Reina and el Cine---Day 6

Hi everyone!
From Maggie:
This morning we got ready for one of our last days in Peru. After sleeping in (that is, until 9:00 AM) on Saturday and Sunday, our team was a little slow to get up earlier again. Once we all met and ate breakfast and had our caffeine, everyone was ready to enjoy the day.

Reina de la Paz was wonderful as usual. The three stations today were Bible, Craft, and a Special (consisting of question-and-answer and more prayer and games). Bible was wrapped up well with the talks on decision-making. The girls are sometimes hard to read as to whether they are absorbing the lesson or not, but Eric (Dad to me) did a good job sticking to it and making it a good, applicable session. Gladys told our translator Erick that what she heard in Bible was really making a difference. Later, Letty said that she really like what was being said and that it meant a lot to her. So it is sinking in and changing the way the girls think about their decisions for the better. Craft was a lot of fun for the girls because they got to unleash all their creative flairs on decorating tote bags. It was very touching when a lot them asked the mission team and the interns to sign their bags. A very exciting and interesting time was found in the Special, which, as I said before, was kind of a smorgasbord. The girls got to ask some questions like our favorite foods and a typical day for us, which differed greatly because they asked every single gringo in the group. During one session the question “Why are you here?” came from some of the girls. The slightly surprised Americans each told their story of how they wanted to come and their journey to actually taking the leap of faith. Chris encouraged us to ask each group why they thought we were in Peru. The answers ranged from “because they get to play all day” to “because God told them to.” Very insightful of the girls. We love them and will all cry when we leave tomorrow. (Yes, all.)

I am so excited that I get to write about the movie!! “La pelicula” was Toy Story 3 (a nice change after we were first told that the movie was going to be Prince of Persia...alarming for 5-year-olds....) The team went to San Ricardo and hung out with the kids that were ready for about twenty minutes. We all made a big deal over the kids...every single one was wearing clean clothes and had smoothed their hair and just looked absolutely adorable. They took such great pains to look their best, whether it was a bow in her hair and a nice coat for a little girl or a glued-on earring stud and spiked hair for a teen guy. The mission team took the little ones ages three to seven on our bus, where we kept them occupied with songs and our cameras. (“un foto, por favor!”) We met the rest of the kids at the movie theater, which was the same one we went to on previous trips, for those who were wondering. This year was way easier because all the older kids got their popcorn and drink before going into the theater, as opposed to previous years where we had to hand it out one by one in the theater. As usual, there was the number of kids that went to the bathroom solely to experience the electric hand dryer. It was cute. Ask Heather about the two kids who ran out to the lobby. ;) The actual movie was really good, although some of us spent some time taking kids to the bathroom. At the end, we made a quick getaway while the house moms rounded up their kids.

The entire group (translators, Buckner staff, interns, and mission team) went to Mangoes, a restaurant on Larcomar. After good food, we gave out gifts and cards to thank them for their hard work. It was a lot of fun to be with everyone, talking and enjoying each other's company.

Next we went back to the hotel for devotions and packing more supplies for tomorrow. Although we stayed up late, we are pretty sure we got eerything taken care of. We are looking forward to our last day, which will be fun but tearful for every one of us.
We love and miss you, family and friends! Thank you for your prayers and for following our awesoem blog. See you in less than 48 hours!
Love, Maggie

