Disaster Relief Team

Tuesday, August 21. Today we transformed and became the first ever Global Encounters Disaster Relief Team, as we assisted pastor Antonio Rojas and his church in packing bags of cloths and boxes of food for the people who live in the areas hardest hit by the earthquake.

We started off by dumping huge bags of mixed clothes onto a table and then sorting into different piles - guys' shirts, ladies' pants, kids' jackets, etc. Of course, all the labels were in Spanish, which created some momentary confusion on the part of the twenty-four Americans, but we added a few words to our vocabulary and quickly had pantalones hombres and polos ninas flying in the right directions.

Once the categories were all sorted out, we set up an assembly line, putting a pair of pants, a shirt, and something warm like a jacket or sweater into each bag. We dropped in a Gospel tract on top, sealed up the bag, labeled it, and threw it onto the ever increasing piles of clothes ready for transport. While some of us were busy with the mountains of clothes, others tackled the piles of food and water, dividing it all into boxes that would be delivered to individual families.

All the supplies were donated by families in Pastor Antonio's church. We added a few things of our own to the piles, but it was amazing to see how some people who had so little were willing to give so much. Over all it was humbling but also exciting to be able to help the people of Peru!

Next on the schedule was a visit to some friends of Pastor Salazar's. They have a beautiful home - much different than most of the places we have been in Peru. It was a great time for the team to relax and also bless our hosts with songs and prayer. We finished off the day with a visit to a historic square in downtown Lima.

Daniel Anderson reporting for the team

Downtown Lima at night. The national cathedral is in the background.

Mountains of clothes!

Rachael and a couple others tackled the piles of kids' clothes.

The overall scene

Bags packed up and ready to go.It wasn't all work. :-) These were donated hats, believe it or not.Fun and games relaxing at Pastor Salazar's friends' house.Sunshine! Yeah!!