Peru Update - It's Been Great! God is Good!

It’s Wednesday morning, so our trip is already half over. Travel took nearly two full days. We got to a hostel in Lima at about 3:30 am last Friday morning. Then we rode a bus from Lima to Ica, a 6-7 hour bus ride. Taking in the scenery was amazing. You can’t even imagine it, but there are just mountains of pure sand and these people build a home to live in and attempt to eek out a living for their family.

When we arrived in Ica, we dropped our bags at our hotel in the city – Hotel Siesta. Then we drove about 10 minutes to our work project. We were greeted in an amazing display of love…as each of our 27 team members got off the bus, they would be swarmed by a group of kids hugging and kissing them saying “Bienvenidos”. It was great!

The church where we are working is in San Martin, a village or “suburb” of Ica. The church runs a school program with Compassion International and the earthquake destroyed the pastor’s home, so where it stood they have erected another building for the school. Our responsibility has been to put a second story on this building.

The program serves 214 children. They take only two kids per family and those children get an education, sponsorship, and 3 meals per week at the church. There are two buildings that Bridge Builders had built a few years ago and those successfully withstood the earthquake with very little damage. Most buildings and homes in the area were/are made of adobe bricks and mud mortar. And there’s nothing to build them on but this fine, soft sand. Not exactly a firm foundation.


Our groups has worked so hard. These students are amazing, they play hard and have so much fun, but when you give them a job to do – they flat get it done. We’ve spent hours upon hours in a brick line. Someone in our group has an exact count, but it’s in the neighborhood of 3,000+ bricks at this point. They use solid bricks along the outside walls and where there is a supporting wall beneath and then use the lighter, holed bricks for the interior walls. We’ve used local brick layers, it’s interesting to watch them work – using “old-school” tools and technology to ensure that they’re square and exact.

I never knew so many tools could be made of rebar. Their ingenuity is incredible. If they need it, they make it. Hacksaws, hammer handles, rebar benders, saw-horses. I tied rebar into columns most of the day on Monday. And to do that, we used hook-like tools made of rebar for twisting our wires. I found tying rebar entirely satisfying in the way a new habit occupies you and all you can think about is finding time to knit or paint or tie rebar! I love it and the repetition clears your mind giving you space to think and to take it all in.

We attended the church service on Sunday night at the church. It is a Pentacostal church, so it was very charismatic compared to what most of these students have been exposed to at home. It was an incredible experience and an honor to be allowed to observe and participate in their worship service.

The pastor set up several home visits where smaller groups of 6 or 7 from our team would go and see the homes of some of the children from the church program. It certainly changes your perspective on life at home when you see how these families live. The family I visited said that they get running water for one hour, every other day. I tried to imagine running a household around when I had water available. Trying to plan ahead for every ounce of water I might need in order to cook, eat, clear, do laundry and dishes, and drink only after boiling. The mother who we talked to could only say that she has to trust God to feed her children, and her hope is to one day be able to pray asking God for something beyond survival. The earthquake has certainly changed their lives. While they have been impoverished before, any semblance of a life or home they had been able to create was stolen from them. They live for more than three months with no home at all. Three kids, mom and dad in a grass hut, sleeping under the stars.

Tomorrow we leave the church, and San Martin, and Ica. We will make the 6 hour trip back to Lima and spend a day there before flying to Cuzco. It’s interesting to watch and participate in the questions being raised by these students about justice, fairness, God’s love and how all of that looks in the face of stark poverty. How are American’s so entitled, so blessed, so worthy of “having it all” while we see suffering in the world…and what are we to do about it? We’ve had some great discussions, it’s so fun and challenging to be discussing these issues rather than discussing underwriting and profitability philosophies.

God has been so evident and faithful to me personally on this journey. I have prayed that He would cultivate my gift of discernment and give me open ears to hear His voice. He has provided several opportunities on this trip to have my hearing and my discernment tested and confirmed. What a faith-builder!

I am reading a book my friend Rachel gave me and the author talked about collecting pennies. She noted that most of us view a penny and worthless and hardly stop to pick one up if we see it. She tells that she has begun collecting these copper pennies that no-one notices or wants or cares about. She found that once she started looking for pennies, she began to see them everywhere. That’s how it is with God – he places tiny displays of his all-out love for us into our paths everyday, but we view them as worthless pennies, we don’t take the time to notice them, let alone stop and cherish them. I am seeing that God totally puts moments into my day – specific moments mean distinctly for me and no one else – a love note just for me. I pray that He would increase my vision for these gifts and let me gain a greater appreciation for how He intentionally makes life extraordinary.

I am confident in my purposes on this team and on this trip. It has been a somehow freeing experience working alongside the students and sharing in their laughter. It makes me realize how boring we all become as adults. We see it as becoming more proper, more appropriate, more grown-up – but I’m seeing that we lose our passion, our curiousity, the life within us fades with time and routine and habits. I find myself refreshed and inspired to take action in the areas that sit lifeless in my world.

I can’t wait to see my family and to share this experience with all of you.

Parters in Peru

Our team will work with Bridge Builders, an organization with a local presence in Peru and many other countries, who will assist in organizing the logistics of our construction project.

http://www.bridgebuilders.org/index.html

Preparing for Peru

Carrie's team leaves Denver on June 19th! That's just two weeks away.

Flight Info:
Thursday Jun 19
depart DEN at 7:45 am, arrive LAX at 9:10 am
depart LAX at 1:50 pm, arrive LIM at 12:25 am on Friday
Tuesday Jul 1
depart LIM at 12:30 am, arrive MEX at 6:35 am
depart MEX at 10:15 am, arrive DEN at 12:55 pm

We will work in Ica to re-build a church that was destroyed in the earthquake. Working alongside the local pastor should prove to be rewarding as we get to know the local Peruvians and the children. We don't know what to expect - demolition, brick laying, framing, etc. But we have ready hands and willing hearts.

Our vacation bible school is coloring hacky sacks for our team to take to the kids in Peru. We expect to be delivering 300 hacky sacks directly from our children to theirs.

We are told that we will be staying in hostels during our trip, but don't have any information about what types of amenities might be available. Showers? Food? Beds? I'll let you know.

The team is made up of 21 high school students and 6 leaders.















Here's an article published shortly after the earthquake on August 15, 2007
p://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6948888.stm

Here's a youtube video from another organization that shows footage from the earthquake and relief efforts.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IltNDsOTKo

Please cover us in prayer both before we leave and while we are gone.

• My prayer for this trip is that the Holy Spirit would come upon each of us and give these students a ear to hear God's voice and a passion to take action in our world.
• Pray for physical protection from injuries or illness and spiritual protection as we show God's love to the people of Peru.
• Pray that God would present clear opportunities for me to challenge my faith and step into leading this team in the complete confidence of God's plan.

Focus on what's going to matter

Leverage your time and resources

Invest in people who invest in people

The last three days of our trip, our team will fly from Lima to Cuzco and take a train to visit the ancient Machu Picchu ruins. I'm so excited to visit this mysterious place and experience the wonder of how God gave this ancient people the knowledge and motivation to build such advanced systems without the assistance of wheels or pack animals.

If I get the chance to post while I'm gone you can find my updates here. Thank you for all of your support and prayer - it is essential to our success and I know that it will continue to bless the people in Ica even after we have returned home.