Iquitos trip

Happy Easter! Just thought I would update a few details about what we think will be happening in the next two weeks.

We leave Lima very early on Monday morning, April 5th (that's tonight at 2 a.m.) and return from Iquitos very late on Saturday night , April 17th.

Elizabeth, Tessha, and I will have ladies meetings every morning from 10-12. We will be teaching, "Capacitar a Damas Como Ensenar Niños" (Teaching women to teach children). In the afternoons we will have kids' clubs from 3 to 5 p.m. The ladies will assist them during the clubs. Caleb will be in charge of games at the clubs.

Pastor Jim and Caleb will be taking turns teaching "How to Study the Bible" and "New Testament Survey" for 8 hours a day.

Every evening Pastor Jim and Caleb will be taking turns with the preaching.

We should stay busy!!!

Please pray for:

1. Preparation for classes and kid's clubs; that we will keep things simple enough for all to understand: Men, ladies and the kids.

2. Health on the trip! :-)

Thank you for praying for this last team ministry we will have this year.

March 1, 2010

A slight pause allows me to catch my breath, but even as I look around me there is so much I want to do! So many lives I want to impact and encourage, but that involves creativity and openness. This last weekend was thrilling. I will be really honest and admit that I didn’t want to leave Lima on Saturday. I so enjoyed shadowing Becky and saw so many opportunities in Manchay that I wanted to keep going there. I would have loved to get involved in Joana’s life or to continue visiting Vilma, Julia, and Yhenny. But why do I ever question God’s will? On the bus, I prayed that God would show me that He had a purpose for me in Chimbote and that I hadn’t reached a dead end with so many of the girls (which was how I left feeling…you should never live on emotions!). We arrived just in time to change clothes for Kids’ Club (but we’ve gotten used to that). Only five kids showed up…disappointing and challenging at best. My lesson seemed to flop, or at least I didn’t think it flowed very well. I was ready to throw in the towel (not that I would have even admitted that to myself).

After kids’ club I started to write my weekly text to Cinthya to remind her about our discipleship meeting (fully expecting her to have yet another excuse), when she appeared at the church ready to go! Shocked doesn’t even scratch the surface. We spend some time talking about the example of Mary and Martha and the importance of a person quiet time with the Lord. Then we brainstormed about ways that I could encourage her in the coming week as we walked to pick up Elizabeth for our youth meeting. Elizabeth actually came (the first time since I have been here)!

On Sunday I talked with Devie about our Sunday school class and some other projects for that. We planned to decorate and alternate teaching responsibilities. She also gave me a few other projects and invited me over for a Saturday lunch (followed by a time of organizing the SS materials at church). I was also surprised in SS when Saraí asked me a question without me saying anything to her first.

Then after church I talked to Valentina and she said she would come to the youth meeting on Saturday (something she had always been vague about in the past).

That afternoon I had a good talk with my “sister” Gina about growing spiritually (although I fear it is just a talk, I was glad to know that that door wasn’t closed).

I came away from the weekend astounded by God’s grace. He had worked through so many of my failures. I had not planned any of these encounters. Sure, I had prayed for them, but that had slacked in the business of camp. How can it be that just as things are getting exciting, I only have four weeks left (before returning to Lima)?

Arrgh!

Why can't I paste from Word? ... I'll have to think of a new plan for writing blogs...

And then comes February...

Wait, February? You've got to be kidding me! My life has been swept away by camp. Of course, I love it that way. I frequently find myself laughing as I think, 'and if we did this in the States..."



My first week at camp I had the privilege of co-counseling a cabin of seven girls. We quickly learned that the job description of counseling here is quite different when the kids we set free to play as the counselors all went to wash the supper dishes (throughout the rest of the week, the cabins took shifts washing the dishes and other camp clean-up duties). I had to laugh when the evening chapel service was pushed back an hour (and that was just the beginning of schedule changes).

...well, I never did get back to that.

First Impressions

"How can something that is so different, be so alike?"

Camp in Peru is camp. There is no doubt about that. Singing, laughing, learning. Bug bites, sunburn, dirty feet. All the things you love...and the things you could live without.

The kitchen does not cease to amaze me. Our amazing cooks, Rosa and Fronilda (not even joking...that is her name), cook everything on three kerosene burners. That is right... no deep fryer, no griddle, no oven. They also keep enough water boiled so that the campers can come in and get a drink (but forget ice). Dishes are washed in the many sinks in cold water. I don't think there is hot water anywhere at camp, but it is not an issue. I didn't hear anyone complain about cold showers while we were there.

Manitoumi was brought to mind in so many ways. I missed my families from family camp, the faithful ones who come every year. I missed grass and golf carts. I missed the cooks and staff. Mount Victory and the beautiful pool (and all of its wonderful lifeguard equipment). I missed washing dishes in the big sinks...

Opportunities like this really help you to see what camp is all about. "A fun place to learn the right way to live."