Hanging out in Lima

Well, i'm sure most of you heard that we missed our flight back to Toronto. We are all staying in the Sheraton and well taken care of. Hotel, meals/accomadations are all paid for my Lan Airline. A taxi will be picking us up tonight at the hotel at 10 and our plane is leaving from Lima at 12:30. We will be arriving in Edmonton approw. 4:30 tomorrow. For the past two days, our team has either been hanging out in the hotel rooms or swimming/san tanning. It has been a very relaxed last two days and we are all looking forward to coming home, not so much looking forward to the cold, as we are basking and burning in the sun here. Thanks again for all your prayers and support. Please pray for a safe journey home and that all goes well with the flights.

Leah from team peru

A Time to Say Goodbye

Today was a hard day for all of us on team Peru. The time has come to start saying our goodbyes to all of the friends that we have made here in Peru. We started out our day by going to church in Las Brisas for the last time. We were acknowledged by the congregation and had an opportunity to say thank you to everyone whom we have worked with. It has really started to hit home that we are actually leaving to come back to Canada tomorrow. We have been so blessed by all of the people we have gotten to know. We are really going to miss them. After church, we went over to Virgin de la Paz to say thank you to the people there. Rufina cried when she thanked us for the work that we have done...wow. These people have so little and yet they have given us so much. Then we walked back home and went out for lunch. After lunch we did more visiting to say goodbye. We went over to Cerropon where we helped with VBS and said goodbye to the kids. Then we went out to San Antonio for their church service and to say goodbye. I don't think that we really realized how we have touched these people's lives until today. We had communion in church today which was a really nice way to close out our time here. After San Antonio we came home and have been hanging out and packing all evening. It is hard to believe that our time here is almost over. In the morning we are going to the beach with our Peruvian friends and then we will have time to finish our packing before we go to the airport.

Thank you so much for all of your prayers and support. Please pray for a safe journey home and also pray that we wouldn't shed too many tears saying goodbye tomorrow. See you all soon!

Lindsay for Team Peru

A Peruvian Getaway

Peru is an extremely diverse country, as we learnt these past few days. We took a (near vomitos) six hour bus ride into the Andes Mountains to Cajamarca. On the way we passed desert (full of garbage...AAAHH!), rice farms, cacti, mango trees, rich green farmland, beautiful mountain ranges with lots of mist, villages parked on the sides of cliffs, random houses in the middle of nowhere, and a lot more green than we are used to in Chiclayo. When looking at a picture of Peru, you would typically be seeing the dress and scenery of mountain villages and people. It was actually a little nippy up in the mountains when we arrived...And it was raining!

We stayed in rooms in a hostel (the water didn't turn off, our door didn't lock and the boys shower didn't have a shower head- hey, we're only young once) close to the "Inca baths" and Hot Springs. One could see the mist rising from our windows. We had a full day of shopping, touring around buildings dating back to the late 15oo's (some very interesting stories there) and finally eating...Guinea Pig!! It comes served on a plate with legs still on. Gross. Everyone else thought it tasted like chicken , but I(Elli) thought it was sick. Yes, everyone tried it.

It rained a lot in Cajamarca, but it was refreshing. We had the royal Inca spa treatment, complete with Jacuzzi baths and massages. It is sure tough work out here. We spent yesterday and this morning feeling quite relaxed.

The bus ride home was worse than the way up...It felt as though the brakes had somehow broke as we rattled down switchbacks... We all arrived safely back though!

It was our final youth group tonight, and (surprise, surprise) twin faucets (Lindsay and I) cried buckets. After Coco's moving and really amazing devotional, we went around the circle and shared how we appreciated one another. It was a night filled with a lot of love and blessing...And laughter! The New Swedish group from a Bible School over there came to youth group too, and at one point we were singing a song in three different languages. God is so amazing in pulling us all together to worship him. It was beautiful, even without much of a melody...or beat...or rhythm...

