Today Was NOT "Ratchet"

I am traveling with teenagers. Sigh... there was a LOT of use of the words "sketch", "totes", "adorbs", and "ratchet". The blog post title was a challenge from the team. They didn't believe I would do it. Wrong. On with the real post -

Today was AWESOME! God blessed us so immensely. Our first stop was in Carhua, and to be honest, we didn't expect much. This is typically a holiday from school and there aren't many children there. We drove in and school was open!! OPEN! The teachers welcomed us in, allowed us to teach our entire lesson on the Prodigal Son, do the craft, and play some games. There were 15 kids. Members of the team had the chance to talk with the PE teacher and discover that she attends a Baptist church in Lima. I also had the chance to chat with one of the secondary teachers about the differences between our church and the Catholic church. The kiddos are very excited that we're coming back the next few days!

After a picnic lunch by the river, we headed to Lachaqui. We headed straight to our friend Dulia's class. I got a bit "misty" when I walked in and a bunch of kids yelled "CANDI!!!" and ran for hugs. Life is good. She invited us to come teach our lesson a bit later in the afternoon so we could have more kids than just her class. Since we had some time on our hands, we went into the plaza to find some of the families Parkway has worked with before. First, we visited with a family that our mid-term team invested heavily in - Zoraida, Jaimito, and Carlos. Today we were able to deliver some devotional and study materials they had wanted, as well as some pictures that Ben took. They were so tickled with the photos of their birthday celebrations! In a gesture of thanks, they gave us a 3 liter bottle of Inka Cola. :) The best news of all is that they have been continuing their Bible study three nights a week!!! We have been invited to join them tomorrow night as they continue through the book of John. We also visited with Elsa, who runs a restaurant two doors down. She is cooking chicken soup for our lunch tomorrow, so we will get to spend some more time with her. Our time with the Lachaqui kids was good as well, and our trip down the mountain was smooth and full of laughter.

Speaking of laughter, our team is a RIOT! I have laughed more today than I have in a long time. God is also blessing us with a fellowship that is out of this world. We have flowed seamlessly from conversations about the grace of the Lord to playing a game about death row - what would our crime be and what would our last meal be. Seriously, crazy stuff happening south of the equator.

Please keep praying for us! It makes such a difference. Specific prayer points include our health (we have had small amounts of headaches, etc.), the openness of the children to our stories tomorrow, and for God to move mightily in the Bible study tomorrow night.

Until the next update...I hope your day was not at all sketch and that your tomorrow is totes fab. (pray for me - I threatened that my death row crime was beating a slang-using teen to death with a proper English dictionary!)

On the Mountain Again!

**I promise to come back and add pictures later. I'm having connectivity issues and pictures take too much broadband.

We had a fantastic day of travel, even though one plane was delayed due to a thunderstorm. We were kind of bummed at first that our seats were all spread out on both flights, but God had plans. As always. We had many opportunities to talk with people around us - about life, ourselves, our church, our beliefs, our Jesus. A very tired crew rolled into the hotel in Lima and got some sleep. :)

Today was the day to travel up the mountain to our base village, Canta. I love this day so much! The first thing that happens is a reunion. I get to see my Peruvian sister, Eva (our translator), and usually at least one of our missionaries. Today it was Brett AND David. Doubly blessed. I also get the fun of introducing these precious people to my teammates. We get to go to the Peruvian grocery store. This is a double edged sword - I love to be surrounded by Peruvian food but herding a large group of people through a store is a little crazy!! We had lunch at a place called Norky's, which specializes in rotisserie chicken and fries. I skipped that and had a sampler plate, which led to some of our team trying some new things. For instance, they tried fried yucca with cheese, anticuchos (skewered beef heart), and mollejita (chicken stomach). Don't judge. Yummy comes in many forms!

The team had a smooth trip up the mountain. The road work we've complained about for a couple of years is almost complete!! HALLELUJAH!! We've checked into our hotel, walked to our friend Mercedes' store, and had a warm dinner. Nothing wild - soup and stir fry! We're all planned out and ready for ministry tomorrow. Pray for us HARD tonight and tomorrow. This is when people start to feel the effects of the altitude and we need everyone to be healthy. We also ask for prayers for the villages. Pray that there will actually be children to teach for our VBS and that our friends in Lachaqui will be excited to have Bible study together. Thank you to all of our prayer warriors out there! We need you so much!

If you need to communicate with any of us, I have my laptop at night, so you can always leave a comment here, send an email, or comment/message on Facebook. I'll update as often as possible!!

