The start of a new beginning

My encounter with TRUST

2008-06-24T16:36:00.000-07:00

With only 3 full days left here in Canada… we are spending each minute and second with precious friends. Pictures, late nights, dates, and sleepovers are what these last days consist of.
On Sunday night, Joanna, Darlene, Brianna, Simone and I went out for a evening of pictures at any place we could find. We didn’t really have anything in mind. Jo took us to a park and we got out. At this park there was a little kids play ground that we took off right away. Darlene, Brianna, and I jumped on a small train and Simone started snapping pictures.
After the train we moved to other items and just took pictures. I know that it may not be that big of a deal to some, but those pictures I will always have and those memories will never leave my mind. These girls here are some of the amazing girls that I know. They have such a high joy and spirit about them.
After taking pictures, we headed off to Tim Horton’s to get coffee drinks. We sat at a table and just talked about how things were going and how much we needed to keep in touch when we all leave. Every time the word ‘leave’ is brought up, I think every persons heads are turning and trying to make themselves forget that it was even said. Leaving here is a realization that I’m not ready to face at this moment. I don’t think anyone really is.
Today Steve Klassen took us to a monastery nearby and we spent a few hours alone with God. We could walk the forests, sit by the pond, sit under trees, or in a small lounge area to focus on hearing the voice of God. From the very first minute we started I knew that today and my time with God was going to be amazing. I walked the trails praying and snapping pictures at the beginning. Listening to the sounds around me and to focus on God. Later I walked into the lounge and sat down… pin and journal in hand… I asked God to speak to me. I started writing questions I had for God and then I wrote down the response I felt God speaking to my heart. This went on for a good hour and when I went back and looked it over, I found the word ‘TRUST’ over 20 times! I’m going to be going home to some things that will be hard to face, and I laid them all at his feet. And he kept saying… ‘Lisa, just trust me. I have everything in my hand. Just trust in me!’
As I was sitting in that lounge and watching a few flower seeds floating in the air, I started thinking about how much our life is like that seed. The wind has full control of where that seed falls. Where ever it is dropped, that is where it was meant to be. The same with our lives in Christ. Our life is like that little seed. We have no control over it at all. Where ever God puts us on this earth is where we are meant to be. No mistakes about it. That just reassured me that I was and am supposed to be here. It wasn’t a mistake that I was brought to Canada and was sent to Peru. It’s all in God’s plans and he knows what he is doing.
Earlier on in Debrief, Luke and John had commented about how we need to maybe think about an one-liner we can use when people ask how our trip went and how we can use that with out spilling our guts to them. And while I was journaling and listening to God, he gave me my one-liner. Just knowing that that sentence came straight from God, gives me chills!
Today was like a breath of fresh air for me. Just having God speak to me and knowing that he is with me and all I have to do is trust him, makes me feel safe and that I have no cares in the world. I am still amazed at how our God works in our lives and how little things are so significant in our walks with him! We serve a God that loves us and a God that we can trust with our whole entire hearts! Trust God fully with your life and see how God can open your heart to the things around you and how he can work in your life! Just trust him!

Back to Canada

2008-06-19T13:27:00.000-07:00

I never thought I could love someone so much just after 3 1/2 months. Leaving that airport on Monday night was one of the toughest things I have ever done. Sitting in seats talking through our tears and knowing what was coming next. When it came time to say our good-byes, it was more then I could handle. We hugged our last hugs with everyone, crying and each hug lasting a good minute or longer, I felt my heart tearing more and more. We pulled ourselves away from them after saying 'I love you so much' and walked through the gates. I made the mistake of turning around one more time and looking at everyone standing there. I lost it again and cried harder then I have ever cried in my life. Going through security was a pretty funny sight. They gave us weird looks and allowed us to get away with over weight luggage because of the way we looked! But at that point, we didnt care, we just wanted to walk back to those people we loved so very much. Those people I walked away from in Lima Peru... I will never forget and I love them with my whole heart.

My time here on TREK is decreasing very fast. I only have 10 days with the people I have lived with for the past 6 months. When you go on a mission trip like this and have a year of experiences and memories shoved into 3 1/2 months... what are you supposed to do with all the information? I remember telling some people at home that those last 10 days of TREK in Canada are going to be the worst ever. I feared that they would drag and that it would be 10 times worst since going home is in reaching distance. But was I wrong!! Day 3 already and I'm starting to see that these last days have so much to hold and so many memories to make. I dont think these 10 days are going to be enough.

This morning Luke gave a session on re-entering our home towns. He gave one quote that stuck out...

"...Therefore, where you were may not be as it was because of who you are now..."

I have thought about this and I this hits home so hard. I have changed so much I feel like. But my friends at home... they haven't. They have been going on with life in Cannelburg Indiana while I have been here facing things that will stay in my memories for life. Who I am now... no one will know when I get home. I have changed for the good I feel... I just want to stay this way. I just fear that when I get home, I will remain on a 'high' for awhile, but soon, that will changed into the same routine as summer camps and youth mission trips. You are bound to stumble and fall back. But why?

Coming back to North America has overwhelmed me. There are so many white people, people staying in 2 lanes on the roads, people have the right-away on sidewalks, we can flush toiletpaper and not have to put it in the wastebasket, the tap water is good to drink, and everyone around me understand when i speak English. Being shoved back into this... tougher then I ever thought.

Seeing all of the girls that went to Japan, amazing. It's like I never left them, but then it seems like I have been gone for millions of years. We have already spent a lot of one-on-one and just hanging out. So many stories to trade and so much to tell about personal growth and life. I just hate the thought of leaving these people in 9 days!

All I can do is trust God and ask for your prayers as I finish this amazing trip. God has given me so much grace this whole time, I can only trust that he will continue until I get home and settle back into the life I once knew. The life and people who have been so faithful in supporting me! Thank you!

The loves of my life in Peru

2008-06-10T16:09:00.001-07:00

We are winding down with time… and I’m beginning to think about going home and the things I will have to face when I get there. So many things have changed and so many things have happened to me and at home.. I just wonder how things will clash. Will I be able to fit back into my youth group, my church, and my friends? I have changed so much and things at home have changed as well… but… is it the same way? Will I be able to stay in touch with God at home as I have here? So much has been running through my head the last couple of days and I’m starting to think about them more.
When I think about leaving the people here that I have grown to love and have developed friendships with, it makes me sad and somewhat depressed as well. Living with the same people for 6 months, there are strings and attachments. They aren’t easy to let go. So I decided as a tribute to each one that I love here… I will tell you about each one and share memories I have with each. Hopefully I can give you some insight on the people I have grown to love.

Sarah Doucet: Team leader
This woman is a living example of Proverbs 31. With her being our team leader… it fits her all the more. She is willing to go out of her way to do the things that the rest of us sometimes forgets to do. She is our main cook and she is the one that does a lot of the shopping. She is willing to stay up late to make sure things get done and is the first one awake to turn the light switch on to get us up for the gym. When she is struggling, you see her with her Bible praying to her Father about whatever is bothering her. She doesn’t try to do things on her own… she knows and gives all credit to God. One of my good funny memories I have of Sarah is the fact that she hates rats and how many times we have playfully scared her. Just to see her facial expressions… its all worth the trouble to get her! Sarah has such a heart of gold and a hear for the ones around her. She cares for her team and she shows it.

Laura Adams: Team accountant
Out of the whole team, I feel like I know her the most. I have lived and slept in the same room with her for the past 6 months ( minus one night when my family came to Canada )! We say so many things at the same time… we often tease each other about us being in each others heads. She has became my sister and my best friend. Her faith and her love for God has encouraged me in so many ways. She is willing to reach out to the ones in need and to allow God to shine through her. I can count numerous times where she was there for me when no one else was. She sat there holding me, whipping my tears, and praying for me. She knows exactly what to say at the right moment. She isn’t scared to show her faith and to show her love for God. She is willing to let that show. One of my favorite memories are the dates that we have had with each other. We seem to have such a way of finding topics that we enjoy talking about and we have so much fun just being around each other and being able to connect with the other.

Dave Toews: Our only guy
When I look at Dave… I see someone who has the heart and courage of God himself. He cares for us girls so much and it shows so deeply. He is willing to go out of his way to make sure that not one of us girls go out alone. He is willing to make himself our protector and our guard. He has grown so much from day one of TREK until now. His spirits have lifted and we all can tell that he has grown so much in the Lord. Some fun memories are when he sang to ‘Amish Paradise’ at Laura’s birthday party and just hanging out with him during the days.

Breanne McDaniel:

Our artist and prayer warrior

When it comes to prayer and being able to encourage anyone in their moment of depression… Bre is willing to help and to be there for you. She is one of the most sweet hearted girls I know. She is willing to talk to anyone who is off on their own and is willing to get her hands dirty for the work of God. We are so much alike. More then we first realized. Our personalities… our ways of thinking, and some of our dreams… similar in more then one way. She has an idea in mind of something she would love to do and she is strong headed and she is determined to see to it that it gets down. Her ability to find God in any situation and to keep everyone else searching… blesses me! One of my favorite memories that I have with her, are all the times that we would walk together hand in hand and talk about our families and just things that we would love to do in our lives. And her encouraging my dreams and hopes for my life. She cares so tenderly for everything that goes on in my life and everyone around. Just hearing her dreams, her longings in life, everything… it made me want to be more like her. So pure in heart and so deeply in love with her Father.

Roxy Neufeld: Candy girl
When it comes to patients and joy… she is the girl that has both. She is so patient when it comes to the rest of us and just having a smile on her face all day… it encourages me to keep my spirits up and to keep going. She is so eager to share what she has and is never scared of trying new things. I have grown to love her so deeply. Just the way she checks up on you when you look sad or just the way she sits with you just to talk… it touches me. She has grown so much since we have came here and I can see Jesus in her with everything she does.

Otto Funk: My grandpa
From the very beginning… he has been my way of getting through. He reminded me of my Grandpa Yoder so much that I began seeing him AS family and I know that that is how I got through this whole 3 and a half months without much homesickness. I thank God everyday that he has sent him into my life. He has been there for me when I needed someone to talk to… and on our Trujillo trip, he was there to support us and to give us the best possible trip that we could have.

Lidia Funk: Our spoiler
Lidia has taken us in and spoiled us. She has welcomed us in and shown us how it is to be away from home but still be at home. I have grown to love her with my heart. She is always open to having girl nights with us and to just hang out with us to watch a chick flick or a romantic movie. And there is always fresh homemade bread when we really want it.

Kevin Funk: My yunker
I have gotten to know Kevin more and more each day. He became my uncle or ‘yunker’ by a couple weeks into our trip here. I feel like I didn’t get to know him as well as I could’ve because of his studies… but one thing I learned from him is that he is one that doesn’t give up easy and he is determined to see things to the end. He is always willing to help out in the church and to be there for the ones that need him. Some fun memories that I have with him are playing zip bong with him at youth. Seeing what all he gave up to come here… makes me know that God is real and that if you only trust in him… he will see that you will be blessed.

Jano Lopez: Our pastor and Papi
As the pastor and as the leader of the house we are staying in… he has done his share of welcoming us into his arms. He has went out of his way many times to make sure that we have everything we need. Making extra trips to the market with me, getting us extra stuff we didn’t really need, as well as making sure we are safe when we walk the streets. He has become one of

our best friends and has helped us get the feeling of being in a Peruvian household.

