To all!
I am so sorry that I have waited so long to finish writing about my trip. I have been home well over a month and am finally getting around to placing an "!" on this trip.
Friday was a real blessed day! We had lunch in the barrio and got a chance to spend the afternoon with the adults with those who will continue on the work that has started here. We spent some time getting ready for some games with the adults and then dinner before a Friday night teaching season.
Oh....Loys and I had a bet all week. He challenged me to a picarone making contest. Now...I didn't have a clue how to make these.... I did find a video on YouTube that showed the technique, but Loys wouldn't let me do it that way. Loys declared himself the winner after three rounds. I my mind it was a tie..... The bet...if I won Loys had to wear one of my shirts. If Loys won, I would have to fit in one of his shirts. Needless to say, I am a little bit bigger than Loys. I did get in the shirt. It was good fun!
As I mentioned in Thursday's blog, Friday was my night to deliver a lesson. For those who really know me will understand when I say I wrestled with this for weeks leading up to our trip and for the entire week we were there. I have to thank a brother in Christ and a former team member for sitting with me and helping me work through some ideas. Without some council from Roger Winkles.....and some help with reading material from Pastor Roger Storms and of course some divine guidance....I would not have found the ability to do this! Thanks to the two Rogers and I thank God for ultimately helping me find the right words. I also thank God for Kris who translated without a script. I really believe the Holy Spirit was guiding the two of us
I spoke to the community leaders about leadership and what is expect from us as leaders in the church, but more importantly what is expect from us as Christians and christian leaders. If what I understood Loys told them following our talk and told me in private as we were getting ready to leave the barrio....the talk was right on the mark. It was the reinforcement they needed after similar lessons with Loys!
Leaving doesn't get any easier and this time was even tougher. I have been telling many of you who have been so faithful in supporting me the past four years, that this will me my last trip there with a group on a mission trip. I believed this because of the demands of my new job, my involvement as a member of the board from Project New Hope International, the belief that God is just preparing me for something else now and that it really is time for someone else to have the fun I have had. None the less, this was by far the most difficult in leaving behind the good friends I have made over the last four years. I have a great deal of love for so many that are in that barrio....Anita and her family, Elizabeth, Carol and the rest of their family, Anna, Mari, Yoler, Rosa, Carlita, Gonzalo and Loys and Theresa. There are so many that have given their lives to Christ in the last four years and I am so proud to call them my Brothers and Sisters in Christ. Do they have work to do and growth to attain? No question....but they have a real understanding what life with Christ can mean.
Now to all of you who had a part in my trips the last four year! Thank you for your support through prayer. Thank you for your support in funds as well! I could not have done any of this without your support. It is pretty amazing to know that you have a group of 30 or more who saw the vision that I had and jumped in and provided the way and provided prayers for our work! I want you to know you played a huge roll in furthering the Kingdom of God and have truly helped lead so many to Christ! Thank You!
Mitch
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Thursday, July 09, 2009
Thursday, July 9th, 2009
Family and Friends,
I can not tell you how proud I am of my team. This has been an amazing week and it is hard to believe that tomorrow is the last day. It has been so rewarding.
This morning we were met by about 50 kids this morning. Loys and his team had activities all set up for the kids. We fed them, told them a story about Noah and the Ark and did our butterfly craft. We used coffee filters colored with water color markers, then sprayed them with water so the colors mixed and made little antena out of pipe cleaners to make a butterfly. The kids, ranging in age 3 to 5, had a great time creating the butterfly.
We spent most of the early part of the afternoon getting ready for our party with the youth. These would be age 13 to 20 year olds. We decorated the community center with ballons and streamers and then got ready for an obstacle course rely race. Let me explain....we put three poles in the ground....set up tires for the agility part of it and a beam for the last part of the course. It was the gringos vs. the Peruanas......Here is how it worked....seven people to a side for seven seperate stations. The first two people had to pop a series of three ballons....one with confetti, one with water and one with flour. The second person also had to jump rope three times.... Person number three(me..no one else wanted to risk getting sick from the water) had to bob for two apples and move them from one container to the next. Person four ran the tires...person five had to move four glasses of a peruvian corn drink under, over and under ropes and then fill a container at the other end before tagging person number five. Person six had to walk two beams and person number seven had to eat five marshmellows. After person seven eat the marshmellows....all seven had to fit into a small tent and zip it up and the time was recorded. Best time won. The gringos came in 3rd.....not bad considering our seven probably could equal 12 peruana. LOL Great fun!