Please pray that we would have safe travels back home, as well as protection for the last two days. Pray for our dear friends at the church in Las Brisas. We love them so much and are really quite protective of them...We don't want to share! As well pray for the unreached people in Chiclayo. Thanks so much and see you soon!! (Unless we all "somehow" miss the flight)

Elli (TP) heehee

The Roof, The Roof, The Roof is NOT on Fire!

Today started as another typical day in Peru. We got up and had breakfast and then headed out to our worksite. When we arrived, we saw that there was no longer a front wall to the house that we have been working on. We spent the large majority of the morning cleaning and stacking adobe bricks. The girls returned to our job of mixing and spreading mud, while the guys did more of the heavy lifting. It is amazing how much work can be accomplished in one day. We were working on the house from about 10:00 am until 2:00 pm. We were all pretty hot and tired when we came home for lunch, so Henrik told us to shower and rest. He and the other guys went back and finished the project, which means that the walls are up and the roof is on. It is such an amazing feeling to give a kind of new beginning to people in the midst of adversity. The afternoon was pretty laid back for us. We showered, slept, played cards and just hung out. It was nice after spending all morning out in the sun. When Henrik came home, we went out to do some shopping. We didn't end up coming home until about 9:00 to have supper, so now we are just going to debrief and then go to bed. We are leaving for Cajamarca (the mountains) in the morning, so we may not have internet access until we come back on Saturday around 6:00 pm. It will be a nice break after a lot of hard work. We probably get to go to some hot springs and do some sight seeing which will be fun.

Please pray for safe travels to and from Cajamarca (we are travelling by charter bus). Please pray for God's blessing over our last few days in Peru. Pray for all those whom we have met and built relationships. Pray that God would touch the lives of his people here in a very special way.

Thank you so much for all the support and encouragement over the past 20 days. It is hard to believe that we will be seeing many of you in 6 short days. Our time here is and has been such a blessing!

Lindsay for Team Peru

Baptized Peruvian

Today was a good full day. We started the day off again by heading over to the worksite in the morning, Parker had stayed home this morning again but he's doing much better now and is probably good to go for tomorrow. We are almost finished; tomorrow will be our last day there. We were working for about an hour, until we as a team and henrik decided to go to the man's funeral. There were about 60 people who met at the house with the coffin, so we followed them down to the cemetary for the burial. It was a very interesting experience and very much different than funerals back at home. Being there with the people just really showed me (Leah) how important it is to have Jesus in the hard times. Most of these people don't really know Jesus as their Savior and it felt really hopeless today. They had a time of just gathering around the coffin and a time of a little music. A very short little uology/message. They close the coffin and then all the people follow for him to be buried. They bury the peolple above ground here, so they lifted the coffin and slid the coffin in a narrow cement stall thingie and they seal it. You can ask us later individually on the specific details although I was pretty specific here, but we all have different feelings about it. Ask us later. We are very much getting a true peruvian experience down here in all different ways.
After the funeral we headed back to the worksite and "worked." One or two people kinda had a water fight but then it started with lots of people and half the kids from the neighborhood joined in, so by the end all of us were soaked. Ah, the water feels so good on a hot day.
After lunch we went downtown again and started to do some of our shopping. Yeah, it was a great relaxing afternoon adn we finished the day off by watching "A Walk to Remember." Oh, how i love that movie so much, we all do and half of us were crying, yeah it's great movie, i recommend you to watch it if you haven't seen it.
Thanks for all your prayers, we are all having a blast down here in Peru and it's kinda hard to believe we have less than a week down here. Continue to pray for us that God would use us in powerful ways, health, and that we would be a blessing to the people we meet and give them words of hope and encouragement. C ya shortly!

Leah (Peru)

And then there were two...

