2008 Peru Mission Adventures

They arrived in Machu Pichu Thursday & saw many of the ruins.  A guide toured them thru Machu Pichu for awhile and then they had free time to explore on their own.  Before they (Steve, Kristiana, Jennifer, Rick, Janet, Jessica, Rachel, Hannah & Pastor Bob) struck out on their own, they asked the guide where they could find the bridge the Inca indians had built that could be quickly dismantled should an enemy approach - Steve's dad/sister/brother-in law had told them about it.  Armed with directions, they set out.  It was to be about a 15 - 20 minute walk from where they were.  However, after 40+ minutes hiking up steps most of the way, they figured they had taken the wrong trail.

Steve said the view was beautiful & they got some wonderful pictures.  Rick, Bob & Rachel continued up the mountain while the rest headed back down.  They did eventually find the bridge.

They told me it was much colder in Cusco, but Machu Pichu is slightly warmer than Cusco.

Well, I am emailing you from an internet cafe in Cusco.  It was hard leaving the People of Peru ministry yesterday after we had gotten to know some of the staff.  The ones I knew the best by the end were Ruben, the bus driver and Jimmy the translator.  I got them and some of the other staff to sign my Peru shirt.  We went shopping today and went to a Inca museum.  The museum was interesting, but most of it was in Spanish, so it was a little hard to actually focus on the stuff in there.  It got to the point where it was like, pretty pottery, more pretty pottery, more and more pretty pottery, pretty rocks, . . . It really was neat, it just got a little pointless when you can't understand most of it.  The security guards in the museum followed us all the way through, they always stare at me when I wear my FBI hoodie.  We ate lunch at a little vegetarian cafe, I got a Spinach ravioli dish.  It was different, but good.  We leave tomorrow morning at about 4 am for Machu Pichu.  On Friday we are going on the Sacred Valley tour.  On Sabbath we will go to church and then go for a hike.  We leave for Lima on Sunday and have a tour of Lima all day since our plane doesn't leave Lima until 11 at night.  Then we'll be home.  I will be kinda happy to be home and see you, but I also love Iquitos and wish we could spend more time there. 

Love, Jennifer

The trip to the jungle was amazing.  We spent one whole day just visiting the Bora Bora Indians, a village with a petting zoo and another small village that we stopped at for cold drinks.  Then since the water was too low we camped on the beach on the Amazon instead of on the platform.  (When I - Sonia-  talked with Jennifer tonight, she said that they had a watchman/men with a gun(s) watching over them all night.  I asked her why & she said it was because of the Puma's in the area.  She was disappointed she didn't get to see one, although she was glad she didn't know about them before she went to sleep.  I'm glad also, or I'm guessing I probably would not have slept much that night either!)  It was so cool!  That next morning we got up, ate breakfast on the boat and went as far as we could with the big boat.  Then they took the small boat through the shallow area with just three people in it plus the captain and helper.  Once the smaller boat got to deeper water two locals ferried us over to the small boat in a canoe with fish flopping in it.  The small boat was soon filled up and brought the first group to the village then the rest of us came over on the second trip.  in this small village we sang songs, told a story or two, gave them pictures to color, then took them outside and blew bubbles and played soccer/futbol.  The village was very small only 150 people in all of it.

After visiting the village we went in two groups to hike through the jungle on the land People of Peru owns.  It was neat to see all the pretty flowers, butterflies and gigantic trees.  Unfortunately we didn't see any wildlife except for a few birds from a distance.  Then we hiked to the place where we were going to sleep the night before.  The hike was pretty and it was neat to see the platform and meet the family who takes care of the place.  Finally we went back to the big boat, ate lunch and started home.  You will be glad to hear that at no point did we swim in the Amazon.  Although on the way back we did stick our fee tin the spray of the water coming up off the boat.  When we got back to the compound we started packing had everyone sign our shirts and said bye to some of the translators.  It was hard to say bye.  But I didn't cry although it was very hard not to.

I'll see you soon.  Love you lots, Kristiana

Cusco is a much nicer city than Iquitos.  The standard of living appears to be quite a bit higher for the average person.  You see a lot more nicer cars, in Iquitos most people took moto cars or busses and you rarely saw a car on the streets.  The moto cars in Iquitos were lots of fun to ride in though.  Saturday night we went into the main Plaza in the city by bus, but some of us wanted to stay and look around and came back in moto cars.  The girls and I rode together and had a blast racing the other people in our group and trying to get our driver to go faster.  We apparently succeeded as he came up on a group of slower moto cars, crossed the double yellow line into incoming moto car traffic and passed the other moto cars.  Someone, I think Jennifer, compared riding in the moto cars to a kind of roller coaster ride, except you're riding on 3 wheels without a track.  Riding in Iquitos was always an adventure.  We rode the bus at least 4 times a day, so got to see a lot of their driving.  Our bus driver was very good, but tended to believe that since the bus was bigger than the moto cars he had the right of way most of the time.  The best times were when he would back directly out in to the road into incoming traffic and when we got back from the jungle.  After we loaded the bus to go back, we were in the right lane of a 4 lane road in heavy traffic.  He decided to do a U turn, and did, turned left across 3 lanes of traffic and soon we were going in the opposite direction.

