Saturday:
Wow, I just got finished with one of the best weeks ever in Peru. If you have read the blog post a humble reminder, you know the story about getting almost all of my haircut off. I was very down and depressed about that even though it was such a petty thing. Nancy willingly went to the peruvian market with me to find wigs. You should have seen some of the looks that we got from people when we were taking wigs off manicuns and trying them on to see if they would work. Anyway, I left the market not with a wig, but with a few shiny scarves to try and cover the horrible damage. I came back to the house still depressed, but i started to work on my blog. The house was pretty much a mess, but Nancy had decided that we were going to have a good dinner. The day before we bought stuff to make our first steak here in Peru and baked potatoes. Nichhola was going to come over, so I decided to clean the house a little bit which Nancy had already been doing, and actually get a little dressed up. Little did I know that my mom would be showing up in about 30 minutes. My mom and Nancy had coordinated this huge birthday surprise that I did not know about! Nichhola finally got her at like 11:00 pm, and we had just finished all the food. I had thought it was weird that Nancy had wanted us to buy extra steak and to cook all of the bake potates because she normally does not like to buy things unless for sure we need them, but she convinced me that we would make 2 meals out of this one etc. Nichhola told me to close my eyes and that he was going to bring a surprise up for me. I had thought that it was a chocolate cake or something. Then someone had their hands over me, which I thought were Nancy's and said, "Guess who?" At the sound of her voice, I knew that it was my mom. I was in complete and total shock, I started freaking out! I said, “OH MY WORD” probably a hundred times. It was the best surprise ever! After a very discouraging weekend, my absolute best friend and mom was at my door in PERU! After the shock, we sat down and ate a delicious meal together. The baked potates and steak were wonderful! Great job Nancy! Then my mom gave me a beautiful scrapbook that she had made for me of the time that I was in the states for furlough. She and my dad also gave me this netbook which I am using right now. It came at just the perfect timing because my computer had completely stopped working the week before. My mom was able to take my computer back to the states to have some repair done to it. Of course, that night we stayed up till’ 4 talking! Best birthday present ever!
Sunday: The next morning was actually my mom’s birthday, and we had a full day of ministry! We went and did our morning house church in Ancon and had a really good time with Jackeline and her daughter. After that we went to 3 Regiones, we only had 3 people show up, but Ingrid one of the 9 year old kids came and she is just incredible. My mom encouraged me that she could be the next huge missionary in Peru. My mom also taught us several new fun games to play with our kids in house church. The kids loved it! It was an adventure changing the rules etc from English into Spanish, but it worked! Then we came back to get ready for a birthday party we had been invited to in Surco. We went and had a good time. Little did I know that was all part of Nancy’s plan to get us to go to Surco. After Taby’s birthday party, I took my mom to Manola’s to finally celebrate her birthday. I felt bad that I had so many plans ahead of time on her birthday but in my favor I had no idea she was going to be here in Peru for her birthday! We went to Manolas and I ate some delicious churros and my mom ate a delicious piece of tres leches cake. We made a huge ruckus by singing happy birthday in English as loud as we could. Nancy right before had taken all of our bags “somewhere” and met up with us at Manolas with Amanda Wissman! Then the two of them made us close our eyes and cross all of these streets and go on a small scavenger hunt until we arrived at our next destination. Nancy had planned for us to stay at this great hotel and Amanda had decorated all of it. It was so awesome! My mom had brought some of my birthday presents which were the amazing games of Pictionary, guesstures, and cranium. Of course, we stayed up till’ 4:00 in the morning playing games; it was a blast!
Monday: The next morning, I had the privilege of talking to my best friend in the states, Sara Campos via skype! Then we left for the rest of the day of surprises that Nancy and Amanda had planned. We walked around a little bit in Mira Flores, ate at McDonald’s, and then we went to our next surprise destination: The Larco Mar mall. Nancy and Amanda had my mom sit down and wait. They brought our next surprise to us, my good friends Shaun and Mark to meet us for the next part of our adventure. Then we had the awesome opportunity to watch Pirates of the Carribean 4 in English in 3D! It was AMAZING! Then they took me to Tony Roma’s where I was able to eat a baked potatoe! They are one of the only restaurants in Peru that serves baked potatoes. Mark left after that, and Amanda and Shaun acted like they had to go. But there were still more surprises left! They actually had planned ahead of time to have a game night at Shaun and Amanda’s house! We went to their house and played games for like 6 hours! It was incredible! I lost at nertz that was the only sad part, but what is new? I always lose to my mom! Nicchola picked us up, and he gave me a Peru tshirt for my birthday and brought us back to Ventanilla. Then I opened up the presents from my family and friends in the states. Thanks so much for all of you that sent me birthday presents! That was too sweet of you. I got some awesome things like tons of games, chocolate, Christian CDs, and one of the seasons of 24! Ya’ll are so thoughtful. Everything is being used and enjoyed already!
