Berean Bible Church - Peru Trip - Day 8

Wow, our final day of ministry with children today – it was a great day.  As usual, we started the day with breakfast and devotions, and then headed over to the center.

About 1 hour after we got there, Jeff and I were talking, and he said, “I can’t believe an hour has gone by already”.  When they arrived, the team just jumped to work – playing with kids, talking with kids, sharing with them, loving on them, while the carpenters finished the bookshelf upstairs.  Downstairs was unstructured chaos for the first hour – it was a blast!  The kids were loving on the team, they were running around, laughing, talking, sharing…  all of the great things about coming to see these kids and share the love of Jesus with them.  We knew that was not enough though, so we shared songs and a Bible story with them as well.  Jeff challenged them (while Anajulia interpreted) and some of the team acted out the story of the “Good Samaritan”.  Sam and Ana were a hit as she tried to bandage his “wounds”. 

Eventually we fed the kids, gave them candy, and said goodbye.  We had to go to the other center, so off we went.

When we arrived at the Buen Pastor Center, we jumped right to work – setting a bracelet craft before the kids.  They loved it!  We talked with them as we worked, and eventually they finished.  Then we shared the songs and Bible story as we did before, and again, they sat and listened to God’s word.

Two hours at this center seemed like forever, but at the same time, it went way too quickly.  I know the team would have loved to stay longer, but we had work to do… well, we had soccer to play.

We returned to the first center to see a number of kids waiting for us.  We told them we would be back at 3 to play ball, and 10 of them ended up coming.  As we played, more gathered around to watch, and we had a great time.  After an hour of playing, we had to leave, but before we left, Jeff challenged them with the truth that we love soccer, but we love God even more.  We gave them soccer balls and copies of the New Testament.  It is our prayer that God would use this “free gift” to show them His free gift of salvation.

We headed back to the hotel, cleaned up, and went to dinner at the church.  After lomo saltando, pollo and arroz, we listened to Pastor Jose talk about the ministry, we heard Lutgarda share the needs of the country and the child care center, and Richard shared his story of coming to Peru.  We prayed with them and thanked them for sharing.  I pray that the team will be faithful to share the things they heard and continue to pray for the people serving here.

We took a brief walk to WONG – yes, we went the “wong way” to Wong’s (kind of like Wal-mart), and the kids purchased tea, coffee, chocolates, etc.  Tomorrow we will be doing the “real” souvenir shopping at the Indian Market.  After shopping, we grabbed some ice cream at Sarcletti’s. 

It has been a great day!

Tomorrow is our last day in Peru.  We will be going to the beach (Pacific Ocean), shopping, and to a water park.  Our final stop tomorrow will be at the airport and we will be boarding a plane that leaves at 2:30 AM.  Yeah – looks like another night without sleep!  Speaking of which, it is almost 11:30 now, so I think I will sign off.