Imagine leaving on a bus Friday morning at 9:30 AM and arriving at your desired destination at 6:00 PM the following night. The start of that sounds like one of those illogical math questions that will give you random information then ask you how fast was the bus traveling. We did manage to have a few bus breaks though.
One break was a few hours before arriving in Cuenca, Ecuador then a three hour break in Cuenca to have dinner at the Leeks house, an hour and a half “break” at Immigration for the border crossing into Peru at 2 AM, and an hour break to catch our final bus to Trujillo. Thanks to the magical help of sleeping pills I slept from 10PM till 10AM minus my zombie state of being awake to wait in line at Immigration in the wee hours of the morning. I remember waking up around 6:30 in the morning and seeing the sun starting to rise. Shortly after that the sleeping pills kicked back in and knocked me out. I slept most of the trip other than the few alternating hours of reading, journaling, or talking. I remember waking up a few times and pulling back the curtain over the bus window to see Peru. None of the sites impressed me enough to keep my face glued to the window. In fact it looked more like a barren desert most times when I peered out the window.
A few days before arrive here in Trujillo I was sitting in a lush green pasture on a farm in Banos, Ecuador surrounded by mountains. I had a rushing river and waterfalls in front of me. I had a baby donkey beside me. Everything here just seems so desolate and lifeless.
We arrived at the bus station in Trujillo at 4:45 where our contact was already waiting for us. We quickly unloaded and re-loaded our packs into the next bus in hopes of reaching our destination soon. We were all past the point of exhaustion but I was thanking God that we had smooth travels.
This month is all squad month so there will be over 50 of us here by the end of today. There are 40 beds, but I wondered off to the roof and fell in love. Sleeping in a tent on a roof top with views of the mountain and the beach, sounds like paradise huh? It is crazy though. I can’t really describe the houses here but if you have been to any third world country then you kind of know the setting. Half finished brick buildings, glass shards on top of walls, building materials scattered around. Chickens, cows, ducks are in the surrounding yards. At night you fall asleep to the sound of blaring music from down the road.
Our first day of ministry here starts on Tuesday. More than likely we will be working with three, four, and five year olds. We are in another broken city. Saturday was our first day here and we have already seen a lady get her phone stolen. Keep all of us in your prayers, please.
