Headed home

Sitting in the Lima airport waiting for my next flight. I'll be home tonight! It was an awesome 2 months! Thank you for your prayers!

Kids Club

Wow, getting behind 9 days while in Puno really is hard to catch up! Especially when our days were so packed!  Sunday afternoon after church and lunch, we headed out to invite kids to club. We did a 5 day club from Sunday afternoon – Thursday afternoon from 3-5… and it was a packed 2 hours. That afternoon we took some girls from the church and walked around to different houses with invitations to club. There were a few girls, Vanessa, Carmen, Joseline, and Cathy, that came with us. No one spoke English, so I was really trying to use my Spanish.

We were out in the little side section beside the church for club. We would take out some benches from church, but the Revelation class used some of them so we only got a few. Before hand game time the benches made a great volleyball net! The kids really liked that and they used a big, light, plastic ball for it. The kids were packed on there, and then the rest sat on the ground. Many days, the kids just kept on coming so we sat them on the ground too. We were facing a bunch of fields so you could see the kids coming and we would wave them in. The pastor said to prepare for 30 before the trip when we were talking to him, so we prepared for 50. One day, God sent us 76 kids! Wow! Only our God can do that! This was one tiny town!

Sunday Elena taught on heaven. Gold (oro) is the color we started with in the wordless book. We ended up having about 28 kids… a far cry from the 9 we had in SS that morning! Little did we know how God would multiply that number! The verse was John 3:16 and I could say most of the whole verse of each verse by the end of the day in Spanish. (It will be a happy day when I can fully understand and speak Spanish!) They craft for that day was a memory help for John 3:16. It had a world, Jesus face, and heart, and if you attach them a certain way you can tell John 3:16. That went well, but I’m very glad that we only had to explain that to 28 kids! The days we had the hardest crafts, we had a smaller number of kids so it was a bit more manageable.

Each day we started with songs. Raúl played the guitar and Elena mainly led them. I helped a lot with the songs because I can sing and do hand motions and hold the words with the best of them. We had the words printed out and put into page protectors tied together with ribbons. They worked well! We probably had 10 songs and used various ones throughout the week. We ended up leaving them there at the church in Cacorco so that they can use them with the kids. Juan did a lot with the hand motions, and I think that the songs went well. We did one about Jonah, Obedience, Jesus Loves Me, one about the 5 wordless book colors, My God is so Great, I Have a Friend who Loves Me, one about wanting God to use you, and one on God using all of you (fingers, feet, etc. Good for the little kids to get wiggles out) I enjoyed helping with the songs a lot!

Raúl taught the missionary story of Ti Fam, a girl in Haiti, and did a really great job! He has a way with kids and really can keep their attention! I think that the kids really looked forward to that each day! Each day was kinda similar… I wasn’t really talking one on one with kids or getting to know them. I was helping in any way I could: holding verses, songs, or visuals, telling kids to sit down and listen, unwrapping 150 cookies, facilitating games as a team leader, teaching a verse, teaching a craft, etc.

Monday was crazy packed! We got back late from visitation and immediately left for the school to hand out fliers about kids club. We walked there, and stood by the door so when they came out we could give them a flier. Some of the girls from the church went there, so we saw them and they were inviting their friends etc. There is pretty much one primary school so it was a great place to get the kids! That afternoon 58 showed up! After we handed out the invites, we headed back to the church. We all were REALLY hungry by the time we got back from the school. Ready for lunch!

Juan taught the lesson on sin using the story of Adam and Eve and how they sinned in the very beginning. He did well, and the verse was Romans 3:23, For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. For the craft they colored a sheet with a bitten piece of fruit and their memory verse. It was a bit hectic trying to get every kid the color of crayon that they wanted. (brown, yellow, green, or red) Many times they would be holding out their crayon to me asking for a different color (which was the one the kid next to him was holding out). They didn’t get the concept of trading or sharing crayons. (Sigh) It was a cake walk compared to the next day though.

On a really random aside… We had devotions every day at 6:50 in the car. We got up early and got ready for the day and cleaned up the room a bit. (which mainly included keeping all your stuff in one pile and keeping your sleeping bag on your bed.) We would get our Bibles and Gira notebooks, get all bundled up in our blanket skirts, hat, scarf, and jacket, and head to the car. It was really a good time to hear about the visits from the day before, discuss the club from the previous day, and think of ways we could do things better. We were going through 2 Peter, and since Pat was teaching it mainly, it was at least partly in English. We all read some of the questions or verses in Spanish. If the words are written out, I can usually sound out the Spanish pronunciation so it’s ok.

