In Peru2009 Day2

What a sight!!! As I begin my day sitting on top of our Hostil talking to God having my quite time at 6:3o in the morning! Staring out over the Ocean!!!!!! The crashing waves are SO powerful. I don't even know what to think as I take it all in. There are no words to describe what it is like to sit here listening to the crashing thundering waves as they roll in over and over and over again. I close my eyes and talk to my Lord asking Him to give me His eyes today and the power He displays as the waves crash and the sound penetrates my spirit, I am overwhelmed at God's power and how creation obeys Him because it is God that commands the waves to keep rolling in and the sun to rise every day!!!!! If you could only see it and hear what I can hear as I sit here with eyes closed and ears open....
Maybe this video will give you a small glimpse! (was really windy)





Amy H. our team leader had prepared daily devotions for us to use during our quiet time this week, however those were in her checked bag that had not made it to Lima yet!!! Amy did share with the team that our theme for the weekly devotions was "Give Me Your Eyes Lord". I found some interesting nuggets in my completion of reading the book of Luke this morning!! Check it out... Two things stand out to me: In

Luk 24:22 Yea, and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulcher; The disciples were astonished at the women... our team of 25 is made up of 16 women, so I found this interesting! I was also reminded of this verse:
Mat 5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. We are here to do good work and glorify God! We came here to serve and meet the physical and spiritual need! It is so exciting for me to hear from God in this way, I know it may sound small or insignificant to a lot of people but I can't get enough of this kind of time with the Lord!!! The other scripture in Luke that was so loud was:
Luk 24:30 And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and broke, and gave to them.
Luk 24:31 And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight. Even though our devotionals didn't make it to Lima...OUR GOD MADE IT!!!! That was SO AWESOME to me that in my regular daily reading God was already on top of the theme that He had laid on our leaders heart to bring us to His throne this week!!! To me that is AWESOME!!!! Only my God can explain that!!!! ONLY HIM!!!!!
So many times God replays that same act in our lives right in front of our eyes and we don't even see that it is Him until he does something that can only be explained by Him just as He did here in this scripture, Jesus re-enacted the act of the last supper and THEN THEIR EYES WERE OPENED and they knew it was JESUS!
So often we lose sight that Jesus is ALWAYS with us working mightily - we just aren't always SEEING Him!

Now it's 7:30, time to meet the team on the beach for praise time!!!!

When I thought things could not be more breath taking!!!! This was my favorite time every morning!!!! I miss this the most... standing on the Ocean shore every morning at 7:30 with 24 strangers that are now a part of my heart, praising and worshiping the same God, the creator of Heaven and Earth...
No words are adequate to describe this time we shared as a team and individuals before the Lord our God.... you had to be there and I hope everyone gets the chance to praise and worship God in this same way at least once in their lifetime... YOU WILL NEVER BE THE SAME! HOW GREAT IS OUR GOD!!!!


To give you a visual this is how our days look:
??? Personal quiet time/devotional with Jesus
7:30 - Team meet on the beach for Praise to God
8:00 - Breakfast 8:45 - Get on the bus and head to Hannah's for our service opportunities - Opportunity to trust God for our travels DAILY... - Arrive at Hannah's and begin working
12:00- Lunch
1:00 - Back to work
2:00 - VBS Skit practice
2:30 - VBS team get on bus and head to village
5/5:30-VBS team head back to Hannah's to pick up remaining team members and head back to Hola Grande
6:30 - Dinner
7:30 - Team meeting - Time to share how we seen God that day or Barnabas time

At breakfast every morning we received our service assignments and the first day I was on the paint crew and VBS team!!! Yippy... I love painting and I can't wait to see how God puts the VBS together. The first thing I was assigned to do when we got to Hannah's was to look for some things we could use in the VBS and make sure that someone picked up and prepared the oranges for our VBS game!
So off we go on the bus! The bus had to make a daily stop at a check point off the highway. It is something like we would see here in the states for big rigs, reminds me of a weigh station.





