Windsor Road Christian Church Peru Mission Trip 2009

8th Day - Wednesday, July 29th - Departure

2009-07-29T22:49:00.000-07:00

This morning was our final day. Everyone quickly finished packing and cleaning up. We had one last breakfast from our wonderful cook, Filomena. Bags were to be ready by 8:00 am, so that we could say goodbye to the kids before our bus was supposed to arrive at 9:00 am.

It goes without saying, that this was a very sad time. Even though our time at the orphanage was relatively short. Most of had made some very strong attachments to the kids, and it was very difficult to say goodbye. We were all trying to take in the moment and trying to get in one more hug before the bus arrived. It was very sad especially knowing that some of the children have been there for a long time, and desperately want to be adopted. It is our prayer that God will find them a forever family.

I think everyone would agree that our first mission trip to Hogar de Esperanza was a phenomenal success. And my guess is that...

...We'll be back!

¡Que Dios los Bendiga!

7th Day - Tuesday, July 28th - Our final work day

2009-07-29T22:20:00.000-07:00

Our final workday saw the carport team out the door early, anxious to get as much done on the project as possible. The goal: to get the framing done for the roof. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

Our last day of VBS featured lots of singing, a final appearance by Juan and his buddies, and a discussion about how God made each one of us unique. Using photos taken of the kids throughout the week, the kids framed and decorated their pictures.

After VBS, the mission team put on a carnival for the kids, featuring a variety of "stations" including 3-legged races, relay, frisbee toss, "fishing for stickers, and other games with great prizes for each (thanks to donations from Windsor Roaders)! The kids' faces beamed as they added new prizes to their bag of treats!

Afternoon activities included: completion of the carport (the framing, that is); the opportunity to purchase jewelry made by the kids (the money goes into their personal bank account for when it is time for them to leave at the age of 18), painting the hallway; and extra time with the kids since it was their independence day which meant a day off of homework.

I continued work on the orphanage internet with a little bit of stress to get everything functional by the end of the day. Thankfully, everything was reconfigured by dinner time, and most importantly, working!

We finished the day with worship and packing.

Some other things I may have failed to mention that were done during the week:
- Corinne Kohler gave medical instruction to the madres
- Photos were taken by our team photographer, Karyl Wackerlin, some of which will go for fund raising purposes, and other will appear on the orphanage web site at http://www.perukids.com
- 3 new laptops were set up and donated to the orphanage
- Thanks to Shannon Hunt and Cherilyn Larsen, each night we spent time worshiping with songs, putting the day in perspective through our daily devotionals, and encouraging each other individually.

6th Day - Monday, July 27th

2009-07-29T22:04:00.000-07:00

After going to church and having some play time on Sunday, the group woke up ready to get back to work! The carport crew continued their project, working alongside the Peruvians and orphanage volunteers.

In VBS, we talked about how God changes lives, and demonstrated that to the kids by using magic. The kids were treated to another visit from Juan, the puppet, a fun art project, and lots of singing.

After noon activities included: scrubbing the walls in the kitchen and hallway; carport construction; replacing more screens; picking up garbage; sandboarding with the girls; working on the tie-dye shirts; and a trip to the market (which was quite an experience for 8 of our team members!).

One of the side projects I was tasked with was to fix the wiring for their internet. The cabling was quite a bit of spaghetti, and had been attached incorrectly. Also they had 3 wireless routers (1 for upstairs, 1 for the office, and 1 for the library), a DSL router and Voice over IP (VOIP) router all configured in correctly. This was causing connection to drop frequently. So, I spent most of the afternoon and evening on this project.

At 4 p.m., the team was honored at a farewell celebration (despedida) put on by the orphanage, featuring skits and songs by the kids, and a performance of Peruvian dances by two young students. The group was presented with a Trujillo clock to commemorate our work at the orphanage.

5th day - Sunday, July 26th

2009-07-26T21:36:00.000-07:00

Sunday we went to church at Centro Biblico. Let's just say it was a bit lengthy if you don't know any Spanish.