The girls woke up to the doorbell ringing rather early this morning. Parker got food poisoning last night and spent it vomiting his stomach out. Lindsay stayed home sick as well (from dehydration though, not food poison). I (Elli) came home early from the work site too. That left Leah and Roonie...
When we arrived at the work site the door was locked and Jorge was sitting on the sidewalk curb. We learnt that the Dad to the family had died the night before. The whole family was at a relatives "watching over" the body. Hand in hand with the neighbours we walked up to the house (in what we affectionately call "Thief valley" ) to pay our respects.
It was definitely interesting. The coffin was up on a stand on the dirt floor with a white Jesus statue and a fake Bible. In Peru the family will "watch over" the body for about two days, crying at random and drinking. Although they weren't drinking when we were there, there was crying. From what we know of the Dad, he was an alcoholic who abandoned the family, only to come back once in a while to yell at the kids. It really wasn't a good situation. His five kids (from this woman at least) are still alive. They are really sweet and generous kids. It was hard for us to seem them putting on a happy face for us. There are actually a lot of things amiss with Peruvian funerals. Sadly, it is very surface-y and religious. I had a deep impression of hopelessness from being there.
According to Leah and Roonie, half of the roof was placed, which is good.
The afternoon was basically a write off for most of us, laying about trying to feel better. I can't say that we really do...
You can pray that we get some HEALTH. That would be lovely. As well, please pray for the family that has lost their Dad/husband/son. Pray that they would not turn off their hearts and become bitter. We hope that somehow they can get an impression of a better life, of a future hope for them. Thanks for reading!
Elli (Team Peru- no way)

A day of Relax

Today was a very relaxing day. We had church this morning in Las Brisas. I always enjoy the service with lots and lots of singing. People come to worship with so much joy and thankfulness in them. The sermon wasn't translated for us like it has been in the past so I think it was a little harder to stay focused and I (Leah) was trying my best not to dose off, as we were all pretty hot sitting in the heat. It can be very humid, so that can drain our energy pretty quickly.
We went out for lunch, the same place where we went the first week. We all had various appetizers (avacado, creamy potato, empanatas (similar to a pizza pop with ham and cheese in the middle)) and we had chicken, pork chop and roast beef served with rice and potatoes.
We had a very relaxing afternoon either watching tv, sleeping or journalling. So yeah that was pretty much our day today.
Continue to pray for energy and that we'd be a blessing to all we meet. It's hard to believe we've only been here for 2 weeks, it feels so much longer than that.
Thank-you for all your prayers. Looking forward to seeing you all back at home.

Leah from team Peru

Sooooooo Goooood

Well we didn't have to rise as early as usual, so that was quite delightful! We had our breakfast at about 9:30 in order to make the 10 o'clock sunday school like thing (but on saturday). Then we all took a few moments kick back, and watch a little bit of Brother Bear. We were out at San Antonio by 2pm and ate arroz con pato (rice with duck) and a beet and mayonaise salad. Then the fun began we played volleyball about 3 hours... it was very tiring. The afternoon weas specifically set up so that Team Peru had a chance to hang out with the kids of San Antonio. So when it came time for us to leave and return to Las Brisas, there were many handshakes, hugs, and kisses exchanged.

Everyone on the team was absolutley famished and the silence at the supper table was quite irregular. We then had a few minutes to catch our breath before we headed off to a youth group at the church in Las Brisas. Everyone was a lot older than we are used to working with, which was a relief as we did not have a lot of energy to offer. Jano led a small devotional (translated by Henrik) about the specific plans God has for us in our lives. Then we all had a enormous game of Big Booty (17 people) using english and spanish interchangably at random.

After closing our time at the church we headed back and spent a few hours chillin' with the team! That is all... thankyou.... bye bye... adios... I'm tired... Buenas noches... time to listen to some spanish hip-hop. Roonie and Parker are out! Keep us in your prayers, as we need to keep sane with all the stresses of the complex days... oh ya... by the way... +32 does hurt the skin... severely... no jokes. We are all burnt. Adios

PS. Rrroonie and Parrrker are atrociously amazing...