Tuesday was our biggest day with 76 kids. They just kept coming and coming! Rachel was talking to the pastor one day, and was like… You lied to Hna. Wendy. (and he is like… Huh? What? I would never!) You said that there would be 30 kids, and there is 76! He then said… I have no idea WHERE they are all coming from! God brought them in. Elena taught on red, which stands for the blood of Jesus. The verse was 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, how that Christ died, was buried, and rose again according to the scriptures.

That day we split into 2 groups for game time, the older and younger. They both did game time at the same time, we just split the little field into 2 parts. It was small, but it worked so much better that way. I helped with the youngest, and was in charge of that team. We split them up like we do in Oansa with blue, green, yellow, and red. Yelling verde at the top of your lungs and re-explaining the rules in Spanish when a kid does it wrong, or trying to keep them in the same order of line makes for a very interesting and exhausting afternoon!

Craft time was the hardest though. It was a color sheet with either verses or something to go with a little picture with each color. I don’t exactly remember. All I remember was trying to hand out the color of crayon that each kid wanted to about 38 kids. Later, after it was NOT working, I got Juan to come over too. We had to keep telling them that if they weren’t sitting, then they wouldn’t get the crayon or something. We managed to get through that, but later when we were talking about that, Juan and I kinda looked at each other and were like… yeah, that was rough. But, they all got their sheet colored and everything even if it was a bit hectic on our part!

Usually every day part way through club it would start getting cold for the evening and I would run back for a jacket, hat, and scarf to go with the 2 shirts, sweater, and sweatshirt I already had on. Wednesday it was just cold all day! During visitation that morning it looked like it was going to rain, and just gray and windy! It was SO cold that afternoon; I had on all the layers I had at the BEGINNING of club! (plus my blanket skirt – which couldn’t pass in the states, but was great here!)The cold was definitely the reason for the lack of kids! What mom is going to send her 5 year old kid to sit outside for 2 hours? We ended up with 48, which still was great! Wednesday was white, or corazón limpio (clean heart) and Juan taught again. Man was it cold!

That day for craft, I was in charge of explaining and doing and all. We split up into the 2 groups and then I stayed in craft for the whole time. I explained the significance of the red, black, and white hearts, and then explained how to do it. The white heart had the shape printed onto it, so they had to cut out the hearts then take the staple out. Next they had fold all the hearts in half and put glue on the back. Then you stick all of them together and you’re done! Not hard, but when you are trying to explain that to kids, it can get a bit challenging! Thank God for the right words (at least I tried) and I think that it all went relatively smoothly.

After everyone left that afternoon, thanks to Wendy we had a little cookie break. And they tasted amazing! I don’t eat oreo type cookies in the states, but here that is the most common type. The keylime tasting ones or the coconut ones are my favorites. We still had a long time to go before we could hit the sack… church was that night. It was great, but we seemed to be getting tired at about 6:40 every single night. It got dark and cold, and we got up so early so we got tired early too!

Thursday was our last day of club and God blessed us with 71 kids! We decided in the van that morning that Elena should teach a smaller class for some of the older girls that came or were around. She has a burden for those girls, and God really worked through her. One night we were eating in the kitchen (warmest place) and she was telling the girls in there about doing what God wants for your life and everything. They were just listening to every word. The day before, I don’t know what about, but Elena talked to Cynthia for a long time. Elena’s girls lesson went great, and 4 young ladies accepted Christ! Praise the Lord!

Roxana taught the kids on green (crecer – to grow). After her lesson on Timothy, Raul explained the gospel and summarized the colors one last time and gave the kids a chance to respond. 7 did, and 7 children accepted Christ that afternoon! Wow! Roxana, Juan, and Raul took out the children, and Elena, Wendy, Ariel, and I did some songs and reviewed the memory verses with the other kids. If they could say ALL 5 verses from club that next Sunday in Sunday school, then they would get a New Testament, and a gift bag!

After reviewing the verses for a bit, once the other kids had come back out, it was time to learn the last verse, 2 Peter 3:18, “But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ”. I thought of hand motions for the 5 ways Roxana taught about in her lesson, and I think that the hand motions helped the kids remember. (I was having problems remembering without them) The 5 were, reading your Bible, praying, witnessing, clean heart… like confessing sin, and going to church. I think that went well, and verse time was short but I think they understood it better because of what I tried to do. (what God did through me!)

