Machu Picchu

Yesterdays adventures started at the crisp hour of 5am. We left our warm, cozy beds at Atek to be on a bus at 6 to leave for the train station to begin our journey to Machu Picchu. After winding our way through the busy morning streets of Cusco we boarded our train to start the three hour travel to get to the town of Machu Picchu. Our train ride consisted of passing villages, crops, streams, and a continuous view of the amazing Andes mountains. When arriving to the town we then caught a bus to begin our ascent into the mountains. A multitude of switch backs, close passes with other buses and an incredible view made for one of our most exciting bus rides yet. We began our climb and tour of Machu Picchu right away. Our tour guide Mario told us of the history of the archeological site, the Inca Trail (he thinks that climbing the Inca Trail is a great honeymoon idea)and also felt the need to constantly tell us that pumas were all along the mountains waiting for Canadians to eat. We climbed the whole site in the scorching heat, finding shade where we could, pausing at the top of the mountain to feel the cold breeze in an attempt to cool off and drinking about 25 litres of water throughout the day. We also of course saw the famous Machu Picchu llamas and some of our team members were even brave enough to reach out to pet them and of course take selfies with them. As exhausted as we all were the end view was breath taking. And of course we took the classic Beach Corner Church Machu Picchu Peru team picture. After a great day of exploring one of the seven wonders of the world we started to make our way back to our home for the past two weeks. Our last full day in Peru was fulfilled with many memories and now today we pack and begin our long journey home. We are all very thankful for you keeping us in your prayers for these past weeks. We would ask that you continue to pray for good health and strong minds and bodies for our travel home. We will see you all back in Canada soon! Bailee

Back to ATEK

Team 2 got back from the second village/kid's camp. It wasn't so much a village as a town. This was the first time this particular town had held a kid's Bible camp. We were all housed in a church and meals were served in the back yard. There were about 100 kids, but the number seemed to grow for the lunch and supper meals. The kids were organized into color groups and our job was to be in charge of serving one of the groups for all the meals. We were responsible for collecting the cups, plates and spoons afterwards and "washing" them under a faucet of luke warm water. We also took the kids down to a large concrete pad near a school in the town and playing games with them. Our purpose on this trip was to take care of the serving type jobs so that the teachers could focus on teaching the kids. It was a blessing for us to experience the openness, love and physical attention of the children. They loved learning English words and also asked us what our names were. Our empty hands were often filled with the hands of loving children. They loved hugs and touching. One girl kept touching my hair as some of our team were peeling potatoes in the kitchen. Even though we didn't know the language, we were able to share many laughs and exchanges of information with the Peruvians who were helping us. They thought it quite funny how inadequate we were with using a knife to peel potatoes, and there was some comparing of potato peel lengths, as well as tips given as to how to accurately hold and use the knives. They mentioned how tall we were and found it humorous to see that my son was taller than me. We had a soccer tournament on the second day there. We are happy to report that we won against the teachers. There were a couple of strong players on their team, but Seth's skills helped carry us through to a win. Jeff was an awesome goalie and the rest of us directed the ball as best we could. It was 0-0 after the first half. During the second half Seth scored three goals and they scored 2. The second half lasted a lot longer than the first half and we were a bit worried that they would keep playing until they won, but the whistle was finally blown to end the game. The game attracted the attention of two police officers. Fun was had by all! Jennifer Team 1 was at ATEK today for another day with the kids. We had planned to teach them to sing a song but they wanted to go to 'El Parkay' so off we went for another round at the park. We had figured out at this point that all the children needed a hand to hold since we cross the highway as well as the 'dog park' on the way there. Unfortunately some of the children tend to like to 'mark their territory' at the park which proves embarrassing for us when the Spanish women ask if those children are ours. We had fun regardless and a few of us (Amanda and I) were able to carry the babies on our backs like the Peruvian women. Afterwards we made Sammi's craft of sombreros with the children which consisted of our numerous paper plates with hole punches and yarn. The kids LOVED it and we found it humorous. They really have warmed up to us and many of us will miss them. The biggest joke is when they try and pair off team members with each other. Today they decided to touch one team members' lips and then run to a team member of the opposite gender and do the same to imitate a kiss. Their affection and jokes make me smile whereas other team members role their eyes and prefer to have their space (it's more because we're at the end of our time here). The encouragement is to finish well and love the children even though they don't understand boundaries all the time:) . Machu Picchu is tomorrow so we will have an early morning but I'm hoping it will be a good full day instead of a hectic one. Only a few more days here in Peru, looking forward to seeing our family! Brianna The answer to yesterdays' guess who is, Stephanie! Although nearly every time I've caught myself laughing at someone else's misfortune I find myself in the same situation. i.e. Today I was the one who had a wet child ;)