Kris gave a talk to the teens about the possibilitys they have to change the way their lives are by just following Christ and gave her testimony and then we shared a meal with the teens. These kids crave the attention just like the little ones do, but are often the ones that get forgetten because they are more grown up.
One more day in the barrio. We are going to finish up some work tomorrow and then I am going to have the last word. I have been asked to talk to the community leaders about leadership. It will not be long and the Loys and Theresa will move to another barrio and start over. They will not leave this barrio high and dry. They will still spend time there, but the concentration will be to start helping another barrio come to Christ and build leadership! I think it is somewhat fitting that the last word will come from me on this my last trip leading. Makes me sad to think about it!
I know I have not posted pictures the last couple of nights. I will post some when I get back to the Valley. It has been a bit busy the last couple of days....trying find the right words to put into my lesson and to make them meaningful! Keep me in your prayers over the next 24 hours that I can give my brothers and sisters in the barrio the right encouragement and that God gives me the right words. Pray for Kris too....she has to translate on the fly for me!
Love to all!
Mitch
I can not tell you how proud I am of my team. This has been an amazing week and it is hard to believe that tomorrow is the last day. It has been so rewarding.
This morning we were met by about 50 kids this morning. Loys and his team had activities all set up for the kids. We fed them, told them a story about Noah and the Ark and did our butterfly craft. We used coffee filters colored with water color markers, then sprayed them with water so the colors mixed and made little antena out of pipe cleaners to make a butterfly. The kids, ranging in age 3 to 5, had a great time creating the butterfly.
We spent most of the early part of the afternoon getting ready for our party with the youth. These would be age 13 to 20 year olds. We decorated the community center with ballons and streamers and then got ready for an obstacle course rely race. Let me explain....we put three poles in the ground....set up tires for the agility part of it and a beam for the last part of the course. It was the gringos vs. the Peruanas......Here is how it worked....seven people to a side for seven seperate stations. The first two people had to pop a series of three ballons....one with confetti, one with water and one with flour. The second person also had to jump rope three times.... Person number three(me..no one else wanted to risk getting sick from the water) had to bob for two apples and move them from one container to the next. Person four ran the tires...person five had to move four glasses of a peruvian corn drink under, over and under ropes and then fill a container at the other end before tagging person number five. Person six had to walk two beams and person number seven had to eat five marshmellows. After person seven eat the marshmellows....all seven had to fit into a small tent and zip it up and the time was recorded. Best time won. The gringos came in 3rd.....not bad considering our seven probably could equal 12 peruana. LOL Great fun!
Kris gave a talk to the teens about the possibilitys they have to change the way their lives are by just following Christ and gave her testimony and then we shared a meal with the teens. These kids crave the attention just like the little ones do, but are often the ones that get forgetten because they are more grown up.
One more day in the barrio. We are going to finish up some work tomorrow and then I am going to have the last word. I have been asked to talk to the community leaders about leadership. It will not be long and the Loys and Theresa will move to another barrio and start over. They will not leave this barrio high and dry. They will still spend time there, but the concentration will be to start helping another barrio come to Christ and build leadership! I think it is somewhat fitting that the last word will come from me on this my last trip leading. Makes me sad to think about it!
I know I have not posted pictures the last couple of nights. I will post some when I get back to the Valley. It has been a bit busy the last couple of days....trying find the right words to put into my lesson and to make them meaningful! Keep me in your prayers over the next 24 hours that I can give my brothers and sisters in the barrio the right encouragement and that God gives me the right words. Pray for Kris too....she has to translate on the fly for me!
Love to all!
