Peru, Part 1

Last week, I was in Peru with Compassion International, from the 13th through the 21st, to be exact.

I left my house at 4 AM on the 13th and after four airports and three flights, landed in Lima at 9 PM (10 PM Eastern).

It was my first time really being out of the US.  I have been to Canada, Bermuda, and the Bahamas, but South America is a totally different story.  It was my first time in a country whose official language was not English.  I have been studying Spanish (mostly on my own) for about a year and a half, but I have a LONG way to go before I am fluent.

The next morning, we split into two groups (over 50 people total) to go to a church service at a Compassion church partner.  At the church where my group went, the children were waiting to greet us outside the church.  I was SOOOOO excited to see them!  That was my main reason for going to Peru--to see the children, especially the boy (young man) I sponsor.

When we walked into the church, the people were already seated for the service, and they clapped for each of us!  I kept thinking, "I don't deserve this."  The pastor at the church spoke about giving to the poor.  Seriously???  Man, that was humbling!!  The pastor and people of this church are the ones who deserve the recognition.

After the service, we were treated to snacks, mostly pastries, that were made by the teenagers of the church.  I don't even know what it all was, but I do know it was incredibly delicious!  The center has a cooking class for the teenagers.  I was very impressed with that because I believe that cooking is a very important skill to learn.  Those teenagers will be able to use their skill to make money.  Believe me, I would buy their pastries!!

Two of the teenagers and one of our translators

After church, we went to a restaurant next to the ocean to have lunch.  I learned that Peruvian time is NOT the same as US time.  We were eating lunch at 3 and didn't finish until 6.

The food was amazing!  I felt guilty for having such awesome food, knowing that so many in Peru have barely any food.

Appetizer that I couldn't eat because it had shellfish in it. Notice the tiny octopus. 

This is purple corn juice--chicha.  It is very popular in Peru, and I liked it a lot.

Here are a few shots I took outside the restaurant:

When we returned to the hotel, we met with eight LDP students.  It was amazing to hear them speak.  I knew that LDP is hard to get into, but I didn't realize all that is involved.  They have to go before a panel of judges who show no emotion when they interview the students.  They go through a series of three interviews.  If the make it into the program, they not only have to study, but they also have to serve at their church and do community work.  I have a new appreciation of that program.

That was all for the first day.  The second day, we spent TEN hours in a bus going over the Andes mountain to the jungle.  I was so afraid of getting altitude or motion sickness, but I got neither.  Well, I did get a very bad headache as we drove toward our highest point, 14,800 feet, but it subsided once we began our descent.

We thought the trip would take five hours, so it was a little difficult for us to cope with the ten.  The road is very narrow, very twisty, and has no guard rail in most areas.  We were in a double-decker bus that often had to drive into the left line to make the turns because they were like very tight U turns.  It was unbelievable!  I went from living 8 feet above sea level to riding on a bus almost 15,000 feet above sea level.  Even the people from Colorado said that they no longer consider the Rockies to be mountains after seeing the Andes.  I'm including a few pictures.  I have lots and lots.  (Of course)

When we finally arrived at the hotel in the jungle town, La Merced, we found that there were not enough rooms because another group had stayed over (although that was worked out somehow).  I was given a key (not a card, a key) to a room and when I unlocked the door, I found that it was already occupied.  Thank God the people weren't in the room, just their belongings.  Just as I was about to go back to the desk, a girl ran up with another key.  Whew!

THEN . . . the power went out!  It was very hot and humid, of course, which I didn't mind at all.  It really wasn't different from Virginia Beach in the summer, which I love.  Some of our group members were even trapped in the elevator!  That wasn't funny until they started to climb out.  Then we laughed really hard.  The power kept coming on and going back off.  I thought it was funny; others . . . not so much.  But I mean, we were in a third world country, after all.  I was just so excited about being able to visit the children the next day that I was not concerned about being personally uncomfortable.

At least I know I will never forget that night.

Go to Part 2. 