This was our first opportunity to TRUST God today! Again I see a pattern here... Even in preparing for this trip months ago, God continues to say TRUST ME!
From what I understand this check point has been put into place for "our protection." They said there have been a lot of accidents and people getting hurt so they want to make sure the bus and passengers are safe.
We sat there for about 15 minutes while and waited for the bus driver and translators to get move us through what I like to call "The Inspection"
Amy H. gets on the bus and tells us that we should pray, it's not looking good!
Just as we were finishing prayer Mike gets on the bus and says, "We're good to go!" God that was AWESOME! We plugged an iPod into Jerri's radio and Praised God for His Mighty work!!!! Later we learned that the problem was the bus license.
What a morning! What will the rest of the day bring?!?!?!

Once we got to Hannah's we all met in a room to recieve our service instructions from the man Dave. The painting would take place across the street at Hogar De Ninos, but first I had the task of looking for VBS supplies!! What a blessing! God is our provider...
Phil.4
[19] But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
there were tons of crayons and activity sheets in the store room and we used some bed sheets for costumes!!! Only one thing was missing... gifts to give the children... our improvised plan was that we would give them double gifts on day 2 of the VBS since we would be in the same village again and we SHOULD... get our bags from the airline in time for day 2!!!.
In the midst of all the re-planning and preparation I was reminded of this scripture that Jesus gave the disciples when He sent them out:
Luke.9
[1] Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases.
[2] And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick.
[3] And he said unto them, Take nothing for your journey, neither staves, nor scrip, neither bread, neither money; neither have two coats apiece.

God was reminding me that His Word is what is most important in this mission!
Isa.55
[11] So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

and the matterial things in our suit cases were all merely blessings and comforts. What do we really NEED???...
Luke 10:
[38] Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house.
[39] And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word.[40] But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.
[41] And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:
[42] But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.
That sure gives me something to chew on for the day...

Off to paint at Hogar!!!!
This was lesson number 1 for me! There was about 5 or 6 of us on the paint team and we had one ladder between us... we all finished painting the bottom and..... yep you probably already know what I am about to say... 6 people, one ladder... not good for making progress... We should have split the work, one or two take turns up top with the ladder and the others continue to work at the bottom, and switch teams every so often... duh... Oh well.. NEXT time I get the chance to do something like this I will be ready!!!
It worked out ok anyway because about the time we were all stareing at each other thinking about how do we resolve this one... the marching practice bagan. Hogar's school is in a parade every year in celebrating their flag day. Our team was invited to be a part of the parade with the children!!!
Fifteen members of our team had to get in shape for the parade, this is serious!!! Turns out this is for the Mayor!!!
While those of us on the painting team that were not in the parade were painting from the ladder we could see the team practicing in the courtyard! The children were supposed to be in class but they kept coming out to watch the americans. In and out of the class rooms they would go. Sometimes trying to help us paint too! It was a fun time!












Before we knew it lunch time was upon us! Delicious Ham sandwiches or Peanut Butter and Jelly with chips and cookies... the lemon cookies were my fave!!!! Water to drink OR... delicious soda from the mini mart across the street. Nothing like our Mini Marts around the states.
The teens couldn't get enough of the Inka Kola, my personal favorite was the Orange soda! They recycle as much as they can here so we also took the bottles back to the store every day too!





Right after lunch the VBS team gathered and we had skit practice! Our VBS theme is LOST AND FOUND! Based out of Luke chapter 19, the story of Zacchaeus. The title for today's skit is "Lost and Found" our memory verse is:
Pss.119
[11] Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.
Our activity was supposed to be a word search but that was in our suit cases that weren't there yet!

