Special Orphan Christmas Trip
December 1-6
Rosaline Hyslop, Kathy Stroman and Beth Daugherty have gone to Peru to visit the orphanage for Christmas. A Christmas dinner, a few gifts and much needed plumbing repair will be the bulk of the work to be accomplished.
Click HERE for our videos from the trip!
Day 1 - Sunday, December 2
Thank you for your prayers as we work to love the orphans with action! We all enjoyed our day in Huaycan so much. The kids were excited to see us and surprised. Thank you
Lori for the amazing craft project we brought. The kids made Christmas cards that are adorable with ribbon, glitter paint and foam pieces. They stayed seated for about an hour and were completely engaged in the activity.
There were also a number of kids helping others who were struggling because of age.
There was a great difference noticed in the orphans. Beth was invited to speak during the church service and she prayed for the church and the orphanage. Each one of us were so blessed by the difference in the attitudes and calmness of the orphans. The Lord is working here.
We will be shopping and planning the big Christmas party for Wednesday. Please pray that we would bring glory to God through our attempts to love these wonderful children.
Day 2 - Monday, December 3
Yesterday was another great day. Our translator Alexandra took us all over the city looking for supplies for our Christmas party on Wednesday, Dec. 5. We spent some time looking for scooters and bicycles. It took us awhile to find the scooters but when we were just about to our hotel we saw scooters displayed 'ON SALE' in a storefront. God blesses us in everything.
After shopping and planning for Tuesday we went to Rosario's home to talk a bit of business about the orphanage and got her ledger and receipt book to take back to the States. Beth was very proud of her attention to detail. Rosario is responsible for all the shopping and paying bills needed for the children at the orphanage.
We enjoyed a wonderful dinner and time with her family. Please pray for her husband who returned to Peru from the States after 7 1/2 years of working for his family. He is going through cataract surgery on Tuesday morning. Their daughter is getting married on December 15th and they have so much to do. Pray for Rosario as she tries to help us in the midst of the busiest season in her life!
Tuesday we are heading to the grocery store for the orphanage and to three of the boys school. We will be checking to see that their grades and behavior have been good. Please pray for our time at the orphanage Tuesday because conversations with Noel and Pastora will take place.
Day 3 - Tuesday, December 4
The adventures continue in Peru. The days last a long time because we stay up so late. This day we stayed up until 2am getting all of the Christmas bags together for each orphan. It's exciting to see the hotel room transform into a Christmas explosion. Wednesday we will get three or four taxis together and fill them up to take our goodies to the orphanage.
We began our day by going to the market to buy groceries. Our driver Edwin was also a personal shopper. Since Rosario was not able to come and help us he was able to explain everything to us because he is also her driver to Huaycan on shopping days. He is a Christian and gives us a reasonable price and helps because he believes in what we are doing. It is encouraging to be surrounded with so much help.
We bought so many groceries because we were buying for the whole month. Another taxi was brought in to help bring all of us up the mountain. We brought some of the goodies with us as well for the Christmas party. Once we arrived at the orphanage we sent Alexandra off to the school of three of the boys to pay their tuition. She was trying to get permission from the school to get a copy of the grades of the boys. She found out that Pastora needed to complete a letter giving permission to Rosario to take the grades out.
When Alexandra returned we began our conversation with Pastora, Noel and Flor immediatly. We wanted to get it out of the way before the kids got out of school. It went well without many interruptions. There are still many issues that we are working out, but it seemed to be a little better than last time. Noel was able to speak and Flor shared her heart many times. Noel and Flor are the children of Pastora's who leads the orphanage.
Our translator Alexandra was amazing. The difficulty in translating is the culutral difference in conversations and she dealt with each situation delicately. She also works for Compassion International and threrefore has a wealth of knowledge on poverty, children, and sponsorship. We hope to continue to ask for her help with our program in Huaycan.
We have made the decision from some of our conversation not to move further on the plumbing issue until we have a plumber from outside Huaycan to give us another estimate. This is something we will do from now on. It is something we always do at church and at home. Please pray for a quality plumber to be found by Rosario that would be willing to travel up the mountain to help this orphanage. We will be holding a portion of the donations for this needed work for necessary hygiene.
Please pray for Wednesday's Christmas Party. The kids are amazing and we love spending time with them.
