Peru Day 9 Sunday

A few of us went to the market in Cuzco with Miguel. He was looking for some chocolate for his mom. We got to see a lot of cool stuff: all kinds of veggies, cheeses, meats, bread and fruits. They were cutting up pigs right there in front of us. We flew back to Lima at around 10am. We got there and Alex and Daniel were waiting for us. It was great to see them again. They were so much more than translators. They were working right along with us.

We all took showers. I gave Francisca some gifts for letting us stay at her house. I gave her a University of Minnesota shirt, some plates, and some other stuff for her kitchen. She gave me some gifts too. She is so gracious. Then we went to a restaurant called Norky's. It was very good. I had salad, chicken, fries amd torta (cake). We then went to the Incan market. We had about 45 minutes to barter and get some souvenirs. I got two wallets, an Incan folk CD and a figurine.

We then went to the church. Miguel sang some songs and said a very emotional prayer. He talked about us and the people of Bocanegra. He talked about seeing us again. How we will definitely see each other in heaven. Our language differences will dissolve and we will rejoice together. I started to cry and I had a hard time stopping. Then a visiting pastor spoke. It was a little hard to understand. The American team then went to the front and sang some songs. Arturo then spoke for a little bit. After that Javier told the people about a mission team coming to Bocanegra in April. Some of what he was saying got lost in translation again.

Church went a little long and we had to hurry to catch our flight. We gave some presents to the host families. They were deeply thankful. We gave hugs then we had to leave. The kids were crying and gave Emily a note. It said they will miss us and to not forget them. We jumped on the bus and so did some of our Peruvian friends. We took a few pictures then we had to go. (Pictured below is Kelsey, Miguel and Jodi.) They waved at us from the airport windows. What a great trip it was. I will never forget my friends in Peru. They have made a deep impact on my heart.

I'm debating about writing about our travel troubles coming back. I'd like to focus on the positive. I did have a blessing that occurred because of a layover I may write about.

Day 8 Peru Saturday

We headed out by bus to Machu Picchu at 5:30am. It was about 2 hours to Ollantaytambo where we caught the train. We saw some ruins from afar and then headed to a village. We were allowed to tour through some houses. They had a bunch of Guinea Pigs running around. I thought they were pets at first but was later told they eat them.

We then took a 1 and 1/2 hour train ride. It was beautiful to see the mountains and fog roll by. I could tell right away that we were going to experience something really amazing. We then took a 30 minute bus ride to the actual ruins area. We started at a watch tower area where we could see the entire site. It was breath-taking and no words could describe it. We really were up in the clouds.

There are places of worship, housing, burial sites and industrial areas in the ruins. There are areas of better craftmanship. You can tell by the smoothness of the rocks. The smoother rocks meant someone of importance lived in that area. We went at a pretty quick pace, but we had to in order to see everything. The they built was amazing. They often times used pre-exisiting rock and built underneath it. There was no mortar used. The rocks fit together perfectly. There were often so tighly fit that you couldn't fit a knife in between them. We saw a large rock with 30+ angles.

We saw this burial site. (pictured to the left) It was so well crafted and smooth that it was said that there were some important people buried back in there. We couldn't go inside because it was roped off. The Incans took the best ideas from other cultures that they conquered and learned from them. They had a calendar system that they used. It was two pools of water that reflected the stars at night. This is how they could tell the time of year. (pictured below)

We ate at the train station and then headed back. We had a great dinner back in Cuzco. We had a little meeting afterwards. We all got a chance to share our thoughts and thanks to Miguel and Pastor Arturo. Anne translated for us. I said this journey is similar to Abraham's like Arturo had said. I also shared that it will be awhile before this all soaks in. I shared Luke 2:19. It was nice to tell them how I felt.