It was really cool to watch God put the characters together! One of my challenges for the VBS was not knowing who was going to be on the team every day... I'm a planner!!! I like to know who is doing what, when and where at all times!!! God continually reminds me that HE is in controll...not me!
The only thing I knew for sure in preparing for this trip was that we would go to the same village two days and I needed to have two skits and two activites(one for each day).
It was so exciting being streched in this way... I had NO control over anything... so I did what I do best....DELEGATE!!! Amy Delany and Dawn were my saving grace for VBS... I leaned on them for everything and they were AWESOME!!! Amy helped in deciding who would play which characters and Dawn was my sounding board for every idea I had... she is so wise!!! Thank you sister!!!!
This experince has been so freeing in knowing that GOD has this under control and I have had so much fun as I lean on the Lord and Trust Him!!!!
Ok, so the skit was about a boy who lost his dog and Jesus came and found the dog..Chuco.. for him!! The lesson was for the kids to learn to hide God's Word in their hearts, and that also was a lead in for day two's skit and memory verse. (read the story of Zacchaeus in Luke 19, then you will see).
Practice was great fun....but still...no gifts to give away....
About 2:00 I was gathering our supplies for VBS and found Linda who was looking for the yarn that had come in the three suitcases that we did get of our bags. I asked her what she was thinking about doing with it... she wanted to use it to play a game with the children. She said she had been thinking back to her childhood during the day trying to think of something we could do with the children.... This was so cool... God totally used the oldest member of our team to bring this to light!!! God you are so awesome!!!
We made a ton of strings that we were able to play with the kids AND those were our gifts we gave them to keep!!!! SO FUN!!!! This got me so pumped up for VBS!!!! I couldn't wait to see what God would do once we got there!!
Phil.4
[19] But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

God continues to remind us that HE and HE ALONE is our provider!!!


Here we are!!! VBS day 1... First we found a table for Mike to set up the sound for our music then we split up into groups to go through the village and invite the children and adults to VBS! We said, "Esquela Biblica dies minutos" (Bible School in ten minutes, I could be wrong on how many minutes dies is...hee hee)I latched onto Christina, one of our translators and I bet I asked her to repeta (repeat) a hundred times... dang short term memory! That was the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Christina is a jewel! I really got attached to her after our time at VBS this day.
We kinda just walked through the village looking for people and invited them to VBS. It was so much fun!



This little girl was the first child I got to meet at this village and guess what her name is???? Carolina!!!! That's the same as me, just in Spanish!!!! How fun is that!!!! Sweet little kisses from Jesus...

After we gathered the people from the village we had some singing and then the chaos begins... Each member of the VBS team passed out the activiy coloring sheets to their groups.... and then.... I was the only one with crayons!!!! Oh dear... I got mobbed!!! Lesson numero uno... dont' be the only one holding the bag of crayons!!! It was crazy... the kids were asking me for Marroon (roll your r's).... OK.. so in english we would think what they were asking for would be a dark red.... NOPE not in Peru... they wanted BROWN... everyone wanted brown...there was no more brown... I was so confused... we had learned in Spanish class that brown was Cafe...So if you ever go to Peru... remember Marroon is brown when it comes to VBS and crayons!!! lol
I finally gave up and handed the crayons to Christina because I could not understand what they were asking me...
Ok so finally I sat down with a group of children and colored with them. I think coloring is totally a universal thing!!! Everyone loves it!

We colored in our groups for about 15-20 minutes and then we had another song, Now it was time for the Skit!!! 'Lost And Found' our memory verse for this day was :
Pss.119
[11] Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.

CHUCHO!!!!
Oh thank you Jesus for finding my lost puppy!!!!
(Above,Left:Eli playes Jesus, Right:Caleb playes little boy)
As Dawn(photo below) does the review/invitation with the children about the skit she relates to them that just like Chucho was lost and Jesus came to find Chucho, Jesus also comes to find us because the Bible says that we are lost too!




