Day 4 - December 5, 2007
Our big Christmas Party was amazing. The kids were so calm before the reveal. We had six translators helping us with the party because they love the kids too. They took the kids to the school and played soccer while we set up the bags of goodies and the stockings. The bikes and scooters were hidden in the office when the kids entered the church and began opening their gifts.
Each child wanted to show us what they got. They were all yelling, Mira! Mira! The pictures of the children with our team from July were they're favorite gifts. After looking at those pictures they asked where the rest of their sponsors were. We explained that they are far away but close in the Lord.
Beth was able to stand up and greet the kids during the gift giving. She let them know about the gifts being from the Lord and to remember to thank Him for all the gifts they receive. The kids even yelled, AMEN, while she was speaking. It was a great change!
After the presents they went to the kitchen and enjoyed roasted chicken, french fries and salad. They were smiling when they saw the mayonaise. They love mayonaise. We bought them two large bags of mayonaise and two tubs of butter. They were so excited about the butter. These are not things that they get on a regular basis. Usually, it is the little things that excited them the most.
We left the orphanage and Beth would not be returning to there so she said goodbye. It was a sad goodbye. Those kids reach into the hearts of all of us. They are precious!
When we arrived at the hotel from Huaycan a surprise awaited us. Graciela, the psychiatrist from the orphanage, who had quit a couple weeks ago was sitting in the lobby of the hotel. We were stunned. It was the last night and the end of our journey to Peru and our final objective that we wanted to accomplish was in front of us. God is so good.
All of our translators had just left to go home before we went to the hotel so Beth was the one to lean on until Rosario could get there. We talked for a good hour and Beth translated the best she could. It was a good conversation. By the end, Graciela agreed to come back to work starting on Monday, December 10. Praise the Lord! She is amazing for the orphanage and we believe most of the change in behavior was her doing. She has a great vision and multi-step process for dealing with the children and their difficult history. Please pray for her as she goes back to the orphanage.
Below are blogs from previous trips . . .
July 13 - 23
Ministry Information:
We went to Lima, Peru with Mountain Movers.
This year we spent our first 5 days doing evangelism in Chimbote, a smaller town outside
of Lima. We encouraged churches, went
door-to-door sharing the gospel and did
street evangelism.
The second 5 days were spent working with El Nino Emmanuel Orphanage. We loved on the kids, as well as helped them with their school and library.
___________________________________________________________________
The Following is a Journal of Events from the 2007 Peru Mission Trip:
Check out Richard Ray's Peru blog at : http://community.myfoxdfw.com/blogs/RichardRay
Monday, July 23:
Hola from El Niño Emanuel!
We have spent the day shopping for shoes with the children, while another group stayed at the orphanage where they painted and other construction.
After shopping for shoes, the children broke up into small groups to discuss where they are at with God. Early in our visit here, the children seemed confused about the gospel and their salvation, so we wanted to have a talk with them to see if we could clarify. Things went very well today.
The children received their back packs full of school supplies, shampoo, clothes, and a few toys, as well as new sheets on their beds. Thanks for your support in getting donations together.
A few members of our team have not been feeling well, so please pray for them. God has been faithful to our team in keeping us safe and healthy. We are heading to a nice hotel tonight where we will stay for the remainder of our trip. Please pray for rest and safe travel as we prepare to come back home!
God bless,
Ashley
Sunday, July 22:
Hi from Lima!!
Last night we had the teens from the orphanage spend the night at the retreat center. It went very well. The boys slept in tents, and I do not think they got much sleep.
Today we went to church with them and now are about to perform our mimes in Huyacan at the orphanage. The older teens seem confused about their salvation and if it is everlasting in Christ, so please pray for them. God has opened up some great conversations about His truth. The younger children played with some of our team, and had a great time. These kids are precious and it is our privilege to be able to follow the Lord's command in James 1:27 when God says to care for the orphans and widows. We have loved loving on them!
Our team is growing very tired. Please pray for us because we still have a lot to do, and it is important we stay focused in the midst of our exhaustion.
Thanks so much for all your prayers!
