My precious Susan

Today has been exciting and its only half over. We went to a small church in the middle of nowhere and did our drime for the last time and worked with the children. There were about 60 children of all ages. The cutest children I have ever seen. We started off singing and just talking to the kids to get them to interact with us. We then did our drime. It's sad to think that that was our last time. We have preformed that drime so many times... i can do it in my sleep. But everytime I do that drime, I think about what God really did for us. He broke us free from our sins and still does it when we fall. He is always there and he is watching our backs for us. Being satan in the drime, really has impacted me thinking about sin. Money, drugs, lust, and images, everything. I see what they can do and how quickly they can take hold.

After our drime... we played some games with the children. All children love balloons so that is what we did. We blew up so many balloons and let them pop them. They loved it.

At a HIV home we visit, women knit scarfs for Lidia in their spare time. She had about 80 scarfs total. They were made especially for today to pass out to children. We gathered up all the children and gave them each a scarf, cookies, and a balloon. They went crazy. You could just see in their eyes that they were so grateful for them. Most of them took them out of the package and put them on. They pranced around showing them off.

The whole time we were there, a small girl sat on my lap, her arms around my neck and her smiling face looking up at me. Her name... Susan. She was one of the sweetest girls that I have laid eyes on. Her soft smile just made me want to take her home. We sang and danced together... her hanging onto my neck and singing her heart out. She shared her cookies with me and she just kept saying my name over and over. While I was doing our drime... I kept looking up at her and she just stood there watching me, her smile shining on her face. She was only 4... but I really think I preformed that drime for her.

Leaving today, leaving Susan, was hard. I just wanted to hold her, to talk her home. All the kids lined up to say good-bye to each of us, while Susan stood behind me, holding onto my arm. When her older sister came to get her... she resisted, but finally let go when I hugged her and told her that I loved her so much. Her eyes shone so bright!! That girl had so much spirit, so much life. That girl was and is my 'Precious Susan'!!!

Our Trujillo trip and midterm retreat

Isn’t it so weird how you plan and plan for a huge trip and in a blink its over?! How everything you did is now just a memory and something written down on a piece of paper that is called your journal. Every person you met came into your life and right back out as fast as they came in. Some of them you may never see again. But at the same time, those people played such a big part of your short time there with them. Let me start at the beginning and you will see how just in 17 days, we reached a lot of people and we got reached by a lot of people.

May 1-4:
We arrived our first destination at about 11pm. Trujillo. A small town that contains family we already know and love. We were greeted at the bus stop by more kisses and hugs from people we had no idea who they were. Liana was one of them, which we later got to know a lot better. We stayed in a church Sunday school room on blow up mattresses.
We worked on cleaning out a storage room that was stuffed to the door with stuff that they just couldn’t throw away. It didn’t take long to finish that job and we were on to the next small task. We helped put shelves up in a working progress seminar building. Its just so amazing how doing little things like that can make someone so happy. It didn’t take long at all and we had made their day! If that’s all it takes, why don’t we do more of it for just people around home?!
On the 2nd, we went to visit some ruins from the 9th century. It was hot and some of it wasn’t that exciting but we enjoyed seeing the inside of a castle from way back in the day.
When we got out from the tour, we were heading to our van when a bus door opened and about 10 kids ran out and towards us. They handed us small notebooks and pens and wanted our signatures. It was seldom that they saw ‘white people’ and when they did… they took advantage of it. I felt a small taste of what it felt like to be famous. Only this… was because we were white!! But I didn’t mind. I was doing something nice for small children wanting something to show for!
After the ruins, we headed to the beach with Gustavo and Carlos ( the family I was talking about earlier ). We rode some sweet horse boats, did some swimming, and some more shopping.
After the beach, we headed to a father of a neighbor back here in Lima and visited his house. I am not exaggerating when I say he has just about anything in or at his house. He has a bold eagle, 4 hawks, parrots, a mummy, supposedly the anchor that once was on the Titanic, thousands of crosses of all kinds, and so much more. He had a collection of money and he gave me a bill from the 1800s!! You read right!! Real or not… I have it!! He fed us some cake and some tea and we talked for a while. Just sitting there made his day.
On the 3rd we headed to a small village to work with some kids. We painted faces, acted out the story of David and Goliath, made balloon animals, and played with the kids on the swings. I really loved how when Breanne and I stared painting faces, there was no getting away from them. They just wanted more and more. I loved how something so small like paint could bring the energy and fun out of little kids.
Later that night, Gustavo and Carlos took us out on the town. At first they had no idea what to do with us or what white girls would like to do but we found some entertainment. We were walking down the street and we saw this huge cross and we decided to take pictures by it. Breanne and Roxy took off for the cross and raced up the stairs to find a homeless man standing there and yelling at them to get off. It scared the girls. Carlos and Gustavo were quick to their rescue and went to talk to the man. They explained that we only wanted pictures and that we meant no harm. When we walked up to the cross finally, we found that he actually lived there. There was a small box and some blankets laid at the foot of the cross. That is where he slept. We felt bad to have scared him… but at the same time… we learned our lesson about running up to something at high speeds!!

