Peru Project

I cannot describe the Compassion Child Day better than Aaron did before me, so I will focus on something else. This is the first time I´ve had a chance to blog during the whole week and can´t wait to get home just so I can take the time to read all of the blogs and read the comments. Please know your thoughts and prayers are felt and God is doing some awesome work through your efforts.

I will comment for the people who visited someone else´s Compassion Child, like Melissa and I did. What an honor! If you ever get the chance to go on a mission trip and you are not sponsoring someone in the country you are traveling too, please visit for someone else who cannot travel. The children and parents could not express how appreciative they were for the opportunity. They feel so much closer to their own sponsors because of it, plus feel they have gained new friends in the process. Their hearts are full of love and they know they are well taken care of by, not only God, but by people who care enough to send someone else to visit and make wonderful memories for them and their children. We were truly blessed today and I know I can speak for all of the stand-in sponsors when I say THANK YOU for allowing us to be you for a day!

We ended the day by coming straight back to our Hostel and eating dinner. I´ll let each person explain what Coy is when they return, if you are not familiar with the dish. It really was pretty good, but probably not something I would order on purpose.

After dinner we all headed out to the beach and sat and debriefed the day and our trip around a huge bonfire. What a wonderful opportunity to share the days experiences and grow closer to God in the process, while listening to the fire crackle and the ocean waves in the background. It was a very special time for all. Even though we are glad to be coming home, we are also sad to be leaving a beautiful country and people and relationships that will stay in our hearts and minds for a lifetime. Sitting around the bonfire we all gave a word that described our experience. Well, some of us gave more than a word, but Timmy and Travis we won´t mention. LOL Anyway, one of the words repeated was the word HOPE, so I leave you with this verse and thought. Ps. 68:34-35
Proclaim the power of God, whose majesty is over Israel, whose power is in the skies. You are awesome, O God, in your sanctuary; the God of Isreal gives power and strength to his people. Praise be to God!

When we consider all God has done for us, we should feel an overwhelming sense of awe as we kneel before the Lord in his sanctuary. The earth, and yes even in Peru, surrounds us with countless signs of God´s wonderful power. His unlimited power and unspeakable majesty leave us breathless in his presence. How fortunate we are that God cares for us. After a whole week of working with God´s people and uniting two churches who come from two different states, we can now all see how God unites us to come and give hope to a people who so desperately need it. I pray that you can join the team next time, but if you cannot, please take that love of God and spread Hope where ever you are.

God bless and Goodnight from Peru.

There was much anxiety, anticipation and excitement on the bus ride to El Pueblo. I’m not sure which bus had more, the sponsors or the kids. The children traveled from as many as 4 to 12 hours away. There was a lot of firsts for the kids today. First time leaving their villages, drinking an entire bottle on Inca Kola all by themselves and even eating ice cream. Things we take for granted. And of course, the first and maybe only time of meeting their Compassion sponsors. As the kids bus approached, the smiles and nervousness grew, but as each kid got off the bus deeper relationships immediately began to develop. The barriers that you would think would separate them where non existent. Love transcended it all. Laughing, hugging, playing, praying, crying and reflecting are words that describe the day, but most of all the word compassion properly summarizes what the day held. Praise God for when compassion flows. Without it this day would have never happened.

Wednesday was a very busy day, but filled with so many blessings. I spent half the day hanging drywall at Hannah’s Hope. I worked with Jeff, from Ni River. In the afternoon, I went with the Ni River folks to a village nearby and put on a VBS for the children there. I was asked to give the message of Jesus Christ to the children at the village. It was a lot of fun. We had about 90 kids show up. It was very cool to see all of them having fun and doing crafts.

The best part of our day was after dinner. All of our grouped packed up and traveled into downtown Lima to go to a Wednesday Night Church Service. We went to a church called Shalom. During the worship time there, they played, “Open the Eyes to My Heart Lord.” It was awsome. Two countries with two different languages singing praises to one God. All I can say is, Wow! After church we headed home and finally rolled back to the hotel at around 11:30. We were all exausted, but thankful to God for such a great day.

