The Team is in Lima!
Hurray! The team is in Peru! Praise the Lord!
We all arrived early Friday morning with safe flights, no customs hassles, and, amazingly, everyone’s luggage arrived! That was indeed a blessing. After catching up on sleep (kinda :-) ), we went out for breakfast at 12:30 to Roky’s for some of their famous French fries, chicken, salad, Inca Kola, and huge portions of dessert. It was delicious, and it was fun to get our first interaction with Peruvian culture. Pastor Salazar was great getting everything organized at Roky’s, and we had a wonderful time.
After breakfast and a trip to get everyone’s money exchanged, we had team training in the afternoon for the children’s programs the next couple of weeks. Elizabeth did an excellent job keeping things fun and interesting, and I think we all ended with a pretty good idea of how things will work. The theme for the programs is the Armor of God. Please pray for us as we try to connect with the children we will be working with, and that God will be real to them.
For dinner we went to the beach where we had steak, vegetables, and a drink made from purple corn and spices. Lima is certainly the town that never slows down or goes to sleep! Even late at night it was a bustling place. It was an amazing sight with all the lit up shops, children playing hop-scotch, people passing out candy, and lots of folks just having fun milling around. After dinner, some of the team stopped at the geleteria for some famous Peruvian ice cream. Trying to figure out what kind you were getting was an interesting adventure, but I think everyone was satisfied with their end result (whatever it was :-) ).
Our real adventures started after all this was done. On our way back to the hotel we stopped at a grocery store to pick up some bottled water and food for the bus ride to Trujillo tomorrow. While Andy, Elizabeth, Tim, and Amanda went inside, the rest of us stayed in the bus and had a great time. Unfortunately though, we left all the lights on, and yep, you know what happened. When the shopping group came back at around 10:20, the bus wouldn’t start because we had drained the battery. At least we had a great time doing it though! :-) The bus driver and a couple of guys from the team worked on it for awhile, and finally at 11:29 we felt a shake, heard a rumble, and then voila, it started! Everyone cheered and we were soon honking our way back to the hotel. :-)
We’re thanking the Lord for all He has done for us in getting everyone here, providing a great hotel, and keeping us all safe. Please pray that we will be His faithful ambassadors the next three weeks, and that He will be made known to the people of Peru.
Buenos noches!
Amy
