American Breakfast

Large rolls, cheese, and juice, that's what every Peruvian I have met eats for breakfast. Now, I don't want to stereotype anybody, but that's what we had every morning and the Peruvian team members seemed to eat with relish (the enjoyment kind of relish, not the pickle kind). They could have it with mantaequilla (butter or margarine) and or jelly (usually strawberry) or just plain. 

Peruvian Breakfast

The kids in the orphanage followed this culinary custom, and it made employing a cook for them easier. Each morning they got up and had breakfast in their quarters with their family group. Lunch and supper were prepared by the cook and served in a dining hall. Sorry, Harry Potter fans, no floating candles, or swooping owls with notes from home.

This orphanage gave us a comfortable place to stay for this year and last. This time David hoped we could spend a little more time showing love to the kids. He came up with the idea of serving them American breakfast: scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, toast and pancakes with maple syrup. Where do you find such American food delights? Well, you go to the grocery store while everyone is stalling a fourteen year old girl's birthday party with games and songs; by everyone I mean Gaby. Jose and David bought pizza, a birthday cake, and soft drinks, and the above mentioned American breakfast ingredients.

By the way if you ever need Betty Crocker pancake mix, the just add water kind, you need go no farther than Ariquipa. Each box comes complete with Box Tops for Education. Well, you better not go farther Arequipa; I'm willing to guess you wouldn't find it in Pedregal.

David cooking sausage.

At any rate, on Wednesday morning we descended upon the orphanage kitchen to improvise. Since the cook didn't need to make scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, toast and pancakes with maple syrup, her kitchen was not equipped to do so. Breakfast is the mother of invention--being a necessity and all. David found two large pots and began cracking eggs.

Electrician Rob figured out how to make a large, gas-fired, stand up, oven cook toast and bacon. It needed electricity to ignite it's pilot or something. Rob plugged it in and it worked--electrical genius! Simple solutions are often best.

My task was pancakes, I recruited Cindy; she did most of the mixing; my job was pouring and flipping. There wasn't a griddle so I turned a large, heavy gauge, sheet metal, pan bottom side up over a gas burner, poured on the oil, and then the batter.

Should be enough.

When the food was ready all of the team members pitched in to serve the kids. There wasn't a picky eater in the house. Now your reaction might be, 'Of course not! Who could resist scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, toast and pancakes with maple syrup?' This is strange food to Peruvians, but no worries, they ate it with relish (the enjoyment kind, not the pickle kind).

Someone from a church the Isenhours used to attend sent some pillowcase dresses. After breakfast Pastor Pablo fitted those to the little girls, and gave out other clothes that had been donated. The boys got wordless gospel disks, and the girls got dolls, and most of the morning the kids were entertained with puppets and singing. American breakfast turned out to be a good way to say, 'thank you' to the kids who let us share their home for a while.

That looks good, can't wait.

Andrea: 'More syrup anyone?'

Birthday Party

After lunch at the rehab center we had a few hours before our next planned ministry. We went to the old square in Arequipa. The feel of the place is European. The front of a seventeenth century monastery makes up one side of the square. The other three sides are modern shops and businesses in antique-architecture buildings. There is a large fountain in the middle complete with pigeons. Opposite the monastery was a row of artisans carving statues from volcanic rock. It was a contest put on as part of the Peruvian independence day celebrations. Ladies with baby alpacas and even lambs were offering to pose for pictures--for a fee.

We took group pictures, and enjoyed some time together. We ended up at Starbucks. Ok, so the mission trip can't be too hard if there is a Starbucks. Suffering is not a requirement.

That evening, Tuesday evening, we traveled to a small orphanage. The children being served there were mostly girls. One boy was disabled and in a wheelchair. The other boy had two older sisters in the home, so the kept him with his family. There were eight girls and the two

Karaoke serenade; what are friends for?

boys for a total of ten kids. When we came in the population of their home tripled along with the noise and fun. 

We joined them to celebrate a Rosalie's birthday. She was fourteen and had been in the home for ten years. At four she was taken from her parents along with her younger sister and infant brother.

Rosalie, Gaby, Bruno, Rosalie's brother, and Jose singing and games. 