Angelita Lopez: Our Mama
I feel like because of her… we have become so involved with the culture here and the different foods. She does so much for us to make sure that we get to taste and to experience the real Peruvian culture. She does so much as well to make us feel welcome. She opens her arms for us when we need her and she is always there to tell us she loves us.

Gustavo Lopez: Mi tio
Gustavo is one that we have just recently became close to. He at first lived with us for the first week and then he moved to Trujillo. We became somewhat close to him on our trip up there and then when he moved back down here in Lima… is when I began to see who he really is. He is a lead singer in a Christian band and is awesome on the guitar. He has a personality to drawn people to him. He is one that helps to protect us from the street guys and he is always here when we want to stay up and sing. He has become one of the guys that I can trust here and that I feel comfortable being around. One of the good memories that I have with him is all the times we watch 24 with Jano and he calls me Nina Myers… and I reply by calling him Tony Almada. And all the times that I speak to him in English and how he understands every word I say and he will just replay in Spanish because he says he is to embarrassed to speak in English even though I have gotten a conversation out of him in English.

Ali Lopez: Our hyper night owl
She is one that was harder to break into becoming close to us. She was hard to become close to for awhile. But now… since we have broke her… she has become a hyper night owl. It seems like when the sun goes down… her personality comes out. She is a bright student who has so much going for her. She is a smart and beautiful girl. When I look at her I see someone who will do well in the hands of God. One of my favorite memories is when we taught her some English phrases and she taught us some. One that she loves to say is ‘shut-up garbage’!! she runs around saying it and we just laugh when she says it. The way she pronounces it… makes us happy to know her. She taught us ‘fa fa’ also known as ‘goosing’! We run around fa faing her and having so much fun.

Anni Lopez: Little fa fa
Little Anni! The girl that has so much energy and her smile is enough to keep you smiling. Her way of loving you as a person is remarkable. She is willing to go out of her way for the ones she loves and will do what she can to help. When I gave my testimony… she was there to help me with my pronunciations and spelling. She was willing to sit with me and work with me.

Jackie Hidalgo: King Kong’s mother
Living across the hall from her for 3 and a half months… you learn to love her and to develop a relationship with her. She is quite and has her ways of making friends with King Kong ( our monkey ) and other animals that are around this church. She is so kind spirited and gracious.

I have only touched on the things I could’ve said about each of them. There is so much more that could be said. Each of these people that I have mentioned means so much to me and they have touched my life forever. Part of my heart will remain here with each one of these people and when I head home… they will never be forgotten!!

Our blessed unexpected ministries

2008-06-05T10:59:00.000-07:00

Going on any mission trip, there are things that you help with or participate in that you would've ever have dreamed you would do. I have 2 different ones that I love helping with but when I first arrived, they weren't even a thought in my mind. But with me participating and seeing the changes that has happened, I thank God for those oppertunities.

The first one is the gym we attend every morning at 6am 5 days a week. At first when Otto mentioned it, we were at a low point of our beginning... who wanted to work out everyday at that time on a trip to Peru?! We started going at first just to make people happy and to have the excuse to eat more! But as time went along, it became more then that. It because a place for some of us to get stress out by kick-boxing, others to just use that excuse, and still others who really wanna get stronger! We became really good friends with the instructor, Hector, a step-aerobics teacher, work-out barbie, and a kick-boxing teacher, captain insane-o. We have fun making Hector sweat more then us with chin-ups, singing along to the music, and attempting to get Hectors hat off of his head. We have also developed some new friendships with some of the people who also come to work-out.

At first, the gym caused alittle spat in our team now and then... and we complained everymorning about getting out of our cozy beds. But now... we walk home laughing about what was said that day, and how we have to get Hector to come to English classes. We work harder and we have proof of that. The thing that really touched us and proved to us how this is an unexpected ministry is the fact that one day Hector told Otto that he sees a difference in us. That there is something different about us then from any other white people he sees. That he can tell that we are doing what we say we are here to do... spread the love of God. Before we left for our Trujillo trip in the beginning of May, we bought Hector a dozen of eggs, chocolate, and a card and delivered it to him. It brought tears to his eyes and we knew then that when we leave, that gym will never be the same because of the opportunity we have to share there. The other instructors got alittle jealous over that gift-giving day!

The other is working with children at a home for HIV mothers and children. We go and help there every Thrusday along with Jackie. Jackie reads a story, then we help them color a picture, and then they get juice and a snack. They love our attention and they love to be held and to be the center of attention. This place has blessed me greatly. There is one little girl that has a hold on my heart. Her name is Ruth. She is so sweet and loves to sit on my lap and just hold on tight. It breaks my heart when I see those children and know that they are sick and can not be healed. Their smiles are one thing that brightens my day.

That is one thing that I have learned on this trip. Small things like working out, and passing out juice and candy, can effect a person on how they see Jesus and how they see the love of him. I have also learned that it only takes an hour and a half a day 5 days a week to reach out to a gym instructor and for him to see the difference in us. That is how big our God is... that is how much he loves us and how much he has trusted us with.

My precious Susan

2008-05-31T15:22:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-18T14:37:00.000-07:00

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!!

Can life get any better??

2008-04-21T18:13:00.000-07:00

If its possible to hit a point in life when you are mentally, physically, and emotionally drained… I hit that point today. The past 4 days were filled with laughter, food, a few tears, tons of pictures, hiking, and a lot of youth. There is so much more that happened but I’ll just start with that for now.
On Friday afternoon we all piled into a bus and headed to a children’s hospital. We walked in and stood before about 15 little precious faces with various sicknesses and problems. We led worship, acted out the story of David and Goliath, made some crowns, played some games, and handed out food. Each face showed pain and suffering and just the attention they got brightened their faces to a smile. There was one little boy in a stroller that clinched my heart. Sarah helped him make his crown and we fed him his cupcake and juice. One of the nurses told us a little about some of the children and when she came to this little boy, the words she said made me love that little boy even more. They had just recently brought him to that hospital after they found him in a dumpster nearby. He was only one year old but looked old enough to be 3 or 4. Just the thought that someone had not wanted him and just dumped him off to die if no one found him made me realize how lucky I am to have the family I have. I have parents who love me and there were probably times when I was growing up that they wanted to dump me to, but they didn’t. They chose to love me and give me a chance at life and to love the God who made me. That little boy didn’t get that chance.
Saturday morning we woke up early and got ready for our monthly church breakfast. Buns, jam, ham, cheese, and coffee filled the table as people walked in as they pleased. We walked around the table making sure that there was always enough plates at the table for those who showed up which meant doing dishes 2 or 3 times within that hour and a half.
After we ate, we split up and had woman/men devotions. Our main passage was Matthew 25:14-30. Following that were some major points:
What is the highest priority in your life? ( Mark 12:29-31 )
How can I put God first in my life? ( Matthew 6:32-34 )
What are the things that are keeping God from being first in my life? ( Proverbs 3:5-6; Luke 12:34 )
What are some benefits of living with right priorities? ( Psalms 127:1-4 )
Even though the whole devotion was in Spanish, it really made me think and made me see what is really high on my priority list.
The youth stayed around all day and Lidia came over and taught us how to make Perogies and Cake de Calabazas. We all took turns rolling out the Perogies and stirring in the ingredients. It was a lot of fun and we enjoyed singing Spanish worship songs as we worked. Things like this bond us together more and more with the family here and the whole church in general.
Saturday night/afternoon around 4, we headed to a Christian concert in a very shady part of town. I have never been to a Christian concert where you had to hold on to someone’s hand to make sure people didn’t cut in line and you had to keep your ticket out of sight so no one stole it. We arrived at the stadium at about 6 and stood in line until about 7:15 and the concert was supposed to start at 7 but then again its Peru and things never start on time. The concert was very good and Jesus Adrian Romero is a very good singer. I enjoyed his music even though I didn’t understand much of it. Kevin sat beside me and was translating most of it for me. About 25 to 30 went with us total. We enjoyed it all.
Sunday morning we all stumbled out of bed after a long night and got ready for church. We were to give our drime in front of church and we hadn’t even scouted out our tiny space. We managed to look things through and walk through some of the steps without giving it all away to the people already there.
I have to say that we did good!! We had Jano record it and things looked good. We saw some with tears, some with looks on their faces as if they had been touched, and some didn’t have much to say. They all congratulated us on our job well done and that was enough to cover for how nervous I felt before we preformed.
This morning we woke up at 6 and got ready to meet some more youth and head to the foot hills of the Andes Mountains. We rode 3 different buses for a total of about 2 hours and then hiked for an hour and stopped for a picnic. It was absolutely breathtaking. Words can’t describe the things I saw. I have so many pictures to prove how it looked… but when it comes to words… there aren’t any to share. There was a huge waterfall and while I stood in front of it… I just couldn’t imagine any better place to be. I was in Peru, standing in the Andes Mountains, standing in front of a waterfall, and singing worship songs. How could it get any better? This was the life. This was were I was meant to be. This place at that very moment.
I’m sitting on my bed right now wondering what I’m going to do when I go home. We are down to less then 10 weeks left for this whole TREK experience. I try to think about what its going to be like to go home… and it doesn’t come. I cant even imagine going home at this moment. This is my life, my home, and this is where I’m meant to be. I thank God for this place and for the people he has set in my life. And I know that when the time comes to head back to the life I’ve grown up in… the long to be there will come. I just cant believe that God chose me to serve him in this place, serve to these amazing people, and that God chose me to be his hands and feet at this moment!!

My life is a charade

2008-04-16T16:03:00.000-07:00

Two months from today I will be heading back to Canada to finish this part of my life. In 2 months this place in Peru will only be a memory. In 2 months my TREK experience will be over and the people will all just be people I have grown to love and people I have spent a great season of life with. In 2 months I will return to my life as I know it in Indiana and look back on this and remember the memories I have made.
I know that people say that you aren’t supposed to look for the things ahead… that you are supposed to live every moment like it was your last… and that’s what I’m doing. I am living this season, my life, the best as I can. I know that the start of this may have sounded like I am longing to be home… but really and honestly… I’m not. Yes I miss home, and yes I miss my friends and families, but they can wait. This place is where God has sent me and this is where I want to be at this moment.
I look back on the past month and a half and I smile at the memories I have made here in Peru. The gym, charades, my family, and my new growth in love with Jesus. Those take over all the homesickness I may feel. Those memories make me smile and I think of the ones yet to come.
I know I probably have mentioned it before, but every morning we go with Otto and workout at a near by gym. At first, we hated it. We didn’t like waking up early, didn’t like to get all sweaty, and we just didn’t like the fact that we were going to do things to our bodies that would make us sore. Our options have changed. We still hate getting up early but its became easier. We are in bed by 10:30 every night and we learned to take small naps during the day. We don’t mind the sweat anymore… we just learned to take it when Hector pinches our sweaty body and move on. And the soreness… we have grown used to it. We no longer feel the pain of stretching muscles… and we just suck it up.
Charades!!! Who would’ve ever dreamed my life would become one. I personally hate the game, but when you are a gringo, you have to love it or else you wont survive in this Peruvian world. Everything you try to explain, everything you do, you are using your hands. You make the shape, you make sounds, you basically play charades every minute of everyday. Its been quite the experience. At home, I took advantage of knowing what everyone said, here…you guess and hope you are right.
The family here has been a blessing. I love each and everyone of them and I enjoy living in the same house as Jano and his family. We are learning their way of life and their way of doing things. Some come as a surprise but others, we grew up with to. They seem to have some good laughs at us as well. One incident I remember specify is one of the fist days here, we were eating lunch and we didn’t have a table in reach so we just sat on the floor with our plates in our lap. When Jano walked through the courtyard, he looked at us like we were green in the face. And the food on our plates had already been a laughing fit earlier because it was something they hadn’t ever seen… so this just added to the image in our minds of the way they seen us. We laughed about that one for awhile.
The past couple of days have been the best days spiritually that I have had in awhile. I did my devotions like I normally do, but the past couple ones have really touched my heart. On Monday, I read about King Saul and how he disobeyed God when he went into battle ( 1 Samuel 15 ). God gave him strict orders to destroy everything and leave nothing there. But Saul decides to take some of the best and offer them up to God as a sacrifice. It just really hit me how much God really wants our obedience. Yea… Saul offered sacrifices, but that wasn’t what God wanted! He just simply wanted Saul to obey. People say that I gave up a lot coming here… and I have., but that’s not what it is about. I came here because I had to follow God’s voice. I had to obey him. And when I obeyed his call in coming here… I had to make sacrifices.
I have learned a lot of other things in the last couple days of my ‘spiritually high’… but it would take way to long. You will just have to ask about those!!!
Six and a half weeks in Lima Peru and it has become my home. There is nothing I would change about it, that I would trade for, and nothing I am not grateful for. I love it here and I am so grateful for the opportunity to experience this season of life in this country… here and now!!