Mitch
Wednesday, July 08, 2009
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Well....Just two days remaining in our mission trip to Peru this year and I can feel some of the sadness sneaking into my heart. I guess I kind of expected it to happen.
This was acutally the first day I have seen Annita. She has apparently been in the jungle working. If I got the story right she is working to buy wood so that she can start her own business. It was so good to see her today. I also got a chance to talk to Carolina for a bit too! She is doing well in school and is learning english. She says she doesn´t like it very much! I also got a chance to talk to Annita´s other daughter Rosa and Ruth! They are both living in Argentina and have started a church! I believe this mission is making a big difference.
Our day included the delivery of five more gifts to some of the women that host groups. Some are hosting story groups for the children and the youth and others host groups for adults. Each one of them is eager to continue to learn and then to start new groups placing others in charge of teaching.
This afternoon the ladies of our group met with about 40 women from the barrio and Tori Reef gave her testimony and then gave a little talk about prayer. We had Danell buy 40 wooden boxes for making prayer boxes and then we had the women painted them. They will use them to write they´re prayers out on a piece of paper. They idea is to put their papers in the box and from time to time look back and see how God works in their lives.
Dan and I continued doing some construction work this afternoon. The school building that we worked on last year is almost done. We have put two more walls up and started drywalling. They will likely put the roof on it once we are gone.
Tomorrow will no doubt be a very exciting day. We are going to have some fun with some of the young kids late in the morning and the tomorrow night we are going to have a party for the teen group. We are going to play some games, eat and Kris is going to talk about what it means to be a young person, a Christian and the responisbility they have and ability the have to change their directions. Should be an amazing night!
God Bless!
Mitch
This was acutally the first day I have seen Annita. She has apparently been in the jungle working. If I got the story right she is working to buy wood so that she can start her own business. It was so good to see her today. I also got a chance to talk to Carolina for a bit too! She is doing well in school and is learning english. She says she doesn´t like it very much! I also got a chance to talk to Annita´s other daughter Rosa and Ruth! They are both living in Argentina and have started a church! I believe this mission is making a big difference.
Our day included the delivery of five more gifts to some of the women that host groups. Some are hosting story groups for the children and the youth and others host groups for adults. Each one of them is eager to continue to learn and then to start new groups placing others in charge of teaching.
This afternoon the ladies of our group met with about 40 women from the barrio and Tori Reef gave her testimony and then gave a little talk about prayer. We had Danell buy 40 wooden boxes for making prayer boxes and then we had the women painted them. They will use them to write they´re prayers out on a piece of paper. They idea is to put their papers in the box and from time to time look back and see how God works in their lives.
Dan and I continued doing some construction work this afternoon. The school building that we worked on last year is almost done. We have put two more walls up and started drywalling. They will likely put the roof on it once we are gone.
Tomorrow will no doubt be a very exciting day. We are going to have some fun with some of the young kids late in the morning and the tomorrow night we are going to have a party for the teen group. We are going to play some games, eat and Kris is going to talk about what it means to be a young person, a Christian and the responisbility they have and ability the have to change their directions. Should be an amazing night!
God Bless!
Mitch
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Family and friends....
I hope this finds everyone well! We are having the time of our life. What a great day in the barrio.
Relationship building to me is one of the most important aspects of our journeys to Peru. Those feelings were strengthened today. We did do some real work sanding and painting three walls in the classroom building next to the community center.
We also put up another wall, that will get drywall on it before we leave.
However, I think the best part of the day was taking some gifts that we had Loys and Danell purchase before we came to five women that host either a home church, a bible study for adults or bible study for the youth. The joy those gifts brought was amazing. We let them know that we were presenting them these duplicate what they were doing.
I want to tell you a little story about one of the women. Her name is Carmen. Most of her family are Jehovah Witness. She is hosting a group of youth and adults for bible study. She is the only professed Christian in her household.
All of her children and grown and are not abusive. Yet she had such a strength and said that she prays ever day that God will change her family's heart. She prays everyday for a changed man in her husband. She sets an example for all of them and knows that God will hear her prayers. What a beautiful lady!
