Tuesday, March 30th

We just finished our devotion for the evening and it was an awesome time of reflection for the past few days.  The people of Indenpendencia really had an impact on all of us.  It's funny, a lot of times we go to an area to serve thinking we are going to change the lives of the people there, when the truth is that they will change our lives more than we could have ever imagined. 

This morning we went back to work on the mountain to finish our work project.  To our delight, one portion of the wall we worked on yesterday was already dry and looked great.  When we arrived, many of the locals were pleased to see us and greeted everyone with a warm smile and wave.  Like we mentioned before, we may not be able to fully communicate by words, but smiles, waves, hugs, dancing, and futbol are a universal language that has no barriers. It breaks our heart to think that they may expect us to be there tomorrow, and the next day, etc.  We worked hard until after lunch time and finished the rest of the wall.  Many of the locals also came out to watch/help us work, and we took some time to dance and play with some of the ninas :) 

We headed back for a quick lunch and packed our things to go back to the YMCA (to pack again and we finally got a shower!).  We quickly left for the trip to Campamento de Playa (Y Camp) in Caniet, south of Lima on the coast.  Paco and his staff run the camp here, having numerous overnight sessions throughout the summer.  Speaking of Paco and his staff...they are AMAZING!  Paco is a wonderful example of servant leadership and is going above and beyond to help the people of Peru.  We could not have been left in better hands, and we are going to miss them so much when we have to leave!

Tomorrow is a big day-service projects in the morning, some beach time, then off for an adventure in the desert!  And while typing this, we are sitting out under the stars, up on a cliff, listening to the waves crash into the sand below.  WOW we are blessed!  But before we sign off, here are a few tidbits we forgot to mention in the last updates:

-The teens did a fantastic job of collecting clothing back in the US for the orphange and for El Barrio.  We were able to deliver them in person and see the joy on the their faces.

-We were able to eat at the big Peru fast food chain-Bembo's.  They have really good hamburgers with tons of different toppings and styles

-We let Paco order Peruvian appetizers for us tonight.  We recognized the chicken, and thought the steak skewers and fried meat was really good...and then we learned that it was Cow Hearts and Gizzards!  Still pretty good though.

-A lot of us put Ahi on everything when we eat.  Ahi is a yellowish hot sauce

-A fun game to play in the vans is "Chifa."  Chifa is the Peruvian word for Chinese food, and they have stores EVERYWHERE...kind of like Starbucks in the US.

Since we will be in the desert tomorrow night, we most likely wont be able to update until Thursday morning.  See ya then!

Monday, March 29th

The word "humbled" cant even begin to describe our experience today.  We spent the entire day in El Barrio de Independencia, which is basically an extremly poor and unpovershired area on the side of a mountain.  The YMCA has a tiny community center there (its actually more like a shack), and they have volunteers who cook food for the locals and help out in other ways as well.  In this area, the poorest people live up on the very top of the mountain (this is different than the US, where wealthier individuals typically have the nice houses on the top of the mountain).  It very difficult to navigate the steps up and down the mountain, especially when carrying food from the market and/or infants and babies, which explains why the people who have a bit more money have houses at the bottom of the mountain.   Also, it seems as if "squatter's rights" applies to most of the area.  Once again, we will give you some bullets of the day:

-we mixed concrete & moved rocks to help build a wall (previously damaged by a rock slide) that will be an expansion for the community center.  The hope is that by expanding they will be able to serve more people.

-we helped women carry items (sack of potatoes, other market items, babies/infants/toddlers) from the bottom of the mountain to their house.  Typically, they lived on the VERY TOP of the mountain!  While they were shocked and astonished we wanted to carry these things for them, they were every so thankful.  Usually, they have to make numerous "pit stops" and rest before they can get all the way up the hill.

-we interacted and had fellowship with the locals adults & children, practicing our Spanish.  Doing this, we learned that even if our Spanish was not quite correct, a smile, a wave and a hug goes a long way!

