Peru Adventures, Discovering the presence of God

There is so much I am learning and so much I am pondering, here is my attempt to capture my first day experiencing Peru and the presence of Christ in my midst in a new place for me. I am not sure if words can capture my experience today, but I will attempt to fill you in a little about what I experienced.

Wow, today was definitely transformational. I am not sure I can process my experience so quickly--but I will share a few general thoughts. We rode a bus through a neighborhood on a mountainside just on the edge of Lima (can´t remember the name right now) and people would actually go and build what they could of a house to claim the rocky side of a mountain--houses are what you would expect, not much. We also visited Opèracion San Andres, which provides medical care and a day program-library for the children--more about this later. (Headed by a medical doctor the OSA group is actually based out of Houston). I was absolutely amazed by this group, but their consistent care and compassion for this community. They come down every 6 months to operate a health care clinic, where the day program is all year--the doctor has been bringing groups of people for 8 years and mentions that their visits are not about health care, but about the relationships that have continued through the years. This doctor is so right in many ways and we often don´t get that--mission trips are more than building houses, but they are about building partnerships and relationships with communities that flourish and thrive from year to year.

We spend the afternoon at Luz Divina, learning about the congregation and the history. I was also blessed to spend a couple hours with the children--the first being another friend from the group Tim and I and about 10-20 kids, just hanging out, tossing a football on the street. We probably went 15 minutes without words, just laughter--how amazing, I think laughter and God´s love are two things that are universal. Tossing the football eventually led to conversation and me trying to communicate in Spanish--I am not amazing, but seemingly I knew enough where we could communicate, or we would figure it out. These kids have so little, but yet they have so much love to give. Where else in the world would kids sit on the street curb with me and try to attempt having a conversation? Where they ask about how old I am or ask about my family--such curious people! I have noticed a few head turns and stares at the blonde hair on my head, I don´t really blend in here.

All in all, I experienced the love of Christ in a way never before and my heart yearns for these people who live simply because they must and they live at a slower pace because that is the culture--they cherish relationships and that is evident in their community. The love of Christ is present in these communities and they exemplify the love of Christ to the people they encounter.