Tuesday: We slept in really late because we had pulled too many 4:00 am nights in a row. We went to the next town over Puente Piedra because I had needed to run an errand. You should have seen my mom she was like a kid in a candy store taking everything in. She loved looking at this city, sometimes I forget how different things are where we live. Then I took my mom to the mall area that is closest to us. We road one of the local buses. It took about 45 minutes to get there. I was so proud of my mom because I do not know many Americans that would take the local bus on a one week trip to Peru. I was also excited because she was getting the experience of my daily life. That is why I was taking her to this mall because I need to buy some food times from a store there and I wanted her to see a place where we go sometimes to watch a movie or to eat a chilis etc. We do not go there too often, but it is the closest American commercial area to us! My mom loved it. We had so much fun. I introduced my mom to a Peruvian dish called causa and she ate an empanada. Later for dessert we went to a restaurant that solely makes crepes! We had delicious dessert crepes and then headed home! I think that night we played phase 10 together! It was so fun getting to play one of my favorite games here in Peru with my mom!
Wednesday: Nichhola came that morning to pick us up for a day of adventure. We were going to go to La Victoria or what I call “the streets of Lima.” I had told my parents a lot about this place because that is where I went Christmas shopping for full outfits for 200 kids in the community and that is also where I got a lot of stuff done for our house. There is no way to describe it except that it is just street upon streets of whole sale commercial. Like one building we went into is 7 floors of whole sale clothes. Another building full of jewelry etc. It is incredible sight for sure. I got to take my mom to almost all of the places I went to shop for the clothes for the kids in the community. It was so neat once again for my mom to see another place in my life here in Peru where I go so often for various projects. We spent all morning and afternoon there. Nichhola took us to a restaurant were my mom got to try one of my favorite Peruvian dishes Papa Huancaina. It was delicious. After more looking around in the streets of Lima and buying some very cute and cheap jewelry. We headed for the arts district of Barranco. I had personally never been there before. On the way there, we stopped in Churillos a beautiful city that I had never been to before either. We got to walk down the beach and take a lot of ridiculously funny pictures. After that we went to a beautiful Barranco. It was incredible. It was so lush and just gorgeous. We ate at this fabulous restaurant in Barranco thanks to my oh so generous mom! We had such a great day together!
Thursday: Mexican Fiesta (but this time big time) We had invited all of our closest Peruvian friends and all the people that were involved in house churches over to our house. Almost everyone came. 52 Peruvians came over to eat some major tacos, quesadillas, and Guacamole. It was amazing! We worked on cooking all afternoon and finally at 8. The party began. At first it was a little awkward, but our good Peruvian friend, John brought his sound system and his kids to do a presentation for my birthday. They did 2 dances and sang two songs! It was so sweet! Then we ate and ate and ate! Then we danced and danced and danced. Everyone I think had a great time. Nancy shared the good news of Jesus, and we gave away salvation bracelets to all of the guests. I hope that this party will be the start of many church plants and the strengthening of ones that are already in place. It was so neat to see how everyone worked together to make this party work. One lady made all the tacos for all of the children, another brought the music and entertainment to the party, another person served the chips and dip, and another drinks. We definitely had some amazing servants and leaders in our house that day, and I am excited to see how they will be a part of the church planting movement. Out of all 52 people that came, only 2 are Christians, but I know soon more of those people will know Christ!
Friday: We started our fifth house church in the city of Ventanilla. We just showed up to the market we had gone to the month before and found the family that asked us to start coming on a regular basis. Before we knew it we had about 12 kids and 1 or 2 adults that stopped by for a while. People as they passed seemed interested as well. We had a great time just playing games in the street and talking about Creation and Adam and Eve. Nancy taught the story and did a fantastic job. The kids at this place seem serious about coming and attending. We set a new time to come weekly, please pray that more kids and teenagers will come as well as adults that are shopping in the market and vendors in these markets. After that my mom, and I looked around the city of Ventanillla and then came back home to eat. We got to eat at the Chifa restaurant down the street where they cook right in front of you over hot flames. My mom was fascinated with how they cook at this restaurant. Then of course we had to watch some good ole’ 24 together. Thank you Sara for sending me the season of 24. So addicting!
Saturday: I loved Saturday. We just spent all day hanging out at the house playing games. Nicchola came over and we played Clue, Nertz, and dominoes. We had so much fun. We went to the chicken shack and ate some yummy Lomo Saltado. Then we came back and watched some more 24! It was such a fun and relaxing day. My mom is the best kind of tourist because she does not care about doing all of the touristy things but just hanging out. I can’t tell you how much fun it was for me to get to play my favorite games with my mom in my home in Peru.
Sunday: Sad day….my mom had to leave. I went with her to the airport to send her off after a fantastic week. Then I got to have a really great conversation with Nichhola about all kinds of things in life and most importantly about the good news of Jesus. Then I met Nancy and John at our house church in the afternoon. We had a good time with the teenagers and learned the importance of just worshipping God and not idols. Then we came back to the house, and John and I had a very intense conversation about many things that are going on in his life. God gave me some divine appointments for the Holy Spirit to speak to these two different men yesterday. It made me think about discipleship. How do I do it? It reminded me how important it is, yet how hard it is. Please pray that I would know how to disciple these people that are in my life and take every opportunity captive.
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