Last days in Cusco...

The carnival was a great day... a blessed day... a BEST DAY EVER DAY. It exceeded all my expectations. We worked with the Red Dot team all day Saturday to set up a carnival for the boy's home and girl's home we had been working with during the week. It was a huge celebration of the friends we had made and all that God had taught us. There was a great big tent where we set up tons of games that the children went around and won candy and prizes at. I worked the pie throwing station and sponge throwing station. So fun! The children had overflowing bags of candy and prizes, I think we need to come back next month for a dental care trip. There were two of those huge blow up slides, a DJ who played Peruvian and American music, a small ride, a trampoline that didnt actually look safe, face painting, photo booths, cotton candy, hot dogs, popcorn, ice cream and candy apples. For two hours the children roamed, played, laughed, danced and squeeled. The best and most meaningful part of the day was having the oppurtunity to tell the children why their lives were so worthy of being celebrated. After serving them cake, we shared with our new friends that our Heavenly Father does not view them as orphans but as His children. The children were told that God wonderfully made each of them, and that He had a plan for their lives even before they were born. We shared with them that as true love goes, God came to pursue a relationship with us by sending Jesus to walk among us, to love us and to redeem us. We hoped that for a few hours the children could see the light of God's unconditional and unfailing love for them and enjoy a party in their honor. Each child was called to the front by their name and was given a gift. The kids got some pretty cool stuff: necklaces, pajamas, soccer cards, hot wheels and a Max Lucado book in spanish titled, You are Mine. They loved everything. Then came the worst part... goodbye. We danced for a good hour before we got on the bus and cried and cried. Who knew you could fall so in love in just a short week. I was able to give my favorite little guy, Elvis, his very own Bible and my favorite little girl, Margarita, slipped the sweetest note ever into my hand as I said goodbye to her. It is one of the most precious things I have ever read. The goodbyes continued to linger on that night as we said goodbye to our tour guide, Jonathan and our awesome translators. I am so thankful for the strong relationships that were made during our week in Cusco with the kids, the red dot team, translators and even our favorite waitor at the hotel named Flavio. He always brought us our coffee con leche as soon as we got off the elevator and loved to hear about our day with the kids when we got back at night.

We spent one day of traveling and saying goodbye to Red Dot when we arrived to Lima. We had one last lunch by the ocean at Tony Roma's. The best thing about Lima is that there is oxygen and we can always hear, see and smell the ocean when we are near our hotel. Lima has reaffirmed the fact that I was not made for a big city. It is always so loud! Honking, yelling, policeman blowing whistles, and just too much noise. Some parts of Lima are beautiful, but most of it is covered in trash. I have never in my life seen so much litter, no one has ever heard of going green in Lima. Our hotel is wonderful though and located near a mall that we walk to at night for dinner with all the same restaurants as the states. That is kind of exciting and sad all at the same time, Cusco felt so different and new, but in Lima the only difference is that no one speaks our language. I am thankful for being able to get treats from starbucks, Praise God for chai tea lattes and caramel macchiatos.

We have started working at a community center about an hour and a half away from where we are staying. There are two missionaries and two social workers who run the place, it is pretty cool. Children from a very poor area attend, a group in the morning and afternoon. Most come from one room houses with no running water. The only way they are allowed to come is if they are clean, in the ages of 6-10, and if their parents commit to coming for classes as well on parenting. There is a cut-off on how many children can come in,so on many days children are just standing outside watching. It is pitiful. This morning a little girl was not allowed in because she was not old enough so she sat outside and sobbed and cried. It was terrible. The center ran out of water this week so we arent really allowed to use the bathrooms or wash our hands. The children are so beautiful and excited to be there. They all get one good,nutritious meal and vitamins. They are so smart! I get to run crafts in a classroom and I also teach them english. I love to hear them pronounce english phrases, I could listen to it all day. They call me hermana Mariana. It has been so cold this week. Sister, I did need those two sweatshirts we took out at the airport. In the mornings a buckner staff member named Syliva drives us the whole hour and a half to the center. The first morning we got stuck at the police station trying to file reports on lost checks. Peruvian police scare me, they always look at me like they want to arrest me. The second morning we ran out of gas while driving up a hill. Within seconds a huge line of cars had formed behind us, everyone screaming and cussing and calling us gringos. We hopped out and tried to push it, but since we were on a hill it started to roll back on us. No men volunteered to help, they just all stood and watched as we finally got it going up the hill and off to the side of the road. Today we made it there on time with no complications. On the way home we split into two groups and ride in taxi's that feel like they are about to fall apart. I have decided that riding in a taxi in the crazy traffic of Lima is like being at the fair and riding the scrambler when you were little. I always cringe and squeeze my eyes shut when I feel like we are going to hit another car or we run a stop sign/light and my heart stops beating and then just when you think it is safe to open them up again because you didnt feel a crash, you open them up and it looks like you are going to crash into something else.

Our team has been having a great time getting to know each other better while in Lima, today we celebrated our two week anniversary of knowing each other and found out that Rosanna, a full-time staff, is pregnant!!! We are so excited for her, she is truly the most pleasant person I have ever met. Full of grace, smiles, laughter, never raises her voice or gets upset, and will do anything for you. I love her! We are also trying to prepare another party for this saturday at the OSA center for the kids. Please pray that the planning would go smoothly and we can give them a special day as well. buenos noches!

Cool quote from Bono's book, On the Move,

"I mean, God may well be with us in our mansions on the hill... I hope so. He may well be with us in all manner of controversial stuff...maybe. maybe not. But the one thing we can all agree. among all faiths and ideologies, is that God is with the vulnerable and poor. God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house. God is in the silence of a mother who has just infected her child with a virus that will end both their lives. God is in the cries heard under the rubble of war. God is in the debris of wasted oppurtunity and lives, and God is with us if we are with them."

continued... "A number of years ago, I met a wise man who changed my life. In countless ways, large and small. I was always seeking the Lord's blessing. I was saying,I have this new song, look after it. Or, I have a family, please look after them. Or, I have this crazy idea... And this wise man said: "stop." He said, "stop asking God to bless what you're doing. Get invlolved in what God is doing-because it is already blessed."

"Well. God, as I said, is with the poor. That I beleive, is what God is doing and that is what He's calling us to do."

"If you remove the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness, and if you give yourself to the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, Then your light will rise in darkness and your gloom will become like midday and the Lord will continually guide you and satisfy your desire in scorched places." Isaiah 58:9-11