Well, the day has finally arrived, and I am traveling with a
group of high school students on spring break to Peru for a missions trip. We met as a team back in February, and since
then have added one team member (who took the place of another who had to drop
out). I have been looking forward to
this team for a few reasons.
First, many have never been on a missions trip before, some
haven’t even flown before – so seeing the experience through the eyes of the “newbies”
is always fun for me. I love to hear
their excitement and amazement with things that have become common place to
me.
Second, this is a follow up trip from the Cedarville group,
and I am looking forward to seeing how many of the children met the challenge
to finish their coloring books. We
brought over 350 candy bars and 400 certificates, so I am excited about handing
them out to the children.
Finally, the youth pastor is excited about the possibility
this trip could bring back to the church as the team develops an enthusiasm for
missions and carries that back home with them.
I love when young people catch a vision for how God can use them, and
often they are the fire that reignites the embers of our souls as many of us “older”
people have lost the energy and passion they share so quickly.
Well, we met at the airport in Newark – my day began at 4:30
in Chattanooga, driving 2 ½ hours to Nashville, flying for 2 hours to Newark,
but that is when the fun began! Somehow I
passed Kevin as I was heading to gate 127, but he saw me and pointed out the
team. We waited to board the plane (yes,
we were group 5), and the adventure began.
Truthfully it was uneventful – the flight wasn’t all that
smooth, but then again, it wasn’t all that rough either. The pilot turned the seatbelt sign on a few
times, so we did hit some rough air, but we made good time and were in Lima by
9 PM. However, our ride to the hotel was
a little late, so we waited for them for a little while. No big deal when you are dealing with kids –
we split up our stuff for the rest of the week, we played hacky sack, we
talked, we laughed, we got to know each other.
This is going to be a great group.
We were at the hotel by 11:30, and ready for bed by 1. Most of the team was probably asleep before
12:30 – but you know how I am – up last at night, up first in the morning…
Well, tomorrow we are eating breakfast at Polermo’s and then
heading to Huaraz. We will see how the
day goes…
Thought for the day:
Northern Rude vs Southern Rude.
Three times today I spoke with people who were from the north married to
someone from the south, or vice versa.
Amazingly enough, the differences in the cultures were felt by all of
the couples. The speed, abrasiveness,
task oriented north versus the slow, overly kind, relationship oriented south
were highlights of the conversation. It
was fun to talk about the differences.
As I thought about that and crossing the cultures here in
Peru, I pray that the differences we experience as a team can be balanced so we
can minister to the people here and be received
the way we desire to be received.
This can only happen as we allow God to go before us and do the work for
us. In our own strength, in our own
wisdom, we will see their differences as strange, but in His love and wisdom,
we will see them as people He loves dearly and the differences will only be uniqueness’s
that make our cultures our own.
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