After lunch we planned visits to the house of Henry and Maria, two of the kids that our group has gotten to know from day one four years ago. We also had a visit planned to see Annabelle. We had some gifts that we brought from three former team members.
Debra.....I was mistaken...Henry has grown and all the clothes will fit him perfectly. The sandals you sent were the perfect size.
When we got there he was wearing sandals twice the size of his feet. And tell Andrew that Henry loved everything he picked out.
Melanie....Maria had a glow about her when we told her to take a seat on the couch and that we had brought her something too! She loves the pictures and just loved everything you sent to her. She to has grown into quite the young lady.
You will be please to know that she is involved in Fuentes(story telling) to the younger kids. Now to make you jealous.......I get a big hug from her every day. I will give her several from you!
Roger and Livonia and family....Annabelle is getting bigger too and she is still such a doll. Her smiles when she greets us each day is priceless.
She loves everything you sent! You know that she loves to write and her eyes lit up at all the notebooks. But I have to tell you....above all else....her eyes were bright with joy as she found the photo book. I believe that it will be the gift she will enjoy the most for a long time to come.
I think that will do it for tonight! Back to the barrio tomorrow. We have five more gifts to deliver and we are going to talk about prayer with 40 of the women from the barrio.
Good night from Trujillo, Peru
God Bless....
Mitch
I hope this finds everyone well! We are having the time of our life. What a great day in the barrio.
Relationship building to me is one of the most important aspects of our journeys to Peru. Those feelings were strengthened today. We did do some real work sanding and painting three walls in the classroom building next to the community center.
We also put up another wall, that will get drywall on it before we leave.However, I think the best part of the day was taking some gifts that we had Loys and Danell purchase before we came to five women that host either a home church, a bible study for adults or bible study for the youth. The joy those gifts brought was amazing. We let them know that we were presenting them these duplicate what they were doing.
I want to tell you a little story about one of the women. Her name is Carmen. Most of her family are Jehovah Witness. She is hosting a group of youth and adults for bible study. She is the only professed Christian in her household.
All of her children and grown and are not abusive. Yet she had such a strength and said that she prays ever day that God will change her family's heart. She prays everyday for a changed man in her husband. She sets an example for all of them and knows that God will hear her prayers. What a beautiful lady!After lunch we planned visits to the house of Henry and Maria, two of the kids that our group has gotten to know from day one four years ago. We also had a visit planned to see Annabelle. We had some gifts that we brought from three former team members.
Debra.....I was mistaken...Henry has grown and all the clothes will fit him perfectly. The sandals you sent were the perfect size.
When we got there he was wearing sandals twice the size of his feet. And tell Andrew that Henry loved everything he picked out.Melanie....Maria had a glow about her when we told her to take a seat on the couch and that we had brought her something too! She loves the pictures and just loved everything you sent to her. She to has grown into quite the young lady.
You will be please to know that she is involved in Fuentes(story telling) to the younger kids. Now to make you jealous.......I get a big hug from her every day. I will give her several from you!Roger and Livonia and family....Annabelle is getting bigger too and she is still such a doll. Her smiles when she greets us each day is priceless.
She loves everything you sent! You know that she loves to write and her eyes lit up at all the notebooks. But I have to tell you....above all else....her eyes were bright with joy as she found the photo book. I believe that it will be the gift she will enjoy the most for a long time to come.I think that will do it for tonight! Back to the barrio tomorrow. We have five more gifts to deliver and we are going to talk about prayer with 40 of the women from the barrio.
Good night from Trujillo, Peru
God Bless....
Mitch
Monday, July 06, 2009
Monday, July 6th
Hello to all!
I do not have a lot to add tonight. It has been a real good day. We spent the day in Trujillo taking in some of the local sights. Even though Dan, Kris and I have seen many of the sights we saw today, it was fun to take the new team members to the Plaza de Armas.
We took them to the city center to give them a sense of the European-Spanish influence in architecuture. We took them to the Mercado at the city center. It is always fun see there eyes when we walk into the meat market and they see all of the hanging chickens, beef and the like.
