Tuesday in Lima... or there abouts...

The journal that I kept while in Peru is very interesting to go back and read. I usually had time to journal the next morning about the day before. I just read what I wrote on Wednesday morning about Tuesday's events. The first few sentences read... "Well Lord, I LOVE being here in Peru. Away from my normal life. Away from the day to day of MY life. It is very peaceful when you are in the will of God. The continuous running of cars, business of traffic, running around doing ministry work, waiting and doin whatever to fill the time, it is all very peaceful." Looking back, I don't know if I have ever heard anyone describe Lima as peaceful. But that is how I felt. I remember those first few days and just knowing that this missions trip was exactly where I was suppose to be, and in that, there is peace. In my journal I talk about knowing that God was using me and being comfortable in the midst of chaos.
Ok, so now last time we talked about Monday in Lima and now I will talk about Tuesday. Funny how it works out that way, huh? So Tuesday was a good day. We went to Pat's Place. It was really my first time of understanding what God had done there. Pat's Place was a home for women to come and live and learn how to make money on their own to provide for their children and themselves. The transforming power of Jesus Christ did many great things in the women's lives that had passed through Pat's Place. We got to see dances from the children and from the ladies that lived there. These women had come from abuse and hatred. Their husband's had beaten them and abused their children. It was great to see some of these children with big grins on their faces, even though their lives early in life had been the target of the devil and his work of evil. But that is the power that Jesus can have in a life and a home when He is the head of that house. We ended up buying a few jewelry pieces before we left there Tuesday. We had a busy day and were not able to stay very long.
So shortly there after we headed back to VBS. There was a little fellow that day who was making himself a memory in my mind that brings a smile to my face. He was mean at times to the other kids, biting them and hitting them, but he really like me and well, now that I think about it, he bit me a couple of times too. When VBS started that day tho, he would jump off this little wall by the windows and into my arms. He did this several times before singing time started, and we were having a good time. Then I would tell him "One more" in Spanish and he would hold up FIVE fingers. So he would immediately leap at me, so I would have to catch him. Then I would say "No more" and he would laugh and jump again. We went back and forth with that a few times and then I just had to walk away. One of the Peruvian men that was helping went over to him to get him to jump on him so he could make Joel (that was the boys name) stop jumping and start singing. Well, Joel didn't want anything to do with that guy and pointed at me to come get him. So I did then I sat him down in a chair after he jumped again. Once Joel settled down in the chair, I found out why he was so fiesty. It wasn't long before he was asleep. He slept through most of VBS. Through the story, skit, and other things. He woke up near the end and was back at it again.
While we were there, near the end of VBS, a couple of little girls and a boy started talking to us in Spanish and we had no clue what they were saying. The ended up asking Heather to interpret to us. It was funny. The schools there in Lima and I guess most of Peru had been shut down because the swine flu was just starting to enter South America. They were asking us if it had reached the U.S. yet. We told them "YES". Then they screamed and ran away from us like we were diseased. I guess with all the hype from the H1N1 virus, they were fearful. Maybe it has been stirred up there just as much as it has here. We never watched TV there. Most of what I have heard about TV there is they have no restrictions on what they can show, so we pretty much are asked to not turn them on. Probably a good thing since watching certain shows would not help us in our missions work.
I wrote in my journal about how I pray that even with just the few days that we were there at VBS, that God would speak to those children. He loves all of us and I even pray now that God might speak to someone reading this blog. Maybe you never have truly accepted God's free gift. There is no hope in those children's world there in Peru. Just like there is no hope in our world here in America. The only hope that we have is in Jesus Christ.