So many ministries....

Things here in Peru are going great and everyone is healthy again. The KY team left on Sunday and it was great to have them here. Our team from Canada is still here and I've been able to spend a little more time with them now. I'm still busy helping out with getting things together for our next team, but I've been able to go out with the team a little more the past couple days. On Saturday we went out to the garbage dump again and washed peoples' hair for them and played some soccer with the kids. It was a very humbling experience and it's amazing the lessons learned when you serve the poor. Last night we went with Larco Church (the largest church we work with) to the main plaza of Trujillo and the youth put on some different evangelisms to the people there. We sang songs, had skits, and had a good passionate message given as well. The turn out was great and a few people from the city came forward to accept Christ and get involved with the church. It's very encouraging to see how receptive the people are here to the church. We spent today working hard at the work site and have made some good progress. Here are some pictures I have taken over the past few days. Thank you for all of your prayers, it really shows down here.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2023109&l=28f9f&id=67600728

Needed Prayers

Please keep all of us down here in your prayers as we are experiencing some difficult situations. The biggest request right now is for one of our interns Katie who after experiencing some pains yesterday, had her appendix removed last night. Her mother is flying down here to be with her and everything is going well with her recovery right now. It is never easy to be sick in a foreign country and I'm sure this must have been terrible to experience.
There has also been some sickness going around with a few people on the teams and myself included. I have just recently been feeling better and hope by morning that I will be 100%. We currently have two groups here right now, the KY team and a group from Canada. Both are great groups and are really working hard down here. My sickness and work for the upcoming teams has been keeping me from spending a lot of time with them, but hopefully I'll get some more time with them soon. I've been busy lately trying to figure things out for the district coming down here from Ohio of over 180 people! It has been crazy trying to put everything together, but I know that in the end everything will work out.
Other than the troubles we've experienced recently, I feel like I have been learning more than ever being down here. I really feel the Lord's presence being down here and am very excited for all the different ministries going on down here. Please keep all of us in your prayers and hopefully I will have nothing, but good news coming up.

The Kentucky Team

We have a new group here again! It feels great to be working with another team and they are a great group at that. Today we broke ground on the land that will be the orphanage here someday. We just started the work to put in the wall around the property. It is such a blessing that we got so much land for the price we did and it will be amazing to see how it gets used.
On Saturday we went out to the larger garbage dump here in Trujillo and it was my first time to this one, too. It was mind blowing to see how people live and work in these conditions. It saddens me to think how selfish of a person I can be and I have so much. Seeing how I can connect with a person that seems so far from myself is one of the greatest feelings in the world. We brought them fruit and played soccer with some of the kids which they really enjoyed. I really cannot describe to you how impactful the whole experience was.
Tonight I went to English class with my friend Daniel at his university. It was a lot of fun to be the special guest. I visited three different classes and the one even had me teach for most of the time! Good thing I have taken all those education classes and can come up with a lesson in no time without many materials. My professors would have been proud. Well it is late now and we are working hard again tomorrow morning. Here are some pictures though of the garbage dump.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2022864&l=1e430&id=67600728

Life in Peru

Well I made my first trip to Lima this week and it was a very fast one at that. I went with my group on a nine hour bus ride through the night on Wednesday night and spent the day with them going around Lima until they had their flight that night. I then got back on a bus and went through the night back to Trujillo. At this point with so much traveling I didn't even mind the two long bus rides on top of each other. I really liked Lima a lot from the architecture to the overall feel of the city and look forward to going back again.
Since I have been back in Trujillo, I have been helping get sponsors and updating things at the Day Care. Yesterday I took pictures of all the kids and got updates on them. We just finished the website for the children without a sponsor and you can access it and sponsor a child here:

www.incalinkchild.org

I have also been able to spend a lot of time with some locals here from the churches and they are just awesome people. Tonight we have a father's day service and then are playing soccer at the park with everyone (which I am still terrible at, but it is still a lot of fun).
It has been great to hear from some of you and I love to hear how things are going back home for everyone. If you don't have my email it is dankasnick111@hotmail.com and right now I am able to check it pretty often. Thank you all for your support and I will keep you updated as the days go.
Happy Father's Day to all the fathers out there too!