A Year Passes

I haven't blogged at all since last August. I believe I stopped mid-trip, actually. I ask forgiveness. Lots has happened since then and I will attempt to fill you in on some of it. Our trip last August had some real issues near the end, and while dealing with it, I wasn't sure how to (or even IF to) address it to the blogging world. Long story short - one of our dearest Peruvian team members began to deal with some health issues that necessitated immediate attention and some changing of plans. This was hard and scary, and through the joint effort of my awesome adult team members, we managed to shelter our young ladies from the situation. Then our plane was delayed from leaving Lima for 32 hours. Yep - THIRTY-TWO hours. There were blessings throughout the situation though. We were able to share the love of Jesus with lots of people that we met during our extended stay!

In March of 2014, Parkway sent three of our young men to live in Lachaqui for three months. We even had a short term mens team join them in April. There are many stories to tell from this experience, but that's for another time.

So here we are today. Six of us will be leaving in the morning for Peru again. Please pray for us! Pray that we will find fruit from the seeds of prior trips. Pray that we will have sustained health and strength - physical, mental, and spiritual. Pray that the hearts of the people we encounter will be open. Pray for safe travels both to and in Peru.

Thank you, friends, for being our prayer warriors for YEARS and YEARS and YEARS! We love you. I LOVE YOU!!

Tuesday - Mummies, Stoves, & Cannons

**UPDATED WITH PICS!!

Tuesday was a wonderful day. We headed up the mountain with no tire troubles! In Carhua, we had several children waiting for us when we arrived. They seem to be excited about the lessons. Mary and Emma did a great job teaching about Abraham and Isaac... and Brian and Devon made lovely actors for the story! The woman who maintains the school was speaking with Juan and I, and as she left for the fields, she gave me the keys to the school building so we can teach, play, and have access to the bathrooms there. This may seem small to you, but here, the idea that I am carrying the keys to both the community center and the school is HUGE. We have spent three years trying to build a relationship of trust here. This culture isn't "innocent until proven guilty", but instead they distrust everyone until you earn their respect. What a blessing!! With the keys, I was able to take the team into the room that stores the mummies and other historical artifacts. I don't know why, but I love this room. Others might think it macabre, but I see history and ancestors (not to be worshipped - but respected) and lost skills with the pottery, etc. I guess it's why I always wanted to be an archeologist. Anyway, it was cool.

Jim Gilstrap joined us in Carhua and will be with us for the rest of the trip. His presence is always a blessing!! He brought a three-burner gas stove with him that Parkway had purchased for the school in Lachaqui. While the girls taught their lesson, Carmen and I went on a search to find someone who could open the building so we could deliver the stove. We walked up the mountain to homes I never even knew were there!! With the help of several villagers, we found a gentleman that could open the school. Everyone who was out in the plaza saw the stove being delivered, and were very grateful. I don't say this to suggest that we did a good thing... but given the lack of engagement we have experienced here, this was good for building trust again.

**note - I'm posting this on Wednesday, so we've already slept. Here in Peru, the Incas worshipped the Inca god. Then each village had a god, each clan had a god, each family had a god, and each individual had a god. Sounds confusing to me... Anyway, when the Spanish came to conquer, they basically held guns up and said, "Become Catholic or die." They converted. Kind of. Here in Canta, the village god was pleased with noise. Now, they say that the Catholic saint they identify with is pleased with noise as well. (see how well that conversion worked??) Imagine being sound asleep and then someone shoots off a cannon in your backyard. That really gets the heart pumping.  Then the local marching band comes through and parades your neighborhood for several hours while you enjoy a fireworks show. Yeah. That was last night beginning around 4:00am. The team is tired, but laughing about it. At least the band was good!

Monday - Prayers, Praises, & Waterfalls

So the flat tire saga continues! We got up this morning to a DIFFERENT flat tire, plus the one they patched yesterday as a spare was flat again. We prayed…and headed to the tire shop. The bad news is that we had a HUGE bolt of some sort in the tire. The good news is that both tires got a new patch and they are just fine. We were a little late to Carhua, but we still had six kids show up for VBS. Devon did a great job teaching about Adam & Eve and how the devil tries to get us to stop focusing on God. We headed up to Lachaqui for the afternoon with prayers that we would have at least a few kids show up. In the end, we had four… but you know what the Bible tells us - wherever two or more are gathered in His name!!! Praises for answered prayers!! Lots of them! Tires! Kids! Health!