The festivities started with two of Rosalie's friends singing for her. One of the house parents opened a karaoke app on a tablet so they could follow the words. Gaby (Pastor Pablo's middle daughter) lead the group in games and singing, for fun, but also to fill the time while David Millsaps and Jose were gone. Each of the house parents gave their testimony; both had been raised by this orphanage, and now were back serving others. At one point we got out wordless disks for the boys and witnessing dolls for the girls. Gaby presented the gospel and then the team kids gave dolls to the girls. Finally, David and Jose returned with pizzas, soft drinks and cake. Yes, Peruvians serve cake on birthdays, and they can put away some pizza. And don't forget presents; Rosalie received several, including a guitar. We all had a good time celebrating Rosalie's fourteenth birthday.

In conversations about this orphanage we heard that the children attend Pastor Pablo's church, and that they recently worked hard at a camp put on by the church. Isn't it amazing how the Lord can take tragedy and renew it in his time? children removed from abusive situations, fueled by satan's love for sin, are now being ministered to by others who were likewise rescued, and now are learning to minister to still others. It was our pleasure to honor this young lady with her friends and housemates.

Challenge to Make a Change in the Lord

With the mist of seeing the Lord fulfilling Shari's part in the trip still in our eyes, we loaded up for our next ministry activity. Although I told you the whole story of how God used Shari to make Pastor Pablo and Elva aware of the need for ministry to deaf people, we weren't aware of all of it at this point. We were just moved to see Shari, and Elva talking to Rosamarie.

We loaded up the bus and drove to a men's drug and rehabilitation center run by a local church. Last year we had visited the men at this center and many of us had the opportunity to kiss an alpaca named Natasha. The Gathering place at HGBC was graced with a picture of me and Natasha for a few months, until more current missions events replaced it. This time Robert Isenhour attempted the feat, but he lacked the necessary appeal. Those of us who kissed Natasha last year attracted her with lemon drops that some of the men at the shelter shared with us. Lacking lemon drops, Rob tried to use breath mints. Natasha was not impressed. She sniffed curiously, but turned him down--several times.

If you had seen last year's pictures you might have noticed, Marron, a brown alpaca in the shelter compound as well. It turns out that Marron is male, so he and Natasha now have a baby. What a cute family. Maybe this contributed to Natasha's reticence. She has family responsibilities now; she's a one alpaca gal; she can't be stepping out on her family.

Bruno translating while Rob tapes evidence to the wall.

Kissing alpacas was not our purpose in going to the rehab center, of course. We were there to have a worship service with the men, encourage them, and have lunch. Our service started with a group of about eight men singing. Two played guitars, but the voices rang out louder than the instruments. Joyful song filled the room. Next the rest of the men joined them to sing for us. Then our young people sang a song for the group and I was asked to present the evidence wall again. Bruno translated and Rob and Ginger Isenhour worked furiously to tape pictures and words to the rights spots on the wall hanging as I explained how evidence from eyewitness testimony recorded in the Bible demonstrates that Jesus is God's Son, that He was more than just a man, that He really did die, and that He is alive. I ended with the question, "What will you do with the evidence?"

What will you do with this evidence?

Pastor Pablo then challenged the men that even though things are hard for them now, they can change. He shared that as a young person he was severely injured when he drank too much and then stepped out in the path of a car. Both of his legs were broken. During his recovery he became a believer in Jesus and that changed the entire course of his life. He sternly challenged the men that even though it might be hard, God can change them if they rely on Him, because as we saw in the evidence, Jesus was more than just a man, and He can do things no man is able to do.
 

Elva signing for Rosamarie as the Peruvian men sing.

Shari signing English parts of the service for Rosamarie

Rosamarie came with us, so when Spanish was spoken Elva would translate for her using sign language; when English was spoken Shari translated for her. After the service Rosamarie and Shari came to the front to look at and discuss the evidence wall. Shari had given her a wordless bracelet, and went through the presentation of the gospel several times so that Rosamarie would know it well enough to share with her deaf friends. Shari knew she would be leaving in another day, so she was investing in someone who could stay and make an impact in the deaf community. That is a missionary vision.

