After three wonderful months in the jungle, I have returned to Michigan!
Here’s a link to the newest newsletter with stories and photos from my recent summer working in Peru with Scripture Union.
To download the newsletter, click here.
Have a great Labor Day weekend!
After three glorious months, I have made it back to Michigan.
Here are a few videos from the summer:
Boys from the Girasoles home in Kusi performing a choreography to Marcos Witt’s song “En los Montes, En los Valles”
David, one of the youngest boys at Girasoles Ica, sharing a birthday message to Jonathan, another boy from the home.
Part of the traditional soccer game that occurs every afternoon before dinner at the Girasoles home in Puerto Alegria. Hox is singing the Peruvian National anthem in the background.
Yesterday was my last day in Kusi for the summer.
On Monday and Tuesday, the work team from Virigina wanted to host a VBS-like program for the Girasoles boys, children that attend the SU-operated school at Kusi and children from the nearby villages of Ongo and Aira. Both days the team prepared songs, games, dancing, a craft, story and skit to share with the children, which was both successful and lots of fun. On the second day, they ended the event with a big carnival in the main square of Kusi. There was face painting, crafts, games where the children spun around a baseball bat (which is quite funny for those watching) and where they had to match numbers on floating little yellow rubber duckies. They even had a beauty station with manicures for the mothers that came with their children. It was a great way to end the two days of events!
In an effort to do something different and have a little fun on my last night in Kusi, Katy (another translator who is here from England) invited Rosa, the house mother at Girasoles Kusi, and her 13-year old daughter, Alexia, to spend the night in our bungalow and have a pijamada!
So, after returning from having a delicious pollo a la brasa (rotisserie chicken) dinner in Yungay with the work team and all 40 boys plus staff, we returned to Kusi, spread out the mattresses, grabbed our blankets and got comfortable! Pretty soon, our bungalow was full with Katy, Rosa, Alexia, Carmen (another translator with us in Kusi), and the three ladies from the work team.
We started the evening with a short devotional by Rosa and then had a time of prayer, where we were able to specifically pray for the needs of the group. We ended the night watching “Una Noche Fuera de Serie” (Date Night).
It was nice to take an evening “for the girls.” Alexia, who lives in Kusi with her brother, parents and 40 boys, is usually the only girl at events and rarely has the opportunity to spend time with friends, or have friends come visit. It was nice to be 12-13 again and spend the night just watching movies and having fun.
I couldn’t have asked for a better last night in Kusi.
Of course, there were some silly moments throughout the night. 🙂
Today I went up to Llanganuco and the Huascarán National Park for the last time this year with work teams. This beautifully blue-green lake, which is 30 meters deep, is located in the valley between Peru’s tallest mountain, Huascarán, and others in the Cordillera Blanca.
Thankfully, we had beautiful weather for spending the morning at the lake and then walking through the park.
Since Billy was with me this time, we took a photo together – something that has become sort of a tradition over the past few years (in 2008 and again in 2009).