We had planned to stay in Lachaqui for an adult Bible study at night. Things didn't quite work out with that. We haven't been able to find any adult leaders who could give us access to a room. One of our persons of peace, Elizabeth, said that she had talked to many in the village, but they weren't interested in coming to anything we hosted unless we were bringing gifts. She wasn't even going to be able to come. In the end, we prayed and decided to come back down the mountain before it got dark. This is okay. God is still working here and our plans are not His plans.

This change in schedule gave us an hour or so of open time, so we drove past Canta a short distance and hiked over to what I call the 'little' waterfall. It was absolutely beautiful, as usual. In the spring, we can't get nearly as close to it because it is about triple in size to the picture here. In fact, there isn't a picture that can do it justice. My camera can't really capture the height of the rocks or the strength of the water. This was a great time of fellowship for the team.

Going forward, we have two more days of VBS in each village. We are planning to host an adult Bible study on Tuesday night for Carhua - and we already have a room, so maybe we will also have some people! We are headed to a new village, San Buenaventura, on Wednesday evening for a service in their new structure that a different mission team built a few weeks ago. Thursday takes us back down the mountain into Lima, and back to the orphanage for another afternoon of loving on precious babies.

Prayer points: 

• That the hearts of the people will be open to hear the gospel
• That there will be no more problems with transportation
• That the team stays healthy and strong (a few have had some altitude headaches, nausea, etc.)
• That we always, in every decision and action and word, give God the glory

Thank you to everyone who reads this! Your love and support means more than you know when we are up here. Your "likes", comments, and shares bouy our spirits when we drag our tired selves into dinner each night and check into our accounts. Love to all!!

Sunday - Kids, Tires, & Cuy

This one is going to be quick. We are up on Monday and getting prepared to head up the mountain. 

Yesterday was definitely interesting! When we arrived in Carhua, the president of the village was sitting in the plaza waiting for us. He not only allowed us to use the community center for our VBS... he gave us the key for the week!! This is a major thing as far as trust and relationships. We had 12-14 kids (we kind of lost count), a few youth, and a couple of adults. We told the story of creation, played games, and did a craft! 

Lachaqui was a bit different. We were expecting fewer people there because Sunday is typically a day for the fields. Basically, no one showed up. It's okay. We are fluid... we go with the flow. When we arrived in the plaza, we realized that we had a flat tire. The roads here are brutal! New experience - changing a tire at 12,500 feet! It was Devon's 22nd birthday - this will be one he WON'T forget!!

 At dinner, Mary was a brave soul and ordered cuy. For those of you who don't know, this is guinea pig. It is a delicacy here. They are raised only for food - not pets. Many of us have had this in the past, and she cleaned it up! It basically tastes like greasy dark meat chicken. And yes - it is served whole... head, feet, teeth, etc. :)  Welcome to Peru!

We attended the local church service in Canta with Pastor Rafael and Sister Mercedes. Even with the language barrier, it was fantastic! Pastor made the point that some day we will all be together in heaven speaking the same language, just as we all worship the same God right now! Good stuff!!

Pray for people to come today. Pray for NO MORE FLAT TIRES!! Pray for health and strength as we begin to tire from our schedule.

Love to all!!

Saturday - Visits, Donkeys, & Shopping

To all who are praying - THANK YOU!! This trip is so different than the last one! Today we went up to our two villages and prayer walked. As we went, we spoke to everyone we met, inviting them to our VBS and an adult Bible study. We met so many wonderful people and had the opportunity to pray with them.  There were people who we recognized (and who recognized us!) and there were new faces. We met a lovely lady who is eighty-eight years young and still full of fire. We also got to pray with Señora Susanna about her health and the health of her sister, Sylvia. Her picture is below. Please keep this family in your prayers. 

We had some adventures this afternoon as well. We had lunch at a favorite landmark of ours… we call it the "big rock".   

The young ladies on our team had a new experience, also. They got to ride a donkey! :)

After we returned to Canta, we walked a few blocks to the shop of a sister in Christ, Mercedes. We worked out some details regarding church services this week, as well as shopped 'til we dropped. No pictures - don't want to ruin any gift surprises. I even have an appointment with her tomorrow afternoon to learn a new crochet technique. EXCITED!!

Well, dinner is headed to the table! Keep praying! Specifically, lift up the residents of our villages, Lachaqui & Carhua - that they will come to the various activities we are providing and that their hearts will be open to hearing the Gospel.