Hola,
We made it to Trujillo and with everyone´s luggage! We even think the two lost luggage´s will arrive tonight, Lord willing. Thanks for helping pray them here. Bill Bradford and Allen´s wife Sandy met us at the airport. We put the luggage in taxi´s and we piled in what will be our van for the week and headed to our hotel. Hotel Paridiso. Welcome to paridise. It is wonderful. Wes Baker and Del Ellison also met us at the hotel. It was wonderful to see the missionaries that we will be working with and have a welcoming committee! We got checked in rather smoothly -- guess we are getting better at traveling with 27 people. We all gathered in the lobby and sorted out all the gifts we brought the missionaries. After we went over the next day´s intinerary, we spent some time in prayer for the camp and our travels and the missionaries we are working with as well as all the Peruvians we will be encountering. It was an early night as we all settled in for a good night´s sleep.
Today, we woke up and had breakfast and then were ready to go at 9:00 a.m. We drove to Winchanzao to worship there this morning. Along the way, we went by Arevelo and saw the Church and the medical clinic that are almost finished. We saw some of the children that will be attending camp. They are so precious!! It made us even more excited to get camp started. Pictures of the church and medical clinic in Arevelo are in the photo gallery now.
Winchanzao is one of Trujilló´s poorest neighborhoods. But the church there is very nice. There are pictures of the church and neighborhood also in the photo gallery. The service was totally in Spanish so those of us that don´t speak the language didn´t catch a lot of it, but it was still a wonderful worship service to be there and worship with the Pervians. Each Sunday they observe the Lord´s Supper. Here you sip real wine from a common cup so we all had an interesting experience taking communion in Trujillo and immersing ourselves in thier culture.
At Winchanzao we met more children that will attend camp. They were so wonderful. Three of them were especially attached to Ashleigh, Laurel, and Sarah. They sat in thier laps during church. They didn´t want to see us go. We promised to see them tomorrow. It is sure to be a special week.
After church, Sandy and Allen Smith hosted us in thier home for lunch. It was really wonderful. We had a fabulous meal and enjoyed celebrating Matthew´s birthday with a cake. Yesterday were Ethan´s and Joy´s birthdays so we´ve now celebrated three birthdays and two days in Peru. After lunch, we had more time of worship together. Allen read scripture and we sang while Allen and Ry accompanied us on guitars. Again, we ended our time together with a time of prayer. Virgina, Joy, Sheila, and Ry have been under the weather with cold like symptoms. Sheila has lost her voice and Virginia cannot seem to stop coughing. But we are praying that they will all begin to feel better. Please pray for healing of those that are sick and continued health for the remainder of the group. What might be an annoying cold in the States can be really miserable in a foreign country and in a hotel and traveling all the time, but they have all been real troopers and soldiered along with us. Other prayer requests: the Peruvian translators and helpers we will work with all week (we will be teaching the Peruvian church members how to put on a camp themselves and the translators will help with the obvious), the parents of the children that are coming to camp (the mothers say yes thier child can come and then the father will later say no--many are just worried as no one can comprehend what camp is), the children that will attend camp, and for us as we minister to all we encounter. We did get some wonderful news today that deserves Praise to the Lord! The director of the orphanage here in Trujillo came to church this morning and said the children could come to camp. She will bring 10 the first day and I think if all goes well, then maybe 15 will come the rest of the week. We are so thrilled to have these children to come. The other campers are all children that attend the churches and are faithful attenders. It is almost like a reward for them for coming so often.
After lunch with the Smiths, we have returned to the hotel and are resting. Tonight we will go to church in Larco. Paul Nasekos will be preaching and Bill Bradford will translate into Spanish for the congregation. Afterwards, we are going to the Balls for dinner. Tomorrow we will meet with the Peruvian helpers to begin teaching them about what camp is like and some of the songs in Spanish we´ll be singing. We were practicing "Let Me See You Boogaloo" earler. It was great fun.
The bus we are driving around has seats that fold out in the aisle so that it makes a full row across. So, we have begun calling the process of loading and unloading the bus as the Trujillo Shuffle. The older members of the group were likening it to the Chicago Bears´ Super Bowl Shuffle. Then we figured out that half the group or more wasn´t even born when the Bears did that won the Super Bowl-- oh my how did I get so old?? But back to the Trujillo Shuffle. . . we pack in very nicely, but it does require everyone getting in just the right way. I´ll try and get a picture of us all packed on the bus later and post it also.
We are leaving for church in 15 mintues tonight at Larco so I have to go now, but keep checking back. We love to see your comments and I always pass them along to the group.
Bueno Tardes,
Alleen
