Friday, March 14, 2014

Day 7 - It rains again in Pachacutec

Day 7. 
Final day in Pachacutec. 
It's going to rain again today. : ) 

It's 11 pm, and I confess that I'm very tired, so if there are mistakes in this blog entry Christine....oh well. 

We had a very good day today.  


 Everyone was up and ready to go by 7 am. 
Even Lucy...can't you tell? 


 Again people read the blog. 
Here's proof.  


 Julia having a moment of solitude.  

 We read all your wonderful comments again this morning and then had our small group time.  


 I scared Sarah with this picture.  : )


 Breakfast was at 7:30.  I greeted everyone with high 5's again. 




 The translators took the morning to translate notes for us to give to people in Gamaliel church. 


 They did a marvelous job.  


 Kitchen crew.  


 Wilma with her daily cup of tea...or is that coffee. 
Sorry Trinity, I got you in that picture too.  


 Carmen with her cup of coffee.  
Needs that to jump start her day.  

 Michelle ready to face the day.  


 Ben with that face again.  
Lori Anne enjoying doing dishes, I think.  : )


 Martin hard at work. 
It's been fun to have Martin around for the week.  


 Hi Sarah...you still look scared.  Relax!!

 Robert examining his glasses. 
Don't worry Robert, you have a designer pair waiting for you at home.  .  : )  


 After breakfast we took some time to relax. Josh playing catch. 


 Anika and Trinity horsing around.  


 Anika and Tobie. 
You know, Tobie, it's been good getting pictures of you lately.  You must be relaxing.  : ) 


 On the buses and off to Pachacutec.  
The chickens awaiting a buyer. 

 We arrived at Gamaliel church to find the children in the library today.  They were having dance classes. 
We stayed outside and organized ourselves.  


 Brenda and Colin.  They have had a great time once again in Peru.  


 The city police getting to know Steve.  All good. 




 Home visits. 
Brenda sharing some pictures of back home.  


 The group with the family.  
Home visits are always a highlight for those who go.  


 We talk an pray and share. 
Wonderful times for us and our hosts. 


 A group picture. 

 We also went to the El Refugio again. Anika made friends with this child pretty quickly.  


 Pastor Steve with his new found friends. 


 The children are active and happy.  


 Trinity enjoying her time . 

 Julia working hard as usual. 

 Cindy enjoying the children.  


 The landscape. 
Lots of hills with lots of houses. 


 Brenda and Cynthia.  
We have really enjoyed our translators again this year.  


 We went to a different special needs site today. 
Sergio led the bus driver to it. 


 Robert playing catch with one of the residents. 

 Blowing bubbles Ben?  


 Sheila makes a new friend.  

 Bea in the thick of things, as usual.  


 Nancy falling in love once again.  


 Games to be played by all.  


Sarah helping with a craft. 
I haven't said this yet Sarah, but it's been nice to have you on this trip. 
I haven't always been able to spend time with you, but you seem to be enjoying yourself.   

 Time for lunch.  


 This girl latched on to Miranda....


 ...and they became fast friends.  
Neat. 


 I think I'm switching back to the orphanage again.  
I'm tired.  : )  

 Marsha had an awesome morning.  


 Trinity would love to take all these children home with her.  

 Gerry playing with the children. 
He's a ham, but a sweet man. 




I spent the morning talking over ministry stuff with Erin and Pepe.
We also got lunch ready for the crew and make this Jenga tower out of the juice boxes.   


 Colin has taken over my camera about mid way through this trip.  We now have tonnes of pictures to wade through, but they are pretty good ones from both Chris and Colin. 


 A lunch time nap.  
Well deserved. 

 Balloons were made for every child today.  


 Just before VBS, I was able to give Pastor Sergio three donated lap tops for the school. They were needed, and appreciated.  Use them well Sergio. 

 Pastor Steve got the chance to sit down with Pastor Sergio too, just to talk about ministry. 
I will get that chance hopefully on Sunday or Monday. 


 The teachers held one last Q & A today at the teacher's request.  


 The group split up into two and took time to answer questions from the school teachers.  This wasn't in the plan, but it was in God's plan.  

 Time to welcome the children again, for the last time. 
Sandy showing off his talents. 

 Silke continues with face painting. 
They have painted a lot of faces this week.  


 Steve playing frisbee. 

 There were more women today for the women's group. 
Neat to see. 

 Cheryl teaching another lady how to knit. 

Annette both learning and teaching. How's my scarf coming along.   

 Tobie with a child in tow.  

 Wilma opened our VBS in prayer this afternoon. 




Annette fell in love with this little one. 
Wanted to take her home. 
Sorry Annette....no can do.  : ) 


 Time for more songs to get everyone energized. 



Drama time. 


 Many of our group would usually have two or three children near us, or on our laps, like Laura is having today.  


 And Anika.  