Shake it - Frutti Flex 50

So... yesterday was so busy that we forgot to make a blog post. Better late than never. Yesterday began like most days, 6:50 breakfast and 8:00 devotions with Pastor Bill and the Quechuan women. We had a break after that to collect ourselves before jumping in to help babysit the children. When we met back in the team room we were asked to help bathe the children but ended up observing instead. This lead to less tears on both of our parts. I think the children have realized that baths aren't as horrible as they first thought. We had what was probably my (Sammi's) favourite meal yet which was chopped up carrots, beans, hash browns and eggs. Overall, the kids were in a much better mood than the day before so we took advantage of their passiveness to make music shakers out of paper plates and rice, which they really enjoyed. During which the kids decided that Sammi was pregnant and continued to follow her around, pointing at her stomach saying "bebe". (I'm really not mom!) We then went to the park for a walk. The park experience was much better than before, we came back with all of our kids and had only one fight break out between kids! Spencer got ice cream cause he was snackish. The kids also find it entertaining to take the babysitters phone and video tape us on the way back from the park and then watch it when we get back so we have to make sure we are on our best behavior. After the park we went to go get Pastor Bill ice cream but the ice cream stand was closed and the rest of us ended up stocking up on all the Peruvian chocolate bars and cookies. At night the girls had a devotion with Brianna about spiritual gifts which we all took a test to see which ones we had. While the team was occupying the kids, our translator Daniel took Lucas to a clinic run by an American missionary. Upon arrival, they discovered that the doctor was out getting a bite to eat, so the nurse took his blood pressure and a few other things and they came back to ATEK for lunch while they waited for the doctor. When they left again and found out how long it would take (close to an hour), Daniel left telling Lucas Pastor Fredi would come pick him up. Lucas got his diagnosis and was given pills and two liters of a vile liquid to replenish his electrolytes. The liquid is called 'Frutti Flex 50' and according to Lucas, has the same consistency as milk but with a medicinal fruit taste... After receiving his meds, Lucas waited and waited. Pastor Fredi forgot him, and hours later when Daniel went back to get him, he said he finished an entire movie in Spanish in the waiting room (haha). Later on, while the girls had their devotion, Spencer and Lucas went for a walk and explored 'the main drag' (Spencer's words) and ended up purchasing a pizza that was fire roasted in a brick oven. Needless to say, their 'bro-time' was fulfilling in more than one way. :) Answer to the last guess who is Amanda. Todays is, "Who got soiled on (peed on for those who didn't get soiled on) at the park?" Jeff was supposed to write the blog today but he went to the village with the other group to take Lucas's spot due to Lucas being under the weather. So this blog is from a group of us. - Stephanie, Lindsey, Spencer, Sammi, Amanda, Lucas and Brianna. :)

It was a day...

Today Team Two left for the village... May the Lord be with them and their tummies, I’m sure some of the members will shave off a few pounds during their stay. Hopefully they will all make it back in one piece and in good health. Jeff took Lucas' place due to his poor health. Seeing that Lucas is bed ridden and Pastor Bill is working hard every day with all the women I have been left as the Lone Ranger. Hopefully it will not be too hard to adjust to the overwhelming estrogen-to-testosterone ratio. Later today Team One took care of the kids and decided to take the kids to the park to blow off some of their never ending energy. We took fourteen with us and on our way back realized that we only had seven with us. We managed to grab another seven off the street and claim them as our own, hopefully they were ours… All the children down here look the same so it makes it difficult to distinguish between whose kids are ours or not. Then the team decided to go to the “big” market half way across Cusco to get some more snacks. Turns out that the store wasn’t as grand as I was informed it would be. All the shelves had one single row of cans for food. Turns out Peru isn’t in any rush to restock their shelves. We managed to find some things that we liked and made our way home. As dinner approached members from WYCLIFF arrived and joined us for dinner. They will be staying at ATEK till Friday. Looking forward to returning home! -Cole (Cause the locals can’t say Spencer) P.S. The answer to the guess who question from yesterday is, Lindsey! Today's guess who is, "To put it politely, you're not my cup of tea" Who said it?!