Day 5---Church and San Ricardo

Feliz dia Papa!! We started out this morning able to sleep in a bit, which was wonderful! We departed for worship services at Alianza Cristiana Misionera at 9:30. The singing and preaching was all in Spanish, we sang one of my favorite worship songs "Here I am to Worship" in Spanish! It really struck me that God's word is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow, that His word is the same no matter were you are in the world, no matter what language you are speaking, God does not change!
After church we headed to Pardo's Chicken for lunch. It was very Yummy! Every where that we eat they give us dessert, I think that they are going to have to roll me home! I was hoping to loose weight on this trip, but all of the food is so good!
We were at San Richardo today. Today Kay and I (Bethany) were in Bible, we talked about Jesus being the vine, giving us nourishment to grow. In craft the younger kids made some really cute little vines and the older kids decorated big letters, that were the first letter of their name. The kids are so talented and creative, I love to see their creations!
Then we headed to the hotel for Pizza. It was so nice to stay here and just order pizza (good call Chris!). At devotions Heather led the group. She asked us all to share the one thing that we will always remember about the trip. It was so good to hear what was on every one's heart. For me it was today, a girl named Ingrid stuck to me like glue! She is a sweet girl that is twelve years old. We walked arm in arm everywhere we went, when we were sitting she would lay her head on my shoulder. As she laid her head on my shoulder, I prayed for her. And I really took a minute to drink it all in, God was using my shoulder to be the one to hold this sweet child's head and my arm to put around her to comfort her. I have to praise God for using me in that very small way, it was very humbling. I will never forget her!
On a much lighter note, I have learned a lot of Spanish! And I have learned that some of the things I was saying were not quite right, the first day I kept telling everyone that Brian was my wife. You really have to watch the o and a at the end of words, one is male and one female!
Now I will hand the computer to Abby, she wants to share some of her thoughts!

Hey all! It's Abby! I am having a ton of fun on this mission trip!!! We are very busy though... In the mornings we eat breakfast about 8:00 or 8:30, and then we leave for Reina de la Paz! After Reina we head over to San Ricardo and do VBS with some of the younger kids! I really like both of the orphanages! Reina de la Paz is really fun because you get to see the girls and their kids! The girls are very nice! It's fun to play volleyball and soccer with them too!! At San Ricardo I have tons of "little friends"!! They are so cute!! I think that it is really cool how, the first day that we even stepped foot into San Ricardo the kids just ran over to us and gave us hugs! I wouldn't do that to someone... I mean I wouldn't go up to someone that I didn't know and hug them! It's good that we hug them and spend time with them because that's the language of love, and that's really what those kids need! It's amazing to be here finally!! None of us want to say goodbye! It is so hard for us now even to think about Tuesday when we have to go. I think that we all can wait until Tuesday! I want to thank you all for reading our blog and praying for us! It means a lot to all of us! Thanks so much!!!!!!

Day 4- Markets, dancing and praying

Thanks to all for the continued supports through prayers and comments fellow Sunrise attenders and family. :)

Saturday, June 19, Day 4.

Everyone got to sleep in this morning about an hour, except Heather who slept in a little too late and missed her morning coffee. Bad for her, worse for us. ;) We got to sleep in because a trip to San Ricardo wasn't in our agenda. Instead, we ate a late breakfast, took a short bus ride to another section of Miraflores and had ourselves a great time wandering an ever-present market. Filled with purses, bags, scarves, food, shirts, jackets, hats, jewelry and trinkets of all shapes, sizes and colors I can safely assume that everyone on the Peru Mission team had a great time. Composed of four groups, each with a translator, we dispersed only to meet up later. From my (Tony) personal experiences, Laura is a very interesting person to shop with. She will spot something she just has to have from across the way and will have our translator, Daniel also known as "Tiburon" (Which means shark in spanish), haggle for a more than reasonable price. Then, just after she would hand the clerk her money, she would do a complete 180, see something she didn't see before, let out a little squeal and the haggling would start all over. Lucky for us, and Mitch, she forgot her credit card at the hotel. From our other perspective (Eric) we can only say that it was a wonder to behold Bethany haggle with her knack for creating original spanish words. Most everyone bought something today during our market time, even the repeat mission trip goers.

At 12, we took a couple of group pictures and made our way back to the bus. After a short return to the hotel to put our bags back in our rooms, we headed to Rustica for a peruvian style buffet lunch. We were introduced to a new drink, Chicha Morada, which is a purple corn juice. Then our attention was shifted to the buffet. Five tables loaded to the brim with mounds of food including, freedom fries, chicken, refried beans, salad, super spicy salsa, Lomo Saltado (Jumping Beef), rice pudding, Ahi De Gallina (A yellow pastey thing with chicken and pepper) and Ceviche (Raw fish marinated in lime juice along with other ocean critters). The quality of lunch was dwarfed in comparison to the after-lunch entertainment.

