Greetings from Trujillo Peru!
Although, we have only been here for four days, I cannot express the joy it has been to reconnect with our dear brothers and sisters here in Peru. We have been very busy not only getting to Trujillo but also trying to prepare for the 170 children who would be attending Campamento Arca de Noe (Noah’s Ark Camp). After traveling from Jackson to Atlanta to Lima to Trujillo we finally got to meet the group of Peruvians that we will be working with during this trip. Saturday evening we had a quick training for camp; Sunday we had the opportunity to worship with the Peruvians, but since there are multiple church plants in the city, half of our team attended one church in Arevalo and the other half attended Cristo Rey in the city. Although there is a language barrier, it was such a blessing to witness what the Lord is doing in Trujillo. Even though the majority of our team were unable to understand the lyrics of the songs, we still lifted our voices and made a joyful noise unto the Lord. Sunday afternoon was spend at Hermes’ and Alleen’s (our missionary contacts) home, as well as setting up a few things for camp that would begin early the next day.
Today is the first day of Campemento Arca de Noe and it has already been such a blast, and at 8:45am campers started showing up. The Children are from four local churches. As soon as the campers arrived, they were greeted with a host of counselors who welcome and sang and danced with them. The campers were then divided by age into five color groups, which rotate throughout the day so that each camper will have the opportunity to go to Super Fun Games, Sports, Octoball, Crafts, and Pool. Although there are a lot of activities our hope and prayer is that campers leave with a greater understanding of God and their need for Jesus to be their Lord and Savior. This year Pastor Ricardo has been teaching campers the story of Joseph and how he so clearly points us to Jesus. Today campers learned about Joseph’s coat of many colors as well as his dreams. Pastor Ricardo points out many of the similarities of Joseph and Christ such as: Both were the beloved son, both went through tribulation, both trusted the Lord, both were obedient even when they knew suffering would come, and both would one day be glorified and exalted on high.
It has been such a joy to watch our team interact and love on these kids. Even though many of us do not speak Spanish and many of them do not speak English it is clear that love translates without words.