After church, we went to Huanchaco which is an ocean side tourist city. We had lunch where they server Peruvian cuisine. Where Doug Miller tried the local delicacy, Cuy which is what we call Guinea Pig, mmmmmm, yummy. Unfortunately, some of us had to wait over an hour to be served while others were done in a half hour. Huanchaco is full of little tiendas where you can purchase various Peruvian stuff for cheap. Also, some of us got adventurous and decided to swim in the ocean that is Katy Rummery, I mean. Pete Larsen, managed to rent a wet suit and surf board for about $7.00 for 2 hours. I hear he managed to catch a couple waves.

Then we went back to Trujillo for dinner at a Peruvian Chifa restaurant which is basically Chinese with a Peruvian twist. By this time, we were well fed and sleepy.

Tomorrow we get back to work.

4th Day - Saturday, July 25th

2009-07-26T20:59:00.000-07:00

Well, apparently, I can't upload any pictures anymore. I have tried over and over to add pictures from 2 days ago, but it just isn't going to happen. So, I will try to add them perhaps in Lima if there is a connection.

So, on to what we've been up to...

On Saturday, we got up as usual, and continued work on the garage and fixing screens in the morning. We made some major progress getting the header board of the long wall put in place. These boards are about 6 1/2 meters, very heavy, and very warped. At one point we had about 10 people trying to pull the bend out of the board which was hanging 20 feet above them while simultaneously trying to drill a hole through both ends of each header. It was a major feat.

After lunch, we took a large group of the kids to the Huacas del sol y de la luna. The idea was to go together so we could watch the kids, but they divided us into English speakers and Spanish speakers which meant the long term volunteers who were with us had to go with the kids without us. We were quite a large group.

We brought the kids back to the orphanage, and then the volunteers and our group went out to dinner in Trujillo at Roky's. Roky's is a restaurant I had been taken to a couple times on my previous trips to Peru. They serve a Brazilian style meat selection which works well for a group our size. After dinner, Alan Gleghorn bought the most enormous, gigantic, super huge, lemon meringue pie you have ever seen in your life!

After Roky's, we went to the Plaza de Armas in Trujillo. It is a gorgeous city all lit up at night. We saw several wedding parties. While walking around the plaza, we came across some Peruvian break dancers. After gathering up some courage, Drew decided to challenge them to a dance off. I'll try to get a video of the event soon. But let's just say, the competition was fierce.

A handful of us finished the evening learning how to dance the Salsa from our very own Shannon Hunt and David (one of the night watchmen here). One of the highlights was Drew and I dancing the Tango together.

It was a very busy day, and full of fun.

P.S. Now that I'm back in the states, here are the pictures...

3rd Day - Friday, July 24th

2009-07-25T07:59:00.000-07:00

It was another busy day for the Peru missions team! The car port crew mixed and hauled wheelbarrows full of cement to hold in the support posts...then celebrated, after waiting hours for a new load of cement, when the truck pulled in with a new supply. New screens were installed on the building and trash was picked up all around the perimeter. The playground was weeded, and rocks were removed from the grassy area. Many of us helped re-paint the fountain/pool, and the tie-dye shirts were washed and hung to dry. Bathroom walls were scrubbed, and painted; and a trip was made to the Peruvian Lowe's for supplies, including brand new ladders (thanks to Katie, who is doing quite well after riding her extension ladder to the floor the other day. Way to go, Katie!). One of the highlights of the day was the Fiestas Patrious - an independence celebration at the orphanage, featuring local foods, and kids dressed up in native costumes. The day ended with a special showing of the movie Bolt, in Spanish of course, but with English subtitles.

2nd Day - Thursday, July 23rd

2009-07-23T12:33:00.000-07:00

First, let me apologize for the lateness of this post. My goal was to blog each day, but the internet has been painfully slow. Check back often, as I'll try to post more photos.

Here's what happened on Thursday.

