Twin Lakes Peru Day Two was a HUGE success!! Thank you Lord for such a wonderful day. We arose and went to camp to have our morning devotional and set up for the children. The children arrived and the organized chaos ensued! How great and awesome it is to see these smiling children and their excitement about coming to camp and learning about God and glorifying Him all day long! I have a soft spot for those orphans. Kevin always takes some time to warm up and today he ran up and gave me a big hug! with a huge smile and was introducing me to his amigos. Another orphan came up and literally jumped into my arms. All the Peruvian kids, but especially the orphans, are just sponges waiting to soak up the love that we can show them in Christ! What an honor and privilege for God to use us to teach them about His glorious creation and love for them.
The plan all along for Twin Lakes Peru was to show the Peruvians how to run this type of camp. Last year was mostly us doing the running of camp and the Peruvians helping out. This year, we are really seeing the fruits of our labor that they are taking charge and running camp. Pablo (the man that shared his story with us at Arevelo) is handling a lot of the logistics of camp under the supervision and leadership of Eduardo, the pastor from Arevelo. It is really neat to see them take charge and begin the transition to the Peruvians. What an incredible group of people we have to work with as we minister side by side to the children.
Other than some sunburns (we have a few that would benefit from an aloe vera bath! -- just dip them in pure aloe -- the sun is strong here so close to the equator!) and some tired team members (20 and 30 year olds do not have the energy of 5 to 13 year olds! ;) ), we are doing great. Please continue to pray that we will have patience, stamina and energy to share the gospel with these precious children. They are so eager to learn and to be at camp. Today, we reviewed Gen. 1:1 and John 1:1 and they all new it (or so it sounded from the group recitation). Today's scripture was from Hebrews 11:3 and many of them knew that one already also! They have learned many new songs. Allen Smith has put the shorter catechism (or some of it at least!) to music and we've been Questions 5 and 6. Also today, we did some fun songs such as the chu chu wa and the bugaloo. Always a crowd pleaser. And everyone enjoyed all activities, which were the same as yesterday, but with a new craft to make. Yesterday was prayer journals. Today were wordless book bead activities. The kids could chose between a bracelet, necklace or keychain.
As most of you know, I am preparing to come here to Peru to lead all the short term teams for the next two years. So, after camp today, I went house hunting and then met the team for dinner at the Ellison's. They all just came back to the hotel and changed clothes and showered before dinner. The Ellison's were so gracious to open their home and allow us to have a wonderful night of fellowship and some very tasty food! Lenin is a Peruvian that works for Peru Mission. He and his band came and played some traditional Peruvian music for us after dinner. They have put a CD together with the help of Allen Smith and so we got a great night of music! and dancing! Here is a clip of our night at the Ellison's:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1j0dU8nxYJA
After dinner and our evening entertainment, we headed back to the hotel. At this point, we all did our own thing. Some went downtown to the plaza d'armas. Others prepped for our next day's craft. Others relaxed, got on the computers, called home, etc. And now we are all settled in for some well deserved rest so that we can be ready for another day of camp tomorrow!
Thank you for your support and prayers. We could not do this without the support of our prayer warriors! You too are a part of this trip and we are so thankful to have you along!