That afternoon, the craft was cutting and gluing these 5 pictures of ways to grow onto a little hand shape on a paper. I had done enough crafts the last few days, so I helped with the games. I was team azul that afternoon, so I had to keep them in line and in the right order, making sure they understood the rules, yelling azul 100% to keep the kids excited, and everything else. Also I blew up balloons with gloves on. That is a talent I had not perfected yet. Don’t do that in Florida every day! We had a lot of fun, and I really enjoyed that!

When they got their 5 cookies and were leaving, we reminded them that if they came back on Sunday with their verses memorized, then they would get that Bible and prize! (on my Sunday post, I’ll tell what happened)

Altogether during the week 19 people that we know of, and possibly many more accepted Christ as their Savior! 2 did the very first Sunday, 2 ladies came into the Revelation class and a guy from the church started talking to them and they got saved, 1 was saved with Raul and Juan on visitation, 4 girls with Elena, 7 kids with Roxana, Raul, and Juan, and 2 wanted to get saved Wednesday but had to ask their dad and husband. They came back the next Sunday with permission, and brought an older daughter that got saved too. It was so neat to see God work in different ways through the lives of the pastor, and each member of our group! Each one of us has different talents, but when we are available for His use, He can do amazing things!

songs in club

holding the wordless book while Juan taught... and yes, I'm that much taller

cuteness! 

teaching the missionary story

coloring page

kids from club

verse time

76 kids! WOW!

Elena talking to Cynthia

volleyball before club

review game from the lesson.

helping with songs. That was the coldest day

explaining the craft

Elena teaching the oldest girls

kids that wanted to be saved!

teaching 2 Pet 3:18... in SPANISH

Raul did a great job with the kids!

team azul on Thursday... the younger ones

Team azul but the older ones

Elba, Dina, Raquel, and Lydia.

Little kids that were around a lot!

First day, Sunday afternoon

Elena teaching

Our John 3:16 craft

Ariel keeping the youngest ones occupied

Wow, that is a lot of kids!

Picture of Tuesday, our biggest day.

Our cold day with Raul teaching verse

working on the tri-fold hearts

teaching the verse

Visitation

Every morning, each person in our group would go out in 2s to visit the people of the community. The pastor said to prepare for 200, so we made a gift to hand out to each family as we went to their houses. We were very rural. Roxana and I got from the church to the right. So for 5 mornings from 9-1, (ish… we could never seem to get back on time) we would walk around Cacorco to different houses visiting the people and giving them the gifts. For the 3 weeks (ish) after my class, and before the Gira trip, I got stuff ready. I stamped tracts and folded tracts, I stamped Bibles with the church’s information, I put stickers on 200 match boxes, I pulled pens apart and put them back together, but all that work paid off! The gift bags were very well received, and God really used them!

Like I said before, many people only spoke Amarí, the southern country part of Peru language. I obviously didn’t understand any of it, and Roxana speaks Spanish and Quechua, but zero Amarí. One night when we were peeling potatoes and talking with the seminary students and church ladies, they asked… So, how many languages do people in the states speak? (I’m like most people only speak English, unless they have some foreign type of background.) Here kids grow up learning 2 languages. (and they are very different)

So it was difficult to speak with some of the people, but usually we would walk up to someone’s house and knock on the door… just kidding, we would walk up, look for someone, and yell “Señora”… (and you’re like oops when Señor comes to the door) It was very typical to get into a ½ hour – 1 hour conversation with them.  Many times they would bring out stumps or a blanket to sit on and potatoes to eat. (With some form of potatoes 3 times a day, Ariel was pretty done with them by the end of the week. That is what they grow, so that is what they eat.) They would be surprised and very grateful that you brought a gift for them.  A few ladies’ houses that we went to they lived alone, and their kids were off other places, so you know they didn’t get visitors every day. That made them all the more ready to listen!

A lot of times they would be working in the fields or in their yards, so Roxana and I would help them with that. In Puno they grow these beans called Habas. These beans are used for about anything you could think of! So after they harvest them, they stack them in piles 5 feet high and 3 feet thick in these walls. They would dry, and when we were visiting, they were taking them off the piles and then taking the beans off the stalks. We took habas off their stocks for about an hour one time, we shucked corn, peeled chuno (kind of dried potato) and other things like that. One time Ariel and Elena were at a house and Ariel got to beat these little beans (tarvi) with a wooden rod. One time a guy was pounding piles of wheat with a wooden rod when we got there. Another house was grinding grain with his feet and then finer with a rock. You could see ladies throwing up the grain in the air and then have the wind drive it away. (makes you think of the Bible huh?) They would take their sheep and cows to the fields.

