Beginning the week....

The days are seeming to fly by rather quickly. Monday resulted in everyone going several different directions. Some went to the school to help the students with classes, some to Cuzco to take care of some errands, some remained at the Rojas's, and some had a long day of work on the church building.

Monday also was the first day for the kids club. The location where we are holding the club is apparently different from where they normally hold it, so we had quite a few more kids then they were expecting. The kids just kept coming and coming. I think we ended up with somewhere around 80, but there were also a great deal of adults standing around and watching the group. One of the men from the church dressed up as  a clown, and I believe that was a great initial crowd drawer.

The guys continue to work hard on the project here at the church. Yesterday they were able to tear down a spiral staircase and install electrical outlets throughout one room. This morning, they are tearing out portions of the wall and stirring up quite a bit of dust.

Please pray for our group. We have had a few come down with different stomach bugs. Right now Pastor Hess and Mr. Bradehoft are both not feeling well.

Thank you!!

Another Update

Here we are, three days into our stay at Urubamba, and we have been able to be apart of so many things. The church here has been having a conference with a guest speaker from the States. So, every evening we've been able to listen to Randy Chovan speak in English while one of the other missionaries translated into Spanish. Each message has been very dynamic and the Lord has used the services to show several people their need of salvation. Praise the Lord! Each service has been very full, and it is exciting to see the way the church members jump into helping out in any way they can.

Following the morning service, we went to dinner at a Peruvian restaurant. The meal was very good, but it was made even more exciting by the televisions throughout the room playing the Spain vs. Italy soccar game.

The plans for the rest of the week involve helping out some more with the Christian School, and assisting in 5 day clubs after school. The women have been working on making answer keys for the 5th & 6th grade math. Right now the school only has Math papers with no answer keys. So, we have to go through and translate the questions then figure the problem to make the keys. It is a fairly long process, but we are learning more Spanish in the process!

Just a few pictures...

Arrival

We arrived in Cuzco Friday morning. All of us were pretty weary, but we were also fairly hungry. So, Pastor Samuel took us to breakfast at a little shop in Cuzco. We had a nice omelet, café con leche, fruit smoothie and fresh bread. After eating we all piled into the vehicle and started the drive to Urubamba. I honestly don’t know how long the drive was, because I was exhaustedly passed out in the back seat. We did stop a couple of times to take a few pictures at some different Incan ruins. After arriving in Urubamaba we again ate and unloaded our things. We did all get a nap that afternoon and barely woke up in time to go to the evening evangelistic service. Thankfully, Peruvian time does not mean that things start on time.

I was extremely thankful for a nap, but I had also really been anticipating a nice warm shower. However, we didn’t have time before the service and then when we got back… there was no water. So, again we crashed. That peaceful sleep was interrupted thought, but a mild water crisis. The water turned on randomly, and flooded the bathroom and some other rooms in the house. The night before, the water had been turned on (but there was no water) and the facet had not been turned back to off. So, poor MJ was awakened to a wet bed. Thankfully, the only thing that really got wet was MJ’s bed. Eventually we did get all of the water sopped up, and crawled back to bed.

Today, (Saturday) the women spent a majority of the day making song charts for the Spanish children’s songs and the men used their time tearing out portions of the church and preparing for the rebuilding process. We were each able to shower today as well. The showers were pretty cold, but they were definitely refreshing!

Some random things you may want to know:

- Heather’s name in Spanish is Braza (pronounced Braysa)

- Mate (pronounced Matay) is the cure all tea… especially for headaches from the altitude.

- The water has some parasites in it, so don’t drink it unless it has been boiled. In fact, if you go out to eat somewhere, be sure to wipe your fork with a napkin so that you be sure to remove any possible parasites. The parasites are only there if water is present.

Just Beginning...

Our little group is currently sitting in the Ft Lauderdale airport awaiting our next flight. So far, our trip has gone well. It isn't really characterized by much sleep... for me anyway. I find myself being a tad envious of those who can just fall asleep before the plane has hardly even left the ground.

My day started with a 1:00 am wake up, a shower, and a rush to finish last minute packing before meeting the rest of the group at 2:00 to leave the church. (You know you haven't slept much when you haven't even had enough time for sleep to form in your eyeballs!) We arrived in Omaha and had a smooth check in, but our flight was a little delayed. This slight delay meant we were running to catch our next flight in Chicago. Since we switched airlines, we had to claim our luggage, re-check it and go through security again before we could go to our gate. Thankfully, we made it to our gate just as they began bording. There was just enough time to use the restroom, but unfortunately not enough time to grab a cup of coffee.

We arrived in Ft. Lauderdale a little before 2 eastern time. Thankfully, this was a great opportunity to find a big cup of coffee and a delicious burger. I also spent $1.50 on an orange. Granted, it was a very good orange, but I was rather thinking that it should be something that airports in Florida should just hand out for free... as some sort of souvenier or something... :p

Our next flight departs at 7, and we are scheduled to land in Lima sometime just after midnight. We'll spend the rest of the night in the airport, and make our last flight change to Cuzco. So... for now... we wait. Talking... some of us cat napping... making final phone calls... and other randomness.

I am very thankful to the Lord for the safety we've had so far... I love flying... it's so amazing to view so many things that the Lord has made. I will post some pictures soon...

Writing again...

I'm sure there are very few of you out there that actually check my blog anymore, but I decided to revive it again. It actually took me quite a while to remember how to get back into my account to make a post... but here I am.

I am very excited to be heading back down to South America this coming week. I will be traveling with a group of 10 to Urubamba, Peru for a missions trip. We will leave out of Omaha at 6 am Thursday morning July 28th and return Wednesday July 11th. During our trip, we will be involved in a Christian school that the missionaries recently started, we will be a part of a couple of 5 day clubs, and we will be helping with other work projects. I am hoping to be able to post periodically during our trip so that some will know how to specifically pray for our group.

For now, please pray that we will be wise in knowing what to take with us. We have just found out that we are limited to just one bag with aa weight limit of 40 lbs. We had originally been planning to take a bunch of things down for the missionaries, but now we won't be able to take everything we planned. Also pray that we will be a blessing to the missionaries that we are seeking to help.

Thanks for praying...

Applesauce!

Phew! My facebook status this morning listed a great many things that I hoped to accomplish today... one of them in particular took a quite a bit more time than I anticipated, but was enjoyable. Just before lunch today Nathan and I set about to make applesauce. We cooked the apples and Nathan graciously "squished them" (for lack of a better description). After which... I added the necessary ingredients and plopped in jars. The last of the jars are about to be processed. Just wish I would have taken pics...