God's gas

2008-04-09T20:22:00.001-07:00

Today started out on the worst side. I woke up nauseous and not in the best mood. I slept till about 10 and then headed to Spanish class. From here things went up hill!
Dates are an amazing thing. Especially when its with friends you love. Laura and I went out on a date this afternoon. We walked for awhile till we got to a ice cream place Greg had shown us earlier. We sat and talked about how we were doing physically, spiritually, and how we were doing homesick wise while we ate amazing ice cream. It was so nice to have a one-on-one girl talk.
Tonight was Greg’s last night here with us so he wanted to take us out for something special. We went to a nice restaurant called ‘The Jump of the Monk’ but in Spanish. We walked out by the ocean and took pictures on a huge rock where the waves were crashing behind us.
We headed inside and had some drinks, apple pie, and pancakes and ice cream. Super good!! We had a great time talking with Greg and spending the last night with him.
Where the restaurant was, there weren’t many taxies so one of the waiters offered to drive us to a place where we could find one. We all piled into a small van and started out. I don’t think the lady knew exactly what she was doing because the windshield wipers kept turning on and it was making funny noises. We started up this sharp hill and the van dies. We ran out of gas. We all start panicking because behind us is a curve, where at any minute someone could come fling around it, and we were in the middle of the road. Greg offers to drive and he gets in. He starts to back up and realizes that we have gas. So he punches the gas and we start driving. And I have to say that Greg makes a pretty good Peruvian driver! We make it to the gas station and we thank God for the gas that we didn’t think was there.
We walk out by the road to catch a taxi and we see one who has its rear windshield wipers on but it doesn’t have a blade, so it looks like a stubbly little tail on the back of this taxi. We laughed until we were nearly crying.
We finally got into 2 different taxies. Sarah, Breanne, Roxy, and I in one and Dave, Laura, and Greg in the other. My taxi took off first and we were just enjoying the ride and talking about the night. I asked Sarah to roll up the window and she said she couldn’t because there wasn’t a handle. The driver understands what is going on and hands Sarah the handle from the dash. I couldn’t hold it in any longer. I burst into another fit of laughter. All of the sudden honking when off, which isn’t abnormal, but we looked over and its Greg’s taxi coming up beside us. We waved and took pictures. On their taxi there was a New York Yankee sticker on the windshield, blue neon lights all over, and sounded like a motorcycle. Pretty hard core. We raced each other the whole way. I don’t think our taxi driver was as into the racing as the other one was. He was laughing the whole way and was flashing lights at us. And he was pretty stocked about me being a Yankee fan also. I made a new friend!!
We made it home safely and had tons of fun. All in all… today was one of the best days of my life. So fun and relaxed. Just plain out amazing.

Isn't it amazing...

2008-04-06T14:50:00.000-07:00

"The God on the mountain is still God in the valley. When things go wrong, he'll make them right. And the God in the good times, is still God in the bad times. The God of the day is still God in the night"
Isn’t it amazing that when you are on a mission for God, the Devil is in your path more then ever. He finds ways to make you think that he is in control and that you are helpless and that you are not needed or wanted where you are. He throws things at you and expects you to drop dead and give up. Isn’t it also amazing that at the same time, the Lord is with you more then ever?
I have experienced both of these realities. When I look back at the events that shook me, they looked like enormous mountains blocking my view of God, but in reality, they were small pebbles in the ocean.
I love having a lot of memories of everything I do in my life. Everywhere I go, my camera is there with me. I truly believe in ‘A picture is worth 1000 words’. Six weeks into this trip, my camera breaks. It was like my oxygen was cut off, my source of life… my everything. I would leave in 3 weeks for Lima Peru and I wouldn’t have the most important item with me… I thought.
My family means the world to me, and when things happen when I am out of reach, it feels like the world is crashing down on me. From week one into TREK until I got to Peru, 12 different couples from home had ended or hit a wall. Most in which I was related to somehow. When your hit with that force, you tend to doubt the reason you are where you are. I did, but not only did I doubt it, I thought about backing out of it and turning home to see if I could help.
A month into being into Peru, I find out that my mother has to have surgery. That’s the worst feeling… not being home for my mother when she is in pain. She is there for me, I want to be there for her.
Through it all, I am so glad that I am here. Being away from home like this makes me see how much I need my family and how much I love them. But more then that, I began to see how much my Heavenly Father loves me. He has pulled me closer each day. He has whispered to me over and over about how he won’t put me through things that I can’t handle. Through the valleys and the over the mountains, he will be there. TREK has taught me so much when it comes to trusting God and giving my all to him. He knows what is going to happen. He is there holding your hand. He sees the whole picture.

Our highly unusual eventful day

2008-03-29T20:50:00.000-07:00

God has blessed us with uneventful days while here the past 4 weeks until today. Today we experienced some things we have never faced before.
We woke up to a trembling shake… a 5.3 earthquake on the scale. When you grow up used to the blasts of a close by combine… a earthquake is a total different story. Its quite the alarm in the morning. You wake up to your bed shaking, parrots squawking, dishes moving around in the cabinets, and people screaming. Not the thing I would like to experience everyday. But everyone here just seen it as a normal event. They told us that we are expected one next week… so be aware!! Great!! Another possible morning of waking up to shaking.
Today we got invited to Italo’s house for lunch and that was amazing. We rode a bus for about an hour and then a taxi for about another 20 minutes. On the bus… we were all crowded in the back. Some 4 in a seat. When we got off to wait for a taxi, Otto told us a story of what he saw while watching out the bus window. A guy on the bus jumped out at a stop and ran up to a car stopped at a red light. He put his hand in the open window and grabbed the guys phone and took off running. Right in the middle of the street. Things like this happen regularly. Rule #1 while riding a taxi or bus… never open the window more then half way. Rule #2... Always lock the doors. Rule #3... Never flash things of great value. We finally arrived at Italo’s and shared our story with them. They all laughed at the events that go on in their streets. We ate turkey, rice, sweet potatoes, salad, gravy, and pineapple cake for dessert. Some good Peruvian home cookin’ food!!
While we were waiting to eat… Jano got a phone call and it wasn’t the best of news. It was about the church in Trujillo. We where all shocked and kind of at amaze. We are planning on visiting that church in 4 weeks.
On our way home from our lunch, I was in a taxi with papi, mama, Ali, and Anni… and as we came to a traffic jam, we saw a man out of his vehicle beating on a taxi driver. The poor driver just sat in his car and took the beating. Some guys rushed to the attacker and grabbed him and pushed him back into his car. I was startled at what I had just witnessed. The rage of some of the drivers amaze me. The driving here is outrageous. I would never attempt to ever drive in it. People cutting off people, more honking in a minute then you would hear in the whole day in the town of Montgomery, cars not watching out for pedestrians, and roads without stop signs. But the funny thing is that you hardly see accidents. I think we saw our first ambulance today since we’ve been here. How is it that in our towns, we have so many rules and yet so many accidents… and here, no rules and no accidents?! Something isn’t right.
Tonight for youth Jano had us TREKers dress up in all black. He talked on the death and resurrection of Lazarus. How we need to die to Christ. So dead that we stink. We need to die so we can be risen, we need to be hurt so we can forgive, we need to feel pain so we can heal. We need to really die. We then put a paper with our names on it and through it in the fire. Then he shared how when we raise for the dead… be bring color into our lives. Us TREKers then took off our black shirts and exposed a brightly colored t-shirt. It touched many people. It touched me. I had never thought of it that way. That when we die to Christ… really die the death and be made new.
After our lesson we headed to the market place where they had a special dance presentation going on for free. There was Polish, Peruvian, and some other dancing we had never seen before. It was so exciting and new for us. There were so many people there. Chairs set up filled with people and the circling area was overwhelmed with sightseers.
So for the most part… today has been the most eventful day of our 4 weeks here. We are starting to see the reality of life and how serious things can get. How fast situations can turn to the worst. We are starting to see the seriousness of togetherness and protection. And we are starting to see God work in the lives of the church member and also in some un helping neighbors. We are starting to see the devil working against the work we are starting to do. Please keep us, the church here and also in Trujillo, and the hearts of these Peruvian people in your prayers!!