Sorry this was kind of a rambling post.  I feel fine, but I think my brain will function a little slower until I acclimate to the altitude.  Typing on a Spanish keyboard is also challenging, several of the keys are different or have additional changes you have to make to get the character you want. 

It is much cooler in Cusco - "cold" even.  The elevation is 11,000 + feet so they are adjusting to higher altitude.  If I remember correctly, they walked down into town & had to walk up hill to return to the hotel where they are staying.  He said a few people were feeling a little dizzy because of the altitude, but they seemed to be adjusting well.

They plan to just sleep & have a quieter/more relaxed day, just doing some sight seeing, shopping.  I believe they'll be going to Machu Pichu on Friday.

They are happy to be in cool weather & look forward to enjoying warm/hot showers again.  But he said they loved being in Iquitos & ministering to the people there.

More later, Sonia

From Kristiana:

We were able to visit a Bora Indian Village - it was interesting.  Later we went to another village/home that had lots of animals.  They had sloth(s), monkey(s), an anaconda & camen(s).  "I got to hold one of all of them!"

Steve promised to send an email to me so I can post it either later tonight or tomorrow (Tuesday).

Well, tomorrow we leave for Cusco.  We leave for the airport at 5:30 and leave for Cusco at 7 am.  Yea!  We went on the little jungle trek today.  It was way too hot to be wearing long sleeves, but I didn't get any mosquito bites.  We ended up sleeping on the beach of the Amazon because the water was to shallow to get the boat through.  It was amazing, the stars were so bright and we could see the milky way.  We also saw a shooting star during worship.  It was awesome!  We didn't really see any animals in the jungle at all, unless you want ot count mosquitos and big beetles.  I absolutely loved riding on the boat on the Amazon, it was soooo much fun!  There were 4 hammocks to sit in, but other girls hogged them most of the time.  Today I sat on the bow with my feet hanging over the sides, it cooled me down and felt great.  I sat with sis and Rachel and Jimmy, one of the translators and we talked for about 1 - 2 hours.  We helped them practice their English.  I hope I got a tan, and not burnt!  Some of the other girls joined us later in the trip.  Anyway, I am having an amazing time.

Love, Jennifer

Hey Mom!

The trip to the Amazon was amazing!! We slept on the beach in the tents instead of on the platform because the water is so low.  Anyways, love Kristiana

2:34 PM

Anyway, we'll be back soon!!!!!!!  love ya, Sweetpea

2:34 PM

Today (8/1/08) I helped Dr. Fillman for part of the day.  I got to help clean teeth & pulled a tooth too.  I helped to clean the teeth of someone who had been living in the jungle & hadn't been out for about a year.  I'm not sure they had any toothbrush to use while they were in the jungle.

Sonia:  I believe Krisitana said the tooth she pulled was from a little girl.  I also asked her how she liked doing dental work & her response was she doesn't want to be a dentist :)

Opi (my dad) asked Krisitana what her favorite thing was so far & her resopnse was the children.   The children just loved being with the girls, playing games & "hanging all over us."

Jennifer has already said she can't wait to go again to Peru & work with kids & Kristiana wants to return as a student missionary.

10:16 PM

Today was the last day at POPPY's House.  Our group did a dental clinic during which Kristiana helped Dianne with several procedures, including pulling a tooth.  They also finished a couple ceilings for the girls bathrooms, moved two of the girls into another room, and played with several of the kids while the mothers were away at school or working on their laundry.  Paul, the director of the ministry, has said they have had girls as young as 12 with babies at the house.  I don't know that there were any that young right now.  Sometimes I was not sure whether the girls were the parents or children, some of them looked that young.  It is hard to believe girls that young have the responsibility of a child, school, wash, childcare, etc .

Noel, Tim (nice guy from another group) and I spent most of our time the past two days attempting to build a large kitchen table for the girls and staff at POPPY's House.  It was a rather frustrating experience, but we finally finished it this afternoon.  We had some beautiful wood that the ministry purchased, but between the lack of consistent electricity, rather intense heat, power equipment that ran at 110 or 220 and sometimes didn't run, transformers that were dead or inconsistent, lack of a blueprint, lack of carpentry skills, language challenges, levels that aren't level, etc, etc, it was a rather interesting experience.  It was great to finally finish as it was something they really needed and wanted done. 

Sabbath we have another Vacation Bible School during Sabbath School and then will worship with Iglasia Rumococha (Rumococha church).  Then Sabbath evening we go into town for what should be a very interesting evening.  I'll try to write more tomorrow night before we head into the jungle Sunday morning.