Fun in the Sun

Well this morning was our last day of teaching vbs. The kids just love us more each day and didn't want us to leave. Cheyla invited me (Leah) in her house next door, it was so cute. She was very proud of her house and was so excited of introducing me to her mom. Before I left, her mom gave me a huge piece of watermelon, it's amazing how giving these people are.
After vbs we headed to the worksite once again and we are almost finished the wall building, it looks pretty good. It's amazing to see how much work you have to put into it. It's fun building relationships here. Our team is bonding pretty well with all the Peruvian boys, they are fun to work with. This morning a couple of the boys threw Elli in a big mud puddle and on the way home we got into a big water fight.
It was a pretty relaxing afternoon, either sleeping or journalling and after supper we headed over to San Antonio where there was another childrens/youth event. We went around and some of us shared our testimonies. When we were driving home, our taxi driver told us that this was the first time he heard somebody speak English. This guy was probably like in his 40's, so yeah that's pretty crazy and we felt pretty special for being the first ones.
Well, that's the wrap up for today. Thank-you for all of your thoughts, encouragement and prayers. Continue to pray for energy as we go throughout the hot days and building relationships will continue. May God bless you!

Leah from team Peru

Thursday, January 11, 2007

We have had another very busy day in Chiclayo! We started off the day by heading over the Cerropon for VBS. We were again met with cheering children and a lot of kisses. After singing songs, having a lesson, and playing a lot, we headed back to the church where we changed into our work clothes. We left the church and went over to Virgin de la Paz to work on our wall project again. It was really hot today, my job was mixing mud by hand which was fun. Others were laying bricks, or gathering dirt. We also played with the kids a bit too. When we were done work for the day, we came home and had lunch. When we finished, the whole team, along with three of our Peruvian friends went to catch a Combi to go to the beach. It was much less crowded today than it was the last time we were there which was nice. We were in the water for a good couple of hours playing in the huge waves. Some of the boys stayed on the beach and played soccer while we went out in the water again after a break. We were lucky enough to find a Combi with room for all eight of us, so we all rode back together. When we got home, we had a snack and just hung out for a bit until supper. After supper, some of us played Phase 10. Then, we all went to bed pretty early because we were so tired.

Please pray for us, that we would keep our energy up even in the heat. Also pray that our building project would be completed soon. Pray for all of the people that we have met, that God would touch their lives in a special way.

Thank you so much for your continued support and prayer!

Lindsay for Team Peru

Phase 10

It has been another wonderful day in Peru. We got up this morning and went to the market to buy some fresh fruit for breakfast. Henrik made Elli, Leah and I go and buy bananas and green beans, so it was a good opportunity to practice our Spanish. After breakfast we headed over to Cerropon for another morning of Vacation Bible School. The kids are really cute! We sang songs and had a lesson. It is very much like VBS in Canada. When we finished with the learning, all chaos happened, again, with children hanging, pulling, and chasing us in all directions. After VBS, we went home and changed into our work clothes. There were fresh homemade donuts, so we had a snack, and then left for our worksite in Virgin de la Paz. It was the first time that I have been back since we had our cameras stolen. We got there no problem and proceeded to get very dirty mixing mud with our hands and laying bricks. We were there for a few hours. Then we came home for lunch and had some time to shower and get cleaned up. In the late afternoon we went to the market to the place where all the thieves sell their stolen goods. We didn't get our cameras, but we met a few people who might have and idea of who has them, or knows someone who knows someone who knows someone who knows. It is all a game to them which is really sad. We met a girl from Belgium who had had the same thing happen to her. After the market, we came home and played Phase 10 the card game, which has become a very popular pass time for our team. We laughed a lot! We interrupted our game to have supper, and then had an early debrief and sang some songs. It has been a very good day for the most part.

Please continue to pray for our health and safety as we continue our work in Peru. Also pray that God's justice would be done, and that we would get our cameras, or even just memory cards back. Please pray for all of the people that we are working with, especially those who are interested in full time ministry. Pray that God would be glorified in all that we are doing here.

Thank you so much for your support, comments, encouragement and prayers!