Youth retreat filled with tons of energy

2008-03-21T18:28:00.000-07:00

What a week!! The past 3 days have been filled with the youth group here. There were 26 of us total. So without us TREKers, the leaders, and staff… there were about 15 youth. Not bad for the community here. They all seemed to have a good time. Its just hard to know for sure though sometimes. Sometimes they just show up to see us and to have something to do. But this week retreat, it was focused on God and connecting with people in your area.
They arrived on Wednesday night at about 10. We just hung out and got everyone ready for bed. We had 14 girls ( 12 mattress ) in a small room… and 9 guys ( 6 mattress ) in another small room. It was hard getting some of them to bed on time. They love to giggle and just stay up. For some of them, this was their first ‘slumber party’!! Yea, that may be hard to believe, but its true. Yesterday morning we had breakfast on a long table. Felt like a big family. We had bread buns and soupy oatmeal. We sat and just chatted like we hadn’t talked to one another in weeks. After breakfast we played some games. We were on two teams and we played some true and false games. Talk about something challenging to have a person reading off the questions who speaks no English at all. He finally gave in and had Lydia give off some questions in English for us TREKers. The one question was pretty funny. She asked who the prime minister of Canada is. On my team it was: Laura ( American ), me ( American ), and Roxy ( Canadian but has a hearing problem )! So… if you didn’t figure it out yet… we last that one!! They had a pretty good laugh on that one. Another question I was eliminated from. Lydia yelled out… Lisa and Jake have been dating 7 months now!!! It was a fight to sit in the ‘True’ seat!! Everyone here knows I’m dating Jake and they ask everyday how he is doing! Makes me feel good and it helps me see how much I miss him.
After our games, Jano had devotions and it was a tear jerker. He talked about how much God did for us on the cross. He talked about how when they nailed him to the cross, they had to pull his arms out of their sockets and they were pulled out about 10 cm more then a normal arm. So for him to breathe, he would’ve had to push up on his nail feet to open up his lungs enough to take a breath!! OUCH!! He showed us 2 different clips from the ‘Passion of the Christ’! One of Jesus getting whipped and tortured, one of him being nailed to the cross, and one of the things that could’ve ran through Jesus’ mind while on the cross. It really touched my heart and made we wince at the sight. I had to turn away. I’ve seen that movie before and I’ve watched it all, but for some reason, I couldn’t this time. After the devotion was over, we were to get up and hug everyone. We saw some crying, watched their facial expressions change while getting hugged, and some just happy to be living.
After the hugs, we went out on a prayer walk. We split up and just walked around the neighborhood and prayed for each house, each person we saw, and just the whole Peruvian country. It wasn’t something I’ve ever done, and I found it relaxing, touching, and just amazing. After about a half an hour, Otto was walking beside me and he was explaining some things to me about the different streets and the houses. Some I found shocking, some I found amazing, and others were just the usual. We had some good talks and discussed the differences and similarities between Abbotsford Canada, Lima Peru, and Cannelburg Indiana.
Later we watched a movie. It felt so much like home. We were all spread out on the floor, mattress, and on chairs. We laughed and cried. We had the movie in Spanish and subtitles in English. It was so much fun how we can actually relate to each other. Just because we have a language barrier, we find ways to connect and to get through to each other. We watched a touching movie called ‘Pay it Forward’. Amazing movie!!
This morning we woke up and had another breakfast and then we headed to the beach. We were there about 5 hours!! Talk about a lot of sun!! We did a lot of body surfing, laying out, and hiding in the shade of the umbrellas! Beaches here are so amazing to just sit back and watch. There are ice cream carts being pushed around you every 2 minutes and just tons of kids running around. One thing I noticed though… their ocean has a stronger salt taste then Florida beaches do! We all did a lot of system cleaning while body surfing! But even through that, it was a lot of fun.
After 3 days hanging out with their youth, I can honestly say that I am wore out! They have a lot more energy then Americans or Canadians and they love to use it up in one throw! Its hard to keep up but it’s a lot of fun. I love it here and cant image being anywhere else at this moment. God is good and God is amazing!! He will never let you down.
Oh and we got Poncho ( the parrot ) to say ‘Party On’!!! Talk about some happy TREKers!! We were pretty excited!

Day as a tourist

2008-03-17T17:27:00.000-07:00

Looking at Peru through the eyes of a tourist, someone you seldom are, you see the real beauty of the city. We got to do things and experience things we normally couldn't do. We experienced the reality of losing the only person you know who you understand for 5 minutes and being in the heart of a huge city, we experienced walking through a mall and hearing, and for a moment speaking to, a english speaking person without a peruvian accent. That was one of the best sounds I've heard in 2 weeks. Yes, we see and talk to Otto, Lydia, and Kevin, but hearing a native english speaker hit home more then I thought it ever would. We experienced Starbucks for the first time in 2 weeks. Now that is home!!! Drinking something you see at home really brought back some memories of both homes, Canada and Indiana. The best part of Starbucks was that they had a special Frap... one from their very home here in Peru... Manjar Blanco!!! A delicious caramel spread for just about anything you can think of! Bananas, apples, buns, grilled cheese, and yes... even pizza!! Try that in a Frap and you think you are in heaven!
The beach is amazing. Standing on the rail of the mall, having the wind blowing through my hair, and smelling the ocean, I realized how lucky I am. I am on a mission for God in the heart of Lima Peru with a Frap in my hand! What more can you ask for? How could it get any better? Having family here with me maybe, but the position I'm in now... it cant get any better!!

Breanne and I were standing facing the ocean and the amazing sunset and we talked about how when you put your heart and mind to something, you will eventually end up doing it. No matter if it happens how you wanted, if it takes many years, or just a few days, weeks or months, you will get there if you are determained enough. If you ask God, seek it out with your heart, and just look and watch for chances to do your dream, you will be surprised.

It doesn't seem like long ago that I first felt the desire to go on missions. I remember working hard to find something that worked and that fit my plans. But when you decide you want to follow God with something like this, he will find a way to get you there. Even thought I was thinking more like Jamaica, but Peru will do!! My heart is still on Jamica, and I trust God that I will one day step into the orphanage on the small island of Jamaica. But until that day, I will relax and have fun here where God has placed me.

One day in the life a tourist is fun and new... but I really enjoy the real purpose I'm here! I'm here to learn and serve!! Learn about the culture, the language, and serve God and the people here. That is my purpose here!! Learn and Serve!!

Embrace him

2008-03-12T18:45:00.001-07:00

When God answers prayers, he goes extreme! He doesn’t just give you what you asked for in a small answer with no energy, he gives it with a ball of fire that turns heads of those around us. In many more ways then one. It puts a smile on your face and you feel like you have just been hugged and that you are loved. Just that he would take the time to answer a small prayer that you had and do it with so much love has enough to do wonders on its own.
Its sad how sometimes when we pray for something, we don’t really expect it right then or even ever. How awful are we to even think that God doesn’t care about our small wants and needs?! God loves us and cares about us so much.
We were sitting around talking to Otto this afternoon and he shared how God has answered a big pray that they have prayed for some time now. But never dreamed that it would be like this. Yes, he believed God would take care of things, but like this? Wow! When he was talking about what God did, tears came to my eyes. We serve an amazing God and for me to know that I am here as a child of his and I’m here serving him and spending time with him gives me chills. We serve an amazing God.
After Otto shared, I went to check my email and got an amazing email. An answer to one of my prayers I had just prayed yesterday. One that make tears once again rise in my eyes. So quickly had God answered my prayers. It wasn’t one that was that big… but God took the time to answer it anyway. The thing that is the most astonishing is that I hadn’t even mentioned my prayer to this person. Only God could have prompted them to write that email and encourage me through that. Only God could have spoken to their heart. Only my God could do that.
I’m learning so much being away from home and in a different country. God stretches you in new ways everyday and makes you fall more in love with him in small things he does. He is with us no matter where we go and when we do his will, there will be blessings beyond our imagination. Just trust him and embrace the things he does for us!!!

Pictures of my first week here...

2008-03-10T11:23:00.000-07:00

Standing infront of the 'White House'

Statue of Liberty in Peru Roxy, me, Sarah, Bre, Laura, and Dave at the beach

Peruvian hearts and time

2008-03-10T11:12:00.001-07:00

We’ve been here one week now and there is so much to tell already!! It’s been great getting to learn about their culture and just to hang around these people and to see how they live and how they spend their time.
Their greetings are a fun way to make first impressions. Its practically a kiss on the cheek. When you walk into a house or a group of people, the first thing you do is make your rounds and put your right cheek to their right cheek and kiss the air. Girls greet everyone this way, but guys only do it to girls, not guys. This was hard and fun to get used to. It was a bit awkward at first, kissing a stranger, but after you get used to it, you cherish the old greetings I’m used to at home. Just an old fashion hand shake.
The youth and church members here are great. They are so loving and so kind and take to heart every minute you spend with them.
Saturday we started our day with a breakfast at the church with anyone who wanted to come. It consisted of bread, ham, and cheese served with coffee, milk, or water. People came as they pleased and they stayed as long as they please. After breakfast we had a devotion with Jackie. They guys went off and had one on their own. It was some what difficult sitting through it when all you understand is a word here and there. But it was amazing.
After… a lady in the church, makes a living on making jewelry and she brought stuff and helped us make earrings and a bracelet. It was so much fun to work with little kids and to see how she makes her living.
That whole afternoon the youth hung around here. They just grabbed chairs and set and talked. They didn’t have anything else to do besides to sit and chat with us. It was an experience. Never did I see more people who just want to hang around and time didn’t matter. Their time doesn’t have a hold on them. They will sit around for hours and just talk to you and get to know you. They live to love.
At 7, us TREKers were in charge of games with the youth and to help plan things. Coming up with games we could explain to non English speaking people was a number 1 drawback. But with the help of Otto, Lydia, and Kevin, things were done. We played: 4 on the couch, up set the fruit basket, and Dutch Blitz and spoons! They seemed have fun and we enjoyed it as much as they did. We just played each game until things got out of control!! Chairs were flying, bodies were flying, and we just decided to start something else.
Yesterday we had our first church service. As on Saturday, we didn’t understand much of the message but Otto did a good job to talk slow for us and he told us about it later. Rule #1: if you say to be somewhere at a certain time… it won’t happen! Church started at 10... People didn’t really start showing up until 10:30 or 11. There is no such thing as being late! This has been a challenge for me already. I love to have set schedules about how the day is going to happen and what time we will do this. That’s how it was at the MARK Centre in Canada and that’s not how it is here. We never know what is going to happen. We have to be flexible with each and every day. There is NO set plans for the day.
Rule #2: on Sundays, if you don’t go our for lunch after church, people will stick around all day if you don’t leave. It’s kind of a unspoken rule around here. So we went out and got some Chifa ( Chinese )!! It was so good. I hadn’t had Chinese in over 2 months and it was high time!! The Jano, Angita, Angita’s mother, and Jackie went along with us. They are so much fun!! We have so many good laughs and we don’t understand a word they say!! Its still so much fun to hang out with them.
I love our family here and I am enjoying every minute we have here.
Oh and just a note: we have a pet monkey now!!! That’s right!!!!… a pet monkey!!! Its amazing!!!

Red Tan

2008-03-05T13:00:00.000-08:00

Last night we taught our English classes and we had new experiences. We were split up in to different groups to help with certain classes. I helped Otto with the beginners class, Roxy and Breanne helped Lydia with the Elementary 1 class, Dave and Sarah helped with Elementary 2, and Laura helped Kevin with advanced. It varied from class to class about how many were in each. My class had 5, some had up to about 8 or 9, and the one had only 1!
The class I helped with had very little experience with English. We started off by Otto reading a paragraph from a story he had printed off and then letting them repeat him and we corrected them when they made a mistake in the pronunciations. After each read and we did another paragraph… my turn to teach!! Scary eh?! I had to write words on the board and pronounce them and each repeated. They were the difference between the letters ‘v’ and ‘b’. These letters are very hard for Spanish speakers to tell apart. I didn’t realize how hard it was to teach them. I loved it though. Later Otto told me that the students had commented about how it was hard to get used to my voice when they were used to Otto’s Spanish accent. I totally understood. I know what its like. Its just like us trying to speak Spanish. Hard!!! I had fun and that’s what I’ll be doing every Tuesday and Thursday for the time I’m here!!
After class, we had cookies and drinks set out for the students. We sat around and chatted with them. They love talking and they love asking questions. I have a notebook where some guys wanted to teach me things. The wrote things and talked in Spanish/English and tried to make us understand. It was tough and I do have notes to prove it!! I was given a website and was told to study and study!!! That’s my homework!! We had a lot of fun. We are learning so much and we have only been here 3 days!! Lots more to learn!!
One thing we have figured out here is that... it DOESN'T rain!! After being in Canada you would think that we would be ready for a break from rain and have sunshine... but I think my thoughts are beginning to change. I'm not a fan of rain all the time... but sometimes, I love to just see how God waters the earth and it gives you an excuse to relax inside and keep from going out into it. Here, its not that case. There is no rain and you don't have an excuse to sit inside.
Today we hit the beach for the first time and we enjoyed it. We packed our lunch and we headed out. We used so much sunscreen but it didn't seem to help or work for most of us. We all got a 'red tan', as we call it. We walked about an hour down to the beach and just hung out there... taking pictures, practicing our Spanish with some students of our English class, and just having fun by the water! Lunch here is the major meal so we always eat later then normal. Lunch is between 1 and 3 here… and then you just snack for supper. So when lunch time rolled around… we walked about another hour and a half to ‘Parque de amor’ which in English is ‘Park of Love’. It was breathtaking!! And as the name describes it… there was a lot of love in this park. We set under shade trees and watched others expressing love to each other.
We sat and ate and decided to head home. We were tired, hot, and out of energy. We had walked about 2 miles in the sun and we were exhausted! Thank God for water and cold showers!!

