Just finished a short debrief in Nicaragua with all 50 of us (we were on the mainland looking directly at Ometepe, which was such a perfect and beautiful spot for my team especially), where we were able to reunite as a big family and share about our past month and awesome God stories! We were right on the beach, so we also just got to play, build sand sculptures (my team did the island of Ometepe, detailed with the different villages we went to), and have a blast being together once again!
We then got to all travel together – it was a full day of travel, but I will take plane over bus any day!! We got in to Lima around 1 AM and met up with Bob and Rebecca Cooley, AIM missionaries who just came down here in December! We boarded a bus and arrived at the church we got to crash in around 230 AM…such a beautiful and encouraging site to be greeted by some of the church members- they had stayed up to welcome us!! They are so excited to have us here, as many of them became saved after hearing the gospel from missionaries!
After breakfast (the church prepared for us), we came back in to Lima for the race! Bob planned this leg, and it was a blast! We had 10 tasks we had to complete such as swimming to a buoy in the Pacific Ocean, each eating a full plate of cow´s heart (I´m amazed at the things I can eat without giving to much thought to it already this year!), riding a horse and buggy around the central square, and much more. If you want to read more about what we did online: we had tasks at Puente de los Suspiros, Parque del Amor, Manos Morenas, SanFrancisco Monestary, Barrio Chino, Plaza Mayor, and San Cristobal. We ended at the cross overlooking the city, and prayed as a group over Peru! The people t/o the city were great- they were cheering us on and eager to help! It was hilarious!
ZEO won!! 🙂 What we are doing from here on out for prizes is half goes to the winning team (for a nice meal out, or a night in a hotel, etc.), and half we get to give to another team to use to bless a family or whatever ministry they want to use it for and then share with us how it was used! So neat! We get to give the ¨ prize¨away to bless someone else!!
All of team B is heading up in to the Andes mts tomorrow night- it´s a 10 hr overnight busride. We will be living up in the mts for the month and will be camping out in a church lawn once again, with a hole in the ground toilet and bucket showers…and much colder weather than we´ve been used to! I am super excited!! I will fill you in more on our ministry as I find out! 🙂 Internet won´t be very accessible, so I will keep you all posted as frequently as possible! This is an absolutely beautiful country and people! It was difficult to leave Nicaragua, but we know the people are in God´s hands and that He will continue to raise up more leaders and missionaries to be burdened for this country! We are also ready for Peru and all God has in store here!
