We just got back from a trip to Huaraz for a pastors conference. We left early early early Monday morning and made the 7 hour trip with no hiccups! We drove through a National Reserve which was amazing! Huaraz is a beautiful city- with amazing views of snow capped peaks, including the highest mountain in Peru at over 20,000 ft. We spent the rest of Monday settling in and gearing up for the following day. David and I, along with 2 members of Ingleside Church from the US, 2 fabulous translators (what would we do without them) and Reap teammates: Amber, Mindy and Sandi were on day care duty. With over 250 pastors and their wives, we had a boatload of kids! most days we averaged around 85-100. Fortunately, we had a huge yard to keep them in - most importantly with a very high wall and gate to keep them in:) It also had a swing set, jungle gym, basketball court and most popularly a trampoline! The kids were a bit over enthusiastic about the trampoline so that became David's domain- he ran it like a pro carnival ride keeper! Somehow- I got talked into getting up myself (twice) and bounced myself back about 10 years:) We put the trampoline up after the second day to give it a rest- not to mention David. The majority of the kids were so sweet and very well behaved but as always there were a few trouble makers who couldn't stay out of trouble for very long. There is one kid I will never forget- a chubby 3 year old with a Batman t-shirt. Yeah- he got spanked a few times. Don't freak out- we are in Peru, you can spank other peoples kids.
We played a lot of volleyball, soccer, memory card game, colored and tried gamely to keep the peace. I think we did pretty darn good considering our lack of child experience. We all got badly sunburned as we were at 10,000 ft. playing in the sunshine for about 8 hours a day. But it was a good week of hard work and sweet rewards. The kids are so cute and most are so sweet. When you've got a 6 year old kissing your cheek in the cultural greeting of Peru calling you "hermana" (sister) it just melts your heart a little. We enjoyed it- but it is good to be home and have a little rest. We have a church arrive next Thursday- College Street Baptist- who has worked in a town about 20 minutes from us. We will catch up with them as time and opportunity allows- and are looking forward to tagging along. This church is a pro and doesn't need any help from us- but we are glad to ride around with them and are grateful they let us:)
After that David's folks will be coming out to visit and we are looking forward to that. I hope you are all well and know that we miss you! Thanks for praying for us- we need it:)
Prayer Requests:
As always, Language learning (we are getting better!)
Pray for decisions about our future ministry and timing
Pray for Lottie Moon offerings to be sufficient for His work
Pray for our team leaders as they plan the upcoming year's schedule and face the challenges of the diminishing short termers on our team.
Thanks so much!
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