Day 7: 6/24/2015 Inca Thacki and Mana

Wednesday

Our word for today was: Flexible
Reading: Matthew 18:3, Proverbs 16:9, 21:1 and Colossians 4:3

Matt 18:3 I tell you the truth, unless you turn away from your sins and become like little children you will never get into the kingdom of heaven

Proverbs 16:9 We can make our plans but the Lord determines our steps.

Proverbs 21:1 The kings heart is like a stream of water directed by the Lord, he guides it wherever he pleases
As I was doing my bible study today, I read Col. 4:3 The next verses caught my eye.
Col. 4:3- Pray for us, too, that God will give us many opportunities to speak about his mysterious plan concerning Christ that is why I am here in chains.
it goes on to say in verse 4: Pray that I will proclaim this message as clearly as I should.
Col. 4:5 Live wisely among those who are not believers and make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be gracious and attractive so that you will have the right response for everyone.

For breakfast today we had oatmeal, bananas, apple slices, and coffee. We went to Joca's ministry today called Inka Thaki. He runs his ministry through sports and this morning we had the opportunity to climb up a sand hill (which by the way is what we call mountains), do a devotional, and sand board. It was a very emotional experience.
The teaching he gave us was about the Pool of Bethesda from John 5:1-5:

Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is call Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie-the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. 4 some manuscripts include here, wholly or in part, paralyzed-and they waited for the moving of the waters 4 From time to time an angel of the Lord would come down and stir up the waters. The first one into the pool after each disturbance would be cured of whatever disease they had. 5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, "Do you want to get well?" 7 Sir, the invalid replied, I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me. 8 Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." 9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.

Then Joca spoke about all these people who were trying to get to the healing pool. Once they received their healing, did they go back to help the others get their healing?

What good are we doing if once we receive what we need, we just move on and forget? If we reach salvation, if we have healing it is all for the Glory of God. We must help others to do the same.
If God gave you a family, he gave you that family for him. If God gave you a job, it is for him. Everything you do is for the Glory of God. When God blesses you with something, he is trusting you to share it. He is trusting you to bring Glory to him through that.

We had some time to pray by ourselves up on the sand hill. I had this repetative prayer I had been praying for quite sometime and he answered me up there! It was an amazing experience.  Everytime I start to feel an overwhelming love from God, he pours more down. I love you God!!

Then I tried I did sand board. I actually made it pretty far down without falling!
Walking up the hill was not so hard. But coming down was very intimidating. I am afraid of heights and when we climbed up we had rocks on the side, this was just a huge incline of sand. so once you were half way down, if you looked up or down, you felt like you were going to fall off the whole thing. Wooo. I finally made it!
For more information on Inca Thaki click here:

We had Chinese food for lunch today. Chicken, rice, broccoli, carrots and I had a coca-cola (oh how  I have missed you) Then we went to Mana, the daycare for the children who live in or near the garbage dump.

When we arrived the classroom I was in the kids needed to finish eating. Most of the children had finished except one boy. He had a buzz cut and was around the age of 5. He reminded me of Nick. I could tell he didn't want to finish his food. Not because he was excited that we were there, he was struggling before he even knew we were there. He looked like if he ate anymore he would be sick. Since he was the only one left, he just burst into tears. When the teacher said he could get up, I held my hand out and he grabbed it and wanted me to hold him for a little bit. So I did. Then like any 5 year old, he quickly was done with that and wanted to play! ha ha! We went outside with them and played Simon Says, Soccer, and Potato Sack Race. It was such a blessing to see them and interact with them! They have around 110 children throughout the week at the daycare. younger kids 3 days and older kids the other days. They get fed 3 meals a week at the daycare. While we were there one of the children recieved a letter from their sponsor. It was translated into Spanish by one of our interns. It was eye opening to see that these letters actually get delivered to these children. I also could see that the money goes to their needs as well. It is $40 a month to sponsor a child. Out of 110 they only have about 10 that are not sponsored right now. I had always wondered: Does the money actually go to them? well, here it does, that is apparent.

