Peru

The last blog series fell by the way side because no one commented. How childish I am. This Bog is so that I can hear myself think not so that I can have comments feed my ego. : )

The month of December was a journey to remember. We went on a mission trip to Peru. I think back to how I worried about everything before we left. What else do I need to bring with us? That was a constant thought as though I couldn't live with out my stuff here. The majority of my thoughts and worries were about safety. Read some of the reports about Lima Peru on the internet and you will understand what I was worried about. I also worried about getting sick from the food, water, air, whatever! It is good to have a good dose of preparedness mixed with a sense of reality, but I fret over what is unknown to me so much. It was how I expressed my apprehension and excited anticipation about the trip. So with all of my little bottles of everything we could possibly need pharmaceutically and enough probiotics, and airborne in my system for the last two weeks we set off on our adventure.

(I don't think John worried about anything having been on two mission trips previously.)

It was an amazing time. There was a group of 35 of us from Wisconsin that went. We only knew 8 of the group prior to going because they were pastors from the conference. It was great to see everyone's excitement and hear stories about how people were able to raise the funds to go by rummage sales and gifts from church family. When there is a will and determination to go, the funds will come because of generous people and God's desire to get us there. We quickly became a family of friends. We had the group buddy system for safety wherever we went. We had a few extra days to "relax" and prepare for the meetings to start so that lent itself for us to be brave and explore a little in Miraflores where our hotel was located. Those were some fun adventures laughing with new friends.

the first Saturday we met our translator, Sandra and our host pastor, Ronald. There are 5 churches in his district and so we visited each one encouraging the people to bring their neighbors and friends to the meetings starting the next night. Everyone was so happy that we had come and waved enthusiastically and shook our hands or hugged us. We saw the site that we would be doing the meetings and met the sweet lady who was donating her home to start this new church. We let go of most of our fears of the unknown that day. We already knew who was at work here.

Each night we were enthusiastically greeted. Many came because they wanted to hear the health messages that I presented, but they got more than that. They heard John speak next of Jesus's love and desire for their lives and people were changed that week. I had only prepared for giving health messages, but God had a bigger plan for me. The pastor begged me to do something for the children so on the second night I started sharing with the kids after I shared the health topic. The children shared with me. I was so glad that I didn't say no to God and his reminder that I was there to help and serve. I was reminded that I didn't have to have a big production, but needed to have a genuine smile and heart for the children. They loved acting out bible stories, singing songs in english, teaching me songs in spanish and loved the crafts that I scrounged up for them. They loved the tall white, blue eyed girl from Wisconsin that came to spend time with them.

The new church was dedicated at the end of the meetings. 10 people gave their lives to Jesus and 10 people dedicated themselves to serve as mentors to them in this new beginning for the neighborhood that knows of pickpockets, other forms of theft and prostitution. It was hard to say goodbye to this group of people who had accepted us as family. They are family, in the family of God, miles away.

Oh how I loved coming back to the hotel each night to hear about all of the other teams experiences in their churches. We all had the shared excitement of seeing people take a step forward to accept a new life. We were all safe during our whole journey, and most of us didn't get sick. Most of us left with the question of wonder of where God will send us next.