Some men from the center help Pastor Pablo and Bruno prepare lunch.

Opening a Door to an Unreached People

Elva has worked with every mission team HGBC has sent to Peru. She is an extroverted teacher who never lacks a plan to share the gospel. I met her for the first time when she showed up at our first clinic in Pedregal during the 2013 mission trip. Suddenly there was this woman fluent in both English and Spanish helping us translate, she even found someone to translate Spanish to Kechua when a tribal lady showed up. Everyone on the 2013 team loved Elva and those of us who returned in 2014 were excited when we heard she would be part of the 2014 Peruvian team.

Shari Davis joined our team knowing the Lord wanted her there, but uncertain how she could be used. During team meetings we all introduced ourselves to the group and shared testimonies. Some people had medical connections: Cynthia and Judy were nurses, David Kwon, a dentist; others were teachers who could teach lessons or witness: Cindy, Sandra, Ginger, and Kurt; Robert came prepared to do whatever and he did a lot of heavy lifting, and assisting the dentists; David Millsaps brought organizational skills and Spanish fluency (not to mention his singing ability, which he didn't use on this trip); the kids knew they would be singing and working with children and youth. Shari never doubted that she had a part, but she wasn't clear on what it would be. When she introduced herself she told us she had served as a sign language interpreter in the past. David communicated her skill to Pastor Pablo and soon we were talking about a Christian lady who was deaf who lived in Arequipa.

We were all excited to see what the Lord would do, but never imagined how greatly He would use Shari's involvement in the mission trip. We had come in from Chivay Monday afternoon. David Kwon was seen off at the airport by David Millsaps and Pastor Pablo. We all got a shower and rested that night. On Tuesday morning we were getting ready to go minister at the men's alcohol and drug rehabilitation center when we heard that the deaf lady, Rosamarie, had come to meet Shari. The team watched from a third story window as Shari went out to meet Rosamarie and Elva. Immediately, we saw all three of them signing to each other. Shari's american sign language was close enough to her Spanish sign language that they could communicate very well, but the surprise was that Elva was in on the conversation as well. We all teared up as we eaves-dropped on this conversation, well we couldn't tell what they were saying, but we were watching from above.

Eaves-dropping on Shari, Elva, and the Deaf Lady.

Shari's participation in this mission trip opened a door to deaf ministry among Baptists in Peru. Later as we enjoyed some Starbucks Pastor Pablo and David spoke to Elva about the importance of deaf ministry. Previously, Pastor Pablo had no idea that Elva could sign. Elva said she knew some deaf people and wanted to talk to them so she just learned their language.

God moved in Shari's heart saying, "Follow Me." She obeyed. God was willing to fly an American with sign language skills to Peru for a week to let Christians in Peru in on a ministry opportunity He wanted them to pursue. David explained to Elva that deaf people make up the third largest unreached people group in the world. Pastor Pablo and Elva began making plans to put her skill to use. Isn't God amazing. He could make things like this happen without us, but He chooses to use us so He can bless us.

Chivay

Pecunia; image from the internet

I have this cool app on my phone called 'GPS Status.' It displays GPS coordinates, compass bearings, pitch and roll and some things that I don't understand. It includes altitude. Arequipa sits at an altitude of around 7,700 feet, Pedregal is in that range, maybe a little lower, I couldn't get a clear reading there. On Sunday afternoon we left Pedregal, made a quick stop for lunch and to repack in Arequipa, and then headed into the mountains to a beautiful city called Chivay, elevation 12,000 feet. While Pedregal is desert, and Arequipa is on the edge of the desert, as we made our way up to Chivay the terrain was arid. Ok, what's the distinction? Remember that along the road to Pedregal there was not a lichen, or tumbleweed, or even a cactus, well on the way to Chivay there were cactus, and dormant shrubby plants. They were just waiting for a little rain or snow to bring them to life again. We also saw herds of alpacas, and a few pecunias (alpaca-like animals). We saw them at a distance, they are barely visible in our pictures. I asked Catherine about them, and although they seemed to be left to themselves, she was sure they were domesticated. She indicated that their wool is highly desirable.

The Catholic Church in Chivay with a cross shaved into the hillside behind. 