Father, I pray for love and grace. I thank you for opening my eyes to the things you wanted me to see and to break my heart for what breaks yours. I pray for and thank you for the ministries here and the leadership in those ministries, I thank you for the children and that they are loved and are shown love by others and most importantly know and recognize your love for each and every single one of them. I pray for every ounce of love and grace and mercy I pray fro ever cell in their bodies to work and function properly and I pray for guidance by your loving voice and hand for their family's and for your love and guidance to be fruitful in the aspects of their lives. I pray and thank you for my team members and meeting each and every single one of their needs and for their family's. And I thank you for this new chance to be the best child of God, wife, mother, caretaker, friend, and minister I can be for your glory, God. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Day 6: 6/23/2015 Amijai

Tuesday


This morning we had breakfast at 7:30. It was cereal that tasted like corn pops but it looked like puffy cheerios, served with it was; milk, fruit, and strawberry yogurt. It was really good!Then the leaders from each ministry came to speak to us about their testimonies and what their ministry is all about. There was Brent and Stephanie, who are leaders in for Elim which is the Garbage Dump Ministry, Eli, who is the leader of Mana, which is the daycare, Joca, who is the leader for Inca Thaki which is a ministry for children surrounding sports, Brenda, who is the leader of Amijai, which is a ministry for children and families in the neighborhood and Daniel who is the president of Inca Link. Each time I hear them talk I just want to bawl my eyes out. They all just have such great hearts. The other thing I think is awesome is that they are all from Peru. They are wanting to change their neighborhood in God's way and they are. 
After our meeting we picked weeds. Not my favorite thing to do but I did not see one toad so that made it a little easier! There were quite a bit of lizards though. Thank goodness they were small! This took up quite a bit of the day but man, we got a lot done! It was hard though, it was hard but we just kept thinking about the 5 Pillars: 

Give 110%
Choose Joy
Challenge by Choice
Be Here Now
Love Covers All

For lunch we had beef, rice with peas and carrots. It tasted like beef stew and I liked it!
Today will be the first day we have interaction with the children outside of the compound. We will be going to Amijai to minister, and play with the children who are in the neighborhood. We are planning a lesson. We are going to act out the story Daniel and the Lions Den.

We left the compound by foot around 4. We started with 5 children from the compound, Jesse, his sister, Danny, Ricki and Elton. By the time we got to where we were going we had about 20 kids walking with us. They just followed us because they knew they were going to hear Gods word. How awesome is that!? These children are so loving and sweet. They too would greet us with a kiss on the cheek. We read them the story of Daniel and the Lions Den. We acted it out. (Someone has a video of this that I need to post, I will do that when I get the video) We sang "Father Abraham" (I had completely forgotten about this song) so much fun. Then we played this game, which I vaguely remember. You have 4 lions or so and the rest of the group is on the opposite side of the room and you keep asking, "what time is it" and the lions say 1 and you take 1 step or and so on and so on, until you say what time is it and the lions say "its time to eat" and then they chase you and catch one to be on their team. (something like that) Being with these children, God opened my eyes to this: Yes, there is a need but God will provide that. Yes, there is poverty here, but poverty is much more than not having food, or enough clothes to wear, poverty is having an empty soul. Poverty is not having God in your life. The richest person could be living in poverty if he or she does not have God. The children we were with tonight, had so much spirit inside of them. They know God. And you know what...God will provide everything they need. In this moment I remembered this scripture: 

Matthew 6:25-34 (NIV)

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

God is great! You can see these children and know his work is being done! Honored to be here!

For more information on Amijai click the link below.

amijai

Our word for today is: Work
Reading: Genesis 2:15, Psalm 139:14, Proverbs 12:11, Matthew 9:35-38, Ephesians 2:8-10, Colossians 3:23

Colossians 3:23 Work willingly at whatever you do as though you were working for the Lord other than the people. 
This verse stuck out to me today more so than the others. We had a lot of work today, pulling weeds, picking up trash, washing tables and chairs and I didn't complain, it was nice to help this ministry and I know that the work we are doing is making a difference and it is appreciated. But is was hard and I am tired and I am not feeling the best about myself today. So father, I pray that I can keep my flesh feelings out of this journey and focus on you and all you want my eyes open to in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. 

Day 5: 6/22/2015

Monday

Today we woke up at 7 am had breakfast at 730. We had bread rolls and eggs for breakfast and then we set up bunk beds for missionaries who were going to be arriving on Wednesday. There will be about 50 people from Canada. So we moved bunk beds piece by piece from the compound building to our room (about .25 mile walk) then put the bunk beds together, then went back to get the mattresses! The team work was so nice and it was so nice to do something to make a difference AND I know how to put together a bunk bed-I am sure that will be in our plans at some point since my kids share a room!
For lunch we had that potato with avocado sauce and rice meal around 1:00, made the beds with sheets and pillows and then we had some down time.

For dinner they mixed it up a bit-rice with egg and beef. After dinner we had our debrief with everyone and Claudia, who takes care of the children at the orphanage spoke to us tonight. She is very sweet. She has been learning English and it just touched my heart to hear her speak. She told us that she was so happy we were here and what a blessing it is that we CHOOSE to come and help because it is needed very much and that she appreciates it very much! She was in tears, we were all in tears. She was called to be a disciple for Christ for these children and that is what she is doing!