We have a beautiful morning here in Iquitos.  Everyone is working on getting crafts ready for the VBS tonight.  After we have everything already we are going to out to POPPY's House to do some construction, a dental clinic, play with the girls and their babies, and whatever else they want help with.  It was really inspiring yesterday to see the work they are doing to minister to the need of the the girls and help them put their lives back together.  The two American couples that run the house certainly have their hands full.  Both of them are in their early twenties and have the 24 hour care responsibility for 10 - 20 girls plus their babies.  Neither of the couples have been parents, and were asking some of us about how to discipline teen girls - the youngest girl is not even a teenager and the oldest is about 20.  Most of the girls have not ever had a father figure in their life, at least in any positive way, and it affects every area of their life.  The two couples certainly have their hands full and need our prayers.

Last night we had a really good Vacation Bible School program.  I had lots of fun being one of the photographers.  The first night the craft was a Polaroid picture of each child with popsicle sticks around it to make a frame.  Once the word got out in the community that they could have their own picture made, we got swamped with new attendees.  We took 110 Polaroids in about 30 minutes and basically ran out of film.  We decided to get a digital picture of each person who attend the next night and then do a slide show the last night so they could all see their pictures.  I took more than 200 pictures over 45 minutes and Noel Fillman took about 50 in the same time period.  It started out with just the younger kids and then we started getting the older kids and then many women showed up with their babies.  The women loved getting their picture taken and then I would show them their picture with their baby and they would get very excited.  The older guys wanted their picture taken and would pose with a very stern expression which is typical in this culture.  Sometimes I could get them to relax and even smile.

The church we are having the VBS in is extremely basic.  A concrete slab, wood poles for the studs and frame, and a tin roof.  No sides to the church with water of questionable origin running along both sides.  The church members are very helpful and excited to have us there.  We bring translators to help with keeping some kind of order, though that is very difficult.  The church is very typical of this area.

We just had a good breakfast and am getting ready for VBS tonight.  Today we are going out to POPPY's House and do some construction and Dianne is going to do a dental clinic for the girls.  Should be an interesting day.

9:48 am

Today we are going out to POPPY's House to check the girls teeth and do some construction.  We'll have VBS tonight in the same place, we will be doing it at this church all week.  I think this is a good idea because we get to bond more with the kids.  One of the things that surprised me most at VBS was that there was a 7-8 year old girl holding a newborn while doing her crafts.  She was in charge of her little sister, probably about 2 weeks to 1 month old.  It was pretty chaotic.

This afternoon we went to POPPY's House and saw their facility there.  They do a wonderful work in what we would consider a very minimal facility.

The VBS tonight went well, it was certainly different than what happens in the US.  The kids are very enthusiastic.  Several of us thought it was organized chaos, but the kids seemed to really enjoy it.  One of the group took 110 Polaroid photos in about 30 minutes.  The kids really liked getting the photos, we had to shut down the process.  You (Sonia) would have liked helping in the VBS, it was in a very rustic church with no sides, wooden benches, very basic in every way, yet the kids loved it.  Kristiana, Jessica, and Hannah did a good job with the puppet show, but it did not go over as well as I thought it would.  The children may not have ever seen puppets before, I don't know.

It has not really been any hotter than TN in the summer, but there is no air conditioning so you feel everything more.

Their flight out to Iquitos was cancelled this morning & was rescheduled to leave this evening at 6:20 pm (Central Time or Nashville, TN time).  It is my understanding that they have had the opportunity to become well acquainted with the Lima airport - about 19+ hours - because today is Lima's/Peru's Independence day and none of the buses or taxis are running in Lima.  Anyone for a game of Rook or Dutch Blitz???  I'm sure they will be happy to arrive at the compound tonight in Iquitos :)

Will update more when I hear from them.  Sonia

We thought you might enjoy keeping up with us through this blog.  However, just a word of caution :) we have never maintained a blog before and are a little uncertain of our technical abilities/computer time constraints while in Peru.  So, if postings aren't updated, feel free to check the People of Peru website.  They often post pictures of current mission teams serving their organization.

Ever since Steve returned as a student missionary from South Korea in 1982, he has had a dream of taking his family on just such a trip.  Kristiana had been bitten by the "mission trip bug" after her initial trip to the Dominican Republic in 2004.  This has left Jennifer wanting to keep up with sis & dad & be a part of a team ministering to others through a mission trip also.

Steve, Kristiana & Jennifer will be part of a 16 member team which will spend most of the next 2 weeks ministering in Iquitos, Peru through the People of Peru organization.  The girls, along with five of their closest friends & moms will help conduct VBS's, while Steve and the other men will help with light construction.  Kristianna is also a little hopeful to have the opportunity to help in a dental clinic.  All of them will have the opportunity to spend some time ministering to the young women & their children at Poppy's House.

There is great excitement in our house tonight as we weigh & reweigh luggage & try to figure out if we dare to squeeze "one more" item into the luggage.  Then off to bed for some quick sleep before our 4:30 am departure time from the church.