Our Yearly Mission Trip To Peru

I usually try to share several posts every year after we get back from Peru. I don't always do such a great job of it because life happens and I'm lucky if I get one up. So, that's what will be happening this time.

We've already been back for nearly 3 weeks! I can hardly believe it. The week we spend in Lima always goes by in the blink of an eye. I don't think that anyone who knows me knows how much I love Lima, Peru and the people of Lima. This being my 5th year there has made it almost like a 2nd home. So much is familiar there, the people are more like family, and those around us during that week are ones I just want to love on as much as I can!

Our first day down at Alcance we prepared care baskets for Venezuelan refugees who lived across the street. This pink building housed 60 families! The items in the basket won't last long, but hopefully our outpouring of love will!

The next day was a rather low-key one for us. It was a voting day, and in Lima, everyone is required to vote or they're fined. Everything is mandatory to be closed so we weren't able to do much until about 4pm. We went to the Inka market for some shopping, walked around the Presidential palace, went to church that night, and ate at one of my favorite places, Palachinkes!

Monday was a full day! One of the visions for the pastor at the Camino de Vida Alcance campus is to reach out to the neighborhood. A group of us swept the sidewalks while others cleaned and then painted a man's business down at the corner of the street. It was an incredible group effort!

A little surprise I had been cooking up since about March was to get a ring tattoo on my wedding band finger. Thankfully our friends were in on the secret and whisked me away to the tattoo artist. Paige ended up getting a tattoo as well. It was super cute, but I'd rather give birth 4 times in a row than get a tattoo on my finger again. lol The top was fine, but the sides and underneath were incredibly painful. The date of my wedding (underside of my finger) didn't take well, and I don't plan on getting it fixed any time soon. lol

On Tuesday we went to the main campus at Surco. We were able to learn more about Internship CDV, which one of our missionaries who went with us last year ended up participating in this year! Then we got to hear from Pastor Robert who started Camino de Vida 30 years ago! This was the first time we've been privileged to spend a chunk of time with him. From there we headed to Grace House, which is a home for women recovering from addictions and life circumstances. We've been there several times and this year we were blessed ones again to bring brand new leggings for them to have! It was SO fun watching them pick out their favorites.

Wednesday was another busy day for us. It started out with a lot of tears for our entire team. Several of them had to cut the strongest onions we've ever been in contact with. Those of us who were peeling the yucca at the opposite end of the room were crying as much as those who were cutting them! lol We were prepping the veggies for the soup we going to be serving at the hospital.

Now, I have to admit, visiting the hospital is one of the things I look forward to most! I thought I came seriously prepared this year with toys for kids and babies. Really, I thought I had more than last year. Of course, as every year has been different, we went to a different part of the hospital than we've been to in the past couple of years. We've always gone to a new section each time. It's remarkable how large it is. This time 3 of us were escorted by the director of the hospital. We went to the pediatric hospital and birthing wing! What an incredible experience! Putting smiles on children's faces or blessing a new mama with something small for their baby filled our hearts! We rolled around 2 suitcases full of items to giveaway!!

Our Thursday was one I'll never forget. We drove the furthest I think we've ever gone to the outskirts of Lima. A crew had spent a couple days digging a foundation and a hole for a water cleaner (I don't know what I should be calling it). The day before one of the men had been up until like 2am finishing the concrete foundation. He was there when we arrived helping with the rest of the building going up. It was a prefab structure so that went up fairly easily. The water tubs/containers came and we had to backfill the hole it went into. The other one had to have a little table built for it and the legs buried in concrete.

While that was all going on, we had 3 water trucks come up to the area to deliver water to families who had already been chosen. A lady walking by told us a man who was ill was out of water. These families live without electricity or running water. They have these huge tubs that water is delivered to. We helped hold the hoses as some of the water was delivered, and who knew they were so heavy?!

After the center was built, I was asked to help do the ribbon cutting. Actually, I had been asked to do it by myself. I tried to say, "No," quite a few times, but they were so insistent. I don't even know how I was chosen. To not offend them, I quit trying to reject the offer. I asked Jackie, who had managed the outreach to do it with me. What I should've done was recommend that the man who had done all of the hard work and stayed up until the wee hours of the morning to do it with Jackie. I didn't even think of that until it was all said in done. I was incredibly humbled that I was asked to take part in something so special.