Great Things Await Me

So . . . ever since I signed up for the trip to Peru, I have face a lot of adversity.  Nothing really, really bad, but enough to wear me down.  It's mostly from work, with people criticizing me even though I take great pride in going beyond what is expected of me, and MORE people compliment me and thank me for my help.

Why is it the negative ones that stick with us?  As tobyMac said recently, I don't want to fall into "Christianese," but I am fighting a spiritual battle at work.

July was my one month off (I am an 11-month school employee), so I was looking forward to resting and being refreshed.  Instead, I spent the month taking care of my 17-year-old nephew who broke his ankle badly on my first day of vacation.  I wouldn't trade that time with him for anything, but it took its toll on me.

Now I have received my travel packet from Compassion and found that my last name is misspelled on  my ticket from Miami to Lima.  Needless to say, it doesn't match the name on my passport.  This does not bode well.  However, the Compassion trip leader has assured me that he can fix it easily on Monday morning.

I feel very discouraged in my life.  I know it's my fault because I have to change my focus and not allow "things" to get me down.  I feel as if I keep getting kicked in the same spot, and it hurts more each time.  One hit on a football player is okay, but when half the team "piles on," bad stuff can happen.  Unless you're Hines Ward and you're made of steel and just get up smiling no matter how much it hurts.

¡Muchas montañas!

What I believe with all that has happened in the last few months is that Satan really doesn't want me to go to Peru.  I have felt like giving up many times.  I feel so inadequate.  I don't think I know enough Spanish (because I'm a perfectionist) even though I've been studying.  I feel like I won't do a good job with the children, even though I'm a teacher, and that's my God-given strength.  I'm afraid I will get sick when we travel over the mountains into the jungle.  I live at sea level, and we will be going 15,000 feet above sea level!
I wish I were in better physical shape so that I wouldn't get tired and I would look better when I meet my sponsored child, but a foot injury, for which I will have surgery and miss three months of work when I return from Peru, has kept me from working out the way I like.  Yet another obstacle.

All this discouragement that I feel and the obstacles I've faced tells me that great things will happen in Peru.  I know it will be a life-changing event, but I believe it will go beyond that.  There are forces trying to keep me out of that country.

Something great from God awaits me.

If Only I Had Known . . .

Dear God,

When You first spoke to my heart about child sponsorship at that newsboys’ concert a few years ago (You know exactly how many, but I don’t remember), I had no idea at the time that it would be a life changing experience.

Well, You know that I didn’t respond that night.  Something kept me from it.  I think we left right away, and I used that as my “out.”  I was afraid to make a monthly financial commitment because You know how much anxiety I have about finances.  I sometimes wonder if a child suffered because I didn’t listen to You.

If only I had known . . . . . 

But You didn’t let go.  There they were again--newsboys--talking about helping our neighbors in Mexico, and I knew I couldn’t walk away this time.  It’s really amazing to look back at how You design everything to fall into place in my life, so that my life follows the plan You have for it, even if I’m sometimes too thick-headed to respond right away.  How many times have I cried to You out of loneliness because I have no family, because people look down on me for having no children of my own?

But You gave me children.  Lots of them.  They are my family--those sweet Compassion children.  And in them I see You.  They love so freely.  They don’t know me.  They’ve never met me.  Yet they love me.  They send me “besos y abrazos” with every letter, and I accept those as Your love for me.

You have taught me so much through them, to look beyond my own selfish world to see a hurting and devastated world that needs Your love, to see how little these children have when I thought I was the one with very little.  I have so much.

They have changed my life.  They have filled my life.  I needed a reason to live, and You gave me my Compassion children.  Now I know that someone needs me, someone loves me, someone depends on me.  I’m important.  ME.  Important.

I signed on to give to them, to help them, but You have given so much to me through them.

And now . . . as I prepare to meet one of them in person, I am amazed beyond words at what you have done with my life, from a small village in Ohio where I had little, knew very little love, to a week in Peru ministering to your children and fulfilling the dream of one very special one.  I can’t even imagine what You will do with my heart during that week and that one very special day that I will spend with Jack.