Ashley
Friday, July 20:
We arrived in Lima after a long 8 hr bus trip. Everyone is doing well and safe. We had a great time on the bus, well those of us that did not sleep. We saw a Peruvian version of Clint Eastwood western movie. It was wonderfully funny and poorly done. We will remember the infamous lines for a long time.
Pastor Oscar is gone now. He is returning home on Saturday and left to a hotel close to the airport. Our team has bonded well -new friends are being made and a renewed sense of holiness and calling is being experienced. We thank all of you for your prayers.
Tomorrow, Saturday, we go to Hauycan to visit the orphans for the first time . .we have much work to do. Keep praying.
With much love,
The Peru team.
Thursday, July 19:
Click HERE for pictures.
On Thursday we started the day by going to the church in Primavery, Springtime. We chose this church because of its great children's program. The church has about 100 worshippers but most are children. . .80%. They have a great director of children that we became close with last year. She is doing a fabulous job and we spent time at their program that was packed with kids. We had our clowns start by leading worship, Amber does a great job leading in Spanish songs. Richard Ray was great at being the MC for the presentations. The mimes went so well and the children were clapping, screaming and smiling so much during the mimes. They love to see these dramas.
In the afternoon we went to the New Life church (Church in the sand) to present the new extreme makeover of the pastor's house, church and school. We brought the pastor and his family to our hotel for the night so that they would not see what we had done but also to give them a good nights rest and a hot shower. They don't have running water. Imagine that, sand floor in your home and no running water, no refrigerator, cardboard as your walls. They walked into their home and saw that we had laid woven thatch on their floors . . .no more sand. They had their mouths open in shock. Then we moved them to their bedroom and saw their new beds and new dresser . . financed by one of our team members. The tears flowed and flowed and followed by hugs and more crying, not just the pastor's wife but also the pastor and all the kids. Soon our team members were crying too. It was just like the extreme makeover home edition show. We moved to the kid's bedrooms, showed them the new beds, bedspreads and comforters and the kids were shocked too. . . moved to cry and cry. Last, but not least, we showed them their new kitchen cabinet and new refrigerator. They hugged us and cried and hugged us some more. It was worth it. Blessing this one family that has sacrificed so much for this poor community was worth the trip .Thanks to all that gave for this trip . . . you made these miracles happen.
We then went to Casa del Rey church (House of the King). Our team had painted the church, organized the kitchen, as well as replaced the roof of a church member. We had lunch and then broke out into a group dance. Everyone danced inside the circle . . even Elroy and Delores, they know how to cut a little rug. . . just between us, Catherine is a much better dancer than Richard. . . keep to the reporting Rich. In the evening we hosted a banquet for all the church leaders (of the three churches) . . . we had about 150 people come. There were many thanks and gifts given. One of the most touching moments was a dramatization of the song, ¨Thank You" by Ray Bolts. They sat David, our host, Jennifer, Allison and Pastor Oscar in the front and sang the song to them. There were few dry eyes in the room. There were many expressions of love, praise and fellowship. We sang Spanish praise songs that even the Americans knew . . . just like heaven. Katie did a beautiful interpretive dance that was breathtaking. Pastor Oscar preached on Isaiah 61 . . God's missionary heart. We ended with Nick and Ashley leading in praise. Some expressed that it was the highlight of the trip so far.
At 10:30pm we went to a nearby restaurant for dinner and then off to bed. Our team is full -full of emotions and satisfaction that we completed our God given dreams in Chimbote, that we blessed wonderful churches and pastors, and blessed to know that we were chosen to share the gospel with over 1000 people in this city!
We give Jesus the praise, the glory!
We are off to Lima and the orphanage.
Wednesday, July 18:
Click HERE for pictures.
The team is doing great.
On Wednesday our team did a whole day of labor. One team worked at Casa del Rey and painted the whole church and organized the kitchen. A subgroup of this team replaced a roof of a widow that is in a bad living situation.
Extreme Makeover! The second team rethatched the whole church complex and began remodeling the pastor´s home. One of the projects was putting plastic and thatch on the sand floor. It took a whole team effort. While we were doing this work, we sent the pastor and his family to our hotel. They have never stayed in a hotel and they were so happy. We finished the house, got them a new bed, all new bed spreads and a dresser. On Thursday afternoon we will show them their new home!
