Last month it felt like I wasn’t doing anything or “enough” if I did have a job to do. This month, however, our prayers have been answered! We are working on visiting the prison, a halfway house for women and children who are victims of abuse. We are visiting two schools and helping the church with evangelism, their youth group, and Sunday services. Phew!
Week one was a whirlwind. We arrived here at 7:30am after 3.5 days of travel and got right into it…
Day One we set up our home. We are staying in a monastery with bunk beds (blessings!). It reminds me of staying at a lake house camp. We set up our propane gas grill-top and went to the store to buy the necessities like dish soap and toilet paper. (Video links below.)
On Day Two, we went to a large market to buy groceries. After that we went to the church to help clean the chapel and other rooms that will soon be used as classrooms for Sunday school. We also worked on our schedule with the Pastor. We went home for lunch then headed back to the church for a meeting with a few other young adults who either work or volunteer at the church.
Day Three we began visiting the schools to see if the principals would allow us to come in to teach English and share the gospel. Later that afternoon we returned to give a presentation at one of the schools. We rushed home for dinner then went to the church for a meeting and to learn a drama for street evangelism.
On the fourth day we were in the schools. We arrived early because we were invited to have breakfast with the principal at one of the schools. For the next few hours, we went from classroom to classroom practicing conversational English. It was so fun! The kids asked lots of questions and forty-five minutes seemed to fly by! After lunch we were in the second school doing English lessons. By the time we were done there, we were ready for a break! We visited a small restaurant with Saul (our translator for the day) and where we tried cachanga bread with fig sauce and had coffee for the first time in almost a week! Thursday night was a night off and it was much welcomed. We spend most of the evening working on blogs and catching up on emails.
Friday was Day Five. It was very similar to Thursday as we arrived early at the first school to have breakfast with the principal and begin our conversational English lessons. Afterwards, we were invited to a restaurant to try a traditional Peruvian dish that is similar to ceviche. Its called “Leche de Tigre” which was accompanied by a purple corn juice. It was delicious. The soup consisted of lime juice, milk, onion, cilantro, tuna, octopus, squid and shrimp topped with a little bit of seaweed. I added a little hot sauce that could only be compared to spicy mustard in terms of temperature and precautions to take when consuming. (Unless of course you’re an expert on hot sauce, in which case I apologize.) We visited our second school and went home for dinner. It was another low-key evening for which I was also very grateful.
Day Six, Saturday. Most of the morning consisted of catching up on laundry, emails, devotions, workouts… you name it. We also went to the large market again and bought groceries for a majority of the week and meal planned. We left for the church around 4:45pm to help with the youth group. It was so fun! We played games, did cheers, had small group presentations about why we are in Peru and on a missions trip. We even performed the dance we practiced the other night! After youth group we had salchipapas (Another Peruvian dish consisting of French fries, hot dogs, mayo, ketchup and sometimes a fried egg.) with some of the young adults who attend the church and lead youth group.
Day Seven… almost rest day. Today we went to the church for service, performed a song, had lunch with one of the women who works at the church, and then played games with some of the. young adults. (Some of us blogged.)
Its been a long week, and I look forward to our rest day tomorrow, but I am so grateful that the Lord has answered our prayers! We wanted more to do and our plates are full. Please keep balance, team unity, rest and hard work in your prayers as we continue with this month.
TOUR OF OUR HOUSE:
