Posting from Chincha Peru October 2008

Thought we would post a few old memories for you to hear what others have experienced in Peru.  Here is one from Kimberly:

Hola!!! This is Kimberly sending our daily update from Chincha, Peru! 

What a day today! We have all agreed that we are extremely tired, but a 

good tired! I am not sure how to put that any other way.  We began today 

with another walk through the market at 6:30.  Since we gave out too much 

candy at VBS yesterday, we had to pick up some new candy for today.  I was 

kind of glad because that took us in another direction away from the fish 

vendors! :o) 

We talked with a few people in the market this morning, we especially 

enjoyed visiting with a woman that had a cat curled up behind her bananas. 

I asked her if we could take a picture and she wanted to get in the picture 

too. She was excited to hear we were from the US and she wanted to go home 

with us!

After the market, we had another delicioso breakfast at the hotel and 

headed out for another day of work.  Today we worked at a youth center 

in a fairly desolate part of Chincha.  Pastor Pedro began by telling us we 

were going to tear up the concrete across 10 - 12 feet to run a new water 

line to relocate the bathroom and pour concrete in a very large common room.

My first thought was no way will we get this all accomplished.  I am not sure 

why after all this time I still doubt that God will provide us with the strength

and ability to accomplish what is required.  We indeed made a lot of progress 

at the worksite and with the help of 4 local men nearly completed the concrete 

floor by the time we left.  I hauled a few wheelbarrows full of concrete and 

scooped several shovels of rock into the mixer.  The others did concrete with 

me or worked on digging up cement for the waterline. We were all pretty exhausted 

and sore by the time we left for lunch. 

After lunch, we had a little down time before we headed out to the church we went 

to Sunday night for church service to do VBS. When we arrived, it was truly 

overwhelming as there were about 85 children and 20 or so adults inside singing 

to us as we walked through the doors!  It really made my heart melt.  We got 

organized and started with some ice breakers and singing.  Georgia told the kids

a lesson about receiving new life through Christ and comparing it to a butterfly.

We chose that theme and tied it in with our craft of making butterflies out of 

coffee filters the kids colored on and then we made the body of the butterfly with

 a pipe cleaner.  The children were so proud of their butterflies as we told them 

muy bien and bonita! I enjoyed having to wrap their colored butterflies with the 

pipe cleaner so I could try to talk to them and have them pulling on me from all 

directions.  We had them color some more and then got them outside to play with 

punch balls.  That went OK for awhile until the wind took them over the church and 

they started running the streets like kite runners!  Oy Vey!!  Steve thought it 

would be a good idea to have some of the children race and he nearly had our other

team members trampled.  We gave the children candy, took their pictures and gave 

adults pens and pencils.  The people there were SO kind to us and so welcoming. 

As they did after church service, the women of the church served us refreshments 

after VBS.  

Our evening began with a meal of chicken-corn soup, then beef, beans and rice and 

finally a cup of peaches and of course coffee!  The weather here is pretty chilly 

and since we eat al fresco, some of us have been consuming more coffee than normal!

After dinner, Dave and Helen led us in our devotional.  Dave told us of his journey

with Christ and how he remembered an important time in his life where he was called

back to his walk with God.  Helen talked about how much we can rely on God to 

provide for our needs and we talked about how the people here are so grateful for 

everything they have.  Helen also taught us a new song in Spanish that we are 

hoping to sing to the kids tomorrow or later in the week.  We closed by telling 

everyone what our favorite part of the day was.  It was hard to come up with just

one!  

Singing off from Chincha...we hope this finds everyone well.  Thank you for your 

continued prayers!

Yeah Rita!

Hi, folks!  I’m excited to be going back to Peru.  I’m a retired Spanish teacher, so as you can imagine, I feel a real affinity with the Peruvian people.  They are so warm and welcoming. They really know what Christian hospitality is all about.  I have come home feeling humbled; that I received more than I gave. 

                                                                                            --Rita Tinkler

Welcome Beth!

My name is Bethany Bolander. I'm a seventeen year old, high school junior from Michigan, and I am going on my second mission trip to Peru. I've been on a few mission trips, and each one has been special to me: especially my trip to Peru. I experienced a new culture, and got a chance to do God's work and make new friends. That's why I can't wait to go back. I know it will be just as awesome as the first time I went.

Tickets Please?

We have purchased our tickets for the trip to Peru.  You will not see the actual details of the flight until about 3 weeks before we go to ensure we give you the most current information. 

If you would like to go to Peru and have not told us yet, it is possible for you to go.  Just email gnhale@sprintmail.com and I will walk you through what needs to be done.

Peace!

Being prepared mentally

To prepare for the upcoming awesome trip we are about to take you must take a moment to be prepared mentally for this trip.  What are some things you can do to prepare?  Glad you asked!  Take time to read the culture information that will be posted here and emailed to you.   Search for articles on line about Peru and the cities we are going to: Chincha & Lima.

Greeting one another!

Allowing new friends to greet us too!

 One culture difference you can practice now is to take the time to greet everyone in a room when you enter and when you leave take the time to say goodbye (to each person individually). Culturally this will be a very important practice for you in Peru.  Our team members will call you on it if we see you not doing it.  Why is it important?  Because Hispanic cultures have a different way to determine “schedule” and priorities; one practice they have is to “check in” with each other.  What I mean is in the United States generally we have a schedule to adhere to: 8 am get to work do a, b, c, then at 12:00 go to lunch eat, 12:30 do a, b, c, etc.  Our schedules are very chronologically time driven.  While they do have schedules in Peru and other Hispanic cultures, the importance of community and people override it.   Taking time to say hello and good bye gives us the opportunity to “check in” with this person to see if there is something they need before I continue on my activities.  Please practice as this will help you to start mentally checking into your communities, slow down, and pay attention to people around you (always a good thing)!