We then went to do a little shopping....some found some souviniers to bring back home. I am finding it more enjoyable to watch everyone shop than actually spending the extra money.
We also had a chance to go to the new offices for Project New Hope International. They are renting an entire building that will be put to good us. They are planning to start to help some of the battered and beaten women. They will also use some of the space for the University program and some space will be used for the City Church and their services.
We have not seen a lot of the sun since we have been here. I would guess that temperatures have been 70 degrees each day and cloudy. No rain.....just no sun. It has been very pleasant with some cool nights. I think I may have to ask for an extra blanket before I head to bed.
Tomorrow.....back to the barrio for a morning of work. Looks like we will be doing some dry wall. We are planning a visit to some of the house church leaders to give them a gift and pray with them. Then in the afternoon we are going to treat some 30 women.....non-believers to a spa day. We are going to given them manicures.
Have a blessed evening!
Mitch
I do not have a lot to add tonight. It has been a real good day. We spent the day in Trujillo taking in some of the local sights. Even though Dan, Kris and I have seen many of the sights we saw today, it was fun to take the new team members to the Plaza de Armas.
We took them to the city center to give them a sense of the European-Spanish influence in architecuture. We took them to the Mercado at the city center. It is always fun see there eyes when we walk into the meat market and they see all of the hanging chickens, beef and the like.
We then went to do a little shopping....some found some souviniers to bring back home. I am finding it more enjoyable to watch everyone shop than actually spending the extra money.
We also had a chance to go to the new offices for Project New Hope International. They are renting an entire building that will be put to good us. They are planning to start to help some of the battered and beaten women. They will also use some of the space for the University program and some space will be used for the City Church and their services.
We have not seen a lot of the sun since we have been here. I would guess that temperatures have been 70 degrees each day and cloudy. No rain.....just no sun. It has been very pleasant with some cool nights. I think I may have to ask for an extra blanket before I head to bed.
Tomorrow.....back to the barrio for a morning of work. Looks like we will be doing some dry wall. We are planning a visit to some of the house church leaders to give them a gift and pray with them. Then in the afternoon we are going to treat some 30 women.....non-believers to a spa day. We are going to given them manicures.
Have a blessed evening!
Mitch
Sunday, July 05, 2009
Today is the day......
My love to all of you! I hope this finds all of you well. We pray for your continued safety and guidance as you pray for us.
It was our first real day the people in the barrio and I can not think of a better day to do it than the Lords Day. We made our way to the barrio around half past nine. As we returned to there for the first time in a year we were amazed to see that the medical building was completely enclosed with windows and doors.
I think all they need now is some equipment and a staff. What a blessing that will be for the people of the area.
We were also greeted by about 150 smiling little faces. Our mission this morning was to play some games with the kids, feed them and tell them a story with a craft. I am so proud of the way my team worked together this morning.
Kris and Andrea taught the story to two groups of kids and we made puppets with the kids. Chandler Christian donated some 500 lunch bags to our group and we did lunch bag puppets with the kids.
It was our first real day the people in the barrio and I can not think of a better day to do it than the Lords Day. We made our way to the barrio around half past nine. As we returned to there for the first time in a year we were amazed to see that the medical building was completely enclosed with windows and doors.
I think all they need now is some equipment and a staff. What a blessing that will be for the people of the area.We were also greeted by about 150 smiling little faces. Our mission this morning was to play some games with the kids, feed them and tell them a story with a craft. I am so proud of the way my team worked together this morning.
Kris and Andrea taught the story to two groups of kids and we made puppets with the kids. Chandler Christian donated some 500 lunch bags to our group and we did lunch bag puppets with the kids.It is really quite amazing at the creativity and the imagination of these kids. What a blast. We played a little red light green light and a couple of other games and handed out some treats. A great morning.
This afternoon....we played a little soccer and volleyball with a number of adults from the barrio. I am always humbled by the competion and reminded that I am getting older and definately not in playing contidition. None the less....we hung in there with them and were competitive too.