Becoming at home

2008-03-04T08:06:00.000-08:00

Another beautiful day in Lima Peru. We woke up refreshed and ready for another wonderful day.
Last night, our team gathered with the church family and some others and we sang songs of worship. They gave us the words in Spanish and we tried to follow along and laughed when we couldn’t get the words out. We sang each song in Spanish and then they gave us the opportunity to sing it in English and they loved it. We clapped, sang, and enjoyed the welcome feeling we felt when we were with them. It was amazing and its so awesome how much they welcome us and put effort in making us feel at home. The pastor and his wife gave us permission to call them mama and papa!! How can you feel more at home then that?!
We are getting used to something’s around here like cold showers ( besides this morning when the water wasn’t working in the showers ), the sun, and trying to live with 5 girls in a small room where we have to live out of our suitcases. But besides that… I think we are getting hooked to living in Peru!!
Day 2 in Peru is half over and I can honestly say that we haven’t done much. We are so grateful for the fact that this first week… we are allowed to chill and get the hang of things. Next week we are getting thrown into the schedule. We are diving head first into it!! With God by our side!!

Day one of our new adventure... Lima Peru

2008-03-03T18:08:00.000-08:00

We are in Peru!!! Finally!!! It was a great trip and God blessed our team with traveling mercies!! The flights, the luggage, the customs agents, and just meeting everyone went great. The Lord came through once again.
We left Abbotsford at midnight on yesterday morning and arrived in Lima Peru at about 2 am this morning and we hit the bed at 3 am and we were out! We slept good and we were ready to wake up this morning and start the day out in Lima Peru.
The sun was shining and the day was gorgeous! We took a tour of our home, meet some great people, and I even got a sun burn! I didn’t even care that I got burnt, it felt so good to get out in the sun!! We took a walk around the city and bought some fruits and looked at the amazing view of this city. This is a city of God…and its beautiful!!
We got our schedules today and we don’t seem to be as busy as I thought. We are doing a lot with kids as I thought and I cant wait to meet them and do some stuff with them. We are supposed to be preparing to give our testimonies one by one on Sundays for the next 6 weeks and we are supposed to write them out and then try to read them out in Spanish. That’s going to be funny. Trying to speak a language that we haven’t even started to study. We are going to have Spanish classes 5 days a week every week. That is a blessing in its self. I took Spanish in high school but I never dreamed that I would have to use it. I can honestly say that I wish I would’ve paid more attention in class.
I thank God for every minute that he has blessed me here in Peru and for every minute that he has blessed me with this team. God is good and he will always will be with me in everything that goes on. He has gotten us here and he will be with us until the day we leave. This place is amazing and I love that the Lord has chosen me to work in this place. The Lord is good.

Only God

2008-03-01T00:29:00.001-08:00

Its about time!! 24 hours to go and we are off. Heading to Peru!! Its amazing how time flies. Its amazing to see how God can move in your life in ways you would never expect!! We serve an amazing God!!
Last night we had team time and it was one of the best by far. As a team, we went shopping for our last minute things and scratched our brains for the things that we may need. We were told to pack our carry-on’s as if we will lose our luggage and have to live out of our carry-on for 3-10 days. Now if that isn’t a load on your mind… I don’t know what is. After we talked, sang, and prayed, the Japan team brought us downstairs to chat. The thoughts on our mind were filled with a little of worry, and a little bit of things we didn’t quite recognize as feelings. We sat around the Great Room as Brianna spoke. Some of the girls had been having nightmares and just sleeping roughly through the night, so the Japan team thought we should pray over the rooms and over the property.
We started off with Joanna playing guitar and we sang worship songs. The words that we sang were rich with the presence of God. I can honestly say that, while singing, God felt so much more real then ever in my life. The words were so rich and it felt as if God had his arms around us and were whispering to us how much he loves us. The feeling was so unreal. So rich and full… so powerful… so breath-taking!! Truly the most precious moment of this experience. Words cant describe it!! We sang with authority and with the power of God. Each verse, each word grew stronger every time they were spoken. We ended the song and it was silent! Tears trickled off my cheeks for the passion I felt for my Lord. The passion that filled the room. It had the power to move a mountain. The thing that amazed me the most was that we did this on our own! We did this because we felt that we needed prayer. We felt that our team needed prayer for their sleep. We weren’t told to do it, but we did what we felt was the need. We did what we felt needed to be done for the team. We did this on our own!! It showed just how close this team is. Just how bonded together this team of Christians really are. I truly feel, after last nit, we are READY for our assignments!

Today we experienced an amazing site of someone being baptized into the kingdom of God. Today, the angels rejoiced! Today is a mark of new birth for a young girl. We baptized Breanne McDaniel today in the hot tub and it truly was a sight. We sang some songs and then Breanne gave her testimony. And as she was lowered into the water, tears once again trickled down my cheeks. That girl being given to God was one of my sisters. She was a team member of mine and a true friend. To see her being given to the Lord in this way was profound. It was amazing. Her sister gave her words of wisdom and a small cross necklace as a gift of new life. The love and bond between them was truly a gift of God. They hold something special and they are a true show of the love of God.

These past 2 days have been remarkable. There aren’t really words to describe them. On being here and experiencing them for yourselves. Only God can move in ways like he has. Only God could make a life feel like this. ONLY God could make a day feel so away from home be the best day of our lives. Only God!!!

more pics...

2008-02-28T15:04:00.000-08:00

Another one of our team photos

Top to bottom:

Laura, me, Sarah, Roxy, Dave, Breanne

Getting ready for our Worship Danceing

Left to Right:

Darlene, Amber, Laura, and me

The end of part 1

2008-02-28T15:03:00.000-08:00

Coming to the end of 8 weeks now and how the time has flown by. I feels like we have just arrived and now we are preparing to pack and head out. I don’t know how to describe how hard it will be to leave some of these girls behind. We have bonded so well and now, for 3 and ½ months we are forced to part. I’m so excited about how this group has bonded so well and how we look out for each other and long to spend more time with each other.
Over these last weeks we have started to focus on some classes that we will need out in the field. We have been learning how to teach ESL classes, how do deal with the 3 stages of culture-shock, and learning a drime to help us when we are put on the spot and we have to do a church service or just on the street.
Culture-shock is a very real experience we will experience sometime or the other. What is culture-shock you may ask?! It is the experience frustration from not knowing the rules or having the skills for adjusting to a new land. For a demonstration, the interns put together a game for us to learn a little about being disoriented. We were put in our teams and headed outside. One person on each team took a stick and had to put their forehead on it and spin 8 times, head up a hill, and find a country on a map that was given to us when we got up the hill. The spinning part had some effects on a few. While I was spinning, I got my legs knocked right out of underneath me! Running up the hill has harder then anyone ever expected. There were trees every where and that was freighting to some.
We headed back in and discussed the activity and found out that, how we felt after spinning, will be a small part of the feeling we will feel on our assignment. Maybe not the dizzy part, but the confused, disoriented, out-of-place feeling. We have to realize that this is for real and that how we handle the culture-shock will effect the rest of our trip and the others on our team.
Bryan Born spoke on ‘Connecting Across Cultures’ and he gave us an article called ‘Leave Your Baggage at Home’. Its an article written for youth workers planning short-term missions. Its like seeing in the eyes of those at the receiving end of missions. I highlighted some major points.
‘… But please stop grimacing when you eat the food our people have prepared for you. Our food is an extension of us.’ That is a great way to look at that. How often do we go somewhere and just say we hate the food? Do we ever think about how that makes them feel? We would want people to try our food if we where on the other end. We should try and do the same. Just try new things. Embrace the chance to eat new food.
‘… We welcome your hard work. But do it along-side of us -- with us -- not for us.’ How often do we go down help people and we think our way is better and completely forget that they built things before we got there and they will continue. Our way isn’t always the best. We just have to keep that in our minds and take that into consideration.
‘… You’re not bring Jesus to us. He’s already here. In fact, He’s doing some amazing things here.’ How often do we forget that where we go… God could be doing more there then he is where we are from. Just because we are on a ‘Mission Trip’ doesn’t mean that the people we are serving are going to be the only people who gets served.
That was really neat to hear and a new way to look at the things we do for missions. I never saw it that way before and its good to see it through the receivers end for a little. We need to take that into consideration next time we plan to go ‘Take Christ to People’!! God is already there. We just need to show the people the love of God more and more. Being God’s hands and feet.

Clearbrook MB Church

2008-02-25T21:48:00.000-08:00

What a blessing old people can be. They touch the lives of people, young and old, everyday in new ways. We ( TREKers ) had a commissioning session last night at the Clearbrook MB Church where most of our sessions are held. We were put up in the front of the church and were introduced and had to tell everyone where we are from, a normal routine for us now, and to say where we are going. After giving our intros, John gave a short sermon about God being our light in this world. How we aren’t supposed to all cluster in one area instead of going out and shining our lights into the world. He gave a better analogy of that in saying that why would we, if all Christians had flashlights, stand in a lighted room and just shine our lights into the air? Who would notice? No one. So why do we do it? We need to take our lights outside where people can see it. That’s how it is in our lives. We cant stay where people don’t need light. We need to go out and give light to people who need it.
After the sermon, we were led out to the back of the church where people could come back and talk with us. They also were given the chance to “adopt” one of us and pray for us specifically the next months of our journey. They would go up to Luke and John and just say they wanted to pray for so-and-so, not knowing anything about us, and Luke would introduce them to the one they chose. It was amazing to get to see how elderly people love to pray for people they don’t even know. They have nothing better to do then “adopt” a young person and pray for them everyday. It touched my heart.
Tonight we headed to Clearbrook for a monthly prayer meeting they hold to pray for missionaries all over the world and also for us. We were divided into 4 groups and split up the booklet we had and we spent time in prayer for each person in the group and in the booklet. A elderly man named Bud sat beside me and started us off with prayer. He prayed so tenderly and so passionate with the love of God in his voice that it overflowed into us. He came to me and prayed for strength, courage, and just the power to speak out for the love of God. That prayer was the most amazing prayer I’ve had anyone pray over me. The fact that I hate speaking in front of people and having someone pray that I will have the power to speak out amazed me as well as scared me at the same time. It was so amazing to see the love of these people and see how they gave up their time to do this for us.
Clearbrook MB Church has really been a blessing to me and everyone in this TREK team. The congregation filled with loving old people who have so much love and passion for the love of God and for the people doing the work of God. So touching and amazing. God is amazing and loving, as are the elderly of Clearbrook MB Church.