Another aspect that was incredibly special was that Rosita, who had cooked for years with Juanita at Alcance had passed away a couple days before, was honored by naming the building after her! It brought a lot of tears to the Peruvians who loved her so much. We ended the day with a celebration with many of the towns people & their children hanging out. Truly a beautiful day!

Sadly, our last day arrived much too quickly. We spent the day building 16 wheelchairs to distribute to people who had been already picked to receive them. Even though we've done them for the past 5 years, for the life of me, I never remember exactly how to put them together. Actually, if I think about it, I've only done them 5 times now.

The joy the people have when they receive a new wheelchair is so palpable. To us it seems like such a small thing, but to them it's freedom and opportunity! Being able to help them into their new chair, to love them for those brief moments, and to pray for them is something that I can never quite put into words. It's something you have to experience to understand.

We went out to dinner one more time, and celebrated Stalin's birthday... one more time (we'd celebrated it nearly every day at whichever restaurant we went to) before we headed to the airport. Our last day is always bittersweet. I'm thankful for the time we get to spend down there, but I also miss my kids. I love how we can do God's work every single day, but I also like the quiet of our home.

We said our farewells to Paige & Stalin while Moises rode the bus with us to the airport. I can't believe my 5th trip to Lima is in the books. As soon as we leave, I'm always ready to go back! Hope to see everyone again in a year!

Visiting In Peru

One of the items on our agenda was to visit Grace House and Hogar de Niños. We've been to both places before, but again, seeing it through the eyes of people who haven't been to either before is so neat! Our first stop was Grace House.

Grace House has 50 young ladies who are there of their own accord to find healing. They're healing from things such as addiction, abuse, eating disorders, and the like. It's a safe place for them to recover and graduate from. They have a ceremony when the time comes for the ladies to head home and they write a note that makes it's way to the wall.

We walked through what I would call a "compound" to see how they live. There is a main house, a kitchen/dining hall, and a counseling office. The main house is stunningly beautiful. On the main floor is a wide open entry that is shared with a living room. There are three "guest" bathrooms, a library, a sitting room, and a classroom on the main floor as well. When you go upstairs, they have all of their bedrooms and a lounging room.

Their schedules are very regimented so they learn how to live a healthy life. They get up at a certain time, eat a specific times, have recreation during the day, and go to bed at a designated time. They also go to church at Surco on nights when it's part of the schedule. Until coming to Grace House many of these young ladies haven't known what it's like to live with rules and healthy boundaries. What a blessing Grace House is.

Next we headed to Hogar de niños. We've been here several times before and it's always so fun! One of the things I have to remember, and I've put into my list for next time, is that there are teen boys (and girls) who aren't interested in childish things such as Play-doh and coloring books. I asked and next year I'm hoping to bring Nerf and water guns. I'm not sure what I'd bring for the teen girls, but somehow the teen guys are always jilted.

This summer my sister-in-law and her family gave me some of their leftover Disney activity packs. I opened them up to show the girls about playing with them, and guess what?! They were in English, Spanish, and French! It was incredibly cool!

I realized as I sat there with the girls that a couple of the kids (including the older boys) looked familiar. Ariana is a little girl who hung out with me for quite some time last year. This year we spent a little bit of time together...you know teen girls. hahaha As always, the guys end up in the yard with the teen guys at the house playing pick up soccer. Our team always ends up exhausted where the guys who live there haven't even broken a sweat. It's pretty funny!

We found out that Milagro was having her 16th birthday. A couple of the ladies who run the house ran to the store to get a cake and candy so we could celebrate with her. Now, when I say they "ran" to get it, it probably took them an hour or more. Nothing is done quickly in Peru. We sang happy birthday to her in English and Spanish.

Our day wasn't full of work, but it was a full day. Both Hogar de niño and Grace House are quite a distance from La Victoria, where we were staying. After we were done at the children's home we headed back to Alcance and chilled out for the rest of the evening.

My Fourth Year To Peru

On October 6th, we took a team of 8 people back to Lima, Peru! This was my fourth time to fly down to do some mission work for a week. There's so much I'm trying to wrap my brain around still from this trip. We had 5 new people on our trip and one woman who came with us for the second time in a row. Funny thing is, we didn't know the other people AT ALL. In fact, one gal who was going with us met Fred at a conference in another state two years ago. How cool is that?

