God has given me the priveledge to serve in Peru this summer for one month! I have only been here for less than a week, but I absolutely love this country and it's beautiful people! I want to take advantage of every second I am here. My favorite thing is that everyone greets with un beso (a kiss) on the cheek and a big hug. I came on this trip with and organization called Buckner International that I found on the internet. They rock! There mission is to bring glory to God by taking care and serving orphans around the world, did you know there is over 60 passages in scripture that commands us to do this? I didn't. I have met some amazing people who give there whole life for this. I met my team of five people in Dallas for one day and flew out the next day. After many flights, carrying more pounds of luggage than my weight all over and one night in Lima, we have settled in Cusco for the week. We are working alongside a group called Red Dot, a construction company from Texas. It is a group of crazy Texan men and their lovely wives. The leaders of their group are absolutely amazing and take 4 trips per year to different countries around the world. The group is completely random, and was explained as a mission trip within a mission trip. Robyn and Todd (the leaders) hope that the men will see God working in big ways with the children and that they will see that God wants to know them and work through them as well. They are so much fun and make everyday crazy. My nickname is South Carolina from the Texan men. Sometimes a guy named Bobby calls me South Dakota to see if he can make me mad. They also seem to have unlimited funds, so every night they take us to fancy restaurants and to do fun things. Soon we will be taking salsa lessons! They have also planned this amazing carnival for the end of the week that both the girl's home and boy's home will attend, over 125 children! We will have rides, a DJ, blow up bouncing things, hot dogs, ice cream, cotton candy machines, games and prizes. I am so excited I can hardly stand it. All week we spend our mornings at the girl's orphanage and our afternoon at the boy's orphanage. We start with lot's of singing, bible study, and then we rotate through centers and activites. The children are angelic and love to do anything we have planned. All day long we hear giggles, see smiles and receive a thousand hugs and kisses. They are so innocent and joyful and thankful for everything. The girls have workshops where they learn dance, have singing lessons, learn to cook, sew sweaters, scarves, and all sorts of amazing things. They are so talented. The boys are a bit wild and we spend any free time playing futbol, dodgeball, relays or volleyball. Somehow I ended up playing a relay game the other day with the boys, and I had to crawl on the cement under about 15 little boys legs. Lesson learned: make sure instructions are explained in English before you hear uno, dos, tres...GO! The boys took a little bit longer to warm up but now they are the most loving boys i have ever known. Both the boys and girls come running to the bus when we arrive and shout and yell till we come off. Then they cover us with hugs and kisses and lead us to wherever they want us to play. The girls call me Mami Marianna, and the boys call us Mami or Senorita. The kids love hearing about God and His perfect plan for their life. This week we have been studying the story of Joseph. An amazing staff leader, Julie, tells the stories before we get started with our activities and even acts them out. The children become mesmorized and some even cry a little when she talks about how much God loves them. It is precious. We were able to pass out brand new Bibles and journals to all the girls and are working on getting enought for the boys. They have been begging for them, they are all hungry for God's Word. It is so exciting to see God at work in their hearts. We have also been discussing having a closed heart or an open heart with the children and the importance of having an open heart so God can use you and carryout His plan for your life.

Today was the best day yet! We got to sleep in a little bit, 7:00, and went to the Red Dot team's hotel. We planned out every last detail of the carnival, again so excited I dont even know what to do. Then we all piled in our bus and went to the girl's home and through a huge pizza party. They had sat up lots of tables under this huge green tent and made everything perfect. Everytime we come to serve them, they end up doing something amazing to serve us. We hired a band play for us for two hours, they were so fun. So we all ate pizza till we could hardly move and then they brought a huge cake for us and made the sweetest speech. Some of the children had never had pizza before and they used their fork and knife to cut up every piece, it was so cute. They loved the pizza though and ate and ate and ate! Then of course we danced and danced. Peruvians love to dance and they are so fun to watch, they know how to move! All the time their is a reason to celebrate and music comes on and we just dance till we cant dance anymore. The men had finished their work in the dormitories so after the party we took all the girls to check out their new floor and walls. There were lots of ooohhs and aahhhhs and muchos gracias. Then came the best part of the day. Five girls have turned 18 and were going to have to leave the orphanage soon. Well, they are so smart and motivated and have these huge dreams. Red Dot knew that if they had to move out, they wouldnt be able to make all their dreams happen on their own. So they found this amazing house close to the University, I mean it is gorgeous! The girls had no idea and we loaded them onto the bus and took them to see their knew house!!! They began to cry so hard when we pulled up and told them this is where they will be living that they were shaking. The house was decorated with huge signs welcoming them and all these cool traditions. They had to break a clay pot filled with champaigne before entering and they had to cut a ribbon tied on the doorway for every room they entered. We praised God a lot and the girls made the sweetest speeches and thanked everyone for beleiving in them. I love to hear prayers through translators. We toasted with virgin pina coladas and then of course we danced and danced. The girls were so happy. They will have a full-time house mother and will attend the university for free.