By its architecture, Chivay must be two to three centuries old, and the city leaders keep that charm alive for a very good reason--tourism. There are statues and wall paintings along the walkways that commemorate historical events and personalities. There is a quaint city square that is manicured and has park benches around it. One side of the square is the front entrance to the Catholic church.

Our best accommodations of the trip were here. Pastor Pablo said we would stay a three-star hotel. After a shower with consistently warm water, we all agreed, what a treat. The beds were softest of the trip, and covered with warm comforters. Air temperatures were on the cool side of comfortable day and night.

We traveled here to minister to some senior citizens in a home. Two years ago the college group, lead by David Millsaps, ministered to these people, but we didn't get there last year. By David's description, these people had been dropped here to live out their days. So our plan was to take them quilts made by the HGBC quilting ministry and serve communion to them. Unfortunately, in recent months they had been moved to Arequipa. Since the trip was planned we went ahead to Chivay, and thought we would catch up with the people when we got back to Arequipa. Again we missed them, because they were not there when we were. We left the quilts with Pastor Pablo so he could take them to the people. So our trip to Chivay was a nice overnight of fun and tourism, but the altitude took its toll on some members of the team.

Some team members got the chance to try new foods. We ate at a restaurant that catered to foreigners and vacationing Peruvians. Some of our team tried alpaca steaks and other Peruvian foods. My stomach was not doing well so I stuck to the familiar, pizza.

Judy and others posed with baby llamas and eagles and their handlers.

On Monday morning those of us who felt well enough for it boarded the bus to travel further into the mountains to an elevation around 18,000 feet to see condors. We drove a short distance to a village square. There were vendors selling alpaca sweaters, scarves, hats, ponchos, anything you can imagine. some ladies in tribal clothing came with animals to pose with tourists for pictures. Two had baby llamas, and two had full grown grey eagles (or large hawks). Several people posed with these the animals and their handlers for a couple Soles.

After a bit of shopping we traveled on for about an hour over dusty, rocky, roads that were often pared down to one lane by the steep slopes coming down from above and precipitous drops below. Hairpin turns in gullies and ridges made the ride a little unnerving. Concrete patches were made in the road so small streams of ice-runoff could cross. At one point we entered a tunnel. Now dust on an open road is carried away by the wind; in a tunnel it hangs in the air like light brown fog. In addition, this tunnel took several turns. As the entrance disappeared behind us the bus headlights reflected off of the sandy walls, ceiling and the dust in the darkness (no lights in this tunnel). We began to feel like an irritation in the bowels of the earth before the welcome sight of the light at the end of the tunnel around a corner, through the dusty air. What a relief!

In the valleys along the way were farm fields bordered by hand made terraces. Each one was no more than an acre in area, the downhill side held in place with stone walls. The stones were placed to hold the soil and limit erosion, but also to get them out of the way. Originally, these plots were most likely plowed with animal power, and the baseball to basketball sized stones hindered progress, as they were plowed up they were stacked along contour lines eventually forming walls two to three feet higher than the fields. I saw one plowed field that looked like it had been worked with a tractor. That is probably the norm these days.

Hand made rock walls (left of the golden grain stalks) separate fields.

Finally, we came to what we in the US would call a scenic overlook. Stone walkways with handrails lead to stone-paved viewing areas at the edge of a cliff. I had no way of measuring the depth of the valley, but I would guess it was at least a thousand feet to the bottom, and yet the mountain rose high above us as well. A large number of people from different countries were there for the same reason we were, to see condors. They are one of the world's largest flying birds-a distinction they seem to care little about; they just wish humans would mind their own business. And yet, we were there.

Enormous distances through fresh, thin air makes things look hazy.

Valley bottom, way down there. 

For a few minutes we watched with no luck. Three swallows glided across in our view and I said, 'there they are!' A German girl standing next to me got the joke and chuckled. Like patient fishermen, we waited, but with cameras, not baited poles. The colors on the mountains across the valley were muted by the haze. There was no pollution or dust, just clean fresh air, but enough of it to diffuse the light and put a grey wash over the whites, golds, greens and violets. The distances across and down were incomprehensible. In shaded areas ice remained frozen. Suddenly below we saw the flash of a large black wing, out from the cliff, then back again. Soon a large bird was gliding down the valley so far below us that its 10 foot wing span looked like only an inch. In pictures I took with my cell phone the birds look like tiny specks against the deep valley with its cliffs. I thought I had completely missed getting the condors in my pictures until I zoomed in. These are really large birds, but they live in an enormous habitat that dwarfs their impressive size.