More Photos

Here are some more photos like I promised.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2022630&l=898dc&id=67600728

My First Peru Group

Peru is incredible! Our first group of Peru has been awesome and I have really been able to connect with the group a lot. This week we spent a lot of time working at the day care for the children of the garbage dump. We got things started to build the second floor and got some painting done on the first floor. During all of this too, we have been able to spend a lot of time with the kids and getting to know the families of the area. Having our meals at the different churches has been great too because we have been able to connect more with the people there. Yesterday we went door to door with the locals to see if people would be interested in joining a cell group. It was shocking how receptive people are here and everyone would at least listen to use and quite a few are excited about joining a cell group. Cell groups are one of the biggest ministries here to reach the community and is what is getting people to come out to the churches.
I have been really enjoying my time in Peru so far and may even say it has been my favorite place yet. There is a lot of opportunity here and every time I walk down the street I feel it more and more. The people here are very open and loving and I am excited to meet more of them every time I step outside.
Please pray now as I leave to take the group to Lima today because there is talk of a strike happening. All our bags are packed now though in case we have to leave at noon to beat any road blocks, but our hope is to stay and work with the kids in the afternoon and take the bus through the night. Here are some pictures so far from the week and I have more to put up when I get a chance.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2022594&l=26453&id=67600728

Moving into Peru

I am now moved into Peru staying at the guest house here and I feel very comfortable here already. It feels great to be settled into a place again and I'm really looking forward for my time here. Yesterday I went to visit the children at the day care where I be working at a lot this summer and it was a blast to play with these kids. The children's parents work in the garbage dump in the area and the day care allows the kids to not be in the dump all day with their parents. In the evening I went to small group at America Sur, which is one of the local C&MA churches here. Most of them were in their 20's and I had a lot of fun getting to know them. It's really cool to be making friends with the locals here and connecting with people my age.
Today I went to church in the morning at America Sur again and it is always a lot to take in a service all in Spanish, but I really enjoyed it. Being Sunday, we couldn't work anywhere here so we went to the beach for the afternoon. I spent a couple hours learning how to surf with one of the other interns and a couple of people from the group. Somehow I was able to pick it up quickly and am sore now from doing it so much. I swallowed a lot of salt water, but it was defiantly worth it and it was cheap enough where I can go some more this summer for sure. Here are some pictures from surfing and I will fill you all in on life in Peru again when I have a chance.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2022554&l=a8e1f&id=67600728

Making it to Peru

After 28 hours of buses, taxis, vans and walking, I arrived in Trujillo, Peru. Crossing the boarder was interesting because we were required to walk across it and the man at first didn't believe my passport was me! I was able to convince him it was me and I was soon on another long bus ride. There were a few check points along the way where we had to show our passports and have some of our bags checked. We never had time to stop for long, so my diet consisted of only crackers and water. It was nice to sleep in this morning and have a real breakfast after the long journey. I must go now though because I'm going to the day care this afternoon to work with the children in the garbage dump. I will hopefully have pictures for you all soon.

Last Days in Ecuador...

Today is my last day here in Ecuador until August. Tonight at 10 I take a bus ride for 24+ hours to Trujillo, Peru. We will immediately have a group when we get there so it will be a quick transition. This past week in Quito we had some more intern training with the missionaries. We went through the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People which was a really great program to go through. It has been nice to have time here in Quito just to relax and catch up before we have another group, but I really look forward to getting to Peru. It will be hard to say bye to the Browns and the other interns, but they will be joining us in Peru in a month. Please keep me in your prayers and hopefully I will have more photos up soon to share with all of you.