The First Week

Yes we have arrived in Peru! Our journey has been very long and it is hard to believe that we have been here almost a week now.

Our trip started on Monday with a delay at Tampa International. We were supposed to leave at 11:00 but we did not leave until 1:30 because our flight had not arrived because of weather. We made it down to Miami and got to our gate with enough time to spare. We then boarded and had to wait almost 2 hours on the plane because the ground crew put too much gasoline in the plane, so they had to go get the right nozzle to take gas out and so we learned to be patient. Finally we got off the ground and started on our way to Peru. We arrived around 11:30pm Peruvian time, which is an hour behind EST because they don’t have day light savings time. After getting our luggage and meeting our fellow REAP south student missionaries we got on a crowded bus and head to Chocinca (I think that is how it is spelled) about 2 hours away. We finally arrived, after our bus driver got lost a couple times, around 1:30 to 2:00am.

The next couple of days we spent training for this summer. The REAP south program that we went with send out groups of students into villages to teach the message of Christ through the technique of telling stories straight from the Bible. Our training mainly consisted of: How to Story the Bible, What to expect in the Village, How do the locals communicate, What to do about Spiritual Warfare, How to make what we do reproducible among the Peruvians, and How to know the call of missions. I normally got up around 6 every morning, but we would start classes around 8am after breakfast and go until 9pm. We would get few breaks, but we were never certain of when these would be. On a couple of occasions we had a game time and we played a game called soccey ball. Which was essentially volleyball mixed with soccer. It was fun, but our team did not do so well. So far the food that we have been eating has been great. There is almost rice at every meal, but normally you can mix that with the other elements on your plate.

Today we made it to Matucana, which is where we will be based out of for the next 2 months. We were taken into the town by Mr. and Mrs. Brown and their translator Mary. We are now touring around the town getting familiar with it and meeting different people.

Please pray for us as we continue to getting use to the climate. As far as I know no one has gotten altitude sickness, but please pray that we don’t get it. Also pray that we would stay focused on our task here in Matucana and that we would be proactive. Please also pray for the Catholic Priest of the town His name is Oliver. We have heard that he is telling people not to listen to the gringos and not to associate with the Christians, so if you could pray for his heart and that we would have an opportunity to talk with him and share the truth. Thank you all so much for your continued support. Without your prayers we wouldn’t be here.

Until next time,
*Josh