Three grown men climbed on top of the bar. One with an acoustic guitar, one with a drum contraption and one with a bass guitar. After warming up, a rogue singer walked in with make up smeared all over her face, "Like 60s Vegas" says Laura. "More like open mic night," says Eric. The singer sang two or three songs, one of them being her own rendition of Happy Birthday to a customer. We were just on the verge of requesting an Elvis impersonator when two salsa dancers, dressed in Baby Blue, joined her on stage. The dancers were quite the opposite of the singer. They were actually good entertainment. Hips swaying and arms flailing, the dancers danced and pranced their way into our hearts and memories. After their first song and dance was over, they decided that some help on stage would be nice.

Enter Laura.

The male dancer bent over and reached for Laura's hand and asked her for a dance. After some friendly encouragement from the team, she reluctantly made her debut. The lounge singer and other dancers gave her and the birthday boy quick salsa lessons complete with swaying hips and flailing arms. Laura was a little out of her element but made the best of her situation and I think that we can all agree that if the speech pathologist career choice doesn't work out for her she has something to fall back on. She was very gracious about it and laughed almost the whole time but was in no hurry to stay at the restaurant any longer.

With subtle pressure from Laura, we quickly made our way out of Rustica and back onto the bus. With one more trip back to the hotel we were on our way to Reina for an afternoon of hanging out with the girls and their babies. An important part of this day was interviewing the girls and taking their pictures and prayer request for our Reina de la Paz Prayer cards. After Heather interviewed them with help from Carolina, the girls were sent to the auditorium to pray with Laura, Bethany and Kay. This is something that we have done every year and as Bethany said, "It was an honor to pray for and with these girls." Many of the girls asked for prayer for wisdom, patience and to be good mothers. All requested prayers for their children. What was really humbling, and shocking, was the prayers that some of the girls had for the people in their lives that had hurt them -- prayers for love, prayers for forgiveness and prayers for protection. Some of the girls will be leaving Reina this year and they often do not have any idea what they will do following their departure. Please be praying for them and their futures and how we can best help them.

The rest of the time we played approx. 216 games of volleyball. This is the other side of spending time with them, playing games and laughing and getting to be teenage girls. After some more visiting and photos with them and their babies we piled back onto the bus and made our way, one final time, back to the hotel.

After a ten minute break, everyone regrouped back in the lobby and walked to Vivaldino's, a very nice restaurant, in Larco Mar. We ate a wonderful dinner, some patrons tried the octopus the restaurant had as a appetizer. I (Tony) thought it tasted like a chewy black olive. I hate olives. Then it was back to the hotel for a 10 p.m. meeting for devotions and debrief from the day. A special guest was waiting for Kay in the hotel lobby; a guest from the first year mission trip.

Ana Maria was at Reina the very first year Sunrise came to Peru. Ana Maria had declared Kay the Godmother of her daughter, Valery. Kay has kept in touch with her over the years as best as she can. It was a special reunion for both of them. Ana Maria was able to meet Kay's family (Derek, Heather, Larry) and the rest of the team.

We look forward to going to an authentic Peruvian church in the morning before we head to San Ricardo. It's about midnight and we are quite tired so we must be leaving you now. We say hi to everyone.

As the man in the stocking cap once said, "Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!"

Day-----3

First of all, Laura and Emily wrote yesterday's blog, to answer Michelle's question. =) They did an excellent job!