Day 7 Peru Friday

We left for the airport at 5am. Our plane was supposed to leave at 6 for Cuzco. It kept getting delayed. We really thought it was going to get cancelled. Our plane finally left around 8:15. We went straight to Cesar's mother-in-law's house. Cesar and his wife took a 18-hour bus ride to Cuzco to prepare a place for us to stay. They put in a shower for us. I can't believe the graciousness of these people. The house was actually 15 minutes from Cuzco in San Jeronimo.

A few of us really felt sick from the altitude. I had a shortness of breath and a bad headache. We had some cocoa tea and I took some pills to help adjust. Miguel felt pretty bad. We had lunch and then our guide Carlos took us around Cuzco. We went into the main town square and saw a church called San Francisco. We then went to Sacsayhuaman. It's an Incan ruins area near Cuzco. It was looking pretty rainy the whole time we were there, but it held off most of the time. There was some climbing and hiking involved though. It was tough because we were still trying to adjust to the altitude. It's about 11,000 feet at the site. I almost passed out at one point. I just took it easy after that.

It was really beautiful we saw this lady and behind her is a rainbow. There is also a statue of Jesus near the site. It was given to the town by the Palestinians in the 50's. There is a photo at the bottom of this posting. We found this rock area where it was so smooth you could slide down it. It was pretty fun.

We then went through this tunnel. It was very narrow and completely dark in the middle. We had to hold the hand of the person in front of us. It was like we were walking with faith. Keith fell back and hit his head at the end. He was alright though he just had a few bumps. He is Superman.

We then went into town to a market. We had 30 minutes so I had to barter fast. It was pretty fun. I got 4 or 5 cool souvenirs and gift. We went to the supermarket then back to the house for dinner. We had like 11 guys in one small room that night. It was a tight fit and I got to experience Leon's snoring for the first time. Miguel says he sound like a tractor. It sounds like a Harley to me. I had ear plugs so I slept okay.

Peru Day 6 Thursday

Keith and I prepared some posters for Ann's message at the church. This was the day or our Vacation Bible School graduation. We invited all the parents to come with their kids. We were illustrating the story of Daniel to recap what we did over the last week. We did 4 posters: one of Daniel in the Lion's Den, one of Daniel praying, one of King Darius worrying and illustrating salvation through Christ. It took up quite a bit of time, but it was really fun and I got to be creative. The rest of the group either went to paint the second house or sorted through the gifts for VBS.

The kids started school at around noon. It was their first day back after summer break. They look so cute in their uniforms. We then went to Pachacutec. It's a shantytown about 40 minutes from Bocanegra. It's probably one of the poorest neighborhoods in the world. It was all these houses or shacks built on this andy hillside. It was pretty surreal. We didn't know what we were doing there. We were all pretty quite. We felt a deep sadness for the way these people are living. Check out the photo by Nate.

We went to a weird nature center and walked around a little. We stopped at one area and saw 5 boys by a shack. They saw us and started screaming. We couldn’t tell whether they were scared or just really excited. They came up to talk to us and they seemed so happy. We asked them if they knew Jesus. They did and knew several bible verses by heart. They knew some verses that I didn't even know. It was really unbelievable. So seeing those boys gave us hope for that place. We also saw Angelica from the deaf group. She just happened to see us. There are lot of nice places in Lima, but we needed to see this area. One of the boys gave me a big hug before I left and hung on to my goatee and wouldn’t let go. It was really sad to leave him.

After that we showered and went to the church. It was the VBS graduation and the place was packed. We had about 70 people in the church. (The photo is Miguel singing a song.) We did some songs then did chichua with the kids. Dan and I did a little puppet show. We shared with the church what we learned in VBS. Our timing was off, but it was fun. Then Ann shared the message. She talked about Daniel and she used our posters we made. She then shared the gospel.
We then passed out presents to all the kids. It was chaos for a little bit because we didn't quite enough gift bags for all the kids. We had to open the bags and give individual items. After church we packed for Cuzco and went to bed.

Peru Day 5 Wednesday

Miguel and a group of us went to the market to find a Piñata for Leon's birthday. The market was a unique experience. A lot of people stare at me since I'm so tall. I felt like I was a giant. We found Leon a Winnie the Pooh piñata and the lady also made a sign for him. We were supposed to go to the church, but it never happened. Often times plans change quickly.


