12:30 PM on Saturday, October 4th, and the whole team is ready to board the bus from Silverdale Baptist Church to the Atlanta airport for the beginning of our Mission Adventure to Lima, Peru. The team is made up of a family of 5, a family of 4, a family of 3, a family of 2, and 3 individual team members – 17 people in all. We have 9 adults and 8 young people. We have 7 males and 10 females.
We boarded the bus, drove to
Atlanta, and after a brief wait at the airport, we loaded up for our direct
flight to Lima. Flight 151 leaving around
5:25 PM and scheduled to arrive in Lima around 11:20. The flight went well, and we ended up
arriving in Lima a little early. We went
through immigration, and then customs, and then headed out to catch up with those
who were planning to pick us up.
Jose Apon was the first
person I saw – waiting on the second floor looking into the customs area. He and Joseph Haefs were talking together and
as I gained their attention, Joseph waved.
The Hetzel family met us outside – obviously very excited to see the
group from their home church.
We boarded the various vans
with all our luggage, and headed to the hotel.
By 1:30 in the morning we were headed to bed and had a very early
morning planned for tomorrow.
6:00 AM, the alarm sounded
and we were up and getting ready for a great day. We left for the Spiros Zodhiates Center at
7:00. The team wasted no time. As the women were preparing our breakfast,
the men were talking about and planning the building of the kitchen area. The kids were playing together and just
getting to know each other (or know each other a little better).
We ate breakfast when it was
ready, and then we spent some time in God’s word. Brenna helped lead us in a worship song, and
then we discussed the book of Philippians.
We finished with a word of prayer and then we all got back to work. Some of the men were working on the wall,
while others were working on table tops.
Some of the team were working on the music for the afternoon program,
while others were helping clean and set up.
There wasn’t a lot of structure to the day, as it was originally planned
to be church and then acclimation to culture of Lima, but due to the elections,
the schedule was changed. Anyway, we completed a lot of work, and everyone did
their part.
The kids began showing up
early, so the younger team members went upstairs with them and played a variety
of games. Some of the adults joined them
as well. It was great to see the team
interacting with the children. Some of
the kids asked to play soccer outside, so I took a group of them out to play
soccer. We started with a small 5 on 5
game, but quickly it turned into an 8 on 8.
I think the kids had a great time – and it was good to see our team
members playing with the kids (as many locals looked on). Harold came by after a while and he joined
the team opposite me – Harrison came by a little while later, and he joined
Harold’s team. I really enjoy watching
those two play together. They are so
much alike, and yet live in two very different worlds.
Eventually it was time for
the service, and it seemed like we had 150 kids. They were everywhere. We sang with them and Terry taught them some
things about the fruit of the Spirit. It
is our theme for the week, so he encouraged them to be prepared to learn more
as the week goes on. He did a great job –
even though the kids were a little noisy.
The team did an excellent job singing as well – all of their songs were
in Spanish – which isn’t easy since no one on the team speaks Spanish.
The day ended with chicken
at La Hacienda, and then a wrap up time in the courtyard at the hotel. We are calling it an early night (10:00 PM)
because we are all tired. Tomorrow is
another day of service at the Spiros Zodhiates Center.
Good night!
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