In the evening, we took the pastor and his family to dinner and gave a huge birthday party for their 8 year old son. He cried and cried because he was so happy. The pastor's wife was also crying . . .it was a great evening!
Pray for our last day in Chimbote on Thursday. We will finish up all the projects, evangelism in the afternoon and have a celebration with both churches in the evening. We are all healthy; tired but very excited!
For Him,
Pastor O
Tuesday, July 17:
Click HERE for pictures.
Our Monday was, again, full of activities with children. Our youth seem to have the energy to entertain children for hours! In the afternoon, our team split into two groups. One group did door-to-door evangelism in the Delicias "church of the sand" area. It was very fruitful! Our new members were surprised and somewhat intimidated at first. . . but after one house, they became pros!
The other team went to the main square downtown in new Chimbote. This is a new plaza that is beautiful and has lots of traffic. For almost two hours we tried to get permission to use the square's electricity for our sound system to do our mimes and preaching. . . we finally were told no. We borrowed a car battery and began to draw crowds. We finished our first mime, Redeemer, but during our second, Decision Time, the battery died. Our team continued with the mime without music. It was very powerful! We then did the Champion without sound. Our mime team did everything by timing and counting in their heads. . it was amazing! Many heard the gospel of salvation and were given gospel tracts.
While this was going on, Pastor Oscar and David met with the church leaders of New Life. There were18 leaders. Pastor Oscar taught on the strategic model of discipleship and multiplication. They received the teaching very well. The amazing thing was that the average church director was 19 yrs old. . .some were as young as 16! Here the church gives the youth much more opportunity to lead.
We arrived at the chinese restaurant at 8pm but were not served until 9:30pm. After the late night, our team shared great stories of the day: teaching and worship. About midnight we went to bed . . . of course some of our "non-youth" retired much sooner!
On Tuesday morning we sent a team to do door-to-door at a new church cell group area. They had great discussions and several people indicated faith for the first time, some indicated a return to church! The other group worked with over 60 children for two hours. They did a VBS. The leaders went through the pastor´s house that is in terrible shape: dirt floors, holes in the walls, no running water. . . we will be remodeling as much as we can to help them.
Tonight we will continue doing evangelism as well as purchasing material for the pastor's house. Others will do some parenting training.
We don´t miss home, too much. We are too busy on a very exciting mission trip!
With Much Love,
Peru Team.
Monday, July 16:
Friends,
Its been a great trip so far. No glitches, just hard work, so far.
Richard Ray has excellent writing skills and I won't try to replicate his excellent work. Go to http://community.myfoxdfw.com/blogs/RichardRay to get your updates. They are fantastic!
I will add these facts:
1. Everyone is doing great - health and attitude.
2. We did an incredible amount of ministry in one evening, two crusades, two churches, exhausted team. We prayed for dozens of people that had special problems and we were honored by the opportunity.
3. The churches are very excited to receive us. Two of the main ones have been praying for us for a year. They were in tears when they heard they were picked to work with us on this year's mission. Both are humble poor churches. One has a dirt floor, we call it the Sand Church. The leaders are so grateful. As you read in Richards blog, the pastor of one of the churches took out a trombone and played our American national anthem. We all stood, put our hands on our hearts and sang it with him. . .it was kind of weird to be doing that in Peru, but at the same time we remembered our home, our freedom and the honor it is to be American. We shared testimonies, did the mimes eight times and I preached at both. Our team is exhausted.
4. Today we are at two churches again, this time divided into two teams. In the morning, we will minister to all the children of those churches, doing VBS type of programs. In the afternoon we will be doing door-to-door evangelism. In the evening, we will be doing leadership training: training church leaders on the Great Commission Strategy for Multiplication. . .well, at least of few of us are. The rest of the team will be doing a ¨surprise party¨ for some of our birthday team members. . . .cake, balloons,etc.
Its cold here. Keep praying for us!
For Him,
Pastor Oscar
( We miss you, Bailey!)
Sunday, July 15:
We made it to Chimbote. After a 6 hr bus ride that arrived at 8 am. . .everyone is a little tired but attitudes are great. Today we are about to get some lunch and then we go to the churches to minister. Everyone is healthy and getting along great.
Pastor Oscar
Mimes preparing to minister to the people of Peru. Click HERE for more pictures.
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