My Last Team, a Broken Bus, and the Circus!

Since the last time I posted, there have been many eventful days here in Peru.  My last team was here for the past week and a half and left this weekend.  They were an incredible team and all aspects of the trip were great from relationships, to time spent with the ministries.  The team was from Pennsylvania and consisted of 26 members.  There were several families on the team which added a great aspect and even though the group was made of two churches, they worked together as one.  We were able to make some great progress on the construction site and the soccer field should be done before the summer is over.  

Thank God for the flexibility of the team especially in a couple situations.  The first problem we ran into was with another strike.  This time it was nation-wide strike and we were not able to go anywhere beyond walking distance.  We were able to improvise by having a VBS program for the children of the neighborhood that we have come to know and it was a great success.  Another issue we ran into was on the return trip to Lima when our bus broke down in the middle of the desert with time running down on their flight home.  After waiting several hours for another bus and rearranging some other plans, the plane waited 17 minutes just in time for the team to board and for me to get back on my return bus to Trujillo.

The past several days in Trujillo have been some of the most fun we have had all summer as interns.  Yesterday was the Independence Day of Peru and we got to enjoy some of the festivities here.  On Monday we all went to the circus which was beyond entertaining.  Somehow I found myself pretending to be some Peruvian boy's father to enter a dance competition in front of everyone and ended up winning first place and a poster for my 'son'! Yesterday we went to a bull fight which was my first and most likely my last.  It was exciting and very interesting to go to, but I wouldn't say watching a bull die in front of me is something I want to see on a regular basis.

Last night was our site-leader, Jeff's, birthday.  We surprised him by inviting his friends from all over the city and even bringing a friend from the Garbage Dump out here.  To add to the celebration we invited our friend who is a churro vendor to come and make 100 churros for us.  By the end of the night we were all sick on sugar and very emotional from the great turn out and meaningful relationships we have here in Trujillo.

This week I started to teach English classes in the cafeteria at our house.  Today was my second day and I have gone from three students to six with the talk of more to come.  As limited as my supplies are the kids are having a lot of fun and really are doing well learning some English.  It makes me miss teaching in Chicago and I am excited to be able to teach these kids here right now.  

Please pray for the rest of our summer here as we have our last team this weekend that some other interns will be working with.  Also pray for my English classes and as I keep working with the different ministries here.  Thank you for all your support and I look forward to seeing you all soon!

P.S. I wish I had pictures to share, but my camera is being fixed right now....

Photos from the jungle!!!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2033476&id=67600728&l=2c50b5f419

ENJOY!

Pucallpa!

For the last week and a half I have been with a team in the jungle city of Pucallpa. I immeditaly fell in love with Pucallpa and am sad to say it is my last day here. The current team is from Yakima, Washington and have been a real blessing to have here. Our time here has been spent doing VBS programs, construction on the church, and a couple adventures into the jungle.
Yesterday we completed a new entrance to the Alliance Church here and more importantly made some great new friendships with the people we worked with. VBS was a huge turn out and we are excited to have one more this afternoon.
The people we have been working with here and incredible. Possibly the most gracious people I have ever met and I feel as if I have known them for much longer than ten days. The team has done very well at connecting with the locals even with the language barrier, but knowing the Peruvian people it is not hard to fall in love with them.
I thought it would be fun to do a top 5 list, so here we go:
5. Getting nibbled on by pirahnas in the Amazon.
4. Receiving a very feminine necklace as a gift from a woman in a thatched-roof home in a remote jungle village only accessible by river boat.
3. Joining in a city-wide workers' strike parade.
2. Trading my shirt off my back with an ice cream vendor in the main plaza.
1. Having a little Peruvian girl sing 'We Are the World' to me because her Enlgish teacher taught it to her.

Pictures to come when I return to Trujillo....