GAME TIME!!! ORANGE RELAY


After the skit we lined the children up into 4 lines for the Orang Relay!
This game is my MOST favorite!!!! I love it... first because the kids get something to eat and second because the little Nenos(children) are so cute!!!!
They had to run up to the person holding the bag and eat the orange wedge then drop the peel on the ground and run back to the end of the line. The first line to run out of oranges wins!!!

That was it... VBS day 1 was over. We all got onto the big bus and headed back to Hogar De Hanna to collect the ramaining team members.
WOW... what a whirlwind... everything happend so fast I could hardly take it in... the only thing I could remember was how much I wanted to communicate and couldnt! I really want to learn Spanish...


Once we got back to Hola Grande we cleaned up, had dinner then our team meeting. The resounding comments were how God provided all our NEED...the team worked together and shared all we had to help one another and that the things in our luggage that did show up today while we were working... Praise Jesus.. those items are comforts and added blessings.

AWESOME SECOND DAY!!!!! Day three to come... Yes.. all of this took place in one day... every day was long but totally AWESOME... Can't wait to do this again...

Peru2009 Traviel to Peru and Day1 in Peru

My Travel Buddy, Sarah and I on the plane leaving KC

~LET THE GAMES BEGIN~

The trip started out with the team meeting at KCI on 6-7-09. Our flight was scheduled to depart at 255pm. The team was all there and everyone was checked in by 12:30. Every thing went very smooth, PRAISE GOD, with only one of our team members had to leave behind their shampoo, conditioner and silly string! Yes, silly string! I think there was some mischief afoot! We arrived to Dallas on time for our 1 hour layover that turned into 2 or so hours! That put our flight to Miami behind 1 hour and we weren't sure if we were going to make our connecting flight to Lima! Our departing flight from Miami to Lima was scheduled to depart at 11:30 and the plane we were on was scheduled to land at 11:50!!!! You do the math!!! Doesn't add up does it!!! The team was great we all just went with the flow, there was nothing we could do about it but put our trust in God that we would get there when He wanted us to. The delays up to this time were due to weather so we were hopeful that our connecting flight was also delayed departing for the same reason!!!
I could see that the pattern of 'TRUST' was continuing for me and so I decided to trust God, maybe this was all for our protection, we may never know until we see the other side of eternity.
When we landed in Miami the pilot announced that the connecting flight to Lima was being held for the 30 passengers!!!!!!!PRAISE THE LORD AGAIN!!!!! We were so relieved to know we were going to make it!
We booked it to the next flight, I think it was like 10 gates or something like that. There were a few members of our team that were seated way at the back of the Dallas flight and they were RUNNING to catch the flight! Rob almost missed the plane but thanks to Amy H and Susan, they were persistent that they would not get on that plane until they saw his face coming toward the gate. The airline was threatening to give his seat away!!! Finally here he comes!!! YIPPY!!!
Ahhhhhh everyone made it to the plane headed for Lima! Just in time to sit on the runway for 2 more hours!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh yes... that's right. They said it was due to some passengers that would not be traveling on the flight and they had to get their bags off the plane for security reasons.
My theory is that the airline had already given some seats away and loaded the luggage and that was why they had to remove it... hmmm never know that one either..

Our plane was originally scheduled to land in Lima at 4:10am and we landed at 6:40am! Just a little late!!
AND THEN
We went to claim our bags...
We watched the bags go round and round and round! Adam and I started a new version of "THE WHEELS ON THE BUS" now the song goes like this "THE BAGS ON THE BELT GO ROUND AND ROUND, ROUND AND ROUND, ROUND AND ROUND,THE BAGS ON THE BELT GO ROUND AND ROUND ALL THROUGH THE AIRPORT"






If you have not guessed it, our bags didn't make it! Three out of 48 bags made it to Lima. After an hour of watching the bags go round and round we started the paper work process and found out that our bags never left Miami!!!!!! DANG GINA!!
The language burier was fun, the papers were in Spanish! Praise God for Amy Delany!! She was able to interpret the majority of what we needed to fill out and she was great at helping the team get all their forms completed. I think it was about another hour and a half to get 23 of us plus a few other folks from the flight that did not get their bags through this process. Our bags were scheduled to arrive the next day and the airline was going to deliver them to us.