The day began as usual with breakfast at the restaurant in the hotel. Delicious again!! :)

It was a short bus trip to Reina where we met the teen moms for the third day. Each day the bonds grow stronger and we are more comfortable interacting with each other. This is probably more true for the rookies than the veterans but... The girls were excited about the crafts (making little mini purses with a verse written on a card inside). This was another great idea by Heather. :) The girls seemed to really enjoy the 'learning english' station. Several of them took notes in english and spanish which was cool to see. They encouraged each other to say the phrases in english. While Laura was going things they could say to their babies, one of the them asked how to say "I love you" in english. I'm pretty sure it was Andrea who asked this and this is significant as there was a time when she admittedly did not love her child. From what we can see, she very much loves her child now. Praise God!!

Then came time for fun and games. Each day we have finished our time at Reina with volleyball, soccer and just hanging out. I (Larry) am known as Mi Padre now due to Derek yelling/saying that every time something goes wrong on the volleyball court. Now the girls are also doing it. I hear Padre more now than Larry which is a lot of fun. The girls are pretty darn good at volleyball and very competitive. :)

Today we had the pleasure of getting to eat lunch with the girls and their kids. I had heard about how fun this was last year and was excited to experience this year. It was as good as advertised. The moms love to spend time with us and have us interact with their kids. One of the moms asked me if this was a typical lunch in the USA (we had a sandwich, chips, juice, chocolate)? With Laura's help, I/we answered that it was fairly typical. It is very interesting for me to be on the other side of those type questions. I have always been the one asking that type of thing so that was kind of neat.

After saying our goodbyes (which are very hard even though we know we will be back tomorrow, not sure how that will go our last day. I told Emily she may get to see a grown man cry.), we headed off to San Ricardo. We need that bus ride to reload and prepare for all of those kids. It can be a little tiring but worth every second of feeling exhausted.

Like at Reina, everyone is getting more comfortable with the kids each day. The chaos seems a little more controlled each day and our time feels more productive. One of the boys mentioned during the 'Bible' session, that it is great to have the 'Shoe' visits but those only last for a short time. While visits such as ours, hugs, playing with them, showing endless love last forever. Pretty good incentive to keep coming back. Guess one could read into that statement that they would rather go barefoot and be loved than have shoes and no love.

We introduced kamodo dragon to the kids and they loved it. They also got the chance to make butter then eat it on bread we provided. This was a big hit and went very well.

We noticed when we left that there are more and more kids clinging to the bus as we leave. This could be quite the crowd by the end of the week. The bus ride home was a little different tonight. It was Friday and the traffic was worse than the previous two days. I didn't think that could happen but wow, was I wrong! You all a HUGE THANK YOU to our bus driver. He is keeping your loved ones alive. I can't begin to describe how the traffic flows down here. You just have to come and see it for yourself. It amazes me every time we go out.

OK, I'm tired and signing off. Oh, btw...there will be no wedding, Emily politely declined. :)

Thanks so much for your prayers and words of encouragement. We will need these more and more as the week goes on.

God Bless you,

Larry and Derek

Day 2 Update

Hola mis amigos y familia! Oh yeah, time to speak English again! Lo siento, I mean sorry! As a "newbie" to Peru, I can say this trip has already exceeded my expectations in so many ways. Even though I was told that the language barrier was really not much of a concern, and that the language of love is universal, I didn't really "get" until we were here how true that is - very little effort on our part seems to mean the world to these kids. A smile, asking them their name and age, if they have brothers or sisters, asking them to come with you or play with you, or offering them a hug - they are so very responsive to each little gesture. Frequently there are a few kids that "bond" particularly with one or another of us and pursue us relentlessly, simply wanting more hugs, more smiles, more tickles or pictures or songs or just attention.

We started the day off with another amazing breakfast at the hotel, then loaded the bus and headed to Reina. While Eric and Guiliana taught a group about making wise decisions from God's perspective, others sewed with Heather and Kay, and the last group was with Laura, Larry, Carolyn and Derek decorating 10" letters that spelled out in Spanish, John 14:6 - Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father except through me." Many of the girls already knew this verse, which was cool. They were super creative and very proud of the end result as we used decorative paper, glitter, ribbon, jewels, and flowers to "bedazzle" the letters that spell out this powerful Scripture. Tomorrow (Friday) we hope to hang them up in the dining hall where they eat. When all the groups had rotated through, we had time to hang out, play volleyball, soccer, take lots of photos, laugh and get to know them on more of a peer/social level. With the frienships that have already been made, it is hard to believe that most of us have only known them for 2 days!!

