Peru Compassion - Oct. 11th-18th

Today the Peru team had our compassion day. We had ham sandwiches for breakfast instead of the usual eggs and biscuits. The bus ride there was fast because we were all engrossed in conversation.  When the compassion kids came and saw us they were estatic. There were many things to do at the park, like bowling, playing on a jungle gym, and playing basketball. All the kids got either a back pack or a plastic box full of goodies. The kids also made t-shirts with random things on it like cars and hearts. The escorts, in my opinion, had as fun a time as the kids. Everyone had a reality shock when it was time for the compassion kids and their escorts to go. Everyone either had dust in their eyes and/or were sweating in their eyes. Some of us owned up to actually crying though. Afterwords we all, including the Petersons, Cynthia, Erica, Ricky and his wife and child, sat around a bonfire on the beach and debriefed. Cynthia shared some heart wrenching information and everyone this time owned up to crying. Leah also opened up about her life and everyone prayed for her. I realized how selfish America is compared to Peru and it is now my mission to fix that.

Well, Sue Ann reminded me as I was updating my facebook notes that we hadn´t blogged about today yet.  Tomorrow is Compassion Day so we need to get to bed early… so, forgive my rudeness and the disjointedness, but I´m going to copy and paste my facebook note so all can see what we did… btw, for those looking for photos from my blog… I haven´t had the chance to upload anything yet…

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Oh my goodness, I´m keeping the computer warm until Timmy gets back. Day 5 was awesome. I´m sore and sunburnt - but for a very good cause. If you´ve ever had to demolish a cistern with a 20 lb sledge hammer and then drag all of the rock and stuff to the far end of a property in wheelbarrows, you understand. If not, then check out the video Melissa Peterson posted [on facebook]. That hammer was heavy and silly me forgot to put on sunscreen - but at least I remembered to use Matt´s expired sunscreen once I was finally burned.

We did another VBS today. The area we were in was pretty much right next to the neighborhood Hannah´s Home and Hogar de Ninos are in. We were gather kids and had to walk up a hill. As we neared the halfway point, the shacks (by US standards) turned into little more than grass mat walls and roofs. Still, one child and his mother offered to gather all the kids from that area and bring them down. It was encouraging to see Cynthia (one of the girls who we brought groceries to the other day) really get excited about talking to folks about the VBS. She´s an amazing girl and needs direction in her life, I hope we were able to provide that and will be able to maintain that connection.

Speaking of Cynthia. I can´t remember if I left a note about our night in Lima yesterday, but we went in to go to dinner at the Pizza Hut. It was Cynthia´s first trip to a mall. Just getting her to the restaurant was pretty incredible for me… she kept wanting to look at every single store, down every hallway, in every corner and we hadn´t even made it to the restaurant from the parking lot! So, a few of us let her look but kept her pointed in at least the right direction. I was really moved to be a part of her first mall experience. Both Cynthia and Erika (her sister) were with us for dinner and the went with us to the Shalom church in Lima - or, as we´ve affectionately titled it on several trips… the Jesus disco. It was so cool to have them with us and also join us back at the hostal for the night.

This morning I was privledged to share some of my quiet time with Cynthia. She joined me down on the beach as I was getting ready to take a few pictures and I snapped a few of her. She is a beautiful girl and has so much to offer. I pray she is able to really see her inner beauty as well as her outer beauty and that we can continue to build her up.

I can honestly say that the time this afternoon after VBS with the kuda from Hogar de Ninos was priceless. Terry does a mean monkey impression and the kids are a hoot to play with.