The team was great! Everyone was tired and hungry but no complaints. We were just glad to be together and in Lima..FINALLY!!! Some of the team members were uneasy about this red light green light thing but by the time we got to that it a very distant fear!

There was Mike and Ricky on the other side waiting for us!! That was a comforting sight! We had made it.
We all got on a big bus and headed for Hola Grande in Punta Negra our hotel (it is called a Hostil in Lima)







What a sight! I have not seen the ocean since I was about 8 years old when my family took vacation to the Gulf of Mexico. I was captivated by the crashing waves.












Once we got to Hola Grande the team gathered for breakfast! We had scrambled eggs and rolls with butter and jelly! Yum we were thankful!
We got there too late for church so after breakfast we received our room assignments and took our carry on bags to our rooms and got refreshed for what we had left for the day.

Crazy Gina's, Beth and Robin (room mates)


After refreshing for about 30 minutes the team gathered at the bus to go into Pucasana for a tour of the fishing village and delicious lunch!

The sights were beautiful and the people VERY friendly. As we walked through the town children were out and about too and they would say "HOLA!" There were many vendors selling their home made foods and trinkets all up an down the water front.
My first thought at this village was wondering if the Sea of Galilee was maybe something like this in the days when Jesus walked the streets finding the disciples and asking them "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men"

Our Lunch was rather yummy! I was excited about the las papas fritas (french fries)and to my surprise there was hot sauce for the fries and rice... YUM YUM!!! It was GHOOOD! You could taste the freshness of the peppers! I instantly thought of my Dad, he would love this sauce!













After lunch we took a hike up the mountain! Yep up the mountain... I only made it half way, I am determined to keep taking care of my body so that next time I climb this mountain I will be able to make it to the top!




Several of the team members made it all the way up the mountain, Pretty awesome!













After our time in the fishing village we headed to get a look at Hogar De Hannah, our work site for the week.
Here we go on the big bus again! I think it was at this time that Mike looked at me and asked me what we were going to do for VBS?!?!?!?!?! I was like uuuuhhhhhh I'm not sure! I had not really thought about that yet. VBS was still on the schedule for the next day and we had very few supplies in our three suit cases that did make it!! Thankfully Mike said there was a supply room at Hannah's that we could go through use stuff out of for our VBS!!!! WOW...another detour... the VBS team had done so much preparation for VBS and now we have to come up with a new plan!!! The good thing is that Amy D and I had put our copies of the skits in our carry on bags PRAISE THE LORD!!! We were able to keep our theme going but had to find some stuff for the activity and costumes. We had no give away stuff though... what could we come up with to give to the children? What will we do to include the adults??? At this point I had become used to just saying God I trust You! Guide and direct us...I was fully confident that God had provided the team needed to accomplish this and overcome this hurtle!!! I have had the BEST VBS team I could ever ask for!!!! More about this in Day 2!!!!

Construction for Hannah's began in 2007. The vision for this Orphanage is to house pregnant girls ranging in ages 12 to 17 and to house up to 50 orphans. The idea is to meet the physical need so that the spiritual need for Christ can be met. When Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost He also met physical needs so He could point out our need for His Salvation.




This is how far the orphanage has come in two years.








The Man behind the Building
Dave Moseman - Architect/Missionary to Peru
This pic is of Dave sharing his testimony of how God gave him the vision for the building. This is his college thesus, however he can not finish his thesus until the project is complete. God took hold of his heart and moved him here to the site to assist and oversee in the completion of the project.