Many times, once we got into a conversation with someone, we would pull out the Bible from their gift pack and mark some verses. That way later, they can go back and easily find them. Even if I fluently couldn't explain the verses, I could mark them, or tell Roxana the references so she could mark them. We marked verses like John 3:16, 1 John 1:9, 1 Cor 15:3-4, Romans 3:23, Romans 5:8, Romans 6:23, and 2 Pet 3:18.

I’ll tell you a few stories from our visitations.

The first day, we went to the house of this little old lady. She didn't know Spanish really at all, but she was so happy for a visit. She lived by herself, and no children lived near. We gave her a tract and kinda nodded and smiled. She was just an older lady that wanted someone to talk to her... And so many people were like that... Wow, someone came to visit ME, and they have a GIFT for ME! She ended up giving us a blanket full of moria potatoes. That was very kind of her!

Again there was on the first day, a group of 4 people at this one house. Roxana did an awesome job every single day! She just talked and explained, and God really used her to show a lot of people about himself! It was 2 different families, and we talked and marked verses for about an hour or so. They brought out a chair for Hna. Wendy, and stumps for us. They were really listening, and only God knows the results of that visit!

One later day, we came upon this house with a teen girl there. (probably about 12) Her parents were out in the fields, and she was there with her grandmother (who only spoke Amarí) She was working on keeping the fire going inside the earth oven (pic later) We talked to her a bit about that and about her puppy. She brought us some stumps to sit on, and we started talking to her about the gospel. When Roxana started saying that there are only 2 ways... heaven or hell, and if you don't except Christ, hell is the only other alternative. From what I could understand, it sounded like her grandfather had recently passed away, so you could tell she was really really listening!

We were walking along kinda tired by this point, but it was too early to turn back. (11: 45) We were FAR out there, but kept going to one more house. A older lady, her daughter and little grandson were there in the front of their house taking the habas off of their stalks. We plopped ourselves down and started to work. Later they brought us a little bench and blanket, but we left there probably about 1pm. (late for lunch again) I have NEVER done that before, but it wasn't hard, and we got to talk to them for over an hour! Hey, if we were helping with their work, they were much more willing to listen to us than if we made them stop. And the pile of habas grew much quicker with 4 people working! My hands got a bit scratched for the rest of the week, but that was one of my favorite and most memorable visits!

So we came up on these 2 ladies, mom/daughter or sisters I don't know, but we came up, gave her the gift, and started talking. They brought us some chairs (they had the most adorable little puppies!!!) One lady had to leave part way through, but when she got up, a gift packet fell from under her sweater. :-) Someone had already been to her house. :) (and that was the goal... to hit every single house in the community) The lady we mainly talked to really listened. She said she was in very bad health, and it didn't sound like there was anything that could be done about it. She listened to every word, but who knows how much she could understand. We prayed together at the end, Roxana in Spanish, me in English, and this lady in Amarí...I remember her on her knees, hands lifted to heaven, crying, pouring her heart out to God. It will always be burned into my memory. 

When we were out one day, we saw some people sitting by the side of the road and we went over to just give them a tract. They ended up being Jehovah whitnesses going door to door too. They wouldn't take our tracts, and kinda talked accusingly to Roxana (like, "what are YOU doing out here"...hey, same question for you buddy) After talking to them we kept walking, but we stopped to pray first. Only God is the one that can change hearts... On a side note, a llama walked up to me about 1 cm away while we were talking to them. Don't get that every day whitnessing in the states! 

There was this one teen guy that we got to talk to for a bit, maybe 20 minutes...Again, listening intently! Most everyone was very open to what we had to say, and would spend their time to listen. (I got to talk to Eric Pardine, who went with another group to a different part of Peru, and he just said how irresponsive and unaccepting they were. People definitely were open!) We just stood there and talked, and he stood and listened. Sometimes you just wish you could get people to listen like that in the states! We were in the shade, and it looked like it was going to rain and it got cold, but it was a good visit!

The next house we went to, there was these 2 guys, 28 or so, and 55 or so. The 55 year old listened for a bit, but then had to go keep working, but we got to talk to the 28 or so year old guy for a while! I got to mark verses for him while Roxana marked the other guy's Bible. He listened to every word, and you could SEE God working in his heart! Pretty neat! We serve a powerful God that can change lives and convict with His Word! 

