Day 8 - June 27

Friday, June 27

Today was a very exhausting day! We spent the morning at Reina de la Paz hosting a carnival for the girls. We had games and activities, including face painting, balloon animals, bowling, goal kick, bean bag toss, and ladder golf. The girls loved the games and activities and enjoyed picking out their prizes. Toward the end of the carnival, we began to pack up and somehow spontaneously formed a huge circle and threw Frisbees , footballs, and beach balls around. We also were excited to receive a brief dancing lesson from Giugliana and the girls and are proud to say that we did pretty well! Throughout the week, we’ve often found that the spontaneous activities are the most fun!

After the carnival, we had a pizza lunch with the girls – some of the girls said that they had never had pizza before, so it was fun to share that experience with them. We enjoyed the opportunity to eat lunch with them, since we had been eating lunch as a team all week (without the girls). We split up our team and sat with the girls at the tables and talked with them a little bit – they know that we don’t know much Spanish, so they used small words when talking with us! One of the girls said that her favorite part of our entire visit was eating lunch with us today because eating lunch together is what families do, and this made it feel like we were a family. We couldn’t agree more.
















It was hard to say “good-bye” to the girls after lunch! We wrote notes to the girls on their tie-dye shirts and made lists of our e-mail addresses for them. We took lots of pictures and then kissed the girls and their babies farewell. There were many tears shed on the bus that afternoon.

As you may have read in yesterday’s blog, our plans for the afternoon at San Ricardo changed within the last few days. We had originally planned to do a carnival at San Ricardo similar to the carnival at Reina de la Paz, but we were informed that San Ricardo would be fumigating today and we (and the kids) were not allowed to be there. So Julie, our trip coordinator, conferred with the staff at San Ricardo, the Buckner staff, and our Team, and we decided to take the kids to a movie.

It sounds like a crazy plan, and we were all a bit nervous. There was much debating about whether or not the amount of money needed for 100+ kids, 10 San Ricardo staff members, our entire team, the translators, and the interns to watch a movie would be well spent. But in the same way that we knew that our presence in Peru is much more meaningful than simply sending money, we knew that any time spent with the kids is better than just using that money to purchase more supplies for them. So we rented an additional bus and shuttled the San Ricardo kids from a nearby sibling home (where they were staying while they fumigated) to the movie theater.

The kids greeted us with grins and hugs and were so eager to get out and see a movie (something that many of them had never done before), and they were very well behaved. They were so excited to receive a box of popcorn and a drink, and it was fun to see the delight on their faces as they carefully rationed their refreshments. Many of the kids even shared their beloved popcorn with us, which really warmed our hearts. How amazing that kids who have so few luxuries in their lives would choose to share them with us. We enjoyed cuddling with the kids, and watching them enjoy the movie… with the exception of a few kids who needed to use the restroom, nearly everyone was enthralled with the movie the entire time. Their laughter and applause throughout the movie were evidence that we made the right decision.

It was difficult to say “good-bye” to the kids from San Ricardo because we had to quickly get them back onto the bus, and that didn’t leave much time for saying our “good-byes”. But the kids held their hands out of the bus windows and we reached up to hold them one last time. Their faces were beaming as they yelled “gracias!” (“thank you”) out the windows as they drove away. We watched as they left and we had to be ushered back onto our bus by our translators… otherwise I think we would’ve have stood there for a while.

There were lots of tears shed on the way back to the hotel and I don’t think that our bus has ever been so quiet. Our hearts were broken for those kids this week with the realization that part of the reason they are so happy to see us is because they get very little love and attention. We would almost prefer that receiving hugs and kisses was nothing out of the ordinary for them, but we are painfully aware that this isn’t the case. We are so happy to have formed relationships with these kids and at the same time are so sad to leave them behind.

We rushed back to the hotel and had ten minutes to finish packing before we had to leave for the airport. We left behind several bags of donations for San Ricardo (and also several bags of donations at Reina de la Paz) – thank you to those who donated supplies! We hugged our translators “good-bye” and headed to the airport with Giugliana and Julie. Because of everyone’s crazy flight schedules, we did not get to say “good-bye” to our interns or to Jeremy before they left. But we made a list of everyone’s e-mail addresses and we hope to keep in touch.

