Cedarville - Peru Trip - Day 1-2

Day 1 began at 5:00 in the morning.  I had set 3 alarms because I wanted to make sure that I got up in time to go to the airport early.  I was scheduled for an 8:45 flight which would leave me only 38 minutes in Atlanta to switch planes.  I was hoping to get on the 7:45 flight.  I arrived at the airport (Brooke drove with me) at 5:35 and by 6:00 I was on an airport shuttle to Atlanta.  The lady behind the counter told me that they had 3 flights going to Atlanta – 6:45 – delayed until 7:40, 7:45 – which was completely full, and my flight.   Then she told me that if I wanted to take the shuttle it was leaving in minutes.  I took the shuttle and arrived in Atlanta at 7:45.  Plenty of time to catch the 10:20 flight I was scheduled for. 

At 10:00 I boarded my plane (3^rd person on the plane because I had to check my guitar).  Things are going very smoothly.  Praise the Lord.  By 12:00 I was in Columbus eating lunch and reading Crazy Love by Francis Chan.  I finished the book before the team arrived at 3, and we got them all checked in and we headed back to our gate.

Things continued to go well.  The team ate some lunch, we waited for our plane to be ready to go, and we boarded our plane for Miami.  After a fairly brief flight (2 ½ hours) we arrived in Miami and went to our gate to wait for the final flight to Lima. 

We did a little “team building” by playing Mafia.  The personalities of this group are very diverse.  It is going to be interesting to see how each person finds their niche as we move through this week.

We arrived in Lima around 5:30 – right on schedule, went through immigration, got our luggage, went through customs, (with Abel being the only one who got a red light – it is the Peruvian system of random selection) and by 6:15 we were loaded in the cars of Lutgarda, Sarah and Angel (Lutgarda’s brother in law).

We stopped for breakfast at a small breakfast place and then went to the station to wait on the bus.  Our interaction with the people included handing out licorice to children and Abel practiced his Spanish by talking with a father of one of the kids.

Abel is able to speak very well – he has had 8 years of training in Spanish – and the rest of the team is trying to practice their Spanish as well.  I really do need to learn to speak, but apart from some kind of intense study, I fear the things I learn do not stay.

Right now we are still on the bus heading to Huaraz.  If things go as planned, we will arrive around 6, shower, change and go out to dinner.  Hopefully we will be in bed by 9 this evening.  Much to do tomorrow, but rest is necessary.  Tomorrow we will be working at the Child Care Center in Huaraz.  This will be the first of 5 days of intensive but fun interaction with children who need to see the love of Christ. 

I pray that the team has the strength and gets the rest necessary to do well.