We left Tarma on Friday morning around 9:30 am after Christina and I made an early morning run into town for some water and toilet paper. Two things I have learned you can never have too much of. We took a van for the hour and a half trip down the mountains. As we descended it amazed me how quickly the climate changed. We went from arid and brown mountains to lush palms and waterfalls! When we got in the van in Tarma we were all bundled up in sweatshirts; when we hopped off at our destination in Chanchamayo we were all stripping off our outer layers and breathing in the glorious humidity!!! I felt like I was back home in FL! We waited at the bus station for about 30 minutes and then our host for the weekend, Henry, arrived to pick us up. We all piled into another van and headed off to our ministry site. After about a 10 minute ride we pulled off onto the side of the road beside a beautiful river and jumped out. We were then instructed to get into what looked like a giant metal cage. We needed to get across the river and this was how we were going to get there! The metal cage hangs from a cable that is stretched across the river and it’s on a sort of pulley system that allows it to go back and forth. We were told to distribute the weight evenly with an equal amount of people on each side of the cage so it wouldn’t tip and then we were off with a JOLTING start that caused all of us to tumble and then cry with laughter! It took a few minutes to get all the way across the river and then we jumped off onto a small platform. We were in the jungle. We were surrounded by green mountains and lush, green trees of all different types and different shades. The river was racing beside us and birds were flying and chirping all around. We all had our eyes peeled for monkeys! It was exactly what I had pictured South America to be. We started our hike up to where we would be staying and it was quite a treck. It was all uphill following a twisty path. Finally we reached the top of the hill and turned the corner and there it was. Ok, I’m going to try my best to describe this place but I don’t think my words will do it justice. Girasoles sits on the top of a hill and is surrounded by the the greenest mountains I’ve ever seen whose tops are covered by misty clouds. There are 4 main buildings, all made out of wood with Palm frond roofs and they are open to let the warm fresh air blow threw. There are palm trees all around along with a million different other kinds of plants with colorful flowers. There are several animals living there. Three dogs, Bobby, Toby, and Laka, 2 cows, endless chickens, and a sheep named Vicki to name a few. And this beautiful place is home to 18 precious boys. Girasoles is an orphanage for abandoned boys. They range from age 4 to 17 and they are some of the sweetest boys I’ve ever met.
Upon our arrival we were greeted by Ava, Henry’s wife, Amalia, a caregiver to the boys and also Abel who is the grounds keeper. They run Girasoles and take care of all the boys. We were taken to our rooms and given some time to settle in. We had two rooms inside of one of the buildings and were all thrilled to get to sleep beneath the palm roofs. We were also so excited to have real beds!!! After two months of sleeping on the ground beds are a real blessing!!!! After dropping all our stuff into the rooms we headed back down to the common area outside. Here we met Antony. Antony is 5 years old and is one of the most squeezable kids I’ve ever met! Christina, Deborah and I ate bananas with Antony on the front porch while we waited for the rest of the boys to get home from school. (As a side note, the bananas were off one of the trees growing out back!!! DELICIOUS!!!!) When the rest of the boys arrived we all sat down for lunch and surprise…..!! Rice and potatoes for lunch!!! (I will never again eat rice or potatoes after this trip…it is ALL WE EAT!) After lunch the 6 of us headed into town to get some things we would need for the weekend. Alex, one of the boys from the orphanage came with us as our tour guide. Alex is 15 years old and quite a little charmer 🙂 He was so sweet and so helpful and kept us laughing the entire afternoon. We told him we wanted some ice cream and so he marched us threw the town straight to an ice cream stand. It didn’t take us long to realize he had taken us to that specific place because his “novia” (girlfriend) worked at the stand right beside it. (This made for some fun jokes and conversations throughout the weekend!) He also took us to buy water and some snacks to hold us over for next few days. And, special message for Beth and Katie Allen: I FOUND DR. PEPPER!!!!!!!!!!! You guys, I’ve never been happier. After we finished our shopping we headed back to the orphanage. We arrived just in time for dinner, more rice and potatoes, and then we had a devotional and Katia shared her testimony with the kids. Each of the boys stood up and introduced themselves to us and told us their age. We did the same 🙂 The boys warmed up to us quickly and we had so much fun that evening joking around, dancing, and listening to music with them. We headed off to bed around 9:30 and feasted on Pringles while watching Downton Abbey on Christina’s laptop (this has become a nightly ritual).