Lindsay for Team Peru

The Calm After the Storm

Well after yesterday's events today was a welcome change of pace. We started off the day by going to the church to meet up with everyone who is involved with Vacation Bible School in Cerropon. When we got there, Coco, one of our Peruvian friends from the church was there with his moto-taxi. He insisted on taking Elli, Leah and I to Cerropon in the moto-taxi. It was a really nice start to the day. When we got to Cerropon, we were greeted by cheering children and a lot of hugs and kisses. The kids here are just so cute. We sang a lot of songs, learned a Bible lesson, and did some activities. The kids wanted to hear us sing in English, so we sang "Who's the King of the Jungle" which they know in Spanish. After all of the formal learning was done, we played games with the kids. Elli was pulled in about 18 different directions by the kids. I taught some girls a few phrases in English, and Leah, Roonie and Parker were busy playing various games with kids. All of these kids just love to learn, it is amazing! When we were about ready to go back to the church, Coco showed up again on his moto-taxi and again insisted that he drive us to the church. When we got there, the girls went home to change into our work clothes. Leah, Parker and Elli went back to Virgin de la Paz to work on our wall project while Roonie and I painted at the church. When it was time to go for lunch, Coco and the other girls came on the moto-taxi and picked me up to go home. The Peruvian guys that we have gotten to know are so nice, and they are always watching out for us. We got the sense today that they were taking extra measures to make sure that we are safe. We are in good hands here. After lunch, we had the rest of the day off, so we just rested and hung out. It was very nice to be able to take a break and get rejuvenated and refocused.

Thank you so much for all the prayers. Please pray for continued safety for our team. Also pray for the four young men who robbed us, that God would touch their lives in a powerful way. Pray for the hearts and minds of the kids that we are teaching in Cerropon, that they would be filled with the Holy Spirit and the love of Christ.

All of your comments are so encouraging. Thank you so much for all the support!

Lindsay for Team Peru

Esse Quam Vederi

Sometimes God whispers it into your ear and sometimes...He shouts it.

We started today off bright and early in Cerropon doing VBS...in the middle of the street. We blocked off the street with benches for kids to sit on and sang some songs...ones even we knew! The kids loved the actions. Later we played tag with them until we were red in the face. Not that it takes very much to do that in the heat but...They were so sweet and Beto and Anna (the peruvian sunday school teachers who are AMAZING) were overly appreciative of us. We hardly feel that we are doing anything productive here and everyone seems to think we are the incredibles. God's grace is hard to digest! Crossing the highway between Las Brisas and Cerropon is always an exhilirating challenge. Vans don't slow down they just...beep their horns and speed up. Oh the joys of Peru. Speaking of joys, " Consider it pure joy my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds..." On our way back from roofing in La Paz today, the girls and the "Boys from Peru" were mugged by some guys with weapons. It was an interesting experience to say the least, (and ask each girl individually and you'll get their take on it) but we are all safe and no one was harmed. God had his angels surrounding us and "Rocky 7" Henrik Christopherson waiting for us at home. Just don't ask us why we don't have a lot of pictures...All three of our cameras were stolen. Personally, it feels great. I am being here, not appearing as in a photograph. Now we really have to tell you our stories for you to know anything. I think it is better this way. But, we all have emotions.
After lunch and a little debrief, some of us went to the "mall". Personally I was horrified, but I hate malls to begin with. Chiclayo is such a diverse city: There are the rich who want to show off that they have money (which is a very very small percentage), there is the middle class, and then there are the punks who live in shanty town, or cardboard boxes, the desert, and the beach, as well as green fields and trees. There is so much to take in.
You can pray for us by giving thanks to God for his faithfulness, love, goodness, grace, and protection, as well as casting out fear from our hearts so that we can continue working out of love. The safest place to be is in the center of God's will and we believe this. Thank God for the Boys who were with us who are so good to us. As well, thank God for the Christophersons and the stories and wisdom they share with us. not to mention the hospitality and amazing food! Pray for the spiritual warfare that is going on in Chiclayo. Thanks to you for your continued love and support...we feel it all the way down here!

