Just a few photos from my last week in Puerto Alegria…
Belén – Iquitos
Belén – Iquitos
photos
A week in Puerto Alegria
It’s summer volunteer season again!
Last week, Billy and I kicked off the summer season with a few different groups and have already made a few trips. This year, we have 17 volunteer groups coming to support our Girasoles boys homes from June to August. It will be a busy few months and with the exception of 1 group, Billy and I will be traveling apart, each with our own teams.
Billy has spent the last two weeks traveling to Kusi and Cusco with a Scottish school group, and will finish their time here with a trip to Puerto Alegria. He’s had quite the exciting trip with this group, from one of the volunteers spraining her ankle and requiring a cast, to being able to translate testimonies from a few of our older Girasoles boys from Kusi.
Last night, I returned from spending the week in the jungle at Puerto Alegria with a group of volunteers from North and South Carolina. The last time I was at the home was November 2012 and it wasn’t a very long visit, so I was anxious to return and see the familiar faces of the boys living at the home there – like Alexis…
… and Ericson and Lenín.
The volunteers had prepared a 2-day vacation Bible school program to share with the Girasoles and also in two different schools in Iquitos. The week was mostly spent at the home, spending time with the boys and spending 2 mornings visiting 2 different schools in the city. They were able to share their program with a first, third, fifth and sixth grade classes.
One of the women on the team owns a salon in the US and offered to give all 42 of the boys haircuts. The youngest boy at the house, Job Neber (6) was not interested in getting his hair cut but eventually caved once he saw it wasn’t going to be painful.
We ended their week in Peru with a day in Lima to see a few sites and spend some time at Señales – the Scripture Union ministry to the deaf. We try to take most of our volunteers to Señales on their last day in Peru, but very few have the opportunity to spend a few hours at the center. Since this group had a long day and a late return flight to the United States, we were able to spend almost 3 hours with the deaf students and teachers at the program.
After introductions and a little background about the deaf ministry, the group was able to share an abbreviated part of their VBS program with the students before we all had lunch together.
For me, the visit at the deaf center was a great way to end the week and I wish we could spend this much time there with more of our groups. The students were genuinely interested in the group and asked a lot of questions about what they during the trip and where they were from. While we had a language barrier between English, Spanish and Peruvian Sign Language (everything was taken from English, to Spanish and then finally to signs and vice versa), it did not matter to either group. Communication happened and ideas were shared.
Early this morning Billy headed to Puerto Alegria for the final leg of his Scottish school group’s trip and tonight I board an overnight bus to Kusi, to meet the group from my home church in Michigan.
Pray for us these next few months, we’ll be covering a lot of kilometers, living out of suitcases, apart from each other and busy with long days. Pray that we remain safe and healthy, but also take time to connect with the familiar faces we will see along the way. Pray that our time at each home will help the Girasoles grow and that despite being tired from travel, our ministry to these boys and volunteers will be meaningful.
– Kate
2 Years.
Saturday marked two years of living and working in Peru.
Two years ago I arrived in Lima with two suitcases and a backpack. It was a busy part of the year and I was ready to go. Two days later, I headed to the jungle for the summer.
Now 30,866 miles later (that’s 429 hours or 17.88 days of travel), I have met many people and have had the opportunity to work directly with all of the 6 ministries Scripture Union has here in Peru. I can’t say that it always has been easy, but it is my calling and something I love.
I can’t wait to see what the next few years bring.
The best is yet to come.
– Kate
Two Weddings and a Party
The final part of our busy January is ready at last…
In addition to Katie’s visit to Peru, our trips to Kusi, Ica/Nasca and Cusco/Machu Picchu, January was also a big month since it, as you have already guessed, culminated in our wedding (and subsequent trip to Cusco with family and friends).
After months of dress fittings, emails, meetings, suit fittings, navigating through hundreds of Pinterest photos (of flower arrangements, suit styles, dresses, invitations and anything else you can imagine), AIDS and tuberculosis tests, a newspaper announcement, translated birth certificates, the day (or days) finally arrived.