-during lunch we struck up a fun game of futbol with some of the children.  The "field" we played on was concrete, tons of trash littered every corner, and we had to navigate through a bunch of dog poop and a dead bird.  It puts a lot into perspective when we complain back home if our fields aren't perfectly smooth with green grass.

-Finished the day with a big contrast to where we started.  We went to the local mall, only a few miles away from El Barrio.  Although the stores were a bit different, we felt like we could have been at home in the Triangle.  It was very tough to see all the "well off" people when we had just left an area where the people live in shacks and dont have running water.

We finished the day as usual, with a devotion and some processing of our day.  It is very apparent that our experience today as already had a huge impact on everyone, and we are all very thankful that we can love and serve the people here.  We head back to El Barrio tomorrow (to the delight of all the locals!) to finish up our work project and to love on the people as much as we can.  And since we are all very tired and sore(and havent had a shower in a few days..we are really growing close!)...off to bed! 

Sunday, March 28th

What a busy day!  We spent most of the day being tourists and exploring the city of Lima.  Since we will spend the next few days working extremly hard doing service projects, it was a nice pace.  With that being said, we are still pretty tired and know we have our work cut out for us tomorrow...so we figured we give you the bullets of the day along with some pics :)

-got an early start and headed to El Centro de Lima (Lima is divided into 43 different districts. For example, Miraflores, where we visited yesterday, is one.  Each has their own mayor, etc.  Lima has 7.5 million people living in these districts!)

-Visited the St. Fransisco Church, built in the 1600's.  Did we mention we did this on Palm Sunday?! (Domingo de Ramos) Talk about an exciting atmoshpere and buzz around the city, especially in the church.  Got to go down below the church and walk through the catacoumbs, seeing tons of bones and skulls from all the people who were buried there.  The overall structure and design of the church was absolutely breathtaking.

-Saw the Peruvian "White House," where the President lives.

-Did some shopping and bargained for some good deals in the market

-Had an amazing Peruvian lunch, a GINORMOUS buffet.  We didnt really know too much of what we were eating (causas, ceviche de pulpo, a big ole chocolate fountain to dip every and anything we wanted, etc) but it was all rather tasty and delicious.

-Went back to the YMCA for a drum box lesson.  The drum box is an instrument you sit on and hit in certain places to make music...kind of like a djembie drum.  Learned some really cool beats, including the Samba.  Parents beware...its a good possibility your child will be bringing one of these instruments home!

-Packed up some clothes for our 2 night/3 day trip to Indenpendencia.  This is a very impoverished area and we will be doing a service project during our stay here.  We are very excited to get to work to not only build a building, but to also build friendships and fellowship.  Many of these families are overwelmed by life and have nowhere to turn.  It is our prayer that WE are an answer to their prayers...that our actions will exemplify God's love for them.

Time to rest up!

Saturday, March 27^th

^{Hola Amigos!  We have made it here safely to Lima, Peru and have already had an amazing day of fun filled events.  Just to catch everyone up a bit…we had a safe flight and made it to Lima a little after 11pm.  After going through customs, we met our gracious hosts:  Paco (YMCA Director), Daniel & Andreas (YMCA staff from Columbia doing an exchange program), Laddy (Y staff), and John(Camp SeaGull counselor & Chapel Hill resident who has spent the last 3 months here helping out at the Y).  We took some time to have some fellowship with our new friends and took a peak around the Y.  This Y is nothing like anything we have back home.  While there is a pool, youth programs and group exercise classes, there is also a restaurant, bank, school, shops, and much more!  It is truly a huge asset for this community, which is very evident with the amount of people who walk through the front doors every day.  Although excitement was pumping through our veins, we knew we had to rest up for our busy week ahead.  We finally all hit the sack around 2am (which was 3am US time).}