So now I know why people come to Peru and can´t describe what the trip was like for them. A small group oif us went to see Cynthia today and it blew my mind. I had never met her before but was able to go because my family helps to sponsor her. The minute she saw Travis, the tears began for all of us. He received a bone crushing hug and then she got the rest of us too. It was amazing to talk to her and see her progress from neing in this program. My heart was touched today and I felt truly blessed to be included in this visit. God had big plans for this girl and I don´t think she even realizes it yet. I will also get to see my boy Jose tomorrow at the orphanage. If he could come home with me, I would adopt him in a second. But I will settle for one more hug before I leave them. I hope you all are well and we miss you so much!

Jaime Henning

Today we woke up to a devotional Rick from River Tree had prepared for us. It was a worksheet with different bible verses to look up and questions to ponder. It was nice to think about the things being asked on the worksheet he gave us, though i struggled with answers to questions like- What is it that you can hear God telling you he likes about you, and What do you do in your life that is pleasing to him? Breakfast followed; including scrambled eggs, biscuits with jelly and butter, coffee and juice. It was absolutley delicious. Something that always amazes me is that when Im here I can be completely full after such a small breakfast here yet its never enough at home, even after ordering everything on the menu at Cracker Barrel. We loaded the bus and rode to Hannah’s Home again and began our jobs. I have been working with the rubble team this week, digging holes and filling them with the various piles of rubble around the building. Its amazing how God gives me the energy to do such hard work here. Id quit after 30 minutes at home. I love how hard Im working however, i feel like Im fulfilling my purpose here. Im not into that girlie type work like cleaning and inventory haha. We finished clearing the rubble today. (three holes later – being 4 to 5 feet deep and maybe 10ft by 5ft wide) Im so proud of the group im working with. The rubble we’re burrying will make room for the soccer and volleyball fields for the kids. We knocked out three holes and three piles of rubble in two days! (the rubble including big rocks and bricks by the way) Everytime Im here God always amazes me with the people I see and the amount of work he gives me the strength and willpower to do. I also went to teach the 4th grade Children at the orpanage some english. Amanda, Christina (our trandlator) and I ran the class of about ten kids. It was alot of fun. Thos kids are very smart and know alot more than we expected. We’re about to eat dinner and head to church though so I have to go. I hope everyone at home is doing well. I miss you Grandma, Grandpa, Mom and Erin. See you guys soon

-Corinne Eastman

Today I started by working on removing some of the damaged drywall. It was taking a while to do but we about got it all done. After lunch a group of us went and did vbs. We went around the community and gathered kids around. We all were wearing funny hats and clapping. It was defiantly a different experience. But it was a lot of fun and a great time. Sense I’ve been down here we’ve been working relay hard. But I keep picturing the kids faces playing soccer on the field and it makes all of the work worth it. And to know that Gods letting me be a part of this bigger picture down here blows me away!!

Eddie Papp

Hello Families and Friends!

We love you and miss you all mucho! Today was a busy day. I somehow got sick on Monday and was out for the day, so today was my first day out and I enjoyed it. After eating onlybread for the last day or so to settle my stomach, I ate 3 1/2 sandwiches at lunch….the team decided I could handle manual labor. I joined a team digging holes and dumping rubble in them at Hannah´s Home to make the ground level for a soccer field one day. Tough work but I had a blast. The team is so funny and can keep you entertained for hours.

 We then had a team go to Hogar de Ninos to teach English classes for grades 1-6. Hannah and I had 2nd grade. We taught them the alphabet and the head, shoulders, knees, and toes song. They loved it. I thought it would be so hard to communicate with the children but somehow it just works.

