Our First Days

We’ve arrived safely but very tired!! Lima is a busy city, architecturally aging but extremely clean. The Peruvian people have a ton of pride in their country and amazingly we see NO trash. Something very unusual!
We’re staying at a hostel in a small community in Lima. There’s an open market several blocks away where today we strolled down rows and rows of hanging dead chickens and drying beef! All of which were being bought up fast…regardless of how long it had been hanging there! I know this happens all over the world but we had to laugh thinking about how this wouldn’t be happening in any of our street markets! The funniest sight was watching 12 “gringos” watch as a cute little bunny was being skinned for someone’s dinner right before our eyes.
This afternoon the Regional Director of Young Life came to give us his vision for their ministry and thanked us for our part in this year’s summer camp. Through Christen, who was interpreting for him, he shared that this particular camp had been cancelled 3 years in a row because of various flu viruses that had come through each year. With a grateful heart he expressed how much his leadership team had been touched by our gift of 8 tents that will be used this week. In years past there only had one or two nice tents and the rest being worn and torn. It made it so hard to decide who got the nice tents and who had to “slum” it for the week. That made some kids feel “less – than” and not as cared for as others. This year the team will be able to treat every student the same as everyone will be given access to beautiful matching clean tents.
We had two pieces of disappointing news today. The Govt. run orphanage that we were to be assisting in this afternoon has been quarantined because of the H1N1 virus. The 60 kids inside, most of whom have cerebral palsy, have been cooped up in their facility without visits from the outside for 2 weeks and the staff hasn’t been able to go home at all. Their food rations are dwindling and their spirits are very low. We went over to the facility anyway, taking food for the staff and bags of rice, some toys and clothing for the kids. We then asked the Director how we could pray for them, which took him quite by surprise. Christen is developing a good relationship with him as she frequently brings teams in to help, but she has no idea where he is spiritually. He gave us things that he thought would be encouraging to his kids and staff and then we began to walk. We spent about an hour prayer walking around the walled in facility as passers by watched on.
The second bit of news came when we were told that out of the 62 Young Life kids that will be at camp only 3 of them will be kids with special needs. The H1N1 quarantine disqualified the rest of them from coming. They are so sad and the team is very discouraged.
When you volunteer for a missions trip like this there’s only part of you that understands what the word “flexible” really means. You can’t really comprehend that term until you’ve actually gotten to where you’re going and God unfolds your journey for you. The reality that we’re coming to understand is that there are only a few things that are important on a trip like this. Be obedient to “go” when He calls you, and understand that God had your trip planned out WAY in advance and it may not be the plan you had in mind. Be humble in serving where you’re needed and share Jesus through what you say, how you act and what you do. That’s what it’s all about!
So… here we go. We leave for camp tomorrow and won’t be able to blog for 3-4 days. We’ll be camping on the beach, setting up tents, washing dishes and cleaning toilets as the Peruvian Young Life Team shares Jesus with eager, energetic hungry teens! Pray with us for safety and that the kids would be ready to hear the gospel. Also pray that the quarantine at the orphanage would be lifted by the end of the week so we could go love on the kids. We will be visiting a private orphanage on the weekend but it would be great to get into the Govt facility as well.
Talk with you soon, in His Love,
Cindy Sims