Home from Peru!

The team made it home to Greensboro tonight at 930pm! We are all safe and really appreciated the overwhelming welcome! Thank you to all who came out… we love you!

We would love to see you all at the potluck lunch on August 8th. Westover Church at around 12:30 in the activities center! Be there to see pictures and hear from the team about our experiences there!

Thank you again for all your prayers… ask anyone they were definitely felt. We are all home enjoying clean drinking water and hot showers… but a piece of our hearts is left in peru!

If we learned anything it is how absolutely blessed we are!!!!

Off to Lima

We leave people of peru project in about 20 minutes! Then we are off to lima for the day…we hope to see you tomorrow night around 930 at the greensboro airport. We fly american airlines so check in on any flight changes or delays!

Go easy on the blogger !

Just a note… thank you for your forgiveness for bad typing and spelling! WE have been dealing with a spanish key board, a slow connect that freezes everytime you heat proof read, and rushing so not to miss out on this amazing trip. Thanks for your willingness to over look all that!

What a great finish to our time here!!!

Tonight we had the great privaledge to attend a professional soccer game Lima verses Iquitos… huge rivalry here. It was so amazing… we had jerseys and head bands. The rains came and poured on the game but it was so great! In the end the score was 1-0 ….. IQUITOS!!!!! Yea… it was great!

We are very sad to leave…. alot of tears and heart brokeness already. Everyone will come say goodbye to us in the morning…. but we will forever have a piece of peru and especially iquitos in our heart! We head to Lima in the morning where we will be there touring for the afternoon and spending the night in hotel before our flights back to the states on Monday morning.

What a blessed time! We hope you will humor us as we outpour with stories upon our return! BEcause boy do we have some to tell! Our team had an amazing time of sharing this morning ont hei mpact this trip has had on our lives so far. Our biggest prayer as we return is that we never forget and we dont get comfortable!!!! God has called us to live a greater life.

Praise God for his great works! We hope to see you upon our return!

Probably our last post!

Friends and family we have a busy evening and morning as we head back to lima for sunday then home monday. I may not be able to post… so really quick we wanted to say thank you so much!!!! Your prayers have been felt!!!

We will be in lima until monday morning. Alot of flying and lay overs again! Our flight has been rescheduled to arrive in Greensboro at 930 parents check the flight numbers and keep track at the airport fo rany changes. Friends… we would love to see you at the airport upon our return… it is american airlines flight from miami scheduled to arrive at 930pm.

Thank you for your love and support. We will be posting follow up trip info upon our return.

Photos from the jungle!

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WE SURVIVED THE AMAZON/JUNGLE

Hey parents/friends … yes… we boated, hiked through, swam in, and adventured around on in and through the amazon river and rainforest. What an amazing day! We began by taking a boat to Bora Bora tourist area where they had tradition songs, dances, even attire! Many students joined in with dances. We had an opportunity to purchase and trade for hand made items from the tribe…. so wonderful. Many bags, tribal garmets, jewelry and even blow guns…. real authentic ones! Then our group ventured on to an amazon petting zoo where we got to hold the cutest sloths, try to hold a very scared little monkey and many of us held an anaconda!!!
We continue on down the amazon for a real treat we had a special guide from the bora bora tribe that hiked us through the amazon jungle on and off trails to learn all about the land and its amazing features. We discovered vines that when cut have fresh water, plans that help with the many bug bites we had, and even found a tree that bleeds a rubber material… seriously! We adventured with our guide all the way to the real bora tribe where we toured and handed out goodies for the kids and enjoyed seeing there true tribal grounds.
After that it was time to swim in the amazon…. about half of the group actually swam, where the rest just put our feet in…haha. All was so peaceful and beautiful.
We cannot explain how wonderful this day was….what a unique and special experience that we will enver forget. I will be sure and post pictures soon!!!! Off to dinner!

Precious moments from yesterday

the kids running to the bus

Sweet Sorrow

Tonight was our last VBS at the Union village was amazing!!!! God showed up in a real way as the gospel message was clearly presented to more than 300 children. Yes…. you read right our numbers have grown like crazy since the beginning of the week. The team was able to present the gospel through song, silly drama, and through having the children memorize a verse (I john 4.16) The students then made a craft of a cross with their two thumb prints forming a heart on the cross. IE there own personal acknowledgement that God loves them, and is love, and can be there savior. What a blessing to see our whole team pull together to plan out little details of then night so that even at the very end of the night even the smallest children could still tell us the verse and knew the cross they made was the cross of Jesus Christ who died for them. We also handed out a spanish copy of John 3.16 to each of the mothers who came with their children, gave them love and hugs… many of who then wanted their picture with their child. precious!
So as the main time ran down the remaining children were all around the room playing duck duck goose, tag, blowing bubbles, gettng hugs, taking alot of pictures, singing Jesus loves me and filling the village with the spirit of the Lord …. all un planned…. all in small groups with different members of the team. God is so good!

Unfortunatly as the kids did everynight when they got ready toleave they would ask each of us if they would see us tomorrow… and tonights answer was no. Break our hearts and rip it out as their faces as they clung to us for another 30 or more minutes. Many of them just wrapped their arms around team members or sat on laps and would not let go or get down. As we had to leave for the bus many tears flowed team members and children alike. We pray the Lord has left his mark and his work will continue in Union even as we no longer will be there.

As we returned to People of Peru the tone of the evening has been very different then most…. full of joy but many heart felt genuine conversations growing us closer and deeper as a team. God is at work in all of us…. praise HE who has done a good work is us.

We are headed to bed ready for an exciting day tomorrow…
We are headed up the Amazon river by boat to visit the bora-bora tribe. A day full of anacondas, pink dolphins, homemade tribal items, bora traditions, monkeys, and memories that will last a life time. Pray for our saftey and our excitement as we venture deeper into the jungle of peru.

beads, crayons, and a chalk war

We spent the morning at another special needs school in Iquitos. There were about 70 students of all ages and needs. We told them we were just there to have fun with them for the day…and so it began. We had 100′s of beads that were a huge hit making bracelets and necklaces. Everyone wanted one or wanted to play with the beads. The girls glowed as they placed the bracelets on and wore them proudly. We continued to enjoy the universal art of coloring. Its amazing the joy a crayons and a silly coloring sheets can bring to a child. The children always love their picture being taken but these students especially enjoyed taking pictures. Many students would smile and clap and yell as they learned to take a photo. Then run off withyour camera to take pictures of everything… and I mean everything. Some of the studetns discovered how pretty chalk looked on Tobi’s skin and the war was on…haha. They were relentless and decorated tobi really well. Dont worry… we have a video and photos. The morning was full of laughter and joy, dancing and hugs, soccer and bracelets. We pray Gods love was poured out on all of the kids.
We will be headed backt ot he clinic this afternoon to complete the work on the porch and inside. Please pray for our last VBS tonight… we truly desire for Gods love to be communicated as we love on the children.