 When I came into the classroom there was a 7 y/o girl crying. I instantly sat down next to her and could only remember, ¨Que?¨ She began murmuring a ton of words that I had no understanding of, but she pointed to a little boy so I of course assumed he had been teasing her. I held her hand and said ¨Bonita¨while pointing at her. The tears stopped and a huge smile was on her face, followed by a giant hug for me! I asked, ¨Como te llama?¨ and she replied, ¨Paloma.¨ It made my heart melt that I could understand her even a little and put a smile on her face.

After lunch we had VBS in the community and had so many kids show up I lost count. They had a blast dancing and singing and watching Travis and Timmy be silly. Who doesn´t?

The work at the home is going so well, it amazes me the amount of strength we have as a team. You should all be very proud of your loved ones. I am!

Kisses and Hugs to everyone! Buenos Noches!

-Sam Law

You know, sometimes I am not sure what I want to do in life, where I want to go. But today changed that. At about 10:30 am or so I went and loved on some kids and taught some English to 1st graders, and let me tell you… I LOVED it. They are sweet and loving as well as ready to learn. It makes me happy to make others happy. So today I decided I am going to love on everybody from little kids to old ( but sweet ) folks. Thank you Lord for the things you give us, ESPECIALLY your wonderful wisdom and insite. Love- Melissa Allen

Wow, what a day.  Today was the first VBS that was put on by Ni River for the week.  One of their team got sick, and they asked Rivertree if they could help out.  Before I came down to Peru, I was hoping to be a part of a VBS, so I jumped at this opportunity.  I was so out of my comfort zone, but God revealed Himself not only to me, but everyone that was there.  God showed me why I was on this mission trip.  We need to break out of our comfort zone to truly reach people.

Those kids at VBS were awesome, I can’t put it any other way.  They loved the fact that we were being silly and crazy.  They knew the minute they met us, we were real and they were very willing to listen to what we had to say.  The Ni River team was incredible.  The love they showed those kids was amazing.  The kids wanted to dance with us, they wanted to laugh with us and they wanted to pray with us.  It started out with about 12 kids, and we ended up with over 50.  God is AWESOME!!!!  And the greatest part was at the end.  They wanted to hug us and kiss us.  They didn’t want us to leave, and we truly didn’t want to leave them.

Pray for these kids and their parents that God moves in their hearts and they continue to follow God.  What is happening here is real and awesome.  God is here, there is no doubt about that!!

Steve Rampa

This is the thirteen year old talking Today we went to Hannah´s Home (conveintly named). We all got ¨voluntold¨ our  jobs….i got inventory. Which is way harder than i thought it would be. After about an hour a lady named Julia and her son Emanuel came to Hannah´s Home seeking medical attention from our lovely translator Diana. One of the Ohio people (Kevin) let me pray with her. Right at the begining she started crying. It really touched my heart. Then afterwards i went and hugged her. Then she left and we went back to our jobs. After about another hour people  volunteered to teach the kids at Hogar de Niños. Rachel was my partner. We had a second grade glass. After we completly failed at teaching….. we went back to our jobs and that was the day

Hannah Oltman

And now this is the 16 year old, Amanda Today was a long day at work, but it went by fast and we all made it really fun! As Hammah said above…we were ´volntold´our jobs. I worked on building skaffeling(spelling?) with about 3 other people. It was a lot of hammering, that led to a lot of blisters haha, and finished all 12 of them. It was actually very fun, and I met quite a few new people…it was great! A lot of people went to teach the kids english, but I stayed at Hannah´s Home to keep builiding…we were running low on people to help. Also a group had VBS today(vacation bible school), which my group has tomorrow. I figure Ill spend my day tomorrow more with the kids, which I know will be a blast! THe sights are simply beautiful here, in such a different way from the U.S. I love it! I love the people(they´re SO friendly), and the cute little bodegas(small shop, kinda similar to our 7 eleven.) The hostal were staying at, Ola Grande, is amazing as well. The beach is such a sight, especially at sunset and night when the lights around town are all lit up. Peru is beautiful, and day 2 has been the best! O cant wait for day 3

Amanda Hathaway