Despedida - A Saying-Goodbye

Here you go, Mom.  My post... finally.

If you've been reading our (somewhat sparse) posts you know that we...


view from the plane

flew over the Andes mountains to Puno,

The Yavari

stayed in a boat in Lake Titicaca,


Kyle W.



Peck, our English friend



Kyle G.

played "Capitan" in said boat, 

Traci, Enoc, Alex, Trenton, Macy, David with Jakob, Alicyn, Kyle G., Shaley, Kyle W., Ariel, Taylor, Jenny

went to the Peruvian Missions Summit and brought the AFCSA,


David, Trenton, Alex, Enoc, Kyle G., Kyle W.

and tried to keep "cool" in the sand in Huacachina.

It was a fun, busy month with all our travels (three new places all in one month - Puno, Arequipa, and Ica/Huacachina) and with our great friends from the AFC.  It was such a blessing to work with them picking up trash and laying a cement floor with some of our missionary friends, the Burgess family; to hear about the happennings of the last 6 months, and to be able to fellowship and worship with them in the true AFC style that we've been missing.

The past week since they left (taking Kyle G. with them) has definitely been one of rest for the Three(?) still in Lima.  Surprisingly I've had a lot of firsts in our last couple weeks... my first time to eat at La Lucha (ask the other three about the oreo milkshakes), the first family group at Eulogia's house, the first scheduled time of open prayer with the team and Peruvians, my first haircut in six months (wow!).

Eulogia :)

There have been two meetings of our family group at Eulogia's house and both have been so encouraging and shown me the awesome spiritual growth that this family has had just since I've been in Lima.  The first was with Eulogia, her daughter Graciela, and son-in-law Edgar.  They had all these questions that made me think they are finally understanding what it means for them to be Christians.  This week I heard Eulogia pray for the first time and it was so touching.  She was so sincere in her want for God and her thanks to Him.  I've always heard that seeing the fruits of labor in a faith sense is hard and that usually all you can do is plant a seed.  But I was so encouraged to see the "fruits" that Eulogia, Graciela, and Edgar showed these past couple Saturdays sitting in their living room.  Praise the Lord for His presence here!

This Saturday we had a surprise despedida - going away party at Carla and Carlos's house.  We thought it was going to be a simple dinner with the family and walked into a room full of balloons and painted signs.  Pretty soon most all of our friends were there and we were having a blast.  I don't think we'll be forgetting that night anytime soon.  It was such a fun way to get everyone together at the end of our time here.

the girls at our despedida

 

Interns with the Flores family



Kyle W., the new intern Brad, and Mark

-JLD