Before any of the ceremonies, the SU staff in Lima hosted a shower for both Billy and I. Apparently, both wedding and baby showers here are more for the guests to have fun with the groom or father-to-be. Billy’s participation in the shower was more than just stopping by to open gifts – he was there for every game, speech, and definitely present as we did a “practice wedding ceremony”.
They dressed us up in wedding attire and set the chairs into rows and literally performed a wedding ceremony – from walking down the aisle to vows, from toasts to the first dance.
In Peru, the religious ceremony that we are used to in the States holds no legal validity. To get married here, a couple must have a civil ceremony and then if they choose to, they have the religious ceremony afterward. It is not uncommon for couples who have been together for years and live life as a married couple to legally not be married due to the cost or the pile of paperwork that needs to be submitted. It is also common for couples to have their civil ceremony but wait 6 months or even a year or two as they save money for the big wedding event.
Since Billy and I were having the “big wedding event” with our religious ceremony, we elected for the basic Tuesday afternoon civil ceremony at the Salón de Matrimonios in Surco (our district within the city of Lima) a few days before our religious wedding. Before the ceremony, our wedding photographers did a little shoot with us in the Parque de la Amistad, where the Salón de Matrimonios is located.
We had never attended a civil ceremony before and weren’t exactly sure how formal they are or what was going to happen. At our last meeting (of many) with the staff of Surco Matrimonios, I happened to ask for a copy of the text that the officiant would use. We knew that we would promise to “feed and educate our children” and that among other things, “both parties will have equal say in the location of the household” but other than that, we were clueless.
So on a Tuesday afternoon at 4pm (January 22nd to be exact), Billy and I were legally married in simple ceremony in a yellow room with some interesting paintings on the walls – and then went to dinner to celebrate with our witnesses, best man, maid of honor and my brother.
The following day, our first international guests began to arrive and the busyness that is a wedding plus international guests really kicked in.
About 5 months prior, Billy and I decided that we wanted to get married in Peru and be able to share the day with our friends here. We knew that it would mean that not all of our friends and family from the States would be able to come because of the travel commitment, but we would understand. We wanted to get married in a place that has become very important in our lives, and the place that we met, became friends and became a couple. Specifically, we wanted to get married in the chapel at Kawai – a property that Scripture Union owns about 90 kilometers south of Lima on the Pacific Ocean. It is a place that we have spent a lot of time at over the past 11 years and, was one of the locations we traveled to on our first trip to Peru in 2001. We even spent a good part of that trip helping build the chapel on the property.
As the RSVPs from international guests started to roll in, we decided to make the wedding not just a one-day affair, but a whole weekend at the beach for our guests. After everybody arrived in Lima, we all headed south to Kawai on Friday afternoon to enjoy the sun, beach and final preparations before Saturday, including the rehearsal and the rehearsal dinner.
The following day was the big day. While the girls and I went to the salon to get ready, Billy helped with the final details and the decoration of the reception tent.
And then once we were back in Kawai, it was time for the ceremony.
And then it was time to party!
We were very blessed to to have two wonderful wedding days and to be surrounded by friends and family from Peru but also the United States and England who traveled a long distance to celebrate with us.
As we wait for the professional photographs, thank you friends and family for sharing your shots with us!
Up next — the great Cusco adventure!
1 Year
Today marks one year of living in Peru!
When I think about the past year, I think of the dozens of trips, hundreds of volunteers I have met and countless conversations, hugs and smiles shared. I have spent 202 hours on a bus/plane, and have traveled 20,803 kilometers (12,927 miles) on a total of 25 trips (I kept a record!) and during those trips, I’ve had the opportunity to see familiar faces, meet volunteers and help further the kingdom of God here in Peru.
Looking back on this past year, I can only thank my family, friends and supporters in the States that have stood beside me in this calling. Thank you for the prayers, financial support, phone calls, and emails throughout the last year. I would not be able to do this without your help.