After we prayed we sang some worship songs! Today was my favorite day so far.

Father,
Thank you for my family, thank you for Chris, Olivia, Nick, Payton and Hank. Thank you for their peace of mind and their health and happiness. Thank you for my team members and their families. Thank you for the people here and your spirit surrounding them. Thank you for this opportunity to help and to be a blessing to others today. Thank you for blessing my soul and for the trust in me to be your hands and feet during my time here. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Our word today is: Gifted
Reading: Exodus 31:1-5, 35:30-35, 1 Corinthians 12:4-11, Romans 12:6

(eventually I will post more photos of our time here. We all are going to share our photos, but not all of us had time to download them onto a disk. so if you are interested in more photos check back periodically.)

Day 4: 6/21/2015 Church, Beach, Huanchaco, Peru

Sunday

Today we woke up, had breakfast at 7:30, had a meeting with our leaders and then went to church. Breakfast was bread rolls with butter and jam as choices for toppings.
Our meeting with our leaders was an introduction about what we were going to be doing. Jess and Katie are our leaders, they are interns there for the summer.
We talked about the 5 pillars of Inca Link:
1. Give 100%
2. Choose Joy
3. Challenge by Choice
4. Be Here Now
5. Love covers all

and we read Matthew 11:25-30 (NIV) 25 At that time Jesus said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. 26 Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do. 27 All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. 28."Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

Church was very nice. I didn't understand a lot of it, but I knew that they were doing a teaching about fathers as Fathers Day was today. The worship service was joyful. Everyone there was so nice and very welcoming. In their culture, they greet you with a kiss on the cheek. That is also how they say goodbye.
After church we went to a mall to exchange money. 50 American dollars gets you 155 sols. Then we went to Huanchaco, where the beach is and lots of markets. We had a sack lunch, sandwich and casinos (which is like a sandwich cookie, similar to blond oreos).

This was my first time to ever go to a beach so I was pretty excited. It was beautiful. We looked around at the markets around the area too. They had wallets, key chains, (tourists souvenirs)

When we got back to the compound it was dinner time. We had chicken and rice ;-)
After dinner we had our debrief and Zack got a guitar out and we sang worship songs. It was fun. I know that we would have had a free day at some point in this trip and I am grateful for it, I am however, ready to get started on the ministries. With that unexpected extra travel day, and then a free day seems like we have been gone for so long and we haven't even started working yet. Although, just because we are not working yet, doesn't mean we aren't doing anything, I know that a simple smile is worth something. Sometimes just the smallest gestures that we don't even know we are doing can make a difference. But I am ready for the rest of the week.

Our word for today was: Presence
Reading Psalm 51, Psalm 139

(photos by Mandy Fowler)

Day 3: 6/20/2015 Travel Day and Arrival

Saturday

Today we woke up at 5:00. We left the hostel at 5:30 to catch our bus and we made it this time.
It was a very long bus ride about 9 hrs. We left at 9 am. I slept the first 5 hours and then we stopped for lunch. We had been told not to eat anything fresh, so no spices, no fruit or vegetables unless they were cooked and the menu was in Spanish so we were kind of at a loss on what to order. Andrea and Zack were the two people on our team who knew very little Spanish, so they narrated down the menu with the options of Pollos (chicken) and then tried to google what the sides options were. When it was all said and done, we had chicken, rice, and beans. It was very bland but good.
Then we got back on the bus and I slept the other 4 hours.
When we arrived in Trujillo, Peru, it was about 7:00. Brent, our contact from Inca Link came to pick us up. With him came Candy, Nikki, and Elena (Nikki and Elena are interns volunteering for the summer and Candy is the overhead leader there, along with her husband Randy). We rode in another van to our home away from home.

It is very sandy here. They have a large kitchen dining area where we had dinner, chicken and rice.
They built a lodge/cabin for us with a metal roof and electricity for us the week before we arrived. They also had bunk beds for us. I have a lower bunk with purple sheets and a green warm soft blanket.

I miss my family. Chris, Nick, and Olivia and my dad dropped me off at the airport. Nick and Olivia are staying with my mother in law Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night. I know that Chris will be with them when he gets off work in the afternoons and will have time with them during the days on the weekends but that is a lot of time for them, 1. to be away from me, and 2. to be away from their beds. I hope they are doing okay. I have 7 more days left. We have just arrived and so far it seems like nothing has been done yet. But I know that God's plan is before us and he will guide our steps. I am probably feeling this way because we spent an entire day on a bus.

Our word for today is: Abide
Reading: John 15:1-7, Jeremiah 15:16

John 15:1-7 (NIV) 1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardner. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

Jeremiah 15:16 (NIV) When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart's delight, for I bear your name, Lord God Almighty.