A bit of an overview:
Once again the Lord has shown me his incredible planning abilities,
grace, love, and teaching and challenging ways. Our team arrived safely back in
New Braunfels earlier this week after about 24 hours of travel from Peru. Every
day we saw God show up and move. The first two days we were in a village in the
jungle of Palm Real. A real life jungle village – river, muddy ground, bugs and
all. We had flown from Lima to Cusco to Port Maldanado, and then an hour or so
boat ride down the river to reach the village. We spent the morning there going
hut to hut and then the afternoon playing games with the kids. Hut to hut, we
visited several women and families and had the chance to share the Gospel. We
also got to sit and talk with a group of teenage girls about the Lord and life
there in Peru. We had brought a huge beach ball which was just as big as some
of kids that they had a blast with, and taught them baseball and Frisbee. It
was fun to see the kids learn something new and language barriers weren’t an
issue in the least when it came to games. Later in the evening we showed the
first half of the “Jesus film” outside and had a good sized crowd. The second
day looked the same – swatting mosquitoes, sweating, playing with kids, sharing
the Gospel!, and showing the 2nd half of the film. The Lord held off
the rain and we had another good turnout! We were able to some of the play
equipment behind and discipleship material for the pastors there in the
area.
The next day (3 am!) we left to start our journey to the
highland mountain area. It started with a 4 hour boat ride up stream back to
Port Maldanado, where we caught a plane to Cusco because the roads were too bad
from mud slides to travel by bus (praise God we got tickets! And for less than
a bus!). We arrived in Cusco and stayed the night in a hotel/bed and breakfast/home
ran by an older couple that we bonded with who greeted us with Coco tea. It was
a good time to adjust to the altitude and get some much needed rest before we
started our hiking portion of the trip in the mountains. The next morning we
had a several hour drive to the mountain area around winding roads, up and up
we went. The next several days were similar. We spent the mornings hiking from
village to village, the afternoons handing out Bibles (almost 400!) and
visiting homes and playing with kids along the way, and the evenings showing
the “Jesus film.” The views were incredible and the people of Peru with their
decorative bright colors and warm and welcoming personalities will be something
I will always remember. I have many stories from these visits I hope to share
with you all soon! …I suppose this blogging endeavor will continue! 🙂
The kids loved Keith our leader- you would hear “Papa Keis” with some giggles throughout the village.
The last day before we left we had a chance to go to a
little ole place called Machu Picchu …one of the wonders of the world!! Very
cool. For sure an incredible site to see, and the train ride there along the
most raging rivers I have ever seen was awesome. It was a good wrap up/fun day to end the tip
on!
Thank you all for the continued prayers and encouragement and joining our team!!You all for sure played a big part in this trip and I’m continually grateful and blessed by it and it’s fun to see be a part of the Kingdom growing with you all. I look forward to sharing more stories soon!