After laying our eyes on the field and understanding the work that was ahead of us for the week we took a walk accross the street to Hogar De Ninos (an existing Orphanage that ChildReach has partnered with in reaching their orphans for Christ by helping meet their physical need to meet the spiritual need)
I was shocked and surprised at my reaction to meeting them and seeing where they live. My thought was that I would be absolutely crushed at the thought of them not having a family or a home. God very quickly removed any of those thought from my heart and mind as I wanted to show them love and be the hands and feet of Jesus. It was weird not being able to communicate with them easily. I had to ask for help from our wonderful translators. Yes I had to ask for help and that was something God had to overcome for me on this trip. I tried so hard on my own but that was not working! I wanted to communicate SO badly that I had to lay my pride aside and use the translators. That reminded me of the Holy Spirit and how Jesus left us the Holy Spirit when He ascended to Heaven and that Spirit is our mediator/translator to God!
1Ti 2:5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
I have to tell this story! One of the first things I did while at Hogar De Ninos was push a little boy on the swing... and broke it!! Yep.. that's what I did... There were no injuries Praise Jesus! I just thought it was kina funny how I am real accident prone and the first thing that happened to me was almost hurt a kid and broke their swing!
Before the crash!















And after the crash!


I could not beleive I did that! I just know that those who know me are laughing right now, because if there's an accident waiting to happen... it happens to me!





Playing with the children











We played there with the kids for a while then headed back to Hola Grande for dinner and our first of our nightly team meetings.
The food at Hola Grande was great! We had chicken with las papas fritas and rice! It was yummy!!! They also served it with some kind of hot sauce... Dang GINA it was delicious!!!!
Our meeting was short and sweet so we could go to bed early... PRAISE JESUS!! That was a LONG day!

Back Home

Just wanted to make a post to let you all know we made it home! God spoke so loudly on this trip! More to come. I am going to recap my journal as soon as I have a chance.
I don't want to rob God of any detail!
You can view pics here:
Copy and paste this link to your browser, it will take you to our snapfish photo room! Enjoy
http://www1.snapfish.com/share/p=864181245331390607/l=1521531016/g=142182841/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

Follow the Peru2009 Team

Thank you to all who are following this journey! I absolutely LOVE sharing God's work!!!
The majority of the team updates will be at the following site! We will be posting on there through out the trip too! Follow us all the way!
http://gatewayinperu.blogspot.com/

The Physical

Well here it is three weeks to Peru! God has shown me time and time again how HE overcomes my weaknesses. My battle now is this old flesh. As much as I try and say GOD HELP, I just can't seem to say no to the snacks and the not so healthy foods. I have tried so many different eating habits; I know it is the lack of exercise that is the key. SO today I started an exercise regiment that I pray will help me get physically ready for this journey! I plan to work out twice a day at least three days a week.
Lord Help me to say with my actions and my choices that I love you MORE than my desires!

VBS ADVENTURE!

Well, It looks like the Lord wants to teach me more than what a VBS is He wants me to learn all the inn's and outs of a VBS! Listen to this:

Last Sunday, 4-29 was our first team meeting and Amy, our team leader asked the group to be praying about heading up the organization of the VBS for our team. My first thoughts were that this is not my church body and I know ZERO about VBS. Through the week I prayed to the Lord and shared with Him that if no one else would do it then I would but didn't really want to take that on beings I know nothing about it. WELL....here's what happened at this weeks meeting; Amy asked who wanted to lead the organizing of the VBS. No one had responded! Mike, our ChildReach leader for Gateway church had shown us a folder that ChildReach had sent him to help organize our VBS if we need it. I looked around the room and saw that no one was volunteering for the job. I spoke out and told the group that I knew NOTHING about VBS, never been in one nor ever have I been part of leading one!
I told Mike that if I could have that book I could do it if no one else would. Well... turns out that was me volunteering for the job!!!! YIKES!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh dear!

