Peru- Part 4

"In love He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will, to the praise of His glorious grace." Ephesians 1:5, 6

Our afternoon spent at the Hogar de Esperanza (Home of Hope) orphanage was a time that I hope I will never forget. Blogging about it is a daunting task. Hogar de Esperanza is a private Christian orphanage that has opened its doors to children of a variety of backgrounds, including extreme poverty, abandonment, and abuse. They have a very nice facility that is clean and spacious. The staff seemed to genuinely care for the children there.

The outside of the orphanage

The playground (notice the background...shows how truly desert Trujillo is)

When our bus pulled up to the orphanage children began to appear from everywhere eagerly greeting us. We brought treat bags of candy and lots of stickers for them and they couldn't have been more excited! Words can't really describe the faces, so here are some pics:

These are the faces of children who love to play, they eagerly reach to be held and they yearn for a family of their own. It was somewhat of a heartbreaking afternoon...both Aaron and I fought back tears as we considered the lives of these precious children. But it was also a sweet time as we were able to love on these kids, see-saw, swing and run around with them!

I was able to spend sometime with some little girls and they were eager to show me their rooms. The children live in rooms of four and each have a cubby/closet where they keep all there belongings. One girl eagerly led me to her closet and pointed out what she had taped to the inside of her door...a photo of parents here in the States who are adopting her and 4 other orphans next month! How wonderful to see the joy in her eyes as she anticipated her adoption. What a beautiful picture of Christ's love for us and our adoption as children of God!



Have you considered adoption? There are 41 orphans at Hogar de Esperanza that would love a family! Pray for one in particular. Her name is Yuliana and she is 13. She needs a family and in July she will no longer be available for adoption. Pray that God would raise up Godly parents who will love her and welcome her into their family.

Peru- Part 3

Monday we head over to the third church, Arevalo, where we met the Peruvian camp staff and prepared for the week ahead. Many college age Peruvians from all three churches volunteered their time for the week to be "counselors" for the campers. They were invaluable translators as well!!

Arevalo Church

We went over how camp would run each day, some fun camp songs, and how to share the wordless book. We paired up and practiced together.

One thing that impressed us greatly about Peru was how welcoming and generous the people were. They couldn't have made us feel more welcome at Arevalo! We were treated to an AMAZING lunch that I can only imagine that they worked all morning to prepare! It was made about a block away at the Pastor's house by his gracious wife and some other women. We then carried the pots over to the church and enjoyed (in my opinion) our best meal in Peru!

Lomo Saltado with Aji sauce

Our meal was a beef stir fry type dish. It was served with rice and over french fries (french fries are a staple in Peru!) There was a VERY spicy Aji (pepper) sauce to put on the dish that was excellent! We also had vegetables and then ice cream for dessert. Oh and I can't forget- Inca Cola to drink. Inca Cola is the drink of Peru. If you ask me it tastes like bubblegum flavored soda. I prefer to stick with good ole Coca Cola!

Some more pics from Arevalo:

work on the church

Later we visited the camp site and set up. Before returning to the hotel we spent a couple hours at an orphanage but that deserves a post of its own!

Peru- Part 2

On Friday night we flew from Lima to Trujillo. Trujillo is a city in the North of Peru and is located on the coast. It is the 3rd largest city in Peru with about 1 million inhabitants. Trujillo is known as “La Ciudad de la Eterna Primavera" or the city of eternal spring. It certainly lived up to its name while we were there. The temperature was in the mid 70s all week, the sun shone brightly, yet there was always a pleasant cooling breeze. Trujillo is located at the foothills of the Andes mountains and the this provides some wonderful sites. It is a very desert region- VERY dry and sandy!

Upon arriving in Trujillo, we checked into the Hotel Paraiso (Paradise). I didn't take any pictures of our room here, but it was perfectly comfortable, even with the lack of air conditioning.

On Sunday we ate breakfast in the hotel (lots of breads, yogurt, tamales, and cold cuts) and then departed for church. This was a big adventure!! The team piled into about 7 taxis and the race began! In Peru traffic lines are merely a suggestion and horn blowing is essential. It was a bit scary at times but we safely made it to the Wichensaw Church. This is one of Peru Mission's church plants in a very poor section of Trujillo. This was a sweet and memorable time of worship. We sang, read responsively, heard preaching from a Peruvian seminary student and celebrated the Lord's Supper (all in Spanish). It was so neat to see the church global worshiping together.

