~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!
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