I saw this guy on the street. I guess he takes your picture with Mickey and Minnie for money.

I went on an errand with Miguel. We went to find a fax machine. We needed to fax some info to Cuzco. Miguel and I had a good talk. He asked me what I thought of Lima. I told him I love the people and I have enjoyed it so far. He urged me to come back and think about becoming a leader in their church. I want to do it. Maybe I could do it for a year...

We played with some kids in the park and then I went to help work on the second house. It was another pre-fab house that was for an older couple. They are unable to work and this house is such a blessing for them. We had some extra money come in so this is what we choose to do with it.

They began to change the meals a little. We had pizza for dinner and Coca Cola. We went to the church for Leon's 30th birthday party. We had it all planned out to have Jodi take Leon out after Marc's message. She did her job, but Carlos called up Leon too soon though. We found Leon and the surprise was ruined, but it was still fun. The people and kids went crazy for the candy. It was great.

Marc and I stayed up and talked to Israel and Francisca. Israel called up a friend who spoke English and she translated a little. I told her to tell them that I was thankful for their graciousness. Francisca said she was thankful that I had shown my heart to them. Peruvians are truly amazing.

Peru Day 4 Tuesday

This is the day that a lot of people got pretty sick. A few people stayed back and those that were healthy helped at Carmen's house. Miguel, Dan and I went to the market that morning too. These two teenage girls followed us around for about half an hour. They liked my blue eyes they said. It was pretty funny.


We went back to Carmen's house and poured a foundation. We had to mix the concrete with a shovel. It's pretty hard work, but we had José to show us how. While we were doing that Seth, Jodi and Emily painted the house blue. Jodi had a chance to share with some people who came by. She invited them to church as well.We went back after lunch and got the rest of the foundation done and the front of the house painted.

At night we went up to the church. The deaf group put on a mime show for us. It was really amazing. They did a comedy routine and some of them juggled. The deaf people in Peru often times can't find jobs. So they put on mime shows to make some money. Pictured in the white coat is Cocoa. He is immensely talented and has a gift for physical comedy.





Then the deaf pastor Javier shared a message. It was hard to understand because there was two layers of translation going on: one to Spanish and then to English. It was really great to see how animated he was though. It was very emotional and filled with expression. (Javier is in the center with the white shirt in the group picture.) We then ate dinner in the church and headed home.

Peru Day 3 Monday

This is Carmen's house. This is what it looked like when we got there. In front of the house from left to right is Carlos Gomez (our Great Commission Latin America leader), Pastor Arturo and Marc Holtey (our group leader).

It was nice because we always had a chance to play with the kids. There wasn't a need for everyone to help with the demolition so some people played volleyball in the streets.


Then we helped with vacation bible school at the church. It was pretty fun. We did a song called Chichua. (See picture) It's like Hokey Pokey only much goofier. We played a chairs game and sang Father Abraham as well. Then Jodi explained the story of Daniel. A story we revisited throughout the week.



We then checked on the progress of the house. They had all the walls up already. The picture is of Francisca, Carmen and her daughters Yessica and Daniela. Yessica is the older one.


At night we went to Central Lima. There was a main square there surrounded by the presidential palace, Mayor's office, and the Cathedral of Lima (pictured). There was a lot of people out. Traffic was crazy. There aren't a lot of stoplights and cars just use their horns and go. I didn't see one single accident so the system must work.

We then went to Larcomar, a shopping area that overlooked the ocean. I got some ice cream there. We also went to Chorrillos and to the beach. It was nice. Some people waded in the water a little. They had some cool statues and lights. On the way back Silvia, Esteban and I took some pictures. Later Silvia fell asleep with my arm around her. They are such great kids. I showed Israel and Francisca my pictures when I got back. It turned into a nightly tradition and really bridged the language barrier.