Chrissy Miller's report on Activities:

"We had lots of activities going on today. The kids enjoyed building with the Legos and making airplanes and other things. We tried to tie dye t-shirts, and we hope that our water was warm enough to do the job. We will know tomorrow if it worked. Trish worked with groups making books - the older kids really enjoyed this. Two other activities that the kids did were organized games and an obstacle course, and a few tried making beaded book marks. This was done with kids that were a bit young, but the older kids will get to do it next week."

Kathy Starbird's report on VBS:

"Today in VBS we learned that Jesus calls us to be fishers of men. We've had fun with the fishing theme, but today we fished for people.

Children from WRCC created wonderful paper fish that we brought with us. Kim and Kaityln Duchein placed in the beautiful fountain here at the orphanage (don't worry, the fountain was dry).

The children had an incredible time standing at the fountain fishing for children.

Thanks to Miss Lynn for all your great ideas and the Spanish coloring books!"

The car port construction continues. Today we worked on finishing the cut in the lumber. The cement arrived in very nice pickup truck, and work began on setting the posts for the walls into the concrete.

1st Day - Getting Started, Wednesday, July 22nd

2009-07-22T19:07:00.000-07:00

Today was our first full day at the orphanage, and I'd say it was a great success. That doesn't mean everything went according to plan. There was a lot of adapting along the way, but everyone had a full day of working whether it was on the car port that we are building or with the kids, or something else, we all kept on the move.

We broke into groups in the morning. Some worked on the car port, and other began preparation for VBS and kids activities.

The car port had a very interesting start. At first we had several very large boards that needed to be cut. All they had for this task were some very rusty and not very sharp hand saws. This was going to be a long day. We found a small table saw and tried to walk this 100 something pound really long board over it to get a straight cut, but this wasn't going to work. Then we got creative and turned it upside down and tried to cut down into it like miter saw. Dangerous, but it was working. Then one of the long term volunteers spoke up, and told us that they have a sort of Lowe's like store in Trujillo. Brian and I and Elias, who works here, bought the orphanage some much needed equipment including a power saw. I'm not sure how they thought we'd ever get through with just the hand saw. The rest of the day moved much faster as far cutting.

Meanwhile, another group start digging out a trench for the concrete footing. This meant digging into sand. And digging into sand meant the sand kept collapsing. But they kept plodding on even though this was a very frustrating job. Others had to knock holes in cinder blocks in the wall in order to attach the roof of the car port. It was all quite an experience.

The VBS went on at the same time. I wish I could let you know what happened in detail, but I wasn't there for that. I hear that some of the Miller kids put on a great puppet show. And Kathy Starbird did a great job leading and directing activities. They put on a skit and also sang a few songs with the kids. Everyone played some part in making the VBS go off. Even the long term volunteers helped out especially by translating.

Some of the activities for the day were side walk chalk drawings, and jumping rope.

In the afternoon, everyone either continued with the car port or painted, repaired screen windows, or picked weeds around the fruit trees. The big accomplishments were to get the kinder room nearly completely painted, and to repair the screen in the kitchen. Now they won't suffer from nearly as many flies.

One additional note is that Drew Miller's missing luggage arrived as I was typing this blog. Hooray!

Departure and Arrival - July 20th - 21st

2009-07-21T18:40:00.000-07:00

We’re Here!!!!

Everyone arrived on time for us to pack and leave about 12:00pm on Monday, July 20th. Everyone brought their own checked bag and a carry-on bag. Then we all picked out a bag of donations that we adopted for the trip and that we were responsible for checking in at the airport.

The bus trip to Chicago O’Hare was uneventful. We immediately unloaded our bags , and broke off into our cincos (groups of 5). I went to the front of the line to check in our group, and was told that there might be a problem. I’m thinking “Oh no”. The American agent took my passport, and went back and forth checking with other agents about something. Finally, we found out that they needed to bump us to an earlier flight. We were originally supposed to leave at 5:30, but they moved us to a 4:15 flight, which meant that we were going to need to hurry. The reason for the switch was something to do with the weather during the time our original flight would have arrived. We later realized how odd it was that they happened to have 25 seats open on another flight. God was watching out for us. Everything we packed made it through although there were some bags right at 50lbs or slightly over which was quickly fixed by redistributing.