Getting the true peruvian experience (being mugged, that is)
Elli (team peru)

WAVES of Grace

This morning we had a special church service in Las Brisis. It only happen three times a year where three different congregations come together and worship with lunch following. It was so nice and each congregation did special music. We sang a song also. It just blows me away their hearts for God and it really just shows me (Leah) that that's all you need. I love how they can just come to worship and just praise God for all that He's done for them in the midst of their brokeness and poverty. God is good and will continue to be faithful.
This afternoon we headed down to the beach. (pacific ocean.) there was 40 000 people there, they just covered the shore line. we however went right in, not too many people in the water cuz they think it is still really cold, but the water is amazing and the waves were crazy. Our team went out and had lots of fun, and we sometimes had to walk on shore in order to go back to our normal spot since the current kept pushing. yeah it was soooo fun and excited to go back again. Who would of thought we would be doing this in January in the hot hot sun, it is so weird.
Tonight we went over to another missionaries' house for dinner and games. It was a little welcome party for a couple of danish missionaries. so it was a nice get together.
Thank-you for all your continued prayers. Please pray for us as we start teaching vbs tomorrow in Sairo Poine. That the kids will have open hearts and excited to hear God's Word. Also for strength and patience for our team. God bless you all.

Leah for Team Peru

Another exceptional day in Peru!

Salutations,
Well this morning was another beautiful morning (as the weather never really changes)! We started the day by moving the excess of adobe bricks into the house we are working on and some into Rufina's house. By 10 we were at the church in Las Brisas for a youth sunday school like thing (but on a Saturday). After wrapping things up at the church, eating, and a little down time we headed out to the Royal Tombs of Sipan Museum in the close by city of Lambayegue.

Absolutely magnificent! The beauty of the ancient relics can only be described by words b/c we were checked for cameras before entering. Room after room was filled with artifacts that dated hundreds of years before Christ to just centuries ago (still a long time). The main focus of the museum was the riches, artifacts, the tomb, and the skeleton of the Lord of Sipan. The desert has left many of these pieces fully entacted and now we have the privlege to see how these ancient cultures lived. One thing that really stuck out in mind today was the tidious work that had to have went into the pottery and jewellery. Such detail was put into these pieces, that were mostly made out of gold. Even with primitive tools the Mochica (a very organized culture) had to work with, they created masterpieces of art! Another highlight of the tour, led by Henrika, was the remaining skeleton on the Lord of Sipan. His skull and a few of his vertabraes were reconizable, but the majority of his bones were in shards because of the crushing pressure that his treasures forced on him. The remains had to be sent away to Germany in order to be reconstructed into the skeletal array of bones it now rests in. Anyways I'm leaving out lots of details but I hope you have got an idea of what we got to see.

In the evening we attended a worship service and a young lady from Denmark had a short devotion to share. The people attending were mostly young adults, and we all shared a lot of laughter as especially Team Peru was quite giddy from a jam-packed exhausting day. To finish off the evening we came back to Henrik and Patty's to enjoy some mint chocolate chip ice cream.

We need to consistent pray for the team's health, as there is usually at least one person not operating at their full potential. Of course prayer for the people of Chiclayo, and the other mission work that is being done. These children do have a profound joy that is contagious with everyone around them. To see these people embrace Christ in all aspects of their lives is what we all long for!

Thank you all for your encouraging words and thoughtful prayers!

Parker for Team Peru

Un Foto?