Going to the park again

This morning we woke up again at 6:30 am, ya I know mom and dad I got up that early! We had a great breakfast which consisted of bread and jam again. We had another church service this morning where Kaitlyn shared her testimony for the ladies. I think its really cool how the ladies here are so on fire for God and how they sing their hearts out for God and then we stand in the back trying to sing along to another language. Last night we dedicated all the children in Atek and prayed over the kids and their moms and it was powerful to see how much dedicating their kids meant to them. Today we tried a spiritual time with God for half an hour after the service and it was a really nice to have that time with God. Everyone was feeling pretty tired and drained this morning and after our time with God most of us felt more energized. Kyle has been taking videos of us all day to put in the church slideshow while some of the team cleaned the 3rd floor for another team to stay there tomorrow for 3 days while group 2 goes off to the village. The rest of the team got ready for the next village trip, and played with the kids. The kids are getting really friendly, maybe a little too friendly. Every time they see us they hang off of us and wont let go to the point where we have to lock the door of our rooms so they don't come in, but they are super cute. We play a lot of soccer with the kids but every time we do someone (Seth) gets its stuck on top of a tarp and we have to spend the majority of the time playing soccer actually trying the ball down. Later we took the kids to the park again which they love and we spent a few hours there making sure the kids don't fall of the teeter-totter again. After the park the team went to go to the market to get snacks for group 2 for the village but it just randomly closed down so we went down the road and bought a cake for the team which was amazing and hopefully satisfies our North American food cravings everyone is having. We had fried chicken for dinner which everyone was pretty stocked it wasn't bread or soup again. After dinner I gave my testimony which I was freaking out about all week and I was the last to go but I finally did it and I'm doing it for the ladies tomorrow morning as well. We had team time again tonight and prayed for everyone who is under the weather which is a majority of the team with just a cold to a slight fever. Today was a pretty chill day and we just got ready for group 2 to go to the village from Tuesday to Thursday. So pray that they have a safe travel and a good time there and that they don't have to play what part of the animal they're eating in their soup. I miss you mom and dad i'll see you Sunday :) and good luck on you're baseball tournament this weekend as well Cole. Todays guess who: guess who sleeps with cough drops in her hair..? The answer to yesterdays guess who is Spencer. The story behind it is a joke that Brianna gave Spencer peppermint oil to rub on his tummy in the village to help him feel better when he was sick and he thought it was the weirdest thing. -Stephanie :)

The Adventure to the Orphange's

Good evening from Peru! Our day started fairly normally, we served the women breakfast and ate our own. We then listened to Pastor Bill preach to the women. The we tried to leave at 9 am to start our adventure for the day, which included visiting both Azul Wasi and The Josefine House. Both of these places are orphanage's. However there was much confusion on if we would have a translator or not (we didn't have one), and our bus driver spoke little English. Our plan was to go to the super market and buy sandwich items to make sandwich's for lunch and buy some staple foods for Azul Wasi. That plan was put aside when the driver had no idea what we were asking, meaning we had no lunch items. After asking many locals, police officers and driving down a very small road, we finally found Azul Wasi. We got there later than expected, and the director wasn't around when we arrived. So we looked around and kicked around a soccer ball with the children. The director finally arrived and he took us on a tour of place. Two years ago I was at Azul Wasi, and the change from two years is incredible. They got a new greenhouse and had two new buildings were built. Sadly we couldn't spend too much time there because we had continue on our journey. We tried to tell the bus driver that we wanted sandwich's but he didn't understand. So we had a nutritious lunch, including Coke-cola, mayonnaise, oregano and cheese, and BBQ chicken flavoured Lays chips. We also had cookies and buns from a car trunk (Seth may have had sand on his bun). We then tried to make our way to The Josefine House. However, just like on trip to Azul Wasi, we got lost, and tried to cross a bridge that was too small. We eventually made it. The children were all just waking up from their naps. I still remember some of the children, including Carlos, Daniel and Zoe. Josefine House is building a new house for the children, and it looks amazing! We played on the playground with the kids and passed around a ball. It was very hard to say good-bye to the children, because we had slowly become attached. (Stephanie, Carlos is doing well! I can't wait to tell you more and share pictures and videos!) We safely made our way back to ATEK without getting lost! Praise the lord! We got back to ATEK just before 4, and at 4 we joined a church service at ATEK, with the ladies. We were planning on doing one baby dedication, however after the first baby dedicated all of the ladies wanted their babies dedicated, so instead we just blessed the children and their mothers. All of the ladies then wanted pictures with us according it Spencer we took 37 photos. We are finishing off the day with some team time. Please keep our health in your prayers, some of us still aren't feeling well. As well Pastor Bill's voice, he is teaching every day for very long times. Team unity as well. The answer to yesterdays guess who, is Sammi! When we were in the village the squaties weren't really flushing, so Sammi went to the bathroom and afterwards, she exclaimed "I peed on the poo!" Todays guess who is " The way to pick up a girl is to rub peppermint oil on her tummy." Love Amanda