We made our way back to Chivay for lunch and headed back over the pass at 16,000 feet and down to Arequipa. David Kwon had to make his flight home that evening. The long trip was worth the chance to enjoy another aspect of God's great and diverse creation.

Condor gliding high above.

Kurt and Cindy pose for a father-daughter memory.

Team kids (seen and not heard).

Team kids, zoomed. 

Ice patches in the high mountains near Chivay,

Pedregal Clinics

Dry, Dusty, Rocky
On a high, desert plateau, Pedregal is dry, dusty, and rocky. The temperatures were comfortable, but our respiratory systems were working overtime to deal with the dust. Pardon the disgusting illustration, but when we blew our noses it produced a dusty mud, or a bit of blood. Even the vegetation indicates the dryness. There is none: not a tumble weed, not a lichen, not even a cactus. Forty years ago when the government opened this area to colonization, by running irrigation canals, and promising cheap housing, people with the pioneer spirit came out to struggle to establish a new life. Surely some were thought to be brave, or desperate, or crazy. When water was applied to the dry soil, however, the harvest was great. 

The pioneers were followed by Peruvian Baptists who cared for their souls. All of the old cities in Peru have a prominent Catholic church at their center; not Pedregal, a Baptist church is at the center of this sprawling town. It is situated at the end of a street, as people travel that street they see Central Bible Baptist Church of Pedregal. The market is in front of the church building and businesses are all around it. Small church starts are scattered in the barrios around the market. This shows the heart of Peruvian Baptists for their people. We came here to serve along side our Peruvian Baptist brothers and sisters as they work to accomplish God's vision for them.

Accommodations
We ate all of our meals at a restaurant about two blocks from the hostel. Breakfasts were large whole wheat rolls with butter and jam, traditional Peruvian fare. Coffee came after, if it was served. Juices of various kinds, unfamiliar to us, but very good were often served at different meals-some thin as water, others thick as milk shakes. One was a mix of pineapple, perhaps apple and purple corn juice (yes purple corn) and it had some pieces of apple floating in it. Another was papaya juice. These were served at room temperature. 

Lunch the first day had us a bit confused. Each of us was given a large bowl filled with soup. Now by large I mean most Americans would use this bowl for a serving mashed potatoes at Thanksgiving. The soup was enough to fill us up, but then came the second course: chicken with rice. Some of us thought they had run out of soup, so they made this for people who didn't get any. We refused it at first, but then Pastor Pablo explained that Peruvian lunch is always two courses: soup and 'a second,' or salad and 'a second.' We left lunch full and sleepy. Dinners, we learned, were just one course. For us Americans having the largest meal at mid-day seemed strange, but we who have adventurous palates found the food muy delicioso.

We stayed in a hostel. There is a reason it was not allowed to be called a hotel. The thing does not exist in Pedregal. There was hot water...sporadically. Beds were hard, but we rested well. Air conditioning was not necessary. Cold showers were an inconvenient adventure. Would this ever stop us from returning? Categorically, no! The people here need the Lord more than we need our little comforts.

Ministry
Friday, Saturday, and Sunday morning were dedicated to clinics. In the morning we traveled to a small church in a barrio and set up. Sometimes we would travel 20 or 30 minutes, without ever leaving the city. The pastor, or Elva, would walk or drive through the streets with a megaphone announcing the services we were providing. While Maribel, a medical technician, surveyed the facility and directed everyone to their places: triaje (triage, or registration), medicina (general medical doctor), dental (no translation needed), psicologia (psychology), physiotherapy (physical therapy), and farmicia (pharmacy). She made the clinics very efficient. Maribel is one of several members of a Christian medical group called 'Lucas' who served along side us. They donate their time for this kind of community service with evangelism. I'm certain that the name Lucas refers to Luke the physician, gospel writer. At one point some patients were about to leave after receiving care, but Maribel stopped them. She told our group they had not heard the gospel yet. She and Catherine presented the good news to them before they left. What hearts for the gospel!

