“Mom, why aren’t you at work?“
“Ben, it’s Saturday.”
October 16th-20th
Hello, my beautiful people! It is Monday October 21st and we are finally in Peru!! We left Dunamis on Wednesday the 16th, and spent about 48hours in Baños! Baños is a town about 3hrs south of Quito! On Wednesday night we arrived and went straight to the best Arepas place on the planet for dinner! It truly was so amazing and the owner was a Christian!! Thursday morning consisted of a squad adventure to the ‘Swing at the end of the World”, aka La Casa de Arbol. Imagine being on a swing except you look down and there is nothing but trees below you. Also, the vastness of creation felt like I could reach out and touch it! We also rode to and from on a pretty snazzy Bus! We rode in style on a double-decker bus!! The view was incredible and the tunes were just as good! Moving on to
Thursday afternoon, now that was gnarly! Alongside some pals, we decided we were going too test the waters of Baños! We went Whitewater rafting in level 3 and 4 rapids and it was insane! Team Parasite Included: Mya, Emily, Destiny, Anna, Hannah, and myself. As a team we conquered those rapids. We didn’t flip once or have anyone fall out! It was our teamwork and the instruction of William our Guide to credit for this feat! We spent about an hour out on the water crushing both the waves and the dreams of our doubters! It was an afternoon filled with lots of laughter and a possible second parasite. The night ended with a warm meal, included with our rafting experience! A hot shower and a night to recharge both spiritually and physically was exactly what I needed!
Friday, “travel day.” I put that in quotes because our bus wasn’t scheduled to depart until midnight. In the morning, we did a squad activation activity. We were put into groups to go into the streets of Baños and street evangelize! I was paired with Chloe and Ella! It was a time where we decided to follow the voice of the Lord. We ended up in an art store near a local cafe. We approached the owners of the store and found out that they spoke English. We jumped into conversation about life and beliefs. The man who owned the store gave us his life story and told us what he believed. It was an encouragement to me, to see him speak. He said he taught religion at a school in Denmark. He believed in a high being, however not really sure if there is a God. He did say that he found it really important to respect the beliefs of others. He said that an uneducated Christian is a fool. I agreed so much with this statement when he said it. As a christian, if I am not aware of other beliefs, how am I supposed to minister to the nations? How am I supposed to be fully equipted to minister without an education of other beliefs. It was a sweet reminder and I really enjoyed how the Lord blessed our conversation. He let us pray for the man and his wife at the end, encouraging them to seek God and get to know him. As well as having fierce encounters with the Holy Spirit! It was an amazing way to end our last day in Ecuador. A country that touched not only my heart, but everyone on our squad. It was a country that made us shout, sing, and praise harder than some of us have ever before!
Friday afternoon was full of squad FUN! We divided into teams again, this time to go on a scavenger hunt throughout the streets of Baños. It was thrilling and so much fun. One of the tasks required us to sing happy birthday with a stranger. Somehow, it became my 20th birthday and we sang happy birthday too me! Later that afternoon, the workers at the hotel found out that it was “my birthday.” There was a sign and balloons, it was hilarious! Around 8pm, I got myself a nice American Hamburger and said goodbye too Ecuador!
11:00pm
We stepped foot out of our hostel in Baños en route to Peru! The first step in our travel day was to take a night bus from Baños to Guayauill. We departed around midnight, ready to get too Peru. I took some dramamine and slept for about 3 of the 5 hours it took to get to Guayaquil. We arrived around 5:30am, and I can tell you I was extremely out of it. Yet, I had a conversation with a man about God and what we are doing. He was from Miami and I barely remember having this conversation. Not sure what I exactly said to him in the wee hours of the morning, but God does. After a failed attempt to sleep on the floor of the bus terminal, I decided I was going to call my mom.
8:00am
“Mom, it’s 9am. Why aren’t you at work?”
“Ben, its Saturday”
This is the exact definition of how days go on the Race. My concept for what day it is, is non existent at this point. I decided some Dunkin’ coffee and a donut would wake me up. Nope, I felt like a zombie all day long! It was a long layover in the bus terminal, most of us so ready to get too Peru!
2:00pm
We boarded what became our mobile home for the next 28hours!! I’m gonna start off by saying, it really wasn’t that bad. The seats were extremely nice, we had a TV in front of us. It may have been in Spanish, but it was still a TV.
6:00pm
We arrived at the Ecuador/Peru Boarder! I was beyond gitty to be back on Peruvian soil! I had been looking forward to that moment for a really long time! It was also nice to get off the bus to stretch our legs a little bit!
8:00pm
Dinner! They served chicken and rice! Also, Rice pudding! Rice pudding is one of my favorite things, so I was pumped!
10:00pm
Lights out and goodnight!! All day, I felt as if Friday never ended and Saturday never begun. My mind was ready for Friday/Saturday to end!
6:00am
I was beyond surprised that I slept from 10am till 6am. It wasn’t the best sleep of my life, however it was still good sleep and I felt rested!
7:00am
Breakfast!! One word: FOOD!
9:00am
We stopped in Trujillo. Again, getting off that bus felt incredible! I was not the only one ready to get too Lima! It was a long day!!
12:00pm
Lunch. One word again: FOOD!!
12:30pm:
The food coma set in and sleep was on deck!!
4:00pm
The reality that we were two hours from Lima set in and I was getting very excited!!
6:30pm
We arrived at the bus terminal in Lima!! Stepping off that bus into this City was surreal. Being back in this country hits me everyday!
7:52pm:
We arrived at the YWAM base here in Lima. Our home for the next month. It was 44hours and 52min of travel.
Thank you for taking the time to read this! May God be the glory and may he be praised in times like these! Thank you for prayers of safe travel! I ask for continued prayer for the country of Ecuador, for God to restore the country. For God to bring his presence to the people! I ask for prayer for Dunamis and the girls they pour into daily. I ask for prayer for Gina, Dan, and Savannah that they continue to minister well to the girls as well as each team that comes to serve! I also ask for prayer for Camp Hope and that they continue to bless each child of God!! I also ask for continued prayer for Pan de Vida and the work they are doing there. Thank you and God Bless.
-Ben
