Link to our College Team's Blog for Peru

http://tbccollegetoperu.blogspot.com/

Raleigh Arrival

We are arriving on Delta 18O3, currently to leave at 12:03... 30 minutes late. See you soon.

Machu Picchu - Friday

We had an amazing time on our visit to the Machu Picchu - Lost City of the Inca's on Friday. We had a four hour train ride through Peru dropping from the high desert climate into the edge of the jungle - wonderful scenery, resting and visiting on the ride. Then the rest of the day seeing the ruins, first with a guide and then for a little individual exploring. We are now on the way home and should be at RDU by 1:00 PM on Saturday.

Wednesday - Jesus is my Superhero

Wednesday is our last day for VBS and the field ministries. God has given us so many opportunities to touch the lives of others though singing, telling Bible stories, making crafts and serving those with great needs. Each morning we have had a devotional guide and today we focused on moving ourselves into the presence of God and seeing Him through the eyes of our hearts. We are focused on surrendering to the light of Christ who lives within us.

One of our teams visited a Home for the Elderly this morning. We served them with love, including playing games, singing, serving them lunch and cleaning up their kitchen. We hugged them and saw their smiles.

Our afternoon VBS closes today. The team that meets in the city park has had attendance of 193 for the last afternoon. Our final lesson was on prayer and learning how to pray. The children have learned to sing a song called "Cristos es mi Super Hero" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKesrmgKvQg) which we have sung every day with dancing and hand motions. It will be a continuing memory to us coming home of our experience with the children of Peru. "Jesus is my superhero, He is my friend, He is the best"!

Tonight we will have our final sharing time for the Seniors of 2011 and tomorrow we will get up at 5:00 AM for our excursion to Machu Pichu.

Tuesday - Jesus can change you

Tuesday was a long day with breakfast starting at 7:30 AM and the last bus returning to campus at 11:30 PM. It was our warmest day yet, with the temperature reaching almost 60 degrees.

We are making a lot of progress on our construction project for the CORASON center. Today we shoveled mud and rocks to help build the retaining wall for the soccer field. Our team worked hard at manual labor giving their best to help create this resource for the church to reach the children of the community. While we were there, we also had fun helping to feed the guinea pigs that the church is raising for additional funds. Guinea pig is a delicacy in Cusco.

One of our VBS locations now has over 100 children attending. This team meets every day in a city park where they have had both dogs and sheep attending along with the kids. The children who come here are longing for hugs and attention which is one way we are able to show God's love to them. Their parents mostly work long hours in the brick factories in this neighborhood. Our lesson for today was from the 19 chapter of Luke, on Zacchaeus and how Jesus forgave him and changed his life. After dividing the children into three groups, we told the Bible story, and then we made a paper trees with Zacchaeus climbing down to meet Jesus. The kids loved working with their hands and the singing exuberantly.

Tonight we had a treat after dinner, a trip to the Inca Market for shopping for traditional Peruvian goods, and then a quick trip downtown to see the city center. This part of town was very different than where we have been working as it is the high rent district of a city with 500,000 population. The Cathedral of Santo Domingo, also known as Cusco Cathedral, which is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cusco is on the main square here. The church was built in 1654, almost 100 years after it was started. Even the chaperones were delighted to find next to it a McDonald's on the square for a quick fix of ice cream and french fries. The evening ended with a bus ride up the mountain to see Christo Blanca, a white statue of Jesus, standing 82 feet tall overlooking the city full of twinkling lights below.

Monday in Cusco

Monday was bright and cold, and we had our regular breakfast of flat bakery rolls, peanut butter, jelly, and juice and coffee before setting out in our ministry teams.
Our teams are rotating so each team will take on different opportunities. One of our morning ministries has been visiting the Hogar Clinica, San Juan de Dios, which is a hospital which provides many services including continuing care of handicapped children.
Some of our team worked in the kitchen and cooked lunch for the children, while others washed and folded clothes, while others pushed children around the yard in the sunshine and played with then at the handicapped play ground on their campus.