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Peace,

Judy

Today is Weds. and we are on our way to do some more work. We are scraping paint and others are hanging dry wall and getting the Petersens home prepared. We are going to a Compassion Project 413 to visit that was so neat to see what actually happens for the children we sponser they have 185 kids at this project and they feed them lunch when they arrive after school. Most kids arrive around 1:00 pm and they stay until about 6. All the children look very happy to be there and so do the teachers in the project. The bus ride to Lima was very adventerous we were all laughing and talking and just enjoying everyones company. We went to Pizza Hut. We were able to take Erica and Cynthia with us to dinner and to the church. The mall where we ate dinner both Erica and Cynthia saw escalators for the first time. These 2 girls are so friendly and willing to help out with us while we are here.  We went to a church named Shalom. The worship part was very good we were also able to see 3 new people that were being trained to speak in front of people. The second was a youth pastor and we learned a lot from her about commitment to our family, God and work.  I am going to go for now and let someone else talk. We will see you all next week sometime keep us in your prayers and we will do the same for you. Love to you, Lia Scalph

Wow, I can’t believe our trip is more than half over!  Time goes by so fast here.  We were contemplating why we joyfully come here and work very hard on tasks we usually would not do at home.  Of course, the obvious answer is that we are doing the Lord’s work.  But other reasons would be that the work is easy to do when there are no distractions…cell phones ringing, errands to run, or jobs to go to.  It is also great when you can work side by side with your amigos, and having fun while you are doing it.

The team is currently out in the community to do another Vacation Bible School.  Lia and I both have a flu bug, and were not able to accompany them on this trip.  However, I know that they are having a great time with the kids in the community and the Hogar kids, and I am praying that some kids will come to know the Lord today.  When the tean returns, we will go across the street to play with the Hogar kids and then come back to Hannah’s Home for a delicious meal of chicken  and rice prepared by Silvia.

Tomorrow is our Compassion day….the day we get to spend with the Compassion kids that we sponsor. This will be the 4th time I have visited Michael Jordan, the second time this year…and I can’t wait to see him!  Stay tuned tomorrow as I am sure someone will tell you all about it!

Love, Penny

where do i start!  after our usual morning of eggs and rolls, with a word of encouragement from timme we were on our way to hannah´s home.  we continued working on the second floor and scraping the front wall so that it could be repainted.  after lunch, we walked down the street from hannah’s home to take groceries to erica (age 20) and cynthia’s (age 18) mom.  their mom has a brain tumor and lives as a caretaker at “the colonel’s house”.  she greeted us all at the gate with a hug and a kiss.  we all carried a bag into the very small (about 10×10) house.  it was great to be able to communicate with her through sylvia.  she told us she was doing okay, but was very worried about erica, who has had two seizures within the last week.  erica works as a nanny in lima during the week.  her employer took her to the hospital after one of the seizures and has said that she needs to have testing done within the week in order to return to work.  she needs a brain scan, glucose test and xrays.  however, payment needs to be made up front for the testing except the hospital doesn’t give the amount until you show up to be treated.  on a brighter note, mom’s face lit up when we told her that her tab at the bodega had been paid and a credit left for her to use.  we were able to pray for all three and will continue to pray for their healing.  i am continually amazed at what we are able to accomplish by focusing on what needs to be done one day at a time.  there are no distractions of all of the stuff that we have at home.  we get our jobs for the day and complete that task.  i pray that i can continue that focus when i leave peru.  –sue ann

Hello All!