We arrived in Miami about 8:30, and proceeded to our gate. Then went on the hunt for food. There was a little Pizza Hut near our gate, but we decided to look around. After going all over the airport, we found that nearly everything was closed. The only other restaurant open was way to expensive, so those of us who went hunting ultimately all end up back at the Pizza Hut.

Finally, we were on our way to Lima, but then we were delayed in leaving because of rain and lighting. So, we got to do more sitting and waiting. With maybe a half hour delay, we were finally on our way to Lima. The flight was every thing you would expect in an overnight flight… restless. Some people managed to sleep, others… not so much. I was among the latter.

After getting through customs, we went to get our bags. We came away with everything…almost. One of the Miller’s bag that was intended to be a carry-on got taken in Miami because it was slightly over sized. Unfortunately, it never came out. So, the Miller’s had to make arrangement for it to be brought to Trujillo. We hope and pray that it will arrive in the next day or two.

We were met by the bus company carrying this sign.

Hey, Tin Troks is close. We didn’t really get rolling until after 6:00am. Most of slept on the bus until about 10:00am. The bus driver stopped for us in order to get desayuno (breakfast) in Huarmey (a very, very, very small obscure pueblo). At first, Brian and I didn’t think anyone had enough soles for breakfast, so the driver eventually found a road side restaurant that would take U.S. dollars. This was our first real adventure since I had never eaten a little town like this. I could sense that the group was a little nervous about it, and I was a little too. I did my best to describe what was on the menu. We ended up getting 5 bean and rice dinners, 6 arroz chaufa (basically fried rice), and 4 chicken with rice, and 4 Lomito Saltado (which is one of Loren’s and my favorites). We ate family style, and the food was really great. It was only 115 soles which is less than $2.00/per person.

We managed to make it the orphanage at 3:30. Apparently, we were even an hour earlier than the orphanage had expected us. We thought we were way behind since we had an unexpected stop for lunch. It turns out God again was watching over us. Peru is having an national transportation strike. So, the workers at the orphanage were worried we were even going to get here at all. The strike cleared the roads for us, but we were lucky not to have any confrontation from any strikers.

Well, the internet is slow, and it is very hard to upload pictures. So, more at another time.

The Big Send Off - 1 More Day To Go- July 19th

2009-07-19T14:15:00.001-07:00

Windsor Road Christian Church prays over the Peru Mission Team during the morning services.

On Sunday night the Peru Team got together for dinner with all of their families. With 25 people on our team, this was our first time we were all able to meet together all at the same time.

Ok, what's a team picture without one goofy shot.

We brought in our large bags for a weigh in. Here Jordan is packing some last minute donations.

THE LUGGAGE

I think he'll fit in that bag...
Actually, this bag contains 4 sandboards. The orphanage is in the dessert and is surround by some wonderful sand dunes. These are a gift to the children of the orphanage, and maybe they'll let take a turn. :)

Jordan and I packing more donations, trying to shove as much in as we can fit.

The team gives Andrew Miller bags for weighing. Loren is supervising.

One week and counting...

2009-07-13T08:23:00.000-07:00

Windsor Road Christian Church in Champaign, Illinois is sending a team of 25 to serve at the orphanage Hogar de Esperanza near the city of Trujillo in Peru on July 20th, 2009. We have been planning this trip since the end of 2008, and at long last we are one week away from departure. On Sunday, the 12th of July we had our last official planning meeting. Those of us who attended had a sorting party where we went through all the donations that the great people at Windsor have generously donated to go the children and staff of Hogar de Esperanza. We already have 13 bags packed full of stuff to take down.

The pre-sorted pile of regalos

Corinne and Kathy arrange medical supplies for the orphanage.