After the celebrations were over we went shopping at the market for hours, it is so stressful and fun all at the same time. I have finally learned how to use soles instead of dollars and I can even bargain a little bit. After that we went to this really fun restaurant where we could sample lots of traditional Peruvian food including Alpaca and guinea pig. I was dead set on trying both and even put them both on my plate. The Alpaca was pretty good, but the guinea pig I could just not put into my mouth. I made the mistake of watching everyone else taste it first and lost all courage. My friend Thomas said, "I took meats 301 at Texas A & M and that is not ediable!" He actually spit his out, wimp. Other comments included, "I think I feel a bone." I just couldnt do it. The restaurant was called Don Antonio's and had many bands and dances. It was beautiful, I am obcessed with Peruvian music. At the end the lead singer came around and began to sing to people. He made me come on stage with him and dance with in front of 100's of people. I was so embarrassed, my roomies got some funny pictures.

Yesterday, we got to go to Machu Picchu. There are no words to describe that place. We had to leave at 6am and took a scary hour and half bus ride to the train station. These are truly beautiful people, until you get on a bus or tico (taxi). Then you are in constant fear for your life. On the bus ride, I kept praying, God, please just let me see Machu Picchu before this bus runs us off the mountain. The train ride was extremely pleasant. We had a lovely breakfast, sandwhiches, passion fruit tarts, and yummy coffee. The view along the train ride was breathtaking. Then we had to get off the train on another bus up Machu Picchu, I couldnt even look out the window. I consider myself to be a pretty laidback person, but all I wanted to do was stand up and yell stop the bus and walk up the mountain myself. Once we stepped of the bus, we were all in comeplete awe. Couldn't even speak. We went on a two hour tour with a pretty lame guide who couldnt beleive we didnt know the names of any of the mountains or the history. If you ever visit, read up first so you dont look like an IDIOT! We took a thousand pictures, had an amazing lunch over looking the mountains, and then took a nap and stared at all the beauty. We also harrassed a few llamas. On the way back our train ride was a little different. We were all exhausted and just wanted a little nap so after our meal and coffee we were all trying to sleep. All of a sudden this loud blaring music came on and our attendents who had just served us began running up and down the aisles dancing. It was so odd, they also modeled alpaca clothing for us. There was definately no sleep.

Everyday I get to experiance something new and am in disbeleif that God has allowed me to be here. We are in constant praise for all that God is teaching us and showing us about serving others and seeing Him work in the children. Also a big praise, one of our team members named Tyler was released from the hospital yesterday. He got altitude sickness very badly and his lungs began to fill with fluid. He had to stay in the hospital for a couple of days and stay in this crazy oxygen chamber. I am now taking my oxygen treatments at the hotel much more seriously and make sure I slow down when I get really tired. My roomate, Kristy, is getting pretty sick as well and prayers for her would be much appreciated. Besides getting bit by some crazy bugs at Machu Picchu, I am perfectly fine. One bug even bit me on my lip and I woke up this morning and my bottom lip was the size of Texas, Im talking Bubba off of Forest Gump big. I freaked out for a second and then got over it. The swelling went down pretty quickly and the Texans didnt even pick on me too much. Sorry my first post is soooooo long. We are leaving Cusco on Sunday and staying the rest of our time in Lima. I am sad to leave this beautiful city and the children we have all fallen in love with. Please continue to pray that the children that the children would allow God to meet all their desires to be known, acknowledged, valued, and loved. Pray that they would see God's unique path for their life and be content in trusting Him when they don't have many people to trust.