Sandra, with Elva translating, made sure everyone waiting for triage heard the gospel using the evangicube. We distributed happy and sad faced dolls to the little girls and then gathered them in groups to share the gospel using the dolls. The young people on the team and some of the men taught the boys how to toss the wordless gospel disks (Frisbee-like toys). They made up a game: the team kids would toss four or five disks at once to a group of kids and each one would try to catch a disk. At some point during the fun they would stop and share the meanings of the colors and the scriptures on the disk: black for sin, red for the blood of Jesus, white for cleansing from sin, green for spiritual growth, and gold (yellow) for heaven. In all of the fun, we were still intentional about sharing the gospel. At one point on the first day of clinics we caught Shari throwing a disk with a child. Everyone shared the gospel as we could.

Although we didn't organize worship times, the team kids would get out the guitar and play. Walker, Adrian and Lindsey played at different times. I joined them with my banjo, which attracted a some attention. Most Peruvians have heard of the banjo, but never seen or heard one. When children showed an interest I would let them strum the banjo while I formed the chords.

After lunch we would do a clinic at a different church. On Sunday the church we served cancelled services so we could have the clinic on our way back to Arequipa. We completed five clinics during our days in Pedregal.

All but one of the churches in Pedregal were small and their buildings were roughly built with dirt or crude concrete floors, cement brick, thin plywood, or woven bamboo walls, and corrugated zinc roofs. The exception was the church in the market area. It had a spacious (by Peruvian standards) sanctuary, attached to a fellowship hall with the pastor's office and Sunday School rooms off each side. Here Triage was done in the sanctuary. The pastor had patients wait to register in the pews near the front of the sanctuary. When called a person at the front would leave and he would make everyone shift toward the front. This gave him an opportunity to preach to them and give them Christian literature. At one point Elva took over for him, and after talking a little while she started asking American team members to share while she translated. She included just about every non-medical, American team member in this testimony time. I'm sure I saw Shari, Sandra, and Lindsey speaking while Elva translated; I got to share my testimony of God's faithfulness as well. 

During the Pedregal part of the mission trip we were joined by Morrisio and Daniella. Morrisio is Director of Peru 20, a Peruvian Baptist evangelism project. They came with one objective in mind: to witness to as many people as possible, and they made it happen. They struck up conversations with anyone waiting for medical help to present the gospel. David Millsaps said, "If you have a pulse they will share the gospel with you," that summed up their commitment. At one point we had several young girls waiting for treatment at Central Bible Baptist. We wanted to give them dolls, but there was no one to explain the gospel in Spanish. Elva was still translating testimonies for the adults waiting for triage. I found Danella, she had witnessed to everyone in the treatment waiting area and was waiting for new opportunities. She was glad to gather the group of seven little girls and explain the gospel using their new dolls.

Ministering the gospel to people on Pedregal was a great success because of the combined efforts of Peruvian and American team members with the local churches. We thank the Lord for these opportunities to serve Him.   

Elva in a pickup with a megaphone announcing the clinics.

Lindsey, Andrea, Walker and Adrian playing Wordless Gospel Disk with kids outside a barrio church.

Walker and Adrian explaining the gospel using a Wordless Gospel Disk.

Shari playing Frisbee with a little boy.

Daniella witnessing to a woman waiting for medical help.

Arequipa

After a night on the plane, nearly twenty-four hours, we arrived in Arequipa. All of our bags made it all the way intact. Praise the Lord.

We met Peruvian friends we had made just a year ago,soeem like old friends now. Our common love for the Lord crossed barriers of language and culture. Pastor Pablo brought Andrea and Adrian along - there was no other way for Andrea and Lindsey. They became close last year and kept up through social media. They were anxious to see each other again.

We boarded a large air conditioned bus for the orphanage. We had some down time to rest. Pastor Pablo, David, Robert, and I went out to exchange money and buy supplies, like bottled water and soft drinks.