We flew in Friday night and stayed at the Dream Center, Alcance Camino de Vida. This was our first time staying here and had no idea what to expect. Well, it was wonderful! We had 5 women and 3 men on the trip. In our room there were 6 sets of bunk beds and our own bathroom with showers. I think it was the same in the guys room. I never looked in. lol I think we were all rather surprised at how cold it was! Several of us grabbed extra blankets and wore sweatshirts to bed. Lima is just starting spring in October.

In the morning we found out we were going to paint the Dream Center because someone had put graffiti on it the day before. The only other time the walls have been painted was when we did it two years ago. The Center is used for so many things, including three church services on Sunday morning. So, we got out there and got the graffiti covered up. We walked down the street to a market for people to have a pop and it was so fun to see all of the fresh food...and chicken parts which I'm sparing you from. lol

I also had to (yes HAD to) go talk to the lady across the street because I wanted to pet her dogs. That super fuzzy one did NOT want me petting the other one, with is the one I wanted to pet. He would enthusiastically jump around so he was the only one in my vision. hahaha

We hopped into our bus and we headed to Miraflores to have dinner at Tanta's. Paige and Stalin ordered a family style meal and we all indulged in some delicious Peruvian food. It was fun watching everyone try the food for the first time.

Sunday was pretty relaxing, too. I think the rest of the team was surprised that we weren't getting down and dirty on the very first days of being on the mission trip. Mission trips are different everywhere you go and every time you go. Our work was going to be during the week because that's just how the schedule played out. Actually, our schedule ended up changing quite a few times while we were down there, and we just rolled with it.

We went to church at Alcance for their third service. During the second service we had the chance to hear from 3 of the new interns who are serving in Lima. Loved hearing their stories. After church we headed back to Miraflores for lunch. We exchanged our money and ate at Papachos. It's one of our favorite burger places to eat at. Since it was almost Stalin's birthday, I made sure to surprise him with some singing and dessert. He'll thank me later!

After lunch we headed to the Indian Market to do some shopping. We went to the same one we visited our first year. It's the biggest one, and the one I enjoy most. I always feel like I never go home with enough. hahahaha It's incredible how much you can get with so little money though. Then we got to visit one of the grocery stores. It's fun to pick up some of our favorite cookies and candies.

               

 

Our evening had us going to Camino de Vida - Surco for church. I love going to church there. It's such an amazing experience. We get to see friends we've made in past years, and that's one of the things I cherish most. In the past, to understand the sermon, the church used these really bad hand radios that would broadcast the translator and music, which made it impossible to know what was being said. Now they have an app that we were able to use. Well, except that it was cutting out so much we couldn't understand still. hahaha Oh well. Nothing's perfect, right?

To end our Sunday, we went to Palachinke. The fun piece about eating there is the astonishment on the team's faces when they see how huge the crepes are. I think the guy who either owns the restaurant or runs it remembers me from last year. He welcomes me up to watch them make their crepes, even had one of the cooks stop and pose for me. Sadly I didn't realize at the time that the photo turned out blurry. Then he'd come over and present the food to me so I could take a picture. Cracked me up. When we left I told him we'd see him next October.

I told the team (well, at least the ladies) to buckle down because the work week was about to get started! I was totally ready!

A Second Day Of Building & Distributing Wheelchairs

Lack of sleep and going until we fell asleep, means that today as I'm trying to remember what we did each day is kind of a blur. Thank goodness for pictures!

One of the things I forgot to tell you about is the van having issues with the back hatch. I think it was the morning we delivered food to the hospital. Again, the days blend together and I don't remember. The back door of the van has what I call "compression arm". It helps when the door comes down so it doesn't just slam closed. Well, one of them broke. Toby tried fixing it, and then the guys tried helping.  At one point, he figured if the arm just stayed tucked inside, the door could close and it would be fine until it was opened again.

You know what's coming right?

