The reason I struggle so much with blogging is because I’m more focused on presentation and how things look than anything. Because of that, everything I do seems imperfect and I usually delete it with frustration. I realize now that it’s not that right attitude to have, and for everyone back home and all of my supporters I am going to make a bigger effort to let ya’ll know what’s happening on the field.
Peru has been amazing thus far. I have loved every minute of ministry, even if it involves burning trash on the side of the road. God has been doing some pretty cool things here, and I’m excited to see what else if going to happen.
The first week of ministry my team Bold Radiance was asked to perform dances in front of the of the VBS (Vacation Bible School) kids. We rehearsed for several hours in the morning and the songs changed everyday. Try to picture me doing zumba and then you’ll kind of get the gist of what we did. The kids loved it, and we all loved the built in workout. On Saturday, we performed a lot of the songs we learned in front of the neighborhood. It was outside in the hot sun, but the kids danced what they knew along with us and it was a lot of fun.
A few of my teammates and me giving an “alto cinco” to the kids who were joined us in dancing at the block party.
Dancing for the kids also means dressing for the part. Esther, Bella, and I are ready to get our dance on in this picture.
Monday’s happen to be out day off so our entire squad went to the beach. The Pacific Ocean is about two miles west of the compound where our ministry site we live at is. Our squad planned a special day of baptism and five members of F Squad were baptized in the ocean! My teammates Bella and Courtney K were baptized and it was an amazing moment to be in the water with them when it happened.
Bold Radiance celebrating Courtney’s baptism in the Pacific.
Bella’s baptism!
We also had a special ceremony for my squadmate Anastasia who died in a car crash right before training camp. Her ashes were tossed into the breeze and we sang Amazing Grace. We are taking her ashes around the world with us and are having a special ceremony for her in each country we go to.
Week two of ministry looked a lot different to me than week one, but I loved it just the same. I had a paint brush in hand for most of the week, and our squad turned the gray cinder block facade and interior of the school into more inviting colors. I even accomplished the high places without fear and completely attribute it to our vertical adventure in the jungles of Bolivia. No more fear of heights for this chica! Woot!
Some of my squad mates and me painting (or fixing the paint) outside of the school.
The inside of the school being painted.
No more fear of high places!
Bold Radiance on the stage of the church El Yo Soy before Esther and Bella preached the Word for Sunday service. I’m so proud of them!
In the middle of week two I had the sense that God wanted me to step up and speak at church on Friday night. It was a task that someone on Bold Radiance had to do and I knew that I was the one who was going to do it. I spoke on Freedom in Christ and I think God spoke to me on this very subject more than he spoke to anyone–more on that in a later post. My fear a month was conquered that night because I’m pretty terrified about speaking in front of people. The last time I stood behind a podium was in 8th grade speech class and I almost tipped over the podium as I nervously gave an impromptu speech on hockey.
While preparing for my message, my squad went and did street ministry and three people came to the Lord and a few of the people they met showed up for the church service. And last night during youth ministry a handful of youth allowed Jesus into their hearts. Lives are being changed and it brings me to happy tears every time. And even though we’re changing lives here, I think that it’s my life that is changing the most. One of these days I’m going to blog about the transformation God continues to do in me.
We’re coming up on a new week and our ministry host says that we’ll be doing a little bit of prison ministry and hospital visits. I’m hoping that I’ll have something to share with you all before too long!
Ciao!
Random photos from Peru:
Acting goofy at the ministry site/school, also known as The Compound because we live there too. Photo courtesy of our ministry host Joel Savage of Savage Ministries.
Some of the VBS kids.
Playing games with the kids during youth night.
Sometimes World Racers don’t like washing our clothes by hand so we spend a little bit of money to have someone wash our clothes for us.
It’s known on the World Race to “hurry up and wait”. We’re still getting used to getting to a place fast just to wait for the bus for a long time.
The view from the roof of The Compound at dusk.
Outside of my home for the month. The Pacific Ocean is in the background.
Some of the neighbor kids I hang out with when I’m not doing ministry.
I found this parrot walking down the street and our squad adopted him for the day. Bella named him Peter.
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