VBS sessions continue to do well. Each situation is unique in that the one at the orphanage has the same children each day; the one at the CORASON center and the one near the brick factory are impacted by children having to work all day or still be in school when the VBS starts at 3:00. Monday our lesson was on Jesus makes you a Fisher for men from the scripture of Peter success at fishing when Jesus told him to throw his net on the other side of the boat.

A local teacher who subsidizes her income by selling Peruvian goods came to meet our buses as we returned from the field. We now are seeing a lot of brightly colored wool hats and gloves; actually these are great to have as it is really cold!


Tonight was the special night when the seniors share their love and advice with those they will leave in the youth group in August. It was a

time for laughter and tears and dear reminising followed by pizzia. This was a much appreciated treat which delighted our American taste buds.

Sunday, The Lord"s Day

On Sunday, God wove us an exquisite, intricate tapestry, woven with threads of pain, discovery, and the joy of His presence. The thread of pain included continuing symptoms of the altitude for some of us and also, our sympathy for a local pastor who is experiencing trials in his ministry. The pastor is the father of Mia, one of our wonderful Peruvian translators. Our youth were very loving to him as we met and prayed with him and we ask that you join us in prayer over these things.
We also ask you to pray for the Assembleas de Dios del Peru in Cusco where we worshiped Sunday morning. Here was another beautiful thread in our tapestry where our Youth Choir and Drama Team worked closely with the local church team to lead in worship. Trinity’s choir’s voices and singing were beautiful, and the drama provoked deep thoughts of Jesus’ place in our lives. I admit the service brought tears to my eyes as I felt God’s presence. There were little miracles, like their praise band having a song written with the same chords so that our musicians could join in their Spanish music. They shared an electric guitar and a drum set to add depth to music we had planned. We sang in both English and Spanish to the same El Senior and Lord. Andy’s sermon message on “Mighty to Save” was very moving and we felt that their people embraced us with Christian love.
We also thank God for our thread of service as we went back to our three locations for Bible School in the afternoon. Things ran more smoothly today as we learned better how to reach the children. The translators from Front Line Peru were wonderful in assisting our youth in making each session meaningful to the children. Today’s lesson was on Jesus’ love for little children and our Bible verse was Matthew 19:14. Our youth were blessed by the friendliness and gratitude expressed by these neighborhood children from homes with poor resources. The Director of the CORASON center, one of our locations, thanked us for helping them to build relationships with these children who they can nurture after we leave.
Our day ended with a thread of unique twist. After our dinner was served in the dining area, the power went out. We were plunged into surprisingly deep darkness. The hostel staff was able to fire up a couple to sterno cans and a few cell phones were flipped open for light. We finished diner and decided to have our devotion and sharing time as we sat. In relative darkness, we celebrated Nickolas’ birthday, met and prayed with Mia’s father, and had an opportunity to share how we had felt God’s presence during the day. In some special way, God was very present in the flickering light and earnest voices of those who shared. Please pray that we will have energy for today and that God will continue to make His presence known to each of our youth as we work in His name.
PS. The kids said to add to the blog that the power came back on around midnight so we are all good.

Saturday

Well, you could see your breath as we walked to breakfast Saturday morning. It was a very full day of ministry for our team, and we had a myriad of wonderful experiences. We had groups who went on prayer walks and were invited into homes to pray for people. We had students who cooked and served a meal in an orphanage, and played with the kids and also sanded and prepared some walls for painting. Another group visited a hospital where they did laundry and played with handicapped children. Another group worked on construction of a retaining wall to help a church carve play space out of the side of a mountain. We are full of stories of individuals we encountered.

After lunch we had 3 VBS teams out in the field and then last night our wonderful youth led a worship service with music and drama and Andy delivered a message on loving your neighbor. It was an amazing day!