Hello all! Team one just got back from the village this afternoon (Brianna, Amanda, Lindsey, Stephanie, Sammi, Jeff and Spencer). We were at the village for three days and two nights and experienced many firsts for a lot of us. Our first day there started off with us settling into our room then introducing ourselves to the approximately 130 kids participating in the children's camp. The introductions went fairly well except for Spencer accidentally introducing himself as "Spent-Cole" which stuck with the children, and the rest of us as a group joke. We then ate lunch with the kids which was soup that consisted of rice, potatoes and more potatoes. It was also most of the group's first encounter with chunos (for those who don't remember what those are they are the... interesting dehydrated potatoes). After lunch the group went exploring throughout the village where we found a mangy looking scarecrow to take a selfie with. The kids continued on with there camp throughout the day where we played games with them and learned just how much energy they truly have. At the end of the evening we showed three short films to the kids which were about health, hygiene and some other questionable material that left us a little uncomfortable to go to bed after watching. The next day was an early start, we helped serve and eat breakfast with the kids and most of us witnessed our first sheep slaughtering. It started off with some men dragging a sheep through the area where we were eating in and continue to slit its throat as we tried to finish eating our meal. After seeing how intrigued we were (well some of us) at the process, the men let us watch them skin and gut the sheep, which a few of us took the opportunity to do so. the majority of us left once they began to clean out to stomach and intestines in the same sink we wash our dishes in though. The day continued on with a similar schedule as to the day before with the camp. It was also the day we encountered the squatty problem. We agreed that we felt we had out ventured out of our 'first world probs' when our biggest struggle became trying to find which of the three squatties had the least amount of poop all over it - which was a very real problem when you had 130 young children using them. And when we say there was poop all over, we mean ALL over. That day we also had our soccer tournament, which went much better than expected! We managed to at least get one goal, and to no one's surprise was scored by Sammi. The sheep made its second appearance during lunch in our soup, which was surprisingly comforting to at least know where the 'mystery meat' came from. In the evening we showed the kids how to properly brush their teeth and handed out the supplies to do so. We also participated in the kids' drama presentations, we did two skits where Spencer did a lovely performance of Jesus in both skits despite him being sick at the time. That night the group also came to the consensus that we would exaggerate certain aspects of our village stay, aiming to scare the other group for their trip. After slaughtering our lunch and being forced to go to the bathroom in the bushes due to the squatty situation, it wasn't that hard to come up with ideas. The next morning was thankfully a later start. During breakfast a few of us were offered just plain chunos (which taste even worse than when they are in soup or something) which wasn't exactly what we wanted to be eating first thing in the morning. We then played more games with the kids, made salvation bracelets, packed up our stuff and handed out gift bags to the kids while saying our good-byes. Despite getting lost on our way back to ATEK, we all made it back safe and sound ready to initiate our plan to scare the other team. After exaggerating the food, sleeping conditions, lice situation and the bathrooms (which needed no exaggeration) we had successfully traumatized the others into being extremely nervous for their trip. Our fooling came to an end finally at supper when we explained everything and reassured the team that the village trip was all around a very good and eye opening experience - and they were very relieved. At supper Dried Potato shared her "tater-mony" while we shared the remainder of our true village stories. - Lindsey The answer to the previous guess who is Seth, who showered Kaitlyn in cracker crumbs and spit. Todays guess who is someone from the village's quote of the day was "I peed on the poo!" guess who it was?

