After a 44 hour and 37 minute travel time, from the moment we stepped out of the hostel in Baños to the moment we stepped into our apartment in Peru, we finally made it to our final destination. The bus ride was easy for some and hard for others, but we made the most of it!
Our first day in Peru was a free day, so we spent it shopping, resting, and connecting with people back home. In all honesty, I was really struggling with the transition. Driving into Lima all I saw were crowds, shopping centers, and casinos. I was not impressed and felt like I was in Las Vegas. all i could think was, “Why am I not at home doing ministry if this is where were supposed to be sharing God’s love? This is exactly like home. What’s the point?” I really wanted to go back to Ecuador and Camp Hope and be with the people I connected with there. I felt like I was actually making a difference there. I had this mindset for a few day and it was a struggle.
We finally got back into the swing of things and for a set schedule was adapted. We started our ministry at a Christian Church called “Jesús Es Me Rey” it’s a newer church that was still spreading the news that they were open. The first day was a struggle. We sat inside all day and wrote addresses on cards to hand out to the public. After lunch it got more enjoyable. We made up a handful of dramas about how good God is and were told we would perform them the next day. The first day of skits went really well. Then the second day passed and we were all kinda bored. Then the third day came and we were very not into what we were doing. Finally the third day came and we were supposed to go into the children’s hospital but were told we couldn’t anymore, so we had to drag ourselves out to do the skits for yet ANOTHER day. We were all pretty on edge and in a not so good mood, so when it came to picking up trash in the streets we all put in our music and did as we were told with as little human interaction as possible. We were all really struggling with finding the joy in things. Finally our fifth day comes along and we are paired with another group of young adults and sent to hand out information about the church. It was a very laid back day, but it was just what I needed.
After all the struggling, miscommunication, and being in a riff with almost everyone on the team, we finally were able to have a day that we enjoyed. We didn’t have a set agenda and were able to converse with people from Peru and really connect with them. We planned a service together that we put on later that day.
My amazing teammate Ben was in charge of doing the sermon for the service and after a lot of not knowing what to talk about he picked an amazing subject! The love God has for us. He did such an amazing job preaching, his dad would be proud!