One of the last days, we were walking along, and came to this family out working with their habas. The guy was beating the dried pods with a wooden beam/stick/pole I guess and then the habas would come out of their pod. The ladies were taking the result and then throwing it in the air so the pods would fully separate from the beans etc. We started talking to them, and I could tell that he was kinda giving it back and telling us back the "right answers" type of thing. It turns out that they are Christians which was really neat! Those were really the first ones on our visitation that we could tell that they just weren't using the word, but were Christians. The lady gave us a very large bag full of the habas, which was very sweet! (every day we would come back with something in our backpack... chuno, habas, or corn. One time a lady gave us cooked potatoes of all different kinds, and Roxana and I hit the fried ones first! french fry type of thing... People were very generous, and we had to keep telling them that this was a GIFT. We don't want anything in return.)

2nd to last house of visitation, we are there taking beans off the stalk again and talking to this girl. (20 or so) We are talking, and her mom comes out and gives us a blanket to sit on, and potatoes to eat. (we are getting toward the end of the week, so we've had a lot of potatoes at this point, but we start eating! They were the oca, which were my least favorite, but oh well, start chowing down.) They said they were Christians, but I could see that Roxana's reaction wasn't the same as the other house... and she understands the conversation much more than I do! We finished talking with them, thanked them for the potatoes, and the girl brings out a tract of hers from the house. We wave and walk on... Roxana reads part, and very quickly she can tell that that is malo malo malo. (bad) I don't know exactly what was wrong, but it wasn't right. They think they had it all together though, and obviously by her reaction they didn't. That was kinda sad. 

And some funny stories from visitation... 

So, we are out headed to this one house, walking through a grassy field, and these 2 dogs come running up to us. Ok, so about everyone has dogs around here, and if they are bothering you, you just pick up a rock, and they immediately back off. So there weren't really rocks in this field, and so we just keep walking towards the house. Roxana doesn't like dogs, and many times will go out of her way to avoid them (esp after this house) We made this clicking sound with our tongue and the roof of our mouths and acted calm. They were jumping on us, but never once hurt us, and we got to the house.

So we are late for lunch again... Peruvians don't really stay on schedule too well. Much more people oriented than schedule oriented... So we are far from anything that would count as a road here (would count as a dirt path in the US) and are going through fields trying to look for the school and then over a bit to the left and that is about where the church is. So we are trying to hurry and then all of a sudden Roxana says, "Stop, look, there is water." We are slogging through wet fields, her feet get wet because she is wearing sandals, but my boots kept me dry. (walmart guys clearance!) We have to go back the other direction for about 5 minutes until we came to some path type something. I laughed at the moment... A peruvian and a gringo, slogging through wet fields with bulls in them, in long skirts, late for lunch, and we are going the opposite direction. :)

So we are walking in between houses through more fields and we come upon some llamas walking/grazing. So what did you do today... well, I was out walking and saw some llamas. (typical day in Puno :) Next we came to some bulls, and those things are huge! We needed to go through this spot or we would have to walk around them, and Joanna likes to save time. So Roxana went one direction and so that bull followed her, I cut through between the 2 ropes, and then she quickly followed. Then we are walking along the road and come to a part covered with water. We followed the stream a little, got to a skinny part, and jumped it. Ok, I jumped a lot of ditches that week! Some with water, and some without. Every time though, I could feel a give and hear a ripping sound... coming from my skirt. I got this skirt at the Good Will, but the slit in the back was too big for here, so we sewed it down... a bit too much for successfully jumping ditches. By the second to last day, I decided that skirt was ready to retire. 

There is morning visitation in a nutshell. God's Word that doesn't return void is in a lot of people's houses right now and one person was saved ON the visitation (with Juan and Raúl). It was worth the effort! 

This guy read every word of each tract that he took out.

Tombs in their front yard is common. 

This is the house where we took the habas off the stalk for an hour and Roxana talked. 

You can see the piles of drying habas.

Same house... pile of dried habas in the background, and the pods off the stalk in the front

Visitation buddy

Handing out the gift packets

reading the tract... 

the pastor's family at work that we ran into that gave us the habas.

shucking dried corn

on the hill side watching sheep

sitting at work

those gifts were put into the hands of a lot of people!

This girl was the last habas house that fed us potatoes that said they were Christians.

Elena

Elena and Ariel were a group

with the group of 4 that we talked to for a long time. Wendy was with us that day and got the picture. Only she can pull off asking everyone to pose for a group shot. :-)

An old lady peeling moria. She ended up giving us some.

with Wendy

The piles of potatoes to stomp

marking verses

Using clods of earth or stones to make an oven in the ground. The skirt and hat were VERY typical. Usually with lots of sweaters and 2 braids.

Juan explaining a verse

faces of Cacorco...