R.I.P. Teddy Grahams!

Hello everyone back home! I write this post as everyone else loudly plays cheat. I am hearing many sounds of frustration as their cheats get called! I managed to escape by winning (I suppose it means I'm a good liar). This morning started off much more quietly, as we were all very tired from playing cards well into the previous night. Our usual morning routine started off rather sluggishly until it came time for the regular morning devotion time with all the women. This morning was particularly touching because the topic of the devotion was "rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep." A few women shared praise items but many more shared prayer items. It was extremely touching to be able to pray for the women and to hear them all praying in their own language. The compassion they all showed for each other was something that words can not describe! The rest of the day was spent playing with the children. There are seven team members (not including Pastor Bill because he is busy preaching) currently at ATEK to entertain only fourteen children and somehow they still manage to tire us out! We took them to the park this morning because that is their favourite thing. They are always asking "el parko" from the first thing in the morning until we finally take them. At the park there are little ladies who walk around with large buckets that are filled with individual cups of jello; I personally have never noticed them until today. The reason I noticed them was because a mother with her child kindly purchased a cup of jello for all the children with us! It was completely unexpected but definitely appreciated by all the children. The rest of the day was spent playing at the ATEK compound. The boys (Lucas and Seth) might not so easily define it as playing because while Heidi, Kaitlyn and I took a nap a few of the more rambunctious children broke into the boys room and stole their beloved Teddy Grahams. The endless energy is testing at times but the smiles, laughs and snotty hugs make it all worth it. The answer to yesterday's "Guess Who" game is... Mirriah! All the Quechan people get a good laugh whenever I am introduced. Please remember to keep us in your prayers as a few of us (mostly Bailee and I) are still feeling under the weather. Today was Pastor Bill's first day of many eight hour days of preaching so pray for his voice to continue to be strong. A praise item is that the women are understanding what they are being told and coming out with many difficult questions. Please also pray for wisdom for Pastor Bill. Tomorrow we are expecting team one to return from the village in the afternoon and I am sure many more interesting stories will be coming your way. Thank you for your prayers, they are very valued! Buenos Noches. -Mirriah (a.k.a. Dry Potato) P.s. We utilized a catch phrase today- "say it, don't spray it"- due to a few misfortunate incidents of food coming out while laughing too hard. Guess who!

