We’ve been in Trujillo, Peru for almost three weeks now, and I must say how nice it is to be in a warmer climate. After the arctic temperatures we experienced last month, I now feel like I’m in a tropical paradise! I was so excited to be in warmer weather that I even decided to set up my tent on the roof of our compound and sleep outside. We have a great view of the Pacific Ocean from the roof, and there have been some pretty amazing sunsets too!
This month our entire squad is here together working with Savage Ministries. Our ministry host, Joel, is from the U.S. but he moved down here full time a few years ago when he took over the ministry and married his wife, Maria. He works with different churches here in Trujillo, and his ministry has several schools all over the world. The compound where we are staying this month is actually a Christian school that his ministry built and just opened a few months ago. During our first week of ministry we hosted a vacation Bible school each afternoon at our compound, where we had over 100 kids come every day! We did arts and crafts, taught Bible stories through skits, performed dances, and played games with the kids. On our last day of VBS we had a big party for all the kids where a few of our squad members did a skit and shared the salvation message, along with a lot of music and dancing and games. We also gave out toys at the end, and the kids were super excited. I loved seeing their faces light up when they each received a toy. Our second week of ministry included painting the school to make it more aesthetically appealing, as well as working in the classroom with the kids.
On Saturday my team and two other teams went with one of the local pastors to do a children’s ministry in the valley, which is about 45 minutes from Trujillo. We piled about 25 people (along with a guitar and two huge speakers) into a van, which made for a super cozy ride! We painted our faces to look like clowns and performed dances and shared a message with the children there. We were told there are a lot of witch doctors and abuse within many families in the area where we were, so it was a really cool experience to be able to share the love of God with the people there. From where we were there was a beautiful view of many sugar cane fields surrounded by the mountains. I was exhausted by the end of the day, but that has probably been my favorite day of ministry since we got here!
My team has also gotten to lead services at two different churches this month. We led a Wednesday night service at El Yo Soy, which is one of the churches Joel works with. That one was fun because we led worship up on stage and they put microphones in front of us all. Good thing we all have beautiful voices ha! The other church we went to was a newer church that was started about six months ago so it’s still pretty small. I was the one from my team to preach at that service, which was definitely a little out of my comfort zone. I was also my own translator, so I had to speak in English and Spanish. I only saw a couple people who fell asleep, so I’d say it was a success!
Some other memorable experiences this month have included visiting the beach in Huanchaco, reaching a level of chocolate cake consumption I never imagined possible (there are several places with some GOOD chocolate cake, including at the little store about 20 feet from our compound), and riding in a taxi when our driver got pulled over for “driving like crazy” (we got out of THAT car at the police station and had to ride home with a different driver). So it has been quite an eventful month, and I’m looking forward to our last week and a half of ministry before heading to Ecuador! I wish I could post some pictures, but internet is slow here so it takes forever to upload them to my blog. I’ll be posting all my pictures on Facebook, so you’ll have to look there to see them! I still need to raise about $4,000 before my final deadline in December, so if you feel led to donate you can click the “support me” tab at the top of my page. I know God is faithful and will provide. Thanks so much for all your continued prayers and support!!