Thursday evening we joined a local church for their evening service. I'm pretty sure this was a special service since it was such an odd time of the week. Still a good crowd of church members showed up. Between our team and the church, we filled the sanctuary.

The young people on our team picked up where they left off last year, and Cindy was drafted as well. Walker played guitar while Meagan, Lindsey, Andrea, Adrian, and Cindy sang "Open the Eyes of My Heart" in Spanish.

Next we did the "Chicken skit." Pastor Pablo began addressing the crowd, while the team stood off to the sides. Suddenly, we all moved around him acting like chickens: pecking, scratching at the ground, bobbing our heads forward and back, and, of course, clucking and crowing. Soon Pastor Pablo asked what we were doing. We responded "Nosotros pollos." (We are chickens.) He asked, "Why do you think you are chickens?" Three team members had memorized responses in Spanish like: "I have chicken legs," and "I'm a mother hen." Pastor Pablo explained that having chicken legs and acting like a mother hen didn't make us chickens. We walked back to our places disappointed.

Pastor continued addressing the crowd. This time we interrupted him acting like cars. He explained that things like sleeping in a garage and having a spare tire didn't make us cars. Again, we were disappointed.

Finally, we interrupted him by acting like Christians. He explained that giving money to the church, having a long family history in the church, and singing in the choir did not make us Christians. Then he explained to the congregation what it really means to be a Christian.

I was on the schedule to preach. The Vacation Bible School theme at Hickory Grove Baptist Church this year was Agency D3. I taught lessons on evidence about Jesus. To tie the lessons together, I made an evidence wall on a disposable table cloth. It included things witnesses said about Jesus, things Jesus said about Himself, and pictures of paintings about these events. We answered these questions using eyewitness testimonies from the Bible: Was Jesus God's Son? Was Jesus more than just a man? Did Jesus really die? And Is Jesus alive? The challenge was, what do we do with this evidence?

Gaby Carhuachin translated for me and did an excellent job. The church was really involved in every part of the service and the pastor dubbed me Pastor Kurt. I don't consider that a call or an ordination, but the team has enjoyed referring to me with this title since.

After the service the team went out to dinner. This food was not worthy of social media, like the airplane food from the day before. It was Papa John's. A warm shower and a bed were just what we needed after trying to sleep in the air the night before.

More Waiting-Some Tense

As I said before, travel is waiting. Waiting in airports for connections, waiting in long tubes in the sky (aka airplanes), waiting for baggage to appear on the belt, waiting in customs lines, waiting to remove your shoes so they can be x-rayed, waiting to for your seat to be called.  So waiting is travel and therefore on a mission trip, waiting is ministry. It is travel to the location, and seeking opportunities on the way.

Of course a good meal can help break up the waiting. Now, I'm in the camp that believes that posting pictures of your food is annoying. The only exception is food on mission trips. Meals on mission trips have the distinction of unusualness which makes them acceptable social media content. The airline meal below is unusual because it breaks the stereotype of airline food. It was really good. Culinary experiences on LAN have always been great. They make the wait more tolerable.

One unnerving time of waiting was in Lima. We all arrived together and found all our bags, praise the Lord. All was well until David's bags got to customs in Lima. Most of us sailed through the x-ray machines and we went on into the domestic terminal. We noticed the Millsaps and Isenhours didn't follow. We decided to press on assuming they would be along.

We lined up in the group check-in line and slowly started toward the desk. No sign of the two families. Each of us were checked through, baggage tags in place, and bags on the conveyor to the bag manglers (spelling intended). We looked hopingly in the direction that the Millsaps and Isenhours should be coming to no avail. Again we pressed on.

Upstairs we started through domestic security, one eye on the door, hoping to see the other two families come through. Not rewarded. We moved on to the gate to wait more. I asked the attendant, and he said they were confirmed on the plane. I thought that was good news until Judy said we were checked through from Charlotte.

Cindy and I went back to the x-ray to watch. Finally, we saw the Millsaps, but not the Isenhours. David got through, but we saw Walker wasn't admitted. Later he said he couldn't find his boarding pass-he lost it in his pocket.

Soon the Isenhours appeared and we were all in sight of each other again. The Millsaps and Isenhours