Dry Potato

As many mornings at ATEK begin, ours commenced with a tired attempt to assemble at 6:50 in the team room. We began our day with our best breakfast yet- fresh, warm buns, topped with butter or jam, hard-boiled eggs and a mix of fresh fruit including bananas, papaya and cantaloupe. Immediately following the meal, I shared my testimony with the group and then we prayed together. As three volunteers from group two went to wash the dishes in the kitchen, group one rushed about, gathering last minute items in preparation for their imminent expedition to the village. As a part of this, Seth and I went across the street to the small store that supplies the whole team with snacks and water to bring back dous grande aguas (two large waters). As we entered the small shop, the kindly elder woman who ran the shop greeted us with a warm buenos dias (good morning)! After we collected our goods and waved farewell to the departing village team, we joined the daily devotion time with the Quechan women, where Pastor Bill was sharing about making disciples. After the message, Pastor Bill hosted a question and answer session during which, the women began to open up and confront some of the more difficult questions that the people commonly face. It was impactful for the women and good discussions were held via two translators (one from English to Spanish, one from Spanish to Quechan). During the devotion time, we learned (much to our humor) that a certain team member’s name means ‘dry potato’ in Quechan. Any guesses who that is? The name has stuck amongst the team; we’re considering changing their passport! :)  After the group diverged, several members of group two spent a good deal in the team room drawing simple pictures in sharpie for the kids to colour. One of their favorite things to color is sea creatures so we pumped out a good deal of crude octopi, fish in various shapes and sizes and whales. One of the things Heidi pointed out was that no matter how much they liked the picture they coloured, they would always give it to us. As we tried to keep up with their lightning-quick colouring, Jennifer prepared the ‘Seven Days of Creation Craft’. This craft kept them occupied as lunch was being prepared by the amazing staff here at ATEK. After a later lunch and a short recuperation period, Kaitlyn, Heidi, Seth, Jennifer, Yiannis (a staff member at ATEK) and I walked twelve of the kids to a park that is a few blocks away. There, we spent our time pushing kids on the swings as they shouted mas alto (higher), catching them at the end of the slide and playing with them on the teeter-totter. We headed back to ATEK, all feeling a little tired, but upon arrival, some of the older boys (ages seven to nine) wanted to play football, a very regular activity. This time, we went out to the street in front of the compound, where there was more space. Although I am getting better at dribbling the ball, and Seth is a master at juggling, dodging and deking everyone out, our Canadian lungs could not keep up and we were often left panting and wheezing in their wake. Not to say they lacked skill, because they are very good with their feet! As the sun sank low in the sky and the shadows grew long, Seth, Jennifer and I climbed to the roof of ATEK where our laundry hung drying and to our dismay, we found that it had fallen off the wires we hung it on and it sat in the dust, as dirty as before we washed it! Next time, we are remembering clothes pins.  As the day came to a close, and after we had supper and spent some time praying, we were invited back up to the devotion room where the Quechan women were gathered for the final time that day, and we all sang a Spanish-English Happy Birthday to a staff member here at ATEK. After that, the women requested we sing a few more songs, so we taught them the actions and meaning to ‘Our God is an Awesome God’, and sang ‘Amazing Grace’ as best as we could. As we headed to our rooms, the children caught us for a few final rounds of’ London Bridge is Falling Down’ and ‘Duck Duck Goose’ (pato pato ganso). Once the children left, the team ended the day with a few giddy rounds of cheat and President! Hope everyone back home is well, if you could keep our team in your prayers, as well the village group one and Pastor Bill (that his voice stays strong teaching day after day) in your prayers, we would be very thankful! Cheers Lucas Dunbar P.S. The answer to yesterday's guess who (the person who took so many showers leaving us without hot water) is... Heidi! The answer for today's guess who will appear tomorrow!

Hey everybody! For day four we started our day off with breakfast and a quick team meeting. Then we bathed the children which was new experience for many of us, needless to say many of the children were crying the whole time. After we bathed them we played with the kids till lunch time. We gave them many piggy back rides, played soccer (which the kids beat us every time), and Bailee, Lucas, Seth, Heidi and I drew some pictures for the kids to colour. The children also enjoyed putting us into a cardboard box and knocking us over and doggie piling on us till we can not breathe. We showed the kids how to play duck duck goose, ring around the rosy, and London bridge, we all had a lot of fun during these games and had a lot of laughs. After we had lunch we all went out to the market at 2:00 till 4:45. The market was a sensory overload, lots of colours, smells, and workers trying to convince you to buy their products. We all bought a lot (probably way too much stuff), and Lindsey picked out a very nice alpaca sweater for Lucas and Seth bought only four llamas. Bartering was difficult for many of us because of the language barriers but Sammi was very useful for us all because of her six years of Spanish classes. Once we got back from the market a bunch of us walked down to the grocery store. During the walk to the store we all saw our personal record for the largest pack of stray dogs, which was over twenty-five dogs walking across the street. Once we got to the store we all bought ice cream and stocked up on chocolate and wafers. When we got back we played soccer with the kids on the streets before we had to help serve supper to the women and then we ate supper. Then team one prepared to go to their village trip from Thursday to Saturday, and team two cleaned up and washed dishes. To end the night we played some card games. P.S Thanks to a certain someone who is taking more showers than days we have been here, we are constantly lacking hot water and taking glacier cold showers (guess who). -Kaitlyn