^{Saturday morning started off to a great start, having breakfast with the CEO as well as hearing a debriefing of our week ahead.  We then started off on our journey to the orphanage, walking roughly 25 blocks through the busy streets of Lima.  By walking instead of driving, we had the opportunity to really experience the sights/smells/sounds of the city.  The orphanage was a few blocks off the main road, tucked away in a residential area.  There are roughly 20 children there, ages 3-13.  A majority of the kids are younger, and the older children are girls (the older boys go to a different orphanage).  Most of their parents have passed away or are MIA, while a few made the decision they didn’t want to care for their children anymore.  There was some anticipation while waiting for the guard to let us in.  How would the children react to us?  What if they didn’t understand English?  What on Earth could we do with them for a few hours?  As we continued these thoughts while walking through the gate, they were almost immediately erased.  After taking a few seconds to look us over, the children did something we could not have anticipated-they ran up to us and gave us the biggest, longest, heart-felt hug we could have ever imagined.  And…they didn’t let go!  These children were longing for any kind of love and affection we could give to them.  Language and cultural barriers had no affect on the unconditional love we were sharing with them.  It is not only a very humbling experience, but a reminder of how we should live our lives regarding others. After some brief introductions, we participated in a few games and some silly “repeat after me” dance songs.  The older girls even put on a show for us, doing a Peruvian dance!  Before we knew it, our time was up with our new friends.  With one more long hug, we were on our way…praying that these children would continue to receive love and affection once we were gone.}

^{We headed back to the Y for some lunch.  In Peru, lunch is the big meal, with numerous courses and big portions.  We scarfed down as much as we could and had a little free time before our next activity.  While the girls rested up, the guys decided to start a pick-up futbol (yes, that’s soccer) game with some of the local youngsters who were playing on the concrete field at the Y.  They were REALLY good!  After that, the guys were invited to play in another pick-up game with some younger adults.  It is truly amazing how soccer/futbol is the universal language.  It was great sharing some fellowship with them, and they were disappointed to learn we couldn’t join them next Saturday for a game.} 

^{The afternoon was reserved for a quick tour around Miraflores, one of the areas in Lima.  While predominately known as a tourist area, there is also a lot of interesting history that dates back to the Inca’s hundreds of years ago.  We decided to learn in style, atop a double-decker sightseeing bus.  After all that learning, Paco decided he needed to treat us to ice cream…and that he did, with a gorgeous view overlooking the Pacific Ocean.  We then headed back to the Y for some dinner, and changed for our trip to the Water Park.  However, this Water Park is a little different than ones we are used to back in the States.  If you’ve ever seen the water show in front of the Bellagio in Las Vegas, it’s kind of like that…on steroids!  There were around 15 fountains in a beautiful city park, all dancing and moving to different music and all the while changing colors.  At the end of the walking tour, there is one fountain that people can go in.  It shoots up water at different places and times, and there is a 100% chance you will get wet…we had a blast!}

Tomorrow will be another great day as well.  We will tour a different part of Lima, then pack up and head to Independencia to get settled for our huge work project on Monday & Tuesday.   Talk to you soon!

A New Adventure...PERU!


A group of dedicated and passionate teenagers will be traveling to Peru from Friday, March 26th-Saturday, April 3rd.  We are very excited to be able to show God's love by serving others!

Here are prayer requests we would love for you to lift up during our time there:

1) Safety-Please pray for our safety as we not only travel out of the country, but through many different areas of Peru

2) The people of Peru-that their lives will be changed and impacted!


3) Energy and good health-that we can work enthusiastically for the LORD!


4) Families-for our families back in the US, that they will be protected and safe while we are gone.


As of now, here is our tentative schedule:

Friday, March 26th-arrive in Peru
Saturday, March 27th-visit to orphanage
Sunday, March 28th-historical tour of Lima
Monday, March 29th-service project, building a community kitchen in a low-income village area
Tuesday, March 30th-project, building a community kitchen in a low-income village area
Wednesday, March 31st-ecotourism!  (desert trip, dune buggy rides, sand boarding, camp out)
Thursday, April 1st-ecotoursim!  (Ballestas Island tour, wildlife reserve, beach)
Friday, April 2nd-ecotourim!  (aqua trekking, fun at Y Camp)
Saturday, April 3rd-return home