May 5-13:

From Trujillo we headed to Piura. We left by bus and were expected to arrive Piura around 6. At 4:30 we were woken up to people telling us to get our shoes and to get off the bus. My first thoughts: we have been hijacked!! We all turned to Otto ( grandpa to me ) and he said that it didn’t look quite like Piura. He told us to stay on until he checked it out. We all gathered our things while we prayed silently. Laura told everyone to get their passports on them and that everything else can be replaced. Thoughts of my family and Jake ran through my mind in fast speeds. We were the last ones off the bus and grandpa came to us and said that it was indeed Piura and that we had just arrived early. Those words were the best words I had heard in a long while. Relief flooded my mind and body and we began gather our things. We arrived at the church and headed to bed. We slept pretty good that early morning and into late morning.
We headed off to a small town called El Indio for the day to invite children to a evening program that we were putting on. We divided up into 2 groups and went door to door inviting children to the church that night. The turnout was a good one. We had about 50 children show up and was it a blast. We did our regular program with them and shared so many laughs. Bre and I once again painted faces and we once again couldn’t stop. At one time I had about 25 little hands all around me yelling things they wanted painted on their arms. At the point of our break, Bre and I looked at each other and just laughed. We couldn’t stop. There were so many kids and not enough paint nor time. We finally got out of the circle and headed out for some fresh air.
On the 6th we did the same thing. Except this night program was for the youth of the town. We went door to door again and that night… only 3 youth showed up along with about 10 little kids. We did our drime, Bre gave her testimony, and grandpa gave a youth message to little 6-10 year olds.
On the 7th we headed to a small town called Sullana for the night to work on a church and their youth group. The pastor there made things out of coconut and sold them, so we had fun looking through his things. He even bought us some real coconut and we got to drink the juice!! Yummy!! Bre was asked to paint a door for them with the advertisements for their youth and children’s program. And how it always ended up… I ended up painting as well.
That night we worked with their small youth group and taught them what we could of our drime. Teaching it to only 3 people was harder then we ever thought.
On the 8th we finished painting and we worked with the youth some more and then we had a prayer meeting. For 45 minutes straight, we knelt and the pastor prayed over prayer requests given to him by some members of the church. That was a blessing to see how the church prayed so tenderly for their needs.
The 9th was our day off. In the evening, we headed to another small town to watch a Mothers Day program. They had an amazing drama team that did a few cute skits for the kids and the mothers. We watched and did our drime, and then we ate cake. Mothers Day is a big deal here and they celebrate it well.
To be honest with you, the 10th was a blur. There wasn’t anything planned and no one knew what was going on. We didn’t do anything that we thought we would do and we just hung around when we thought we were supposed to be doing something. Mass confusion!!!
Mothers Day was on the 11th and I have to admit that that day was pretty hard for me. Being away from home had a hold on me that day and I found it hard to focus at times. We did quite a few programs that day and enjoyed them greatly.
On the 12th and 13th, we went to a town called Chato Chico ( also known as Donkey Town ) to help build a toilet and paint on the church. We got to ride a donkey and grandpa and I rode a horse as well. There were donkeys, horses, sheep, cows, turkeys, and mules everywhere!! Donkey Town fit its description quite well!!

May 14-17:
Our midterm retreat. The part of the trip that we all were waiting for and working towards!! We spent every day on the beach lounging in the sun and eating grandpas good BBQ! It was time for us to relax and to find time to spend with God and to enjoy a few days after 2 weeks of hard labor!! Roxy, Bre, and I even found ourselves on a boat out on the sea. We got to swim and to just hang out swimming with dolphins we couldn’t see ( we had seen 3 previously the days before )!

On the last day of our trip… we headed back to Piura to get our luggage and found a little girl named Greysi. I had met her in El Indio and she meant the world to me. She brought each of us a little gift and a letter. That touched my heart. That little girl knew how to reach out and grab a hold of someone’s heart and hold on. She gave me her address and I know that we will stay in touch. That girl is the one that makes me smile and the one that can brighten a dim day.

We headed off to the bus stop and the rest is history!! We are back safe and sound in Lima and we are grateful to be home again. We are so happy to spend the last 4 weeks here in our home town!!