Day 5 - June 24

Tuesday, June 24

We were greeted this morning by Jeremy, the Buckner representative from last year’s trip. It was great to see him and we are excited that he will be joining us for the rest of this week.

This morning, we began our time at Reina de la Paz by teaching the girls how to tie-dye (Heather did an awesome job teaching the girls how to tie their shirts and handling the entire tie-dying process!). It was a very large undertaking, but the girls seemed to enjoy it and it went relatively well.

Several of us used the time during which the girls split up into smaller groups to hand wash all of the shirts and rinse them out. It made us very grateful for the many blessings we have in our daily lives – like washing machines and dryers! And it made us realize what a wonderful thing it was to give the washing machine to the girls at Reyna de la Paz several months ago. During lunch, Eric was visited by his friends, Miguel and Esteban, again. It’s so much fun to see that they remember him from day to day, and that his afternoon of playing in the dirt with them made such an impact.

We began our time at San Ricardo by hanging out with the kids and taking lots of pictures. Then we sang several songs with them – including a new song that the Interns and the kids taught us. It was fun to see them excited to sing! Then we performed the second part of our on-going skit. In this “Act,” Maggie enters the scene and is tempted to join Michelle and Paul in sin, and cannot choose between going with Evan (Jesus) or sinning. Watch the video clip to see what she decides! (P.S. Giuglianna did a wonderful job doing an introduction and a recap of the drama both days - she rocks!)

Our time spent in smaller groups at San Ricardo was a little bit more difficult today. We’re not sure what the difference was today, but the kids seemed to be more distracted. But Giuglianna worked wonders again during the Bible story time, and even though the memory verse station was crazy, we saw that the kids are in fact learning John 3:16. Craft was also a little hectic because Heather tie-dyed with the teenagers, who weren’t always willing to cooperate. But the shirts got dyed and everything turned out well. We enjoyed the time hanging out with the kids at the end of the day and got lots of great pictures!

For dinner with the interns, Jeremy, and Giugliana, we headed to a very nice restaurant with a chocolate fountain. The food was delicious, the fellowship was great, but the chocolate was divine at the end of a very long and tiring day! Then we headed back to the hotel for another debriefing and planning session, and then we were off to bed.

We cannot thank you enough for your prayer support while we are in Peru! We know that even though we may plan for the day’s activities, whatever happens – whether or not it’s our “Plan A” – it’s exactly what God wants to happen. It’s comforting to know that even though we may have to default to our “Plan B”… or even “Plan E”… God’s will and timing are perfect, and He is in complete control! And it’s amazing to think that while we are making a difference in the lives of these kids, they are making a difference in ours, too. That’s pretty awesome.