I am so excited for this and what the Lord wants to show me and how He wants to use me. I know and trust He will do amazing things. It is kinda fun being vulnerable so much so that I HAVE TO DEPEND ON GOD. I know there is no way I can do this, BUT HE can and will.
Praise the Lord He has given me two ladies on my organizational team that have been on this trip before and 7 other ladies who are willing to help organize this! I know I can not do this alone either and will need every single one of them to get the whole vision that God wants for this VBS!
Psalm 37:5
"Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass."

TRUST is the one thing God has been asking me to do through this entire trip. First He said Trust Me that I have called you to serve on this trip, this year. Now He says Trust Me that I will give you exactly what you need to bring My vision to life for this VBS.

GOD YOU ARE SO AWESOME!

Are you Spring Cleaning?

As most of you know I am going to Peru in June to help in an Orphanage through ChildReach Ministries with a team from Gateway church in Blue Springs. ChildReach also takes care of pregnant girls for numerous reasons and houses them as well. The Orphanage is called Hogar de Ninos and the home for the pregnant girls is Hannah’s Home. There is a need for some items at the campus and our team is looking for donations to bring with us! If you are cleaning things out and want to donate any of the items listed below I would love to arrange to have them picked up! We are packing on June 4th so please contact me before that date so I can make arrangements!
Comment on here or
Facebook me!
Thank you for being a part of God's Mission to reach the world with the Gospel and the love of Christ!
If you want to know more about ChildReach you can visit their web page:
http://www.childreachministries.org/


 Board games for young people, in Spanish
 Inspirational books for the girls, ages 12-17, in Spanish
 Inspirational movies for the girls, ages 12-17
 Movies for children younger than age 12
 Spanish-English dictionaries
 Balloons, many different colors
 Sandals for 12-17 year old girls. (Sizes 4-6)
 Tennis shoes for 12-17 year old girls. (Sizes 4-6)
 Clothes for 12-17 year old girls. (Maternity and non maternity, sizes 3-5 for pants, small for shirts)
o Shorts
o Capri’s
o Pants
o Summer Tops
o T-shirts
o Long sleeve shirts
o Sweatshirts
o Pajamas
o Underwear
o Bras?
o Socks (obviously these don’t come in Maternity ;- ) )

 Tall kitchen trash bags
 Knitting and crocheting supplies
o Yarn in different colors
o Knitting needles, crotchet hooks
o Instruction books in Spanish
 Breast pump
 Play mat for babies
 Bathtub for babies
 Exercise CD for pregnant girls
 Bottle brushes
 Bottle sterilizer
 Rectangular tablecloths (4)

Five More Weeks

Well Here we are just about five weeks from time to depart for Peru! I thought I would post some more details on the current events.
Last Sunday we had our first meeting and we have around 30 people signed up for the trip. The majority of us are women! Yep that's right, WOMEN!!!! God is really going to do a work!!!
We will depart on June 6 about and return on June 13Th.
While we are there we will provide a service project for the Orphanage and facilitate a Vacation Bible School.
This vacation Bible School project has got me a little nervous! I have never attended or participated in one and I know NOTHING about one!!!! This will be quite the adventure for me! LOL...
Most of my experience with children has been of the older age children not the little ones!!! I am excited for the adventure!!!

Recently I have been away from the home for Peru meetings or when I am home have been doing homework for an Esther study I have been a part of for the past ten weeks and so have not been able to spend as much time with the husband. He totally is supportive and understands that with just a few more weeks left I have to get ready! He is so sweet and has been sending me encouraging scriptures on my facebook note every few days!
I just know how he is feeling right now. Several times it has been me staying behind and watching him go places, like when he went to Africa in 2005, like everyone I knew and was connected to was gone on that trip! I felt so alone and disconnected from them. I was used to having constant communication with them all the time! I know Bill is already feeling the disconnection, I did weeks before the Africa team left as they were meeting and preparing so much for the trip. I helped as much as I could to be with them but it is not the same as being part of the team that is going!
I know all of this is random but I had to document it!!!!