 After drama it was time for a game. 


 The idea was to get the  hoola hoop around the circle without letting go of each other's hands. 
Everyone enjoyed it.   

 Erin always smiling. 
She's so pregnant, yet doesn't miss a beat when it comes to working.  Amazing women.  

 Craft time was next.  
Cindy helped with tying these strings on to balloons.  We made balloons today with nice comments on them, and the idea was to have the children give them to someone else they know sometime in the next days.  


 The group after Craft time.  



 After I lead out the children in the train of salvation, as I have come to know it, it was time to say good bye. 


 Lots of hugs between children and our team. 

 And within our team.  


 Sarah saying goodbye

 Brenda not wanting to let go.  


 Andrew was touched this week by all he saw. 
He had a hard time saying goodbye today. 

 As did Sheldon. 
It rained in Pachacutec again today. 
The tears were flowing.  
Touching to watch and be a part of.  


 Great to see families come to Peru too. 
Lots of memories to share together for years to come. 

 After our good bye's it was time to go back into the sanctuary for a short program.  Pastor Sergio gave us words of thanks and farewell.  


 Genesis and a friend of hers sang us a song.  The girl on the right was there for moral support. 


 Pastor Sergio gave both churches another gift. This is a leather picture, framed.  Beautiful. 



 I love that Pastor Sergio. 
Such a love for God and for his church and for us. 
I thanked him for all his work and tireless efforts. 
I said he had the strength of four men.  He commented back that usually by about 11 pm he started to feel tired.  : ) 


 Both Steve and I received smaller plaques as well. 
A wonderful gift. 

 We ended our time in prayer together. 
Pastor Steve first prayed for Pastor Sergio, and then Sergio prayed for our churches and his church.  

We then formed a circle around those from Gamaliel church, and Erin and Pepe and our translators. 
I asked our group to pray for anything they wanted to in a popcorn type prayer.  It was beautiful to hear the prayers of God's people. 
We ended by singing, "My friends may you grow in grace". The second time we sang the song, Ines translated the words. 
The neat part was that Andrew was thinking we should sing this song, and if we did, the second time through it should be translated into Spanish. God answered his prayers.  


 It was neat to watch this from the stage area.  


 After a quieter ride home, it was time for supper. 
Our cook was hard at work.  


 Today it was beef and rice and potatoes with watermelon for dessert. 

 Lori Anne in her usually evening attire.  

Before we finished out our evening, it was time for one last video blog session.  I sat in on one. 
I hope these will be viewed again sometime and these people will be able to re process their experiences and continue to be shaped by them. 

We closed out our evening by writing nice comments to each other.  I treated the group to Inca cola, coca cola and some beer and wine for those over 19.  A small thank you for all the hard work done. 

So ends Day 7.  
Tomorrow we become tourists for the day. 
I will blog tomorrow, tomorrow evening, and if you wish to still post comments, I will post them for the group to read upon their return.  I will stay behind with Sarah and will blog our time with our Compassion children if you care to read.  

For now,  we cherish the time we have had here in Peru. New friendships made in Gamaliel, and with our translators.  We have seen God at work in our lives and the lives of those we have met. 
We have been a neighbour to people we don't even know, and I hope we can be neighbours to people in our own communities when we return.  

It's time for bed now. Thanks for taking the time to read, and be part of this adventure with us. We have appreciated your support and the many wonderful comments. 

Until tomorrow then.........

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow looks like an awesome day, glad to pictures of you (robert ) at the special needs school, and playing catch no less, but I hope you have all 10 fingers still. And they all go the same direction, goodbyes after a long week blessed by GOD always the hardest it looks like even Robert shed a tear,
Now to explain the photo of Bens face a Lori Ann doing the dishes she farted, Ron I guess you don't know Lori Ann to much, be thankful,
I miss you all so much, see you when you get back,
And Lucy if you get bored in the airport Rap
Jackie

Maj-Len Wallace said...

I have been following your blog this week and have been touched by the amount of love shown for the people there and for each other. Amazing how a hug transcends language.
Tobie and Lucy look so much older than when they babysat our grandkids. Nice to see so many familiar faces.
Maj-Len Wallace

Christine Admiral said...

Don't get me wrong Ron, I actually enjoy the spelling mistakes. But they do seem to be missing, I think that your theory about John B might be right.
Oh and translating My Friends May You Grow into Spanish, what a great idea, I wonder where I've heard of that before.... :)

Anonymous said...

To Chris, Simon, and any other nerds there:
Happy Pi Day !

Gordon said...

wow! the week has flown by... it seems like you are finally at home there and now it's time to go - it's been great sharing your adventure from here by seeing all the pictures!

csvanarragon said...

To God be the glory! God knits us together amazingly, according to his plans. We keep praying for all of you and for the gifts of Peru that you bring back with you! Cathy and Leo