After checking in at the airport, eating a quick dinner on the floor of the food court (those of you from last year’s trip will understand!), we said our “good-byes” to Giugliana. This was another tough farewell and many tears were shed. Giugliana took such good care of us this week and went above and beyond the call of duty in so many ways. She is truly amazing and we miss her already. Then we had to say “farewell” to Julie, our phenomenal trip coordinator. She was such a fantastic leader and such a fun person to be around. We have high hopes that she (and maybe Jeremy) will be able to stop by Peru during next year’s mission trip.

We quickly boarded the plane (we had just 15 minutes to spare!) and tried our best to sleep on the red-eye flight back to the States. We left Lima around 12:30 am and arrived safe and sound in Houston, Texas at about 6:45 am. We made it through customs and immigration at the Houston airport and checked in at our gate. We had just 10 or 15 minutes before leaving for Indianapolis at about 8:30 am. We landed at about 12:30 pm and were greeted in the airport by Jill DeYoung, Curt Vanderkleed Sr., and Sandor Volkan-Kacso. It was so nice to see familiar faces!

We are so glad to be home and back with our families, but we already miss Peru. The relationships that we formed, the friends that we made, and the experiences that we had were life-changing… not just for the teen moms at Reina de la Paz and the kids at San Ricardo, but for us as well. We all knew that we were going on this trip to spread the love of Jesus and the truth of the Gospel, but few of us expected to fall in love while we were there. And it’s safe to say that each of us left a piece of our hearts in Peru.
















Jeremy, last year's trip coordinator
















Emily receiving a quick dancing lesson
















Kay and Erick, one of our translators
















Benito, our fantastic bus driver!

Day 7 - June 26

Thursday, June 26

This morning at Reina de la Paz, we were excited to hand out the tie-dyed shirts to the girls (thanks again to Heather did an awesome job handling the tie-dying process!). We also gave them multi-colored bracelets with Bible verses that we had used to plan VBS at San Ricardo, and a small photo album with a photo of each girl and her baby. We also performed the entire skit that we had done at San Ricardo, and the girls seemed to enjoy it.






























One of the girls who lived at Reina de la Paz last year but has since moved away was able to come for a brief visit today (her name is Evelyn). Evan had his laptop with him, and it had all of the pictures from last year's trip on it, and he was able to show her some of the pictures she was in. The other girls crowded around Evan and enjoyed looking through a few of the pictures, too!















We made it through another hectic day at San Ricardo. Some of the kids seemed more receptive to us, and some just ran wild. While it's exhausting to try and wrangle the kids, it's so much fun to spend time with them and love on them. We also handed out the multi-colored bracelets at San Ricardo as a way to recap what we've taught them all week. The kids were so excited about them that they showed them off to us as soon as they got them. Hopefully they will serve as a reminder of God's love for them.

We also performed the final "Act" of our skit but don't have the video yet since Jeremy used his video camera and we haven't had a chance to download it yet. Hopefully we'll have that tomorrow!

As our trip comes to a close and we prepare to say "good-bye" to the kids at San Ricardo and the teen moms at Reina de la Paz tomorrow, we have spent time reflecting on our week in Peru. We are also preparing to say "good-bye" to our amazing translators. They have been like family to us as we have spent at least 12 hours each day doing ministry together. Tonight we had dinner with the interns and the translators, and it was sort of a "farewell" meal since we won't have dinner with them tomorrow. We have also spent time as a group sharing our highs and lows for each day and pray together as a team. We have laughed at the many funny moments, and shed tears at the heart-wrenching ones. We're finding that part of us feels like we have been here for a month, and another part feels like we only just got here. It seems as if the hours pass slowly but the days fly by.

We know that we can't ever describe exactly how much the translators, interns, and Julie (our trip coordinator) mean to us, but we'd like to introduce you to them.

Giugliana, Mariana, Erick, Arturo, Rosanna

Giugliana worked with last year’s group and has been an immense help to us this year, too! She is more than a translator to us, she is an integral part of our team. She has helped to teach the Bible story every afternoon at San Ricardo and has a wonderful relationship with the kids at San Ricardo and the teens at Reina de la Paz. She is on staff at Buckner and is their follow-up person, so she will spend time with the kids and moms after we leave. She is so sweet and so helpful, and I know that we will miss her terribly when we leave.

Erick is another translator who was also with the group last year. He has such a heart for these kids and has a great relationship with them, too. He is so good with the kids and with the teen moms, and he has been a wonderful addition to our team. It has been such a joy to watch him interact with the kids and see that he is a positive male role model for them… especially since many of them do not have any men in their lives or have been betrayed by the ones they know. I believe that he is a gift from God to these kids.

