Cedarville University - Peru Trip - Day 7

What an amazing day!  It is our final day at the child care centers, and I knew it would be an emotional but wonderful day - and it was.

The day started with devotions at the church (we talked about Daniel) and then had a delicious breakfast of ham/cheese and olives, eggs, and bread.  Then we cleaned up and headed off for another great day at the Buen Pastor Center.

The team arrived and got right to work.  They played with the kids, did puzzles, braided hair, painted nails...  Anything to be with the children.  We had a time of singing with all of the children and then followed that with teaching on the 10 commandments.  The group did a great job acting out the commandments. Then we did crafts with the kids, reminding them that God had given us the 10 commandments because He loved us.

We served the children lunch, and then the team spent the afternoon playing with them.  The older kids had a bible study after lunch, where we discussed who Jesus is - our sacrifice!  What a blessing it was to share with them the goodness of the gospel - that Jesus willingly gave up his life for us, a bunch of dumb sheep that seek to go our own way.

Eventually we had to get ready to go.  We had a bunch of extra snacks, so we lined the children up and gave them snacks, t-shirts, bandana's, and candy.  The team loved blessing the kids this way.  Interestingly enough, Norma chose to step out of the line and go sit on a step nearby.  I could see the pain in her eyes as she realized what was happening.  It was time to say goodbye, and she didn't want the team to leave.  The cool thing is, she was not concerned at all about what we had to give her, but she was interested in spending time with us - and wishing we could spend more.  Yeah, that really makes it hard to leave.

We ended up doing 2 house visits after that, so we were there for about an hour longer.  The homes we went to both had the father around, so it was neat to see men who were involved with their children.  Most of these kids don't have that.  It is our prayer that more of the men come to know Christ and do the things that God would require of them as men and fathers.

Eventually we had to load up and head home, but not until we sang Happy Birthday to Rachel.  The children lead us in singing in Spanish and English.  It was fun!

Finally we were heading back to the hotel.  A quiet ride at first as the team was contemplating the past 2 days and the impact these kids had on our lives.  We arrived at the hotel, got ready for dinner and went to the church.  After dinner, we had cake for Rachel's birthday and then the Apon's shared their vision for the child care centers here in Lima.

We left there and headed to the Hetzel home to visit with them and do our evening wrap up.  As always, I love hearing the team process what God has been showing them and teaching them.  This group has done a great job of watching each other and encouraging each other during these times of reflection as well.

Well, tomorrow is a painful time of shopping and sightseeing - painful only because I am really looking forward to being home.  I know it will be fun and we are calling it "Sarcastic Saturday", so it will be interesting as well.  Oh, so you understand, we had "Serious Tuesday", "Positive Wednesday", "Joyful Thursday", "Reflective Friday (which actually had a few other names as well), and so tomorrow is "Sarcastic Saturday".  You know I will be enjoying this...

Enough for now, it's almost midnight...