I can’t imagine why You have chosen me, but I am grateful that You entrust me with Your very precious children.

Mi niña en Ecuador

http://www.compassion.com/sponsor_a_child/default.htm

Sponsor a Child Today

When you walk into a 7-11 or other convenience store, do you ever think about how you could spend your money more wisely?  $1.69 for a 20 oz. Diet Coke (that's my vice)?  That's more than many villages in Africa average in a month.  An entire month.  Think about that . . . .

Can we even imagine?

When you look at the Big Bites and the Breakfast Bites and . . . to be honest, I don't even know what they sell back there because I stay away.  But what I do know is that we have SO much, and SO many have SO  little.  Why?  Why must wee keep it all to ourselves?

I cringe when I hear how much the people who are in line in front of me are spending on lottery tickets, cigarettes, alcohol, and horribly unhealthy food.  What I could do with that money to help those who can't even afford a $1.25 shot for malaria!

But I help a few.  I help those I sponsor.  I help those to whom I send money to Compassion for mosquito nets.  I help those who are sponsored because of my testimony.

So why not jump on board?  Why do we keep living in our small worlds, wishing, drooling over, hoping for the latest tech gadget (all Apple for me) when someone like my Francis finds it a treat just to have a glass of milk for breakfast?

I'm Marilu, and I'm 3 years old.

I waited for about seven years between the time I first heard about Compassion at a newsboys' concert to the time I sponsored my first child when I heard Michael Tait (now with newsboys) talk about how we should help our neighbors in Mexico.  How many children needed me in those seven years that I thought I couldn't sacrifice just $38 a month to help them go to school, get medical care for them, sometimes even save their lives?

Don't wait any longer.  Sponsor a child today by clicking here.

It will enrich your life beyond what you could ever imagine.

Compassion's Child Survival Program

Will you consider supporting a Child Survival Program for only $20/month?  I support one in Haiti.

Here are some other videos and information about Compassion's CSP.  It is an awesome program.

http://www.compassion.com/help-babies/csp-advocates-videos.htm

Enjoy Every Moment

On Monday, the 2nd, I was thinking about how I often wish away my time.  There are so many things I was looking forward to--a trip to Pittsburgh this weekend with my nephew to see the Pirates, a Compassion Advocates retreat the following weekend, and the ultimate--my tip to Perú in October.
Then I realized, hey, this is my month off from work, and I'm wishing it away.  So I decided that I need to remember to treasure each moment, and even though I look forward to those events, not to wish the days away so that I can get to them.

Then I got a call from my brother at 6:30 on Tuesday morning.  I sleep really deeply, so I didn't wake up right away, and I was so groggy that I couldn't find my phone in time to answer.  But I thought, "If he's calling me this early, something happened to one of his kids."

That was confirmed when I called him back.  My 17-year-old nephew had flipped a street legal golf cart and completely destroyed all the bones in his ankle.  I went to the hospital to be with him while he waited for surgery--reconstructive surgery.  The most difficult thing I've ever had to do was watch him lie there in excruciating pain.

My nephew is like my own son.  We have been close friends since he was first born.  We have traveled the country visiting various baseball parks.  When he was younger, he used to call me and ask me to "tum pick me up" so he could spend the weekend with me.  He has often said he wishes I could be his mom.

Watching him was like watching my own child.

The surgery was a success (thanks to a lot of metal), and on Wednesday, we were able to go on a little adventure in a wheelchair three floors down to the vending machine, and then go back up to his floor to watch fireworks from across the river in Norfolk.  It was something I will always remember.

I am reminded again not to wish away my time.  The trip to Pittsburgh is off, of course.  I might not make it to the Compassion Advocates Retreat.  But the most important thing is for me to help my brother with my nephew and treasure every moment I have with him.

Los Dibujos de Isaac

I love Isaac's drawings.  Even though he's been writing his own letters since I started sponsoring him when he was 7, he always draws.  I have fun trying to figure out what each item is, and his drawings have become more detailed.  I share them here for your enjoyment.

Parachuting off a tree house?

Clearly, a volcano