Two of our team members, Amy D and Emily have been so kind as to teach us Survival Spanish! That class started tonight and it was so fun! I really hope I grasp the language this time, high school Spanish was not my best class!!!
Me llamo Carolyna (My name is Carolyn)
Hasta luego!!! (See you later)

Dora to Peru!

Well I am leaving for Peru in two months! I am so excited... I picked up a ton of balloons the other day, I heard the children LOVE them, and I found some Dora The Explorer sticker work books! They teach letters, shapes and numbers! AND there are some stickers that have English and Spanish on them!!! I just know the kids are going to love those! I only found three of those.. I am sure the Lord has three special children picked out that are going to receive those! I hope I am not expecting too much for their excitement...

Random Thoughts of February 16th

God is CRAZY about me...
So crazy He scared and marked His ENTIRE BODY for me and for you! He did this so the WHOLE world could see Him say, "I love you this much!"
John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
This scripture continues to speak so loudly to me!

I still can not fathom the Love of God for me...
I think of the heartache God had to experience when he sent Jesus to pay for our sin! This is what I think of as I try to imagine how it was for Him.
I see God sitting in Heaven, watching His creation, knowing that He can not be with us in our sinful state that we are in.
Here with me is my Son (Jesus). It is almost as if God wanted more children. I like to parallel it to a family that has one child and they see other children with no parents, orphans. These parents, their hearts break for those children knowing what they are missing out on because they do not know the love of a Father and Mother. This family wants so much to give these children what they don't have that they sacrifice certain financial comforts and this means the children they already have do with out some things that they might like to have so that these other children can know the Love of a Father and Mother.
God gave the ultimate sacrifice so that we could Know the Love of THE FATEHR!
John 3:16.
God,
What do you want me to sacrifice in my life so that more children (lost) will know of your Love for them and join us in your Kingdom?
Romans 8:15, Ephesians 1:13.

As I continue to ponder the scripture in Isaiah 54:1-3, I am remembering when I was sharing with Suzan at the air port a few seeks ago. Suzan had asked if Bill and I had ever considered adoption. I told her how we had pursued foster care and adoptions several years ago, every time we would start down a path God would close the door. I do still have a desire for adoption but Bill and I do not have the same heart toward that. Bill says he is too old to be starting a family. My perspective on the situation is that our hearts are not the same, we don't agree. I believe adoption is not God's plan for us during this season of our lives.
For some time I have been praying for God to change one of our hearts so they are the same on this issue of having a family. I was SURE that it would be Bill's heart God would change!
NOT... While I was sharing all of this with Suzan God was revealing to me that it was my heart He was working on! Not taking away the desire but expanding it...
I told Suzan that I thought God was changing my heart and I felt like He was asking us to be LIMITLESS in our lives. If we adopted one or two children, realistically, that would limit us in how many children we could touch and share the Love of God with.
I am not in any way putting God in a box... I am listening to His Voice...and for Bill and Carolyn; He is taking us on this journey to show us what he does want from our lives.

To some this probably all sounds crazy... Well I guess it is... But God is crazy about me... He gave up having one Son so He could have many son's!!!! Romans 8:16, I John 3:1-2
God is transforming me from the inside out and yes it is painful at times but listen when I say... I AM FULFILLED IN CHRIST! Yes sometimes it is hard but when I meditate on what it meant for God to SACRIFICE the way He did for me... I am honored to walk this path with my Heavenly Father. It is like He and I have something in common in our relationship! That makes me feel like I am special to Him!

I also look at it like this:
Policemen, Firemen, Doctors, Nurses, Service men and women are considered or looked at as "Hero's" because of the work they do.... SO, how is my commitment to God's calling on my life any different?

Yes, I am crazy,
Crazy about my Savior, My God
My Jesus!
AREN'T YOU CRAZY ABOUT THE LOVE OF YOUR LIFE...