Yesterday, our second day at camp, was even greater than the first day.
We made sure to shows the kids our excitement, and to make them thrilled about being at camp as soon as they got off their buses. As soon as all the buses had arrived, and we welcomed them, we started by singing great songs, led by our amazing band mixed with both Americans and Peruvians.
There was also plenty of watermelon (sandia) to go around! Here is Tuan and Alleen in the picture.
When camp ended, we got back and a few of us went to play soccer with a few of the Peruvians, and a bunch came to watch. We had a great time furthering building relationships between our American and Peruvian staffs.
We had a peaceful New Years celebration. Several of us walked down the town plaza and then watched the fire works from our hotel. New Years is probably the biggest holiday in Peru, and we still saw people celebrating the next morning.
We did not have camp the next day because, as I said, New Years is one of the biggest holidays. Instead, we were able to visit the different ministries connected with Peru Mission. We saw the woodshop were Hermes works, a clinic, a microfinance clinic, two of the churches, and the brand new clinic right next to Cristo del Restorando, the church where we also had lunch today. The work that’s being done here is not merely done for the spiritual need of the Peruvians. The woodshop focuses on teaching men to be Christian businessmen; it teaches them to be honest in their paperwork, to pay taxes (which is not too common), and to work six days and leave the seventh for the Lord. The clinic enables people in the community to get healthcare, dental healthcare, and medicine. The microfinance clinic helps women with businesses. There is, as you can tell, a view on the whole self, and on the whole community.
We had our Farewell Party today (because there is not enough time Friday before our flight leaves) along with the Peruvian staff. We exchanged gifts with eachother, had a few from each staff sharing the things on their heart, and, of course, played games together.
Their gift was a keychain, which had on the one side the camp theme picture and verse, and on the other an image of the beach west of here (there were 5 different key chains that all had different pictures of iconic Peruvian things on the back). A very nice gift, and a great symbol that will always remind us of this week and the ministry of Peru Mission.
As I looked back on the week so far, I was reminded of Genesis 11. God commanded His people to go and fill the earth with people, but they said no, and they decided to stay in one spot and build a tower high enough to reach the heavens. So God punished them by giving them several different languages so that they could not communicate. They were thus separated because they were working against God. This week, we have faced the same obstacle; we have been in a different culture where the Peruvians speak a different language. However, God has united us. Since we are working not against him, but for him, He has blessed us to be able to display our love for the others on the staff and to the kids despite these barriers.
Praise be to God for this grace.