Huanca Huanca

Hey Everyone! So for Day 2 we headed to Huanca Huanca (Wanka Wanka)and if I am completely honest it wasn't a super pleasant trip for everyone. It is only about 70 miles away but with the extremely windy roads it took over 3 hours. So we needed to take a few stops for those who got motion sick. But we eventually made it! Our evening consisted of touring around the village and learning about the agriculture they have been working hard to develop. They showed us the plants that they make jam out of and we even got to try it on our bread in the morning and it was soooo good! I wanted to take some home! After we got to hang out and play with some of the kids. Lucas and Jeff both ended up on the bottom of a giant doggy pile of kids! (I'm thankful it wasn't me!) The kids loved it but I think Jeff and Lucas might say otherwise ;) Some of the older boys from the village came and thought that taking picture of us "Gringas" (white girls) was super funny haha We played soccer with them and again the laughed at us because we were horrible compared to them (except for Seth, they were pretty impressed by him!)They also had a church service in the evening and I ended up sharing my testimony kinda on the fly which was a little nerve wracking but when I was up there the words just kinda came to my mouth and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I talked about how God has better plans for your life than you could ever imagine. So I can definitely thank God for that! They also had us sing some songs for us which was uh interesting... We sang how great is our God and Amazing Grace as best we could on the fly and with no instruments. Honestly I thought that it sounded pretty awful but they didn't seem to care! Our travels made us pretty tired so we went to bed right after that but unfortunately we had a few more "incidents" during the night. We are guessing this time it was from dehydration but don't know for sure so we would definitely appreciate lots of prayer for health! Personally for me it was really cool to see all the agriculture and work that is happening through our churches support in Peru. It is one thing to hear about it but a whole different thing to get to see it first hand! Day 3 started off with going to another village and we took a "little" hike which we soon realized was extremely difficult with the high altitude (about 12 000 ft)I think the people probably thought we were pathetic! haha But the hike was worth it as we got to see another plant that they use for making a different kind of jam and it was also incredibly tasty! Thankfully our ride home was uneventful and no one got sick, praise the Lord!! Tomorrow we will preparing for the first group to go to the village so if you could pray that would go smoothly that would be much appreciated! We are a little low on sleep but are having a blast! -Sammi

Day One in Peru

Well we made it here safely and had no problems with peanut allergies or anything else! They served us peanuts on the LAN flight to Cusco but everyone was either sleeping at that point or very aware to be careful :). A prayer point before I go over our day, 1 thing; the importance of unity (Corinthians) which is so important for our team of 16, 10 having never been here before, so that is the main thing to pray for. So to start out we boarded in Edmonton with ten minutes remaining to check-in, so that was exciting. Made it through security and had time to get some breakfast before boarding our flight to Toronto. There was some nervousness, excitement and questions asked about what to expect. The differences in personality really do come out in travel and among us was a first time flier (hasn't flown since he was six), many seasoned travelers, as well as those who have never been on a missions trip before. The flights went well and the lay overs really didn't give us much time other than to eat and get to our next flight which is pretty positive. 24 hours of traveling could have ended with grouchiness but everyone is in good spirits and the 55 min flight from Lima to Cusco was filled with snoring. So far no one has altitude sickness and the ride to ATEK was relatively safe despite the difference in driving methods here. Definitely no right of way for pedestrians. Aggressive driving is what gets you places! Today was our day of rest literally and biblically speaking, we had lunch and supper together as a team, explored 'Lemony Fresh' and slept the day away. It's nice having a new team in Peru as their observations give a new perspective to the city. The women are still arriving for the conference and their children are already working their way into our hearts. Some of the team members are more diligent in their learning of spanish but those who are end up passing it onto the others. Dish duty has been the only chore so far which everyone is very willing to volunteer for. Just proves that God has been at work preparing our hearts to serve and will continue to do so. Tomorrow we start off the conference before heading to Wonka Wonka to see the work that the agriculturalist has been doing. Their goal is to be involved with a village for five years, teaching the people and equipping them to grow other crops than potatoes and then pulling out leaving it self sustaining. This is part of what ATEK is involved in so we will head there tomorrow afternoon (3-4 hr bus ride)after devotions with the women. After spending the night there we will be heading back to ATEk to be involved with the conference again as well as get ready for the first village camp. Prayer Points: Pastor Bills' voice as he is in charge of the majority of speaking; Energy for the team and continued willingness to serve; love for the people of Peru and safety in travel. We will write more updates soon. Blessings~! B

Well we made it! Our team arrived at ATEk early this morning and we are all healthy and safe. All of our flights and costumes went vary well, praise be to God. The team is all having a much needed nap, as our ministry starts tonight We will have many more updates to come. Pray that our team adjust well to the altitude and all the travel. Blessings

Our first team picture

On our way. 

Only five more days until we leave for Peru, countdown is on.