After we ate lunch at Reina, the babies and children came out of daycare for awhile to see their moms and was that a treat!! The girls are proud of their children and were eager to give us opportunity to hold and love on their babies, pose for pictures, and take pictures for us. It felt like we were being invited to be "aunties" and "uncles" and it made us feel very accepted and loved by them.

At San Ricardo, we had a much "easier" day than the first day. We came together as a team last night and "problem-solved" how to make our time go smoother and be more effective, and it was a night and day difference. I was in "Memory Verse" today where the kids learned the same verse we spelled out at Reina, John 14:6. We came up with different ways of helping them learn the verse, like using actions and rhythm, taking turns "performing" in pairs once they learned the verse, and having them each say one word at a time. Sue W. even prepared a posterboard puzzle with the verse on it so the kids could work together cooperatively and put it together to spell out the whole verse. It was very cool.

Here are the top 10 things I've learned so far in these last 48 hours or so....
1. Don't simply nod and say "Si" when you don't understand the language - you may have just given away your daughter's hand in marriage! (Yes, this did happen - Emily N. received her first marriage proposal today - and Derek and Tony are having a hayday with that!!!)
2. Besides love, soccer and volleyball are also universal languages.
3. Peruvians make really good chocolate.
4. If you put something down, don't count on seeing it again.
5. Bubbles are worth the price of gold in Peru orphanages.
6. There is kindness here, and many of the children nurture and look out for each other.
7. Not being able to give an orphan something they ask you for is one of the most emotionally difficult and painful experiences out there. (But being able to give them something they ask for is positively phenomenal!)
8. The most quiet, distant, skeptical, sad or angry looking child can transform before your eyes into a smiling talkative new friend. Smiles, hugs and attention can truly work miracles! And it is so easy on our part!
9. When you are where God wants you, doing what He has for you to do, there is no greater feeling! Of joy, peace, gratitude, love, and so much more I can't put into words.
10. Even when you are in that place, you can still really miss the ones you love back home.

It's hard to stop at just 10 - more man~ana!

Love and miss you all!

Day 1-Reality Check

Hello to all of our family and friends.
We started today with orientation, where we met Chris Cato, our Buckner representative from Dallas, TX who is responsible for keeping us safe and well fed! We have given him the proper title of our "papacito". We were also introduced to our 4 interns, Morgan, Cameron, Rachel, and Amber, who already have shown great love for Christ and a desire to minister to the teen mothers at Reina and the kids at San Ricardo.

We started out the day at Reina de la paz. The girls were very excited to see us, and immediately recognized some of us who've been in the past and asked about people who'd been there before, so to those of you who have been to Peru in the past, know that you made a difference and are still on their minds and in their hearts.
We split the girls into groups and had them rotate through 3 stations: Bible, Craft, and Special. The girls decorated journals in Craft, and as usual, were very creative and thoroughly enjoyed themselves. The Special today was sewing. Last year we bought the girls 2 sewing machines, and were hoping that they were still there. Well, we were in for a surprise. We were taken to a room we'd never before had access to and in it were 3 sewing stations, a large table for cutting, and an ironing board. Heather was over joyed and got each of the girls started on a quilt project. They were having so much fun it was diffcult to get them to head to their next station. (to Sue Wetzel: your iron may have died. when we plugged it in the converter began to smoke. we say it's a sign that you don't need to do any pressing at home for a while :).......thankfully the girls had an iron of their own that we could use!
After we finished our stations we were invited to attend a birthday celebration for one of the workers. The children of the teen mothers performed songs, as well as a few of the moms. It was fun to see the youngest of the children on stage shaking their moroccos. The moms were very eager to have us watch their children and also to get up on stage themselves and perform for us. We then spent some time playing volleyball and soccer with some of the girls. Those who weren't up for competitive sports took the liberty of playing with some of the children. At the end of our time at Reina we had the pleasure of seen Vivien and her son, Franciso Javier. Vivien is the young mom who was taken to the hospital with her son near the begining of our trip last year. It was such a blessing to see both of them very healthy and happy.