Children, Children, Children!!! We just got back (11:00) from a youth night in San Antonio. San Antonio is my favourtie community in Chiclayo, which is funny because it is one of the poorest, and most spiritually opressed. The people in the church are so so nice though! Not to mention their kids are the cutest. We started playing volleyball out in the streets, which made youth flock to the church. Hordes of children, tons of children! They love getting their picture taken and seeing what it looks like after. Patty picked up a cake for Leah (it is her 20th today) and we sang (over and over and over) happy birthday to her there. Girls lined up to give her hugs and greetings afterward. I might be more descriptive if I had energy. Anyhow, we played some games and had lots of loud laughter. It was so much fun to hang out with them and the boys from Las Brisas...And tease eachother! Parker and Roonie are bonding so well with Pepe, Raul, Coco and the other boys. We received a very warm and kissy "ciao" from the kids and went home. Earlier today we were in La Paz again. The wall is coming up nicely (but slowly) which is encouraging to see, and the kids there are simply amazing. They are incredibly generous; it is quite moving. One of the older girls went into her house and took her "piggy bank" out, shook it, and extracted the one sole she had. She then gave it to Jamie-Lee, who is a neighbour girl and we went and bought freezies...She was willing to give all the money she had so we could have a freezie?!! Unbelievable. I am constantly blown away at their willingness to help with the constructing of the roof/wall and their joy in sharing their mornings with us. I enjoy it immensely. Another group went over to the Church in Las Brisas to do some more painting and cleaning to get ready for the service on Sunday. It will be mucho Grande and mucho Fun! We did not eat anything particularly odd today, but guinea pig is in our future!

Please pray for continued health, energy and big juicy hearts for our team, that we can accomplish what we need to each day, work hard, and realize these are God's precious people and God's purpose. It is hard to trust that he really loves justice when their living conditions are so terrible. But, God cares about their souls, and that is obvious to us when we see their smiling faces and feel their hugs.

Thank you for all your support and prayers and encouragement.

Elli (Team Peru)

Shark Attack and Funky Chicken

Today was another bright and early start. For those of you reading this blog, I (Lindsay) am feeling a bit better today. Roonie is a bit under the weather too, but it is nothing to worry about. We are just getting adjusted to living in Peru...I stress, we are fine and are being well taken care of. We started the day by again heading over to Virgin de la Paz to continue work on our wall building. We laid the rest of the foundation and played with kids before heading over to the church in Las Brisas. We all pitched in to help scrub and paint and clean up the church for the upcoming inter-church worship this Sunday. It is a pretty big job, but we got to work inside most of the time, so we saved ourselves from more sunburns. After working on the church for a couple of hours, we headed home for lunch which was Shark. We all tried some, and enjoyed it. It tastes very much like any other white fish that we have. After lunch, we went back to the church for more painting and cleaning. We came home and all had showers before heading out for Patti...one of our missionaries...birthday supper. We went downtown in Chiclayo to a restaurant for chicken, which was also very good. After supper we had a little bit of time to look in some shops, and look at what street vendors were selling. We all took taxis home, where we had birthday cake for Patti. We had a team debrief and then the boys went to the church where they sleep, and the girls played a game of Blokus. Today was a good day, enough to do, but not too much as to get overwhelming. Please continue to pray for health for our team as we are all adjusting to life here in Peru, also pray for our projects at the church and in Virgin de la Paz, that we would complete them on time. Thank you so much for your prayers and support.

Lindsay for Team Peru

Wall Building

So today was another good day but it wasn't as hot. It was cloudy through most of the day so it wasn't as bad as yesterday, the breeze really helps.
We went to Virgin de la Paz again and helped a family install a wall in the middle of their home. We dug across the house an 8 inch trench and we filled it wih rocks and poured cement over it. The kids were very helpful and it was so cool to see little arms carry big rocks and they do it with such joyful hearts. They are so cute , and off and on we played with them throughout the morning, teaching them clapping games and played volleyball again.
Continue to pray for health, as Lindsay was sick throughout the day, she went with us to the worksite but has slept all afternoon and throughout the evening.
So we came back around 2 and basically had the afternoon. Roonie, Parker and I went downtown, Roonie bought a soccer jersey. Chiclayo is very nocturnal as the streets are very packed at night with busy shoppers and sellers. New Years Day evening was so quiet that we all had trouble sleeping cuz we all had gotten used to the busyness and the noise of dogs barking, people yelling and chickens crowing and music blaring.
Pray for continued strength/energy throughout the day as the heat can be very draining. Thanks again for all or your prayers. Ciao

Leah for team Peru

Beet Red!