After our dinner....it was church time. It get so much out of their services even thought I may not understand everything. We sang a number of praise songs and Dan Hitzler delivered a mesage about the Holy Spirit. He did a great job! Loys spoke some too! I like to listen to him teach. He does it with such a passion.
Tomorrow is the Barrio Directors day off....so we will take the day off too! We plan to head into Trujillo during the day to take in a little sight seeing....and see the projects new offices. Then a evening at Mike and Danells for some pizza and maybe........a little playstation.
We miss all of you back home!
Mitch
This afternoon....we played a little soccer and volleyball with a number of adults from the barrio. I am always humbled by the competion and reminded that I am getting older and definately not in playing contidition. None the less....we hung in there with them and were competitive too.
After our dinner....it was church time. It get so much out of their services even thought I may not understand everything. We sang a number of praise songs and Dan Hitzler delivered a mesage about the Holy Spirit. He did a great job! Loys spoke some too! I like to listen to him teach. He does it with such a passion.
Tomorrow is the Barrio Directors day off....so we will take the day off too! We plan to head into Trujillo during the day to take in a little sight seeing....and see the projects new offices. Then a evening at Mike and Danells for some pizza and maybe........a little playstation.
We miss all of you back home!
Mitch
Saturday, July 04, 2009
El Mirador
Hello to all!
What a great day! For those of you who really know me, you know that I spend a lot of time stressing the little things. Last night was a restless night, knowing that today was the day we were getting started....plus my room was a little cold. The night air was really cool.
My day started about half past 5 just thinking about how I would address everyone once we were out there. Silly right....right!
What an amazing day as we got to re-acquaint ourselves with everyone. I held a little devotional about creation, since we were standing in the midst of an amazing, lush green area! It felt almost like we were a jungle....banana trees, exotic flowers and just beautiful bright red bougainvillea!
We got a chance to break the ice with a few fun relay races and the gringo girls proceeded to beat the Peruvian women from the barrio. We mixed in a little volleyball and a walk to the top of one of the rocks surrounding El Mirador to take some pictures.
We wrapped up our day with the group with Dans testimony. Dans testimony seemed to spark some emotion from many in the group.
One of Peruvian men was asked pray one of four prayers. His was so emotional and the amazing moment of prayer being said in two different languages....Rosa prayed....Yoler prayed(his was the emotional one....so heart felt), I prayed and Loys finished up. It just seems like there are certain things that transcend language. Prayer and emotion are two of them. It was so moving that one of my team members had a moment. Tori was just so taken by the moment she got emotional too. What a great day!
Thanks to all of you who are keeping my team in your prayers! They so welcomed and we feel them.
Have a great evening!
Love Mitch
What a great day! For those of you who really know me, you know that I spend a lot of time stressing the little things. Last night was a restless night, knowing that today was the day we were getting started....plus my room was a little cold. The night air was really cool.
My day started about half past 5 just thinking about how I would address everyone once we were out there. Silly right....right!
What an amazing day as we got to re-acquaint ourselves with everyone. I held a little devotional about creation, since we were standing in the midst of an amazing, lush green area! It felt almost like we were a jungle....banana trees, exotic flowers and just beautiful bright red bougainvillea!
We got a chance to break the ice with a few fun relay races and the gringo girls proceeded to beat the Peruvian women from the barrio. We mixed in a little volleyball and a walk to the top of one of the rocks surrounding El Mirador to take some pictures.
We wrapped up our day with the group with Dans testimony. Dans testimony seemed to spark some emotion from many in the group.
One of Peruvian men was asked pray one of four prayers. His was so emotional and the amazing moment of prayer being said in two different languages....Rosa prayed....Yoler prayed(his was the emotional one....so heart felt), I prayed and Loys finished up. It just seems like there are certain things that transcend language. Prayer and emotion are two of them. It was so moving that one of my team members had a moment. Tori was just so taken by the moment she got emotional too. What a great day!Thanks to all of you who are keeping my team in your prayers! They so welcomed and we feel them.
Have a great evening!
Love Mitch
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