Each church plant has a garden to symbolize growth and fruitfulness.

Outside the church

The areas surrounding the church.

After church we enjoyed a picnic in the park outside some of the missionaries houses. They were very gracious and hospitable to us and provided wonderful food!

One of the missionaries houses

After lunch we returned to the hotel and took over the hallway to sort camp supplies and items bought for the children and orphanage. Each team member brought one personal suitcase and one with supplies. The amount of stuff was amazing! We had bows and arrows, craft supplies, medical supplies for the mission's clinic, clothes and toiletries for the orphans, lots of school supplies, candy, and treats for the children.

We closed the day by worshiping at the Larco church and then eating supper at Allen and Sandi Smith's house.

Peru- Part 1

This time a week ago we arrived home from Peru. After a busy and somewhat crazy week, I am finally getting around to blogging about our trip. It was a wonderful trip and we are so thankful that we had the opportunity to go. For those that don't know, we went with a group to lead a summer camp for children from 3 churches and an orphanage in Trujillo, Peru. We were working with the organization Peru Mission.

We have much to share about our trip so I plan to blog in installments. Here is part 1!
On January 2 we departed with a team of 26 people. It was a diverse team ranging from two thirteen year old girls all the way to a grandfather in his 60s. We knew several team members already, but for the most part it was a lot of new people to meet. We really enjoyed getting to know our team and the Lord really blessed us with unity and friendship!

After a long flight, we arrived in the Lima airport at about midnight. We were excited and grateful to find that all our luggage arrived safely! We were greeted at the airport by Pastor Eduardo, a pastor at one of the churches in Trujillo. We then took a bus and arrived at our hotel for the night. By the time we checked in it was about 3:30 am...needless to say we fell into bed!

We stayed at the Grand Hotel Betsy (gotta love the name!)

Our room

We then spent Saturday doing some sightseeing in Lima before departing that evening for Trujillo. We explored an Indian market where you could buy any and everything Peru, ate at a fun restaurant right on the coast, and just took in the sights of Lima. Lima is a huge city and very different from anyplace I have been. Here are some pics:

at the market

all things Peru

The Pacific Ocean

Where we ate our first taste of authentic Peruvian food. We even tried the ceviche, lemon marinated raw fish. The texture was a bit strange but the taste was pretty good!

A side view of Mangos...speaking of Mangos, the mangos in Peru were amazing! Like none I have ever had. So sweet and juicy! I don't know if i can go back to the tart ones in the grocery stores here.

Always playing soccer

More to come soon!

Christmas Fun!

We enjoyed a wonderful first married Christmas! We were able to celebrate at our house AND with both of our families in the mountains! It was a bit of a whirlwind, but it was great to have time with so much family. Here are some highlight pics:

"Christmas Morning" at our house!

Breakfast

Ronnie got new bike wheels that he was most excited about!

I'm a dork! But i love my new North Face jacket and matching ear warmer headband!

Then we were off to North Georgia with Ronnie's fam. We had a wonderful, spacious cabin and we ate lots of yummy food, went hiking, enjoyed the hot tub and celebrated Christmas! Sadly, I didn't take many pictures here, I was too busy having fun.

The cabin didn't have a Christmas tree so we improvised Charlie Brown style.

Hiking was so fun!
Then it was off to a bluff in North Alabama with my family!

It was beautiful!
So cozy


But the best part was time with the whole family together!


We played hard, rode bikes, fished, ate more yummy food, and just enjoyed being together!

Now we are back home, catching our breath and packing for Peru. We leave in the morning! More to come on that later!!

Kolaches

I have many fond memories of spending hours at my Grandmother's house as a child making kolaches. If you are not familiar with these, they are a delicious Czech treat: a yeast roll filled with fruit filling or meat. My sisters and I would "help" my grandmother sift the flour, kneed the dough, form little round balls of dough and finally fill them. It is a long process, but oh so worth it!

My grandmother died while I was in college and sadly many years have passed since we gathered for a day of kolache baking. But I wanted to resurrect the tradition, as my sister has done. And so for the first time I made kolaches all by myself. I missed the company of my sisters and the expertise of Grandma, but all in all I would say it was a success!

Mixing up the dough

A variety of fillings- apple, peach, kielbasa sausage and popsika topping

The finished products!! Yummy!