Today was the hottest day we have had so far, and needless to say, we are all feeling it a little bit. We started the day off by waking up early for breakfast at 8:00. We (the girls) then proceeded to Virgin de la Paz to do some visiting and the boys went to pick up materials for roofing/building walls. Virgin de la Paz is a shanty-town that has been around for about twenty years. All of the houses are in various stages of being built, from plywood walls and woven roofs, to adobe brick houses, to more finished looking houses. We went to meet two different women who we would be doing the work for. The first house we went to had adobe brick walls, but no walls on the inside, and the roof was only held up by a few not very sturdy looking poles. There are seven people who live in this house. In the second house that we went to, we met Rufina, who is a single mother of four. Her eldest son is severly handicapped and rarely gets to leave the house. In both cases, we will be building new roofs, and in the first house we will be putting up some walls on the inside of the house. After we met with these two ladies we got to go out and play with the kids. We played volleyball and jax, and just hung out. After the materials were brought to the houses, we left and went over to visit people in Serra Pon, another community in Chiclayo. We went and visited Beto, and talked about our plans for teaching a week of vacation Bible school in the Las Brisas church. We then went and visited a woman named Shirley, whose husband had been helping us with building materials earlier. We heard their stories and talked about vacation Bible school. On our way home for lunch, we stopped and helped some people lay bricks to make a wall, we got to mix the mud with our bare hands and help with laying the bricks. After spending all morning and early afternoon in the sun, we headed home for lunch. We all drank about five glasses of water each when we got home, and were beginning to see our sunburns coming out. Parker looks like he is wearing a white muscle shirt he is so red. Anyway, we have had a significant amount of aloe treatments to help cool us off. I am still asking myself, how does a person go about getting a sunburn while wearing 45 SPF sunscreen. In the afternoon, after showers, we headed over to the mission house for their weekly prayer meeting and Bible study. We then came home and had some relaxation time before supper time. It was really fun, we had some good laughs. After supper we played games and just hung out. It was nice to have a bit of a break after a hard day of work. Please pray that all of our building projects would go according to plans, and that we would continue to build our relationships with the people we have met. Thanks for all your prayers.

Lindsay for those who are slightly more than sunkissed (Team Peru)

Chifas Among Other Things

Happy New Year again to everyone! Today has been a much more laid back day in Chiclayo. In fact, New Year's Day is the least commercial day in the whole year here. That being the case, we took the opportunity to go to the market, after a big sleep in of course. It was a totally different scene there today. The last time we were there, there were so many people that we could hardly move. This time, more than half of the shops were closed, and we could walk around freely. Roonie bought some sandals and sunglasses, Leah bought sunglasses, and Elli, Parker and I looked around for ideas, but didn't get anything just yet. We went with Henrik to by some more fresh fruit (mangos are in season...it is pronounced mon-go here), and then we headed home in a Combi. We came home and had lunch, and then had some rest time. Because of the nature of New Year's Day here, we could sleep all afternoon. Parker and Elli went and played soccer with some people from the church, and Leah and Roonie went to watch for a bit, but then came home, I spent the afternoon journalling, reading and sleeping. It was nice to have some down time amongst our usually busy schedule. There is one thing about the heat here, it sure zaps your energy. A person could easily sleep for hours on end just to get rejuventated, and then sleep for a good 10-12 hours at night. For supper, Henrik went to a Chifa to pick up food. A Chifa is a Chinese restaurant, the Peruvian equivalent to fast food. Who would have thought that we would be having Chinese food while in Peru, but we did. The whole meal, enough for 8 people cost 28 soles, or about 7 dollars. After supper, we had a group debrief to go over our experiences thus far. It was good to just touch base as a team and refocus ourselves a bit. We had a time of prayer which was also very good. Please pray for continued good health for our team (we have all been healthy thus far), good relationships with the people, for our Spanish to come quickly, and for us to remember that we are here to be used by God. Thank you so much for all the support.

Lindsay for Team Peru