Yesterday was very good God day.  After our visit with Margeretta (Erica and Cynthia’s mother) we prepared ourselves - physically and emotionally - to visit the local community surrounding Hannah’a home.  There were half of us that knew what to expect, however there were those - like myself - that had no clue.  When we arrived in the village we were instructed to gather the local kids and bring them to the center of the village for Vocational Bible School.  That was an interesting task for a couple of reasons.  For one only 3 of us could speak/understand Spanish, and two we had no clue how to play the “Pide Piper.”  Travis, being the genious that he is, started clapping and making noise, and instructed the rest of us to do the same - it worked like a charm.  Not only did we attract the attention of the kids, but we were able to summon the mothers to come with us as well.  It was awesome.  We arrived back to the center - some of us running with the kids which was a pretty cool scene - and without missing a beat began playing with the kids.  I mostly drew with a group of girls, who taught me how to say flowers (floras) and sun (sol) in Spanish.  They were so patient with my very broken Spanish and I knew they had to be giggling at me - I would have too if I were them .  After about 20 minutes of playtime we began with probably the funniest part of the VBS - mini-ministries (see Judy Thompson’s blog for pictures).  It’s hard to describe but it was absolutely hilarious.  Next was our bible story, David and Galiath - Timmy was the big, bad, and mean Galiath and Hannah was our heroic David while Sue-Ann narrorated (she did a great job).  The kids loved it!  We then asked questions about the story in our best spoken Spanish to both the kids and adults and gave prizes to those that answered correctly.  We then sang three very fun and very silly songs.  Talk about letting go of everything and just being a kid again.  I remember looking over at Travis, Timmy, Josh, Brady, and Sam - who could have been their own act - just going crazy with their dancing.  The kids and parents loved it.  I was laughing so hard it hurt.  There was one dance where we got the kids involved.  We had to hold out our arms, thumbs up, squating, sticking out tounges out all while dancing back in forth - the kids did a better job at it then we did.  It was hilarious!!!  Travis did the Salvation message - which he did a truely awesome job at.  As Penny would say, there was a definit God moment there.   The one thing that stuck out in my mind were these two teenage boys that came up and stood next to me.  They stood and listened to every word Travis was saying.  I don’t know if they prayed about asking Jesus into their heart, but I really feel Travis planted a seed there.  I only wish I could speak better Spanish just so I could talk with them and ask them about theirselves.  When it did come time to saying the prayer I remember looking around and hearing all the little voices repeating after Travis - another awesome God moment.  Greg had told the group later that he saw a couple of the mothers praying for Jesus as well.  I could feel the hair stand up on the back of my head - my way of knowing that God was saying hi.  We then did crafts with the kids, however some of us - including myself - helped with giving the mothers manicures.  The best part of that was Greg letting use him as a modle to paint his nails pink in order to show the ladies how to do their nails.  He was so pretty!!!  Overall I had an awesome time see the kids have a great time.  They have so much life in them.  They had a smile on their face - regardless of their situation in life.  It really made me think about how blessed I am.  Okay, well I’m done rambling for now. 

Keep Praying!

- Sara

Speechless and amazed.  That pretty much sums up day 2 in Peru for me and, quite possibly the rest of the team.  We were fed the standard breakfast of eggs, bread and jam before heading to Hannah´s Home for a very long, and yet very short day and night.  After being warmly greeted we were off to work.  A crew went to the second story and began a day of insulating and sheet-rock fun while others were gathered to do a variety of odd jobs.  

I wish I could have had seen everything everyone was doing… but I was blessed with the opportunity to do the one thing I know I can do: measure and optimize cuts to maximize material usage!  So, I spent the better part of the day upstairs working with the styrofoam insulation that would go up into the roof and in the walls.  It was a pretty incredible experience because we all came together to get the stuff cut and Travis really rocked out on the circular saw… so much so that we had to change batteries at least twice and we had a snow storm of styrofoam blowing in the breeze.

Even more amazing, though, was watching the sheetrock crew do their thing.  This same crew got in a rhythm and first layed plywood on the floor.  That established their rhythm and there was pretty much nothing stopping them the whole rest of the day… they started (and nearly finished) sheetrocking the ceiling.  Now THAT is a task that could drive people crazy!  I know God was there because there were at least five people up on scaffolding at various times getting these heavy boards up on a pitched ceiling - and no one fell off or killed anyone.  Oh yeah, and they sheetrocked like crazy… did I mention they nearly finished the ceiling? In just one day, less than six working hours.  And some didn´t even have prior experience.  To come together like that in such a short period of time left no doubt in my mind that these individuals were divinely inspired.

But see, God just couldn´t stop at the geek and muscle crew today. In those same hours, I know plywood was treated, holes were dug, stuff was sorted and so much more I just didn´t see.   Then, of course He showed up again in the children at Hogar de Ninos.  We were so very fortunate to get about an hour or so to tour the grounds (so much has changed in the three years since I was last here) and play with the kids.  It was amazing to see how all the kids have grown.  There are also so many new faces. Nataly is still as precocious as ever… she whispered to everyone she had a secret (except for Matt, to whom she wouldn´t say a word).  Then she wouldn´t share her secret except with one or two people she knew didn´t know much Spanish.  I caught only about three words of her secret, but I´m not telling!