A true blessing from God himself... family

2008-02-24T22:48:00.001-08:00

Families are a blessing from God himself. Families are a piece of heaven on earth. Families are what makes you who you are. Families are the thing that God knew everyone needed. I’m am so blessed with my family and I thank God everyday for each and everyone of my family. My immediate and extended. They all have blessed me so much.
My family came to visit me this past weekend and it was the best weekend of my life. You never really realize how much each one means to you till you don’t see them for a long extended time and then they show up. Its like a breath of fresh air. Its like the saying… ‘you don’t know what you have till you lose it.’ Or, in my case, till you don’t see them. They are a gift from God.
We did a lot of things this weekend that I wouldn’t really have found fun or amusing, but it was great. Like on Saturday… we went to Surrey and were going to ride the sky train… but we made it there and we decided to just turn around. But that trip to and back from Surrey… made me see how much my family means to me. We just rode in the car and talked. Talked about some things at home, my life here, how the weather was beautiful, and how we missed each other. That time with each other was a blessing. And any other time, I wouldn’t have thought about it that much.
This morning for church, we had one of our own famous “church services”. Where we usually sang songs, had a ‘message’ and prayed. It was nice for a change and I loved every minute of it ( even though I was the preacher )! We did a massage from Mark that Steve had led us through in one of his sessions. It was fun to get feed back from them and to just share some things that I have been learning.
Saying good-bye was harder this time then it was when I left in January. I don’t know why but it was. This time there were some watery eyes and some more sobbing then the first… but when it came down to it… it made me love my family even more. I know I will see them in 4 months and then I wont have to leave them again until the Lord calls me else where. I am so blessed to have an amazing family and I thank God everyday for each and everyone of them. Dad, mom, Kristen, Ryan, and Bethanie. I love you guys and I miss you so much. I will see you guys in 4 months.
Embrace your families. They don’t last forever. The time you have with them is short… you don’t know when it is the last time, the last minute spent with them. Take pictures, make memories! Sing, wrestle, and play car headlight games! Every minute is an amazing minute God has blessed you with!! So… just EMBRACE it!!!

ER run

2008-02-19T21:00:00.000-08:00

I now know why I am NOT a nurse. I would love to help people and to be involved in peoples lives, but I believe I will chose a different way of approach. I will do a lot of different things to help and get involved, but I think I will stay away from the medical field as of now.
Dave ( the only guy here ) was helping Steve Klassen by moving a huge flower pot from the porch to the back of a truck during work duties and it slipped and a huge chunk of the side of the pot jammed into his left hand ( right in the meat of the thumb ). So me and Joanna ( a fellow TREKer ) got him in the van and took him to the Abbortsford Hospital. Holding his hand above his heart the whole trip we talked and laughted about how this just had to happen during a work duty time.
We made it to the ER and sat there for about a good 2 hours before Dave got called back. The doc was a kind gentleman and told Dave what was going to happen and to just bare the pain for less then a minute and it would be over. He cleaned the wound and gave him a shot to numb it and he started the stitches. He told Joanna and I that we could watch as long as we didnt pass out. Jo watched all of it while I sat on a chair and looked but only saw what was visible when the doctor moved to the side.
Dave ended up getting 10 stitches ( the cut was about an inch long ) and we headed out after about 3 hours of waiting and Dave being in pain. We had a good time together concidering the situation. We laughed and jokes and talked about our dreams, lives, and some great hospital experiences and stories.
So to wrap the day up... we had a very eventful and exciting day. Thank God for no other major injuries.

My daddy Jesus

2008-02-19T20:26:00.000-08:00

Bright and early on Monday morning, John Best started out our day with an amazing devotion. He started asking us who all has experienced being a father…. You could hear a pin drop till we lost our composure and busted out laughing. He was laughing and held his head high, proud of the joke he had just cracked. Then he regained his serious face and told us how much he takes pride in this son Alexander and how much he loves him and how he would do anything for him when it came to his sons life. That 9 month boy is part of him and every minute John spends with him is a minute he is so blessed with and wouldn’t trade anything for. Then he asked the simple question “Do we realize that our father, God, takes more pride in us then I could ever take pride in my son Alexander?”
Our father is the most loving, caring, and most patient father there is. We seem to compare God with our earthy father sometimes. If we have a good relationship with our father here and are able to relate to him and to carry a conversation with him and just be loved by him, we seem to be able to except the love of God as well. We see God as our father here. If we can trust the father God gave us… its easier to love God himself. But if we live in a home where we struggle to make it through a day with our fathers and just cant stand to be around him, how do you think we could ever really love a father we cant even see? If we cant even trust or confide in a human… how can we ever fully rely on a person we cant see? Its so true. I have a great relationship with my earthy father who loves God and has taught me to love the Lord and to do what’s right. I have a father who would do anything for me and who loves me for me and can forgive when I mess up. When I have that with my daddy… I can love my first father even more. I have a good outlook on Jesus and I can relate him to the wonderful father he gave me here. All God wants from us is to spend time with him. Just to sit down, tell him our fears, worries, and things that are going on in our lives just like we do to our daddies. He wants that relationship with us like our dads have with us here.
I had never really looked at it like that. We are a part of God and he takes pride in us. He loves us so much. He would do anything for us. He did everything for us. He died for us. What else do we need to help us see that? We have a great father in heaven… lets get to know him better and spend time with him. He is wanting to hold us and to tell us he loves us.

Trained by Jesus

2008-02-16T11:25:00.000-08:00

We have many great speakers here. All talk about something that they have a passion for or that is in their job description. They all care about us TREKers and our well-being and how we will do in the assignment part of our experience.
One of my favorite speakers is Steve Klassen. He owns the MARK Centre and also is in charge of our work duties we do everyday. He is an amazing guy and he takes God’s word and work very seriously. He teaches the class ‘Trained by Jesus’. He wrote a book that walks you through the book of Mark and he also memorized the whole book of Mark. We have him teach maybe twice a week and if we can squeeze him in, we try for more then just 2! He does such a great job and he has a passion in his heart for us and it shows. Every session we take a small portion of a chapter from Mark and just chew on it over and over. We pick out phrases and phrases or just simple words.
Yesterday we were invited to his house for Chia while doing a lesson. And the Chia wasn’t the only thing delicious! His lesson was amazing. We studied Mark 8:31-38. We talked about how, in this scripture, Jesus first talked about his torture, death, and resurrection. Until now in the Bible, Jesus said nothing about his death and how he would raise again. We also talked a lot about the cost. The cost of giving everything up for God, the cost of surrendering it all, and the cost of just living a life for Jesus.
It really makes you think. It really makes you sit back and ask, ‘Am I willing to lose everything, my life, for Jesus?’ Yea, we can say that pretty easily, but do we mean it? Would we really do everything we can do to live for God? Would we, if we had a gun to our heads, renounce the name of Jesus? or stand strong for him and for what we believe in? It’s a serious question and something that, as Christians, we need to realize what all Jesus gave up for us.
We also talked about suffering a little. Steve made a good point when he said that there is 2 sides to every coin. When we talk about suffering we went through in our lives, do we talk about the good times we had or experienced during that time of suffering? A lot of the time we may just talk about how ‘God caused this’ or ‘God allowed this to happen’… but do we ever say ‘God showed me this in that time of hardships’ or ‘God did something amazing in the midst of the trials’? Most of the time we don’t. Why? Yea… we may go through hard times but something good will come out of it. God only wants what’s best for us… and he will be with us through everything he puts us through. He loves us so much and he will never leave us.
I have learned a lot from ‘Trained by Jesus’ and we are only half way through the book of Mark and with only 2 weeks left, we know that it won’t get finished. We are disappointed and are amazed with that book so far. If you haven’t ever read it… I recommend you to. You won’t be sorry. God has a lot to show us… and we just have to look into that marvelous book and see for ourselves the love of God.

2008-02-13T22:05:00.000-08:00

Roommates: Laura, Bri, and me

Chilling out before lunch in the Great Room

God's new way of speaking to me

2008-02-13T22:03:00.000-08:00

God has ways of speaking to people in different ways… we all know that. But some of the ways he chooses to speak are amazing and just flat out wonderful. Everyone has ‘special’ songs that mean something to them or had a major part in their life, and some just have favorite songs. Whether it’s a Christian song or just another song, songs are great ways to relate to life and people around you.
Before I got here… the song ‘In Christ Alone’ had a special place in my heart. Just the words gave me a peace in my heart and I felt comfort in knowing that in Christ alone there is peace and hope. A part of a couple verses of that song really send chills down my spine every time I hear them. It says: Till on that cross as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied. For every sin on him was laid, here in the death of Christ I live. And as he stands in victory, sin’s curse has lost it’s grip on me. For I am his and he is mine; bought with the precious blood of Jesus Christ.
Once I got here I started loving ‘Once Again’ by Matt Redman. I don’t really know why… but I started singing it in my head one day while cleaning my room and I found the song. The words of that song also gave me hope. The chorus just lets me sit back and relax in knowing that God has everything in his hands!
The chorus says: Once again I look upon the cross where you died. I’m humbled by your mercy and I’m broken inside. One again I thank you, once again I pour out my life.
Sometimes God shows you something and it takes someone forever to figure out that God is trying to show you something. That’s how I was over the last couple of weeks. They have an amazing radio station up here that plays Christian songs all day everyday. I have it programmed in my computer to where I can listen to it from the internet and I love it. At least once a day, everyday I hear the same song. It’s called ‘Everlasting God’. The chorus is the part that really hit me hard. It says: Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord, wait upon the Lord, as we wait upon the Lord. Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord, we will wait upon the Lord, as we wait upon the Lord.
I would hear it over and over again and every time it just touched me more. Today we were having a session called Prayer and we started out by singing a song. No one had one they could think of so Amy, one of the interns, suggested ‘Everlasting God’. We sang it to Joanna playing on the guitar. During that same session Amy read a verse from Isaiah 40 verse 30: But those who wait upon God get fresh strength. They spread their wings and soar like eagles. Wow!!
I think that sometimes God wants us to sit back and let God direct our lives without rushing every minute of our lives. I find myself saying… ‘I can’t wait to get to Peru!’… ‘I can’t wait till my parents come here!’… ‘I can’t wait till this week is over’… Why do we, I, do that? God gave us this life to live once. Why do we, I, wanna rush it and keep moving on? What’s going to happen down the road besides us just getting older? We can’t say this or that is going to happen. So why do we wanna see and get to the unknown? God gave us this moment. Live it. I think God was telling me to wait upon the Lord and not rush things. Tomorrow wont come any faster no matter how bad we want it to. So why wish it to? Time is precious.
As you may see, God has been teaching me new things everyday. I love learning new things. It shows how much God really loves me and how much he really does for me. We serve an amazing God!!