This huge door came slamming down on his hand. He doesn't drive a minivan. It's a van/bus so the door was pretty big, and very heavy. He cried out, but that was it. The door was lifted off his hand and we all stood there completely helpless. We just let the door stay unlatched, and headed to Casa Alcance. I think the thought was, once we got there someone would be able to help him. They could get him to a doctor or something. Maressa got in touch with Stalin to start trying to figure it all out. We all figured at least one or two of his fingers were broken.

Toby is so amazing. He continued to drive us around to all of the locations for the entire day! Never a complaint. Not one whine or whimper. I think we all were in awe of him. I want to be Toby when I grow up. Well, "like" Toby...not actually Toby because that would just be weird.

Friday was a rather mellow day. We built two more wheelchairs that we then distributed to two more people. Both the people we delivered these to were in their 80s! Remember how yesterday I told you that for the second people we delivered to found us on a random street at a random time? You'll love how we found one of these houses. I'll tell you about it after our visit with Geraldo.

I can't remember who we visited first, but I think it was Geraldo. We pulled up to a building and the moment we got out, I heard it...puppies! It sounded like 20 of them. Maressa saw me and she blocked me from moving toward the sound. hahahaha She had her hands full with me. We really broke her in being that we were her first group.

So, we walked into this building and walked along an open hall. I'm not even sure how to explain it. Before we got to Geraldo's section, I realized that we weren't going to be able to get through the doorway into their space. It was patched together along the side with a variety of things, making the doorway smaller than it "should've" been. Thankfully, the Gen 3 model of the wheelchair collapses and we were able to squeeze it through. Right before we walked into their main door, I saw this large cage to the left of us. It was filled with guinea pigs. lol Oh my word...it's their food hopping around inside that cage. Then I saw below it baby guinea pigs. I had to tell myself NOT to play with their food.

We met Geraldo, and a lady who I don't think we ever figured out who she was, and a girl who they said was their daughter. Not sure how that was possible because she was 14 or 15. I think she must've been his granddaughter. Geraldo shuffled out to sit down and listen to Moises tell him about how the chair worked, his workout he needed to do, and filled out the paperwork. He was a super sweet little old fella.

We left there and piled into the van again. I don't remember what we did for lunch.

Driving...lots of driving. I think Moises and Toby knew the general direction to go in the city, but you don't find addresses like you do here in the States. Picture this...what's the biggest city near you? You pull over and ask some stranger where Johnson Avenue is. The person points in a general direction. You follow that direction for a couple of blocks. Then you stop and ask someone else and they point in a somewhat different direction, so you keep driving. You keep doing this for about half an hour until you start to get closer and you start mentioning the person's name. Do you know Jane Smith? Ah, yea, Jane Smith, she's a few streets over. You go a few streets. Do you know Jane Smith? Go over another block. Drive back and forth on the block until you somehow figure out which house is Jane Smith's.

That is a much simpler version of what we experienced. It was really cool. I mean, it took a while, but we got there, and I loved that people knew who someone was. If a stranger came up and asked me where a street was in my little town or asked the name of someone in the neighborhood, I wouldn't have been able to help at all. We just don't know people like we used to or they do in Peru.

As you walk through the main door to Victoria's home with her son, there's a pile of dirt between one of their walls and the "house" next to theirs. The dirt was creeping in under their wall which was about 1" off the ground. We walked into the main room, and Victoria was sitting there on a chair. This little wisp of a woman. She was absolutely adorable and seemed to have fun messing with Moises.

We went through the paces of getting her settled into her chair, talked to her about Jesus, and took care of the paperwork. Knowing that this lovely lady was going to have mobility again was an absolute delight! As we got ready to pray, two ladies walked in from a couple doors down. They were a mom & daughter duo who were caregivers for Victoria when her son was gone during the day. They joined us in prayer and then we headed off.

I keep thinking over the day as much as I remember it, and feel like we must've done more than just delivered 2 chairs, but apparently not. All I remember doing was heading back to the mission house and ordering Pizza Hut pizza. Yes, Pizza Hut. They had the best meat pizza! The meat lovers pizza here has nothing on that pizza! lol

It was so hard to believe that it was our last sleep at the mission house. Saturday we were planning to go to the children's home, back to the mission house to pack, and then off to the airport. How does a week go by so quickly. I wanted it to last another week!

I can't wait to share our last day with you! We had an amazing time at Hogar de Niños.