Rosanna, Mariana, and Arturo are new to our team this year and have also done a great job. Mariana is so good with the little kids and can even get them to march with her in a straight line – something that none of us can do! Arturo has developed a good relationship with a few of the people on our team and I think it’s been a good witness to him. Rosanna is on staff at Buckner (with Silvia, Claudia, and Giugliana) and has taken great care of us and even made sure that we had enough water in our hotel rooms. It has been a lot of fun to get to know them.

Julie, our trip coordinator, has been such a huge blessing to our team! She is so sweet and capable, and she is a great leader! She gels with our group and it's been fun to get to know her. She does everything with us, even our debriefing and planning, and it has been fun to hang out with her in the evenings. She is a God-send and we are so grateful for her!

Our interns have been invaluable! They are a group of 5 girls from all over the country who have spent about 3 weeks in Peru helping the various missions teams that have come through Buckner. We have very much enjoyed getting to know Angie, Kelli, Krista, Laura, and Heather Michelle, and I know that we will also miss them when we part ways. Angie and Kelli are both nearly fluent in Spanish and are wonderful with the kids – we would have been lost without them!

Thank you again for your continued prayers! We as a team are praying that our time spent here would be a reflection of God's love for these kids and that they would remember Him more than they remember us. We all came to Peru hoping to make a difference in their lives, but we weren't prepared for the difference they would make in ours. This has been an amazing experience for all of us!

P.S. We're planning to have a carnival for the teen moms at Reina de la Paz on Friday. But plans have changed for San Ricardo and we're taking the kids to the movies. Stay tuned!

Day 6 - June 25

Wednesday, June 25

At Reina de la Paz this morning, we began by singing some of the songs that we had been singing at San Ricardo all week. We weren’t sure if the girls would enjoy the singing, but they really got into it! We even sang them the song “This is the Day” in English, and then a few of the interns who speak Spanish sang it to them in Spanish. It was a lot of fun.

Then we split the girls up into groups as usual, but we had a little bit less time than the other days because we had to leave early for lunch. While the girls were in their groups, they made bracelets, played games, and participated in a Bible study. We also had each girl write down some personal information about her and her baby and we took pictures of each of them with their babies. We will then take the pictures and information and make them available to our Sunrise family so that we can pray for each of these girls – not only as a group, but as individuals. We also took time to pray with each girl and her baby, which was very meaningful for them and for us. And since we weren’t able to pray in Spanish, the translators had to translate our prayers, which was a good way for those translators who may not be believers to be introduced to the idea of prayer.

We were sad to leave Reina early, but we had a shortened schedule all day today. We ate lunch at a restaurant called Granja Azul, which means Blue Farm. The food was so delicious and we really enjoyed the quiet atmosphere and the opportunity to fellowship with each other.

After lunch, we headed to San Ricardo for a shortened afternoon of VBS. Thankfully the kids seemed more attentive than yesterday, and the shortened schedule seemed to work well. We opened with singing again and another “Act” of our skit. Today, Maggie and Evan (who represents Jesus) come in to find Michelle and Paul still stuck to the chair (sin). Watch the video clip to see what happens!

The kids enjoyed making butterflies, which represented the fact that we become a new creation after we accept Jesus as our Savior. All week we’ve been using one color each day to represent the Gospel story. Saturday was yellow to represent heaven, the place that Jesus has gone to prepare a place for us. Monday was black, and that represented the color of our hearts because of sin. Tuesday was red, the color of Jesus’ blood when he died to take away our sins. And today was white because that’s the color of our heart once Jesus has washed it clean. Tomorrow the color will be green and we will be making a story wheel with the kids which will include information about what we taught the last few days.

We left San Ricardo and headed to the market for some shopping. We only had an hour, so we had to shop quickly. Our translators were a great help to us as we haggled prices, and it was very entertaining to watch Jeremy (last year’s trip coordinator), who loves to haggle! After going to the market, we went to eat dinner and very much enjoyed the opportunity to fellowship with each other again. We’re beginning to feel like a family.

This has been such an amazing experience so far, and it’s hard to believe that we’ve been here 5 days and will only be here for 2 more. We have really enjoyed spending time with our translators and interns and getting to know them better. They are a fun group of people, and a mixture of believers and unbelievers. We have spent so much time with them over the last few days that it feels as if we’ve known each other all along and are part of the same family.

Thank you again for your prayers! We can see that they are making a difference!




















Julie, our trip coordinator
















Paul and Kelli (one of our interns) getting the teens at San Ricardo to do a rap to help them remember the memory verse!