'Amazing TREK'

2008-02-10T21:12:00.000-08:00

One of our scanvenger hunt photos:

Week four is over… but wow was it a long, fun, tiring, and exciting week. I already mentioned the Silent Retreat, but to add to that, yesterday ( Feb 9 ) we were forced to participate in an ‘Amazing Race’ or here it’s the ‘Amazing TREK’!!
Ok… first of all, I have to through in that we didn’t get to bed until about 1 am on the 9th because we had a hint that something was going to happen at 5 am and wanted to set some payback up. You know, give them a piece of their own medicine! We set up foil with honey on them on the floor by the door, taped our light switches down so they couldn’t be turned on , and strung a web of string from my bunk bed to the towel rack in the bathroom. Our thoughts were that whoever woke us up would open the door, dashing towards our beds while getting foil glued to their feet, and completely running into the web and knocking themselves back into the honey. Harmless right? Right. Because it didn’t work like that in real life. They came as we predicted and open the door and started screaming. We all, 4 in a bed, held our breath and laughter to see if our little scheme would work. We heard her ( Amy McDaniel ) trying to turn on the light… crunching through the foil, and trying her best to hold back the laughter. She had a flashlight so see saw the web and didn’t come running in as we had hoped. But when she left the room, our laughter erupted the room.
We were told we only had 7 minutes to make it downstairs before our first task started. We scrambled around trying not to get in our own traps and still make it down stairs. I walked out the door with jeans, a cut off shirt and my shoes, socks, and sweatshirt in my hand. I opened the door to see it dark and POURING down rain. We all rain down to start our first task: Memorizing. Have you ever tried this? Memorizing at 5 in the morning? I don’t recommend it. We were given 1 minute to memorize as many things as we could in the back of a minivan. After, we had 2 minutes to write the things down. The Japan team ended up with 20 and my team ( Peru team ) had 19. So Japan got a 5 minute head start and we were off. We had to find 6 bandanas of one color for each on our team that were hidden all over the MARK Centre property. It was rainy, cold, and I was ALREADY socked. Not a good start to a long day.
We walked around looking for the bandanas and finally found them. We were given our next clue and it led us into the Great Room of the Centre. Being pumped about finding ours first after a 5 minute delay, we were given brain teasers for our next task. Again, I don’t recommend!
We completed those before the Japan team came in with there bandanas and were given a roll of toilet paper and were told to count the sheets and then to rip the squares and to make triangles. We needed exactly 396 triangles. Two of the girls on my team ended up eating toilet paper just to make it come out right. We finish and we given our next clue. We had to go to a city blends and buy a chia. Luckily we were given a driver who couldn’t do anything but turn and do as we told her to do. Every turn, stop, and brake was determined by us. After buying the Chia, we were handed the next clue.
The Abbotsford Airport. We, having bandanas either wrapped around our heads or on our arms, we ran into the airport. BIG MISTAKE. We found that the guards don’t take things that well. We found our next clue somehow without getting interrogated or possible kicked out!! Next we headed to John and Christy Best’s house for ‘breakfast’. Not the type of breakfast I would ever chose to eat. It contained a 2 liter of Coke, sticky rice, and a can of sardines. Gross right? It all had to go down!! Some of the rice made it’s way to the bathroom toilet… but other then that, it all went down by the grace of God and we moved on.
We were directed to a house where, when we pulled up, saw 2 piles of hay. As we figured, we had to find a needle in a hay stack. Talk about getting frustrated and completely down!! We were almost to the point of tears when we heard ‘I FOUND IT’!!! That was like music to everyone’s ears!! We got over the excitement and screaming and we handed our next clue. That led us to the hot tub at this same house. At the bottom of the hot tub was a laminated letter hocked to a rock. I reach in and pulled it out. That led us to the MARK Centre to check our emails.
Photo scavenger hunts are the greatest. Ten different ’poses’ to our next clue.

Our breakfast: Rice and Sardines

We finished with quick ease. We had to develop one and trade it in for our next clue, which was in a car somewhere in the 7 Oak Mall’s parking lot. All we had was the license plate number. That was another needle in a haystack. I found out that Canada people have license plates on the back AND the front of each car. That’s one thing nice about Canada!! We fell behind and when we got our clue we learned that we were now 20 minutes behind the Japan team. How? We don’t know.
The Fire Station was our next stop to either play Bocce Ball or doing a Firefighter’s workout. We chose the Bocce Ball and Laura and I dominated!!! We were led to a park/stadium to find 2 bowls. One filled with chocolate pudding and one with rice krispys. We all had to stick our faces in them to retrieve a gummy worm from each bowl. Fun fun!! Next we were directed to Luke and Greg’s apartment. We arrived and got to change cloths and to warm up. It felt great to sit by the fire. We couldn’t help but to notice the small of fish that stayed in the air and just lingered over everything. We waited and waited for the Japan team. They arrived and we were told our next challenge. And ‘challenge’ is a big understatement!! Set before each team was a plate of 2 dried squid. Talk about a gross thing to eat for lunch when you had sardines for breakfast. Our stomachs weren’t handling things very well. We got the squid down somehow and were headed to our next task: the library. We found a book with a paper of a different language written on it. We were stumped. How were we supposed to figure out what this was?! We were finally told that it was Panjabi! We were directed to the Sikh Temple. We were to cover our heads with our bandanas and to eat what we were given. It was kinda tough but we again somehow got it down. Indian food is pretty good as long as you don’t know what your eating!
Next, we headed to Sonja and Amy’s house for a icebreaker. We had to smash a bag with a frozen t-shirt. We melted it enough to get our next clue out. We headed to Castle Fun Park for some fun. We had to win enough of tickets to buy some candy for our driver, who didn’t want it so we graciously ate it. Next we had to come up with a romantic song and serenade a mystery someone to their front porch. We sang and Dave, a friend of TREK, walked out on the porch. AWKWORD!! We were handed our clue and we headed to Surrey. We got a tiny ‘nap’ in and arrived at King George Skytrain Station. We were to ride the Skytrain to Commercial Drive in Vancouver. We next ran to a Gelatto shop called ‘True Love’ and buy Luke some Gelatto. He had just received some from Japan team so we walked in, got out envelope, and walked back out the door. We then had to ride a seabus to Lonsdale Quay. The finish line was in sight!! We relaxed during the ride and planned how we were going to sprint to the finish line. Give it our all. We got off the seabus and climbed a spiral staircase to a huge letter ‘Q’. Everyone cheered as we ran to them… it felt like we had just finished a marathon. We were done!! It was a little after 6 pm and we were finally done!! We took pictures and packed into cars and headed back to Abbotsford for some pizza.
The length of that day was indescribable. It felt long but short at the same time. We estimated that we walked/ran a total of 8 miles during the whole day. From running down streets when our driver left us, running in malls and buildings, to just sprinting to the finish line. We were all sore and that is not even the word that comes close to the definition.
We got to relax and enjoy pizza and to talk about the whole day. We had a small debrief where we were asked questions and to just express our feelings. We were told that the reason for this wasn’t to have fun. It was to teach us about the field. Each task had a relation to something that one of the past TREKers had experienced. It helped to get a taste of what it may be like. They challenged us by saying that, yea… that whole day was stressful and tiring, but what would we do if we had to wake up and do that all over again? What would we do? How would we handle it? It may be like that in the field. We may have a long day and have no idea when it will end. You just have to keep going and keep pushing. We are only there for 3 and ½ months… so why not go hard and do what we can. Sleep can be regained and restored… but the time we have there is only for a little bit. It cant be rewound and started over. Once it’s done, its done. No going back and reliving it. We are going to serve God and we need to serve him with our whole heart. Serving whole-heartedly and without holding things back. This is only happening once… live every moment!!

We had a great day and I enjoyed every minute of it and just realized that everything that happened that day was necessary and that it did really stretch us. We drew closer to each other and we learned some major lessons. Life isn’t always easy but lessons have to be learned, days aren’t always going to be fun and relaxing but days may bless someone new, and we aren’t always going to have things our way but we learn lessons by having things thrown at us. Good lessons learned!!
Oh… and just so you know… we didn’t win. We won when it came to completing tasks and points earned, but when it came to finishing first… we lost. That was another lesson learned! Humbling ourselves and learning to go along with things!

Japan and Peru teams gathering at the end in Vancouver

2008-02-08T15:15:00.000-08:00

Febuary 6:
sunset from my balcony

The end of silence

2008-02-08T13:49:00.000-08:00

Our silent retreat is over and it was, I felt, a huge blessing. Today, at our first session, we got to share about our experiences, and for me, I didn’t really feel like anything big happened to me or that I really experienced something major. I enjoyed the time away from life in general and just to be silent and listen to God, but that was it. God spoke to me through my memorizing Psalms 119, but nothing out of the ordinary happened. The others spoke about how they had cloths thrown at them, they had conversations with God as if he was really right there, and how rocks didn’t fall through the ice. For me, I just took one verse, picked it apart and seen what it had to say.
It may sound like I didn’t get anything out of this retreat or that I didn’t enjoy it, but in fact, I loved it. It was amazing and relaxing to just sit back, read, sleep when we wanted to, and to not have chores to do ( just kidding )! I just think I really expected much more from it and sometimes God just doesn’t show you as much as the other, but he still shows you his love and that he will be there for you always.
As I said before, I picked apart the scripture I’m memorizing in a way to help me memorize and also to help me get in tune with God. I’ll give a brief statement about a few of the 10 verses I learned in the 48 hours.
Psalms 119:7... “I thank you for speaking straight from your heart, I learn the pattern of your righteous ways.” To think back, its kind of funny that this verse was first to memorize. The things I wrote down in my journal was that God can speak to us in different ways. That some people hear him differently but yet he still speaks to us straight from his heart! Right there God spoke to me in a different way then he would’ve spoke to the others.
Psalms 119:8.… “I’m going to do what you tell me to do; don’t ever walk off and leave me.” Doing what God wants us to do isn’t always easy. Sometimes its hard and it feels like God just isn’t there anymore. But he wont ever leave us and he will always here for us. He isn’t like some friends that leave you when you have done something wrong. He sticks by you even more then before.
Last week, I started a cross-stitching project. It’s of a kitten hanging on a tree branch and it says ‘hang in there’. I’ve been working on it while memorizing and every stitch I made, I thought about how much that project is like life. When I started it, it was just a piece of light blue cheese cloth and lots of brilliant colored threads. Just like when we are born, there is nothing really there. With every stitch I made is one less then when I started. Just like every event in my life is one closer till my life is over here on earth. If I wouldn’t have directions and a picture of the finished item, I would be lost trying to work on it. Just by looking at it now, you cant tell what it is. Just like how we have no idea what our next step will be in life. We cant see past what we are doing this very moment. Like me with the end picture, God is the only one with the end picture of our lives. Everyday, every trial, hard time, struggles, wonderful days, is one more ‘stitch’ in my ‘fabric’ of life. All I can do is try my best to make sure I get that stitch perfect so that my end project ( life ) will be filled with brilliant colors and hanging up on someone’s wall ( heaven ) for looks and memory. Live life to the fullest, ‘cause you only get one hack at it. Live it the way you want others to remember and see it.

Preparing to remain silent

2008-02-05T18:12:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow is the start of a 48 hour silent retreat. No talking, no computers, no phones, and no music. Just you, God, your Bible, and your journal. That's it. I'm looking forward to the experience. Some think it will be difficult and yet others think it will be a great growing point in their relationship with our Lord. I believe this will stretch us. I believe this will bring us closer to God whether we plan on it or not. Just think about it. Complete silence for that long with nothing to do besides sleep, read, eat, and sleep some more!:) We are just past half way through training and I think this will do us some good when it comes to getting some silence and away from our normal routines of this training.
One thing I am planning on trying during this retreat is a Bible study called Manuscript Bible Study. It’s where you take a passage of scripture and you read it through twice and then take 15 to 20 minutes to circle words, highlight words and phrases, and just pick out some important sentences and things that mean a lot to you and just meditate on it. Then when you don’t think you can find anything else, you read it again and see what else God can show you. We did it as a group last week and it was amazing. It makes you look at and study things you really never realized and noticed before in a story you have read over and over. We did it on John 13:1-15: the washing of the disciples’ feet. I never realized that you can circle, underline, or highlight so many words that stick out to you or your team members. It teaches you to break down and study every word.
Things are going great here. The Lord has been amazing and I look forward to seeing what he will do as we prepare ourselves to head out to our fields. I don’t have a doubt in my mind that it will be spectacular. We serve an amazing God!!