Saturday morning we woke up at 8:00 to a loud bell ringing letting us know that breakfast was ready. Breakfast was a cheeseburger with fries on top. Weird, but I was just glad it was something besides rice! The boys were so sweet and all wanted us to sit with them. After breakfast we all spent some time cleaning up around the grounds and then headed back into the dining area for devotions. During devotions we did our Good Samaritan skit for the boys with the help of Carlos, who played the role of the Good Samaritan 🙂 the boys loved it. After our skit we broke up into groups and worked with the boys on some English which was a lot of fun. It’s so sweet to listen to them trying to pronounce the words. Afterwards one of the little boys, Luis, handed me a book to read to him. It was the Jesus Story Book Bible, the same one Alex and Taxi have at home, except in Spanish of course. I did my best to read them a story from it and they we quite patient with my pronunciations.
What happened next is something I’m pretty sure I will remember for the rest of my life. As we were all sitting in the room two men brought in a little boy. He was all smiles and was holding a GI joe. It took a few minutes for us all to understand what was happening but then we figured it out. This was a new little boy coming to live at the orphanage. Henry explained to us that his father had abandoned the family and his mom didn’t want him anymore so he was coming to live at Girasoles. I sat in the room fighting back tears as we learned the story of little four year old Jorge. I couldn’t and still can’t get my mind around how someone could not want their child. And I kept thinking about Taxi. Him and Jorge are the same age and I just couldn’t bare the thought of Tax just being dropped off somewhere with complete strangers to spend the rest of his childhood. And the reality is, little Jorge is just as precious and his life is just as special, and just as important. Henry introduced Jorge to the rest of the boys and a couple of them volunteered to pray for him as they always do when a new boy arrives. While we were praying I was just thinking how amazing it is that though little Jorge was unwanted by his parents, he now has a new family and 17 brothers to grow up with and people to love him. Though he didn’t even know them, they loved him immediately and in time he would love them too. It’s such a beautiful picture of the way Christ love us….but that is for another blog 🙂
After all the bustle of the morning activities Abel took us out on a hike. I could spend ages explaining how breathtakingly beautiful it was but I’ll keep it short! We saw a lagoon, two waterfalls, and ate the most delicious fruit straight off the trees! It was one of the most beautiful hikes I’ve ever been on!
Post hike we ate lunch and then Deborah taught a yoga class for the boys. HYSTERICAL! After yoga there was a soccer game out in the yard followed by a short but much needed nap for me! We spent the next hour or so preparing for the bible trivia game we were planning for the evening and eating apples. The trivia game was a hit! And these boys really know their bibles! After trivia we had dinner and then we headed outside for a bonfire. While we were in town on Friday we bought some marshmallows for the boys to roast and oh my goodness they loved them. Little Jorge must have eaten almost ten of them 🙂 We had a blast with them dancing and goofing around by the fire. Post bonfire we popped ourselves some popcorn and all crashed in our room for some Downton Abbey!
Sunday morning we woke up to find that our palm roof had been leaking all night during a rainstorm that had rolled through so that was interesting!!! We had breakfast (sardine sandwich….SICK!) and then all crammed into a little van to head into town for church. Henry preached for about 2 hours (Lord help us) and then we were introduced to the congregation and sang a song for them. Our go to is “Holy Spirit”. Nobody would dare ever want to hear me sing out loud in the states but for some reason these people everywhere we go just can’t get enough! 🙂 after church we spent some time in town picking up a few things and grabbing ice cream again…and guess who we saw at the ice cream stand…..Alex and his novia! He ran off quick as lightning when we got there 🙂 we had a fun time teasing him about it at lunch that afternoon 🙂 After lunch we all relaxed for a bit and then it was yoga take two! The boys absolutely love it and it so cute to watch them.
Our last night with them was pretty chilled out. We ate dinner and played for a bit before it was time for bed. We said our goodbyes and there were hugs all around. This was by far my favorite weekend in Peru.
This weekend reminded me of John 14:18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” Jesus’ promise that he will come for us. That even at this moment he is in a relentless pursuit for us and one day we will really see him come. This weekend was such a beautiful picture of this lived out in a shadow of heaven on earth type of way. Little Jorge has been taken in and made a part of something that is so much bigger and special than he can realize at this point. He know has a home, a safe place, the same as we have in Him.
