great time learning what God has to show us in our activities and Loving on each other and those we come in contact with.

Serving the Lord with a Big Smile!

Robby

whhoo weeee today was an awesome day I worked On digging the swimming pool(AKA: hole to bury the rubble sitting around Hannah’s hope) . After the people that went to VBS (NOT ME) I  luckly got to Participate in THE FOAM CREW !!!!!! Because I was the only swimming pool digger that didn’t get to go to VBS But Anyways we get to go to church tomorrow where they Have service and then move the chairs and lower down the disco ball . Can’t wait to experience tomorrow .               

                                                                            Sincerely, Dakota Thurn

                                                                                  P.S Im doing Good Mom

Relationships over finicial gain….that was my lesson for the day. Going into a small peru village and seeing such smiles and such love on such poverty. AMAZING!!  The people of this village have close to nothing to speak of when it comes to material but they have so much love for thier neighbors it is inspiring.  I have been able to get to know some of the ladies here and have had so much fun doing so, Jeri Dawn, Maryand I are rooming togather and it has been one laugh to another.  We finnaly got our laugauge when we got back from our work today.  So many lessons in the lauguage not being with us. Of course there is the lesson in re thinking what is truely a need, but the lesson I am taking is it’s not about just one of us it’s about working together as a team, one of us alone can’t do the job that the team can do together. This team has looked out for each other and offered supplies we were missing because of the laugage being gone. Of course there is also the lesson of patience, God will Provide but it may not be on your time. I miss my kids and my husband Doug, but I am having such a good time. I feel like God is truely giving back to me parts of me I have lost along the way and it’s only the 2nd night, I can’t wait to see what the rest of the week has to hold….

Kristal Benjamin