Some pics....

2008-02-05T18:00:00.000-08:00

Bri, me, Amber, Amber-Lee, Laura, Sarah and Roxy in the van

Going out to eat at Boston's Pizza after church

This is most of us girls chilling on the couch before a session

2008-02-02T12:02:00.000-08:00

My roommates: Laura Adams and Brianna Given

Half way through training

2008-02-02T11:44:00.000-08:00

It’s the end of week #4!!! Totally amazing!! Its amazing to see how fast time flies by. The Lord has blessed me so much and I thank the Lord that I am here. I thank him everyday for the friends that he has given me here, the chance to draw closer to him, and just the opportunity to do his will in Lima Peru.
This week was full and loaded with tons of speakers, great learning experiences, and just the amazing time with friends and God himself.
We are required to read a missionary biography and I chose to read ‘The Heavenly Man’ about a Chinese Christian named Brother Yun. It is a remarkable story about how he suffered and endured so much for the name of our Lord. In the one chapter he was sitting on the side of a river in the freezing rain and wind and God placed a song in his mind and heart:
‘As long as I live, I will only love my Lord
With all my heart, strength and mind, I will only love my Lord
Regardless of what happened, I will only love my Lord
In all my actions and words, I will only love my Lord.
In times of humility and learning, I will only love my Lord
In times of joy and gladness, I will only love my Lord
Whether I face hunger or if I’m full, I will only love my Lord
I am his in life or death, I will only love my Lord.
The Lord has sacrificed his life for me
My deep sin has been pardoned
I have dedicated all my life to him
I will only love my Lord.’
Wouldn’t it be amazing to be able to sing songs when we are in trouble and in pain. To have the joy of the Lord in our hearts all the time. Just reading that made me realize that nothing I’m going through now is as bad as what Brother Yun has endured. And still he was able to rejoice in the Lord. That really spoke to me. We need to see how great we have it when we start feeling down.
With only 4 weeks left in Abbotsford, the more excited I’m getting about going to Peru. I know that the last 4 weeks will be filled with more passion, more excitement, more growth in God then the previous 4 weeks. That alone blows my mind. The Lord is good!!!

I give up my right to...

2008-01-30T16:06:00.000-08:00

We just got out of a session given by Sam Dick... titled 'Relinquishing Your Rights'! I felt that he had everything put together so well and that he was well prepared. He really has a way of speaking to the hearts of young youth no matter how cold and how hard you try not to get touched, he works his way into your heart.
His opening passage was John 12:24-25 "Listen carefully: Unless a grain of wheat is buried in the ground, dead to the world, it is never any more than a grain of wheat. But if it is buried, it sprouts and reproduces itself many times over. In the same way, anyone who holds on to life just as it is destroys that life. But if you let it go, reckless in your love, you'll have it forever, real and eternal."
Then we opened up and started to study the story of Defining "Neighbor" in Luke 10:25-37. We listed each character in the the story and listed things that we seen in them or just thought may have been said in between the lines.
We started with the priest. He was probably dressed very nicely and when he saw the beat-up, half dead man on the side of the road... the first thoughts that ran through this head were that he didn't want to get dirty. And that he was probably on a tight schedule and didn't think he had time to stop and help this man in need and risk the chance of being late for whatever it was he was going to. How often are we like that? Such in a hurry that we forget there are others in this world that need our help and us just to be there for them.
Next we moved onto the Levite. How his major job in the temple is to serve. To sweep floors, do things people would love to do just to get that access, and just to kind of be behind the scenes. But was he the serving type in this story? He also was probably in a hurry and didn't think he had time to stop, even though serving and doing good is in his job description. Do we do that? Say we are willing to do mission work but when someone needs help in our hometown, do we pass them by and not consider that mission work?
And last we listed the Samaritan. Everyone knows that Samaritans aren't supposed to talk to a Jew let alone HELP a Jew. But he didn't care. He was willing to set that aside and help this fellow brother in need. He probably had things to do but he chose to stop, to help and to put his faith in practice.
After we got done with that topic we moved on to our own lives and things we need to give up. Some of the things that was mentioned touched me in a special place. He strongly touched on how what we have, everything we have, is not ours. It's all God's. Every bit of it. He has just in trusted it to us while we walk on this earth. So why are we so stingy about giving things to the poor and being stubborn about things we love and seem to hold onto the most? None of it is ours to hold anyway.
One thing he said that hit home pretty hard was that the time right now, the time here in Abbortsford BC is not my time. It is all God's and that he gives and takes away anything and everything. So why do I worry about whats going to happen, what's going on at home in Indiana, and what I'm going to do when I get home. Why worry? He already knows and I don't need to worry and waste my life wondering. This TREK program is not only for this 6 months of my life, this IS my life and this will effect so much more in my life ahead. This is part of God's big plan for my life.
Friends are gifts from the Lord himself to help us along the path of the unknown and to stand by our sides no matter what. So treat your friends like they are GOLD!! One day you will need someone when everyone leaves you, those are the people you treat like gold. Life is to short to live in a conflict. Straighten everything out and lay your friendships all down to our Father. Because the gift of friendship is supposed to be cherished:)
We got the chance to lay things up and say to God, I give up my right to...! You finished the sentence. Some gave up money, some relationships, and even some gave up the right to life and death. I gave up the right to time. Every minute here in TREK is a moment I will never get a chance to have again. I need to stop saying 'I cant wait till this', or 'I cant wait to do this' and just live every moment like it is my last. Life is to short to waste away with things that dont really matter like time, conflicts, and or pointless little mishaps. And until I get home home ( Heaven )... I'm going to be a no-mad for Jesus!!
So don't waste your life away. Live THIS moment:) Live THIS moment for God and him alone.

Are we radical enough to make a difference?

2008-01-26T20:33:00.001-08:00

Today we went to Missions Fest in Vancouver and I really enjoyed it. I listened to 3 speakers total and I enjoy 2 of them. The first one was called: Two Sides of the Same Coin - Loving People, Learning Languages. It focused on how when getting ready to go to a different country you should learn some of their language. If you take the time to learn just a little bit of their language and actually use it, it makes the people feel loved and valued. He gave us some tips to learning a language... it all helped. The last tip was to NEVER GIVE UP:) No matter how hard it may seem... you cant give up or else you wont learn. He also gave some tips about, when we get to our country, how to keep up with the language. It all was interesting and it helped to know before I leave for Peru.
The second speaker was not quite as interesting. Me and Brianna ended up walking out because of the lack of interest.
The third speaker was by far my favorite. We had a schedule with all the speakers and what times. Me and Brianna were checking out some of the booths and we stopped at a booth and was talking to him. A lady came up to him and said that he had to speak in a little and it was in room 18. I looked at Bri and said that it sounded great and that I wanted to go listen to him. We made our way to the room and sat down. Only about 10 youth were in the room just because the talk wasn't on our schedule. His name was Darryl Wright and he was talking on: Youth Winning Their World for God!
He shared stories about young kids in Lima Peru that were radical for Christ. That was his main point... are we radical enough to make a difference. Here are a couple stories:
The most important date in Cuba is a young ladies 15th birthday. The date they go from being a child to a young lady. The family and friends of the young girl would put on a huge party and have lots of food and gifts. Well this one young girl was about to have her 15th birthday and her parents set her down and told her that if she didn't stop talking about God and sharing the message they wouldn't give her her party. She was broken. The pastor of her church found out what her parents told her and he rounded up the young kids and collected money and gave her a party. She said after that that nit was the best birthday of her life.
He pointed out that she was radical enough for God that she was willing to give up the most important day of her life. Are we that radical?
Another story was about a young 14 year boy named Christian from Lima Peru. He was given the job of helping people on the street to get food for his family. On a certain nit every week was a gathering at his church and he skipped work that night every week to attend this gathering. This parents didn't know that he wasn't working. From the gatherings he would be given Bible verses and he hid them away and kept reading them to himself. Soon his mother found out about him skipping work and founded his verses and started ripping them up. He broke down and started crying. He finally spoke through his tears and said "Mom... I was saving those so maybe one day I could've had my own Bible!" Later he went back to the gathering and he said that he didn't think he was supposed to be a missionary. The leaders looked at him and gave him a strange look. They asked why and he said that he couldn't be one without a pair of shoes. They told him to pray to God and ask him to give him shoes. The next week he walked in the gathering with a brand new pair of Nike running shoes and a smile on his face. They were given to him by two brothers who brought 2 boxes of new shoes to kids like him.
That really spoke to me. How those kids can be so on fire for the Lord and have so little. Why can't we be like that.
So... are we radical enough to make a difference in our towns? Where are all the radicals in Canada? In America? We need to step out and become more like him and radical for Christ!!

Things we MAY be doing

2008-01-25T11:56:00.000-08:00

We have been updated and given a small and flexible list of things we may be doing and participating in while we are in Lima. They told us not to bank on everything happening as said because they have a chance of changing at the last minute. Which is not something I'm looking forward to just because I love schedules and knowing what every minute of each day look like and holds.
We will be working with a lot of kids and youth ministries. Possibly working with a youth retreat as well with youth activities every Saturday and Sunday afternoons. We will also be working with HIV effected mothers and children, as well as teaching ESL ( English as a Second Language ) classes three times a week, and working with Sunday morning services, which just to say.. are 3 hours long, and visiting churches. As of now... our weeks look pretty full of fun, ministry, and just hanging out and site seeing but... that has place to change at a drop of a hat.

2008-01-23T22:21:00.000-08:00

Winter TREK 2008: Team Peru

The final say

2008-01-23T21:53:00.000-08:00

Waking up this morning was so different from every other morning here. There was no desire to eat, to read, or even communicating with each other. All that was on the minds of every TREKer was the thoughts of where our mission location was going to be. Either Japan or Peru. Those where the destinations.
Peru was mentioned more among us TREKers then Japan was. Everyone seemed to want to get away from the cold climate and enter into a warmer more enjoyable setting.
We all rushed downstairs at around 8 to see if we could manage something down for breakfast and then somehow hold on another hour to wait to hear our destinations.
The time came and tentions were high. Jon had them already written out on a board and just had it hidden. Everyone held their breath when he slowly flipped the paper over. It was dead silance and eyes were all focused on the board. Not a sound. Minds scrambled to find their name, the team leaders, and the locations. But minds do funny things when something this important is pushed on you in a short time spand of about 5 seconds.
For a long moment no one moved... just stared at the board. Slowly emotions surfaced and some tears made way to the eyes. Some cried for joy that they were going to the place they wanted, others cried just from the over whelming sence of emotions. I cried tears of joy and excitment. My name was within the Peru team. I felt like the breath was takin from me and I felt peace and contentment. I felt like this was the start of a new beginning. The beginning of something remarkable that the Lord is about to do.