We ate our boxed lunches on the bus on the way to San Ricardo, and then we got there. This is where we had our big reality check. San Ricardo was filled with kids who were so eager to see us, hug us, and play with us, that all order was lost. We had to wait on most of the kids to return from school, but while we waited we played with those who were there. Immediately some of the kids became attatched to members of the team. Larry had the pleasure of entertaining Melody, a little 7yr old, who i believe was using him as a jungle gym, and she did not want to be put down. A little girl 2 or 3 yrs old named Lilliana who is very new to the orphanage went to Heather right away and put her arms up to be held. With lots of hugs and hand holding, they bonded right away.
Once all the kids were back from school and done eating lunch, Guigliana rang a bell that was supposed to bring all the kids to the rotunda where we do our opening songs and introductions. So with most of the kids rounded up, we started the singing with the Sapo Song which is a huge hit with all the kids. Laura taught the kids the Romans song that the kids at Sunrise sing. We will continue to sing the Romans song everyday and introduce other new ones as the week progresses.
From the rotunda we divided the kids up by ages, and sent them to the various stations. There are 5 stations, and I believe that today we sort of had 3. Some might call today chaotic, we say the kids were so excited to see us they could not contain themselves! We titled the blog Reality Check because we got a fresh reminder that things just don't always go our way. We kept reminding ourselves "we ARE flexible" and we are not here to keep order, we are here to be God's hands and feet. If that means chasing kids and keeping them from climbing out windows then that is what we will do. Amidst all the chaos we were able to give so many hugs and kisses. We got to sit with the kids and just be what they needed, someone to bond with and show them what real love is. We were constantly reminded how important it is that we come to Peru each year. Many of the children asked those of us who'd been before if we remembered them. It was heart warming to see their faces light up when we told them that we did remember them. There is one girl in particular who usually hangs back and keeps to herself. When Kay walked up to her and said her name and told her hello, she smiled. Her name is Vilma, and if anyone who's been on the trip before remembers Vilma, she hardly ever smiles. What an amazing confirmation that what we do here makes a difference.
So now we can look forward to a fresh start tomorrow with little sleep but lots of resting in the knowledge that God goes before us and is constantly at our sides as we minister to both homes.
Love in Christ,
Kay and Heather

Safe and Sound

We are all here, including the Williamsons and Chris Cato.
Ready for a busy day here in Lima, Peru!!
We will try to keep you posted; the next post should come tonight after our first team meeting.
Everyone is a little tired, nervous, and really excited about our first day.
Derek says hi.
Larry says hi.
Tony is enjoying the Gushers his mom sent with him.
A quick summary of our travels:
We woke up really early to meet at the church and say goodbye. Thanks to our drivers and Paul Lyzenga for sending us off. The flight to Newark went really well with no turbulance. Our layover went pretty well. We were greeted with a reception, including cake and a balloon arch. (More details later....) The flight to Lima was awesome...the airplane food was good, and there was next to no turbulance. We got through customs/immigrations pretty quickly and got ALL the bags--none lost. Praise God for that! Sylvia and Eric from Buckner met us (although Eric and Chris Cato, who arrived later, stayed to meet Bethany and Abby). We enjoyed the bus ride and were able to see part of Lima. We saw the Pacific Ocean and some of us were reminded of Lima's diversity of poor/rich.
Everyone just got finished with breakfast, and soon we are off to Reina de la Paz.
Hasta luego! (see you later!)
PS--Derek says bye.