It’s faces like these that reassure me of my calling to work in Peru.

Every day during the 2010 summer, something reminded me of my calling to leave my life in Dearborn and move to Peru to work with Scripture Union. It might have been something small, like being greeted by 40 smiling boys when walking into the dining room in the morning, to something more noticeable like receiving thoughtful letters from some of the older boys when I left Puerto Alegria, to even the most direct, having visiting volunteers tell me how much I truly care for this ministry and how it shows through everything I do.

To me, this isn’t a job. I have one of those – it is purely to make money so I can put gas in my car and be able to live. While it had its great days (like a $5400 sale, or being top seller for a straight month), it definitely is not my calling and some days I simply just do not want to go into work. But regardless of how I was feeling, I was there, prompt and fulfilled the task at hand.

This “job” is the complete opposite of everything I felt before at the store. I wake up in the morning excited for what the day will bring. Most days are the same, meals with some combination of rice and chicken, translating, helping with homework, making adobe bricks, but regardless, I can’t wait for the following day’s activities.

It’s about the people – not just the Girasoles, but the house parents, support staff, schools workers, directors, and medical staff that make this so much more than “just a job.” And that’s just the people I work with at Scripture Union.

I can’t begin to describe the number of conversations I have had with taxi drivers, people on the street, and fellow plane/boat/bus passengers all wanting to know why this gringa is traveling alone (or leading a larger group of gringos) in Peru. Each one of these conversations is an opportunity to share what Scripture Union and, more importantly, God is doing in their country – not just with abandoned boys, but in the schools, through medical clinics, camping programs and the deaf.

Being able to spend summers with people like Segundo or Tercero, Rosa, Augusto, Roger, Sixto, Pepe, Jose Abel, and Nancy has reassured me that this is what I am supposed to be doing.