Terry was a beast at playing with the kids… and setting really great examples like how to climb trees really high and hang off the limbs making monkey noises all the way.  It was hilarious to see two of the boys try and imitate him.  Travis, man, I don´t know what Travis was doing, but he looked like a bull in a China shop - literaly - except his animal noises didn´t sound like the animal motions he was trying to make… and the kids loved it.  Ally held Nataly for a good portion of the time.  I don´t know how she did it… Nataly is not light anymore!  Check that, I know how she did it, I know how they all did it.  God gave Ally strength and patience. God gave Travis, Terry, Josh, Grady (and more than a few “older” adults) a crazy gene!  We left for dinner at Hannah´s Home with many requests to return tomorrow… and return we will.

As soon as we got back to Hannah´s Home, we learned our translator, Richard, had just received a call from his wife.  She´s pregnant and in the hospital because she has an at risk pregnancy (high blood pressure).  They needed to do an emergency c-section because the baby´s heart rate isn´t as fast as it should be.  Fortunately, the baby is at 8.5 months, but Richard still needed to get back to Lima from Chilca (Ricky had already gone back home).  Richard was actually going to wait until after dinner and then catch a ride from Ola Grande, knowing that God had his wife and child in His hands.  But, a few of our wise leaders told him to go take the bus to a place he could catch a taxi and then gave him enough to get money for a taxi ride back to Lima. 

I was touched getting to witness Richard´s faith in God… as I was touched by the willigness of the team to imediately step in and get him back to be with his family. I´d also like to ask that everyone reading this pray for Richard and his wife and his son.  Pray they are all healthy and happy. Pray we will see Richard again tomorrow (if all goes well, we should see him around Noon with a big smile on his face).

Here´s another God part… a couple from the New Jersey/Pennsylvania  joined us on this trip.  She´s originally from Ecuador.  Both are fluent in Spanish and English.  God must have placed them with us because we were translator-less for a few hours and they were able to easily step in. 

God rocked my world today.  I can´t wait to see what else he has in store!

Peace,

Judy

Ola from Chilca Peru!

We arrived safely to Ola Grande Hostal about 2:30am Sunday morning.  Travel was great with the exception of Satan trying to get in the way of Todd coming.  When we arrived at National airport, we discovered that Todd’s passport is due to expire within 6 months.  There are certain countries that won’t allow entry into the country if passports expire within 6 months…and Peru is one of those countries!    However, the Lord had different plans!  After many phone calls and much prayer, Todd was cleared to come.  Yeah God!

We had a short night Saturday night after arriving at 2:30am, we were up for breakfast at 8:30am and then headed to Pastor Jorge’s church.  As usual, we were WARMLY welcomed with many hugs and kisses, making us feel totally welcome and part of the community.  The service was long (2.5 hours) by American standards, but I believe the message spoke to each of us.  Greg was asked by Pastor Jorge to share something.  He gave a short message about faith, and brought the Peterson’s up and told of how they had sold everything to follow the Lord here.  There were many of us crying….as seems to be normal here!

After lunch we took the kids from Hogar (orphanage) to Pucasana (a fishing village) to have lunch.  We enjoyed spending time with and loving on the kids.  After lunch, all 50 of us, crammed on a 28 seat bus and headed to Hannah’s Home for a tour.  And, wow, how much work has been done.  It’s incredible!

After we left Hannah’s Home, we went back to Ola Grande where we had a great dinner of Lomo Saltado and then a good de-briefing time sharing where we saw the Lord working.  We then headed off to bed (well some of us did!!), the rest headed to the Bodega for the first of what will become a nightly ice cream run!

This morning we are at Hannah’s Home working to get the Peterson’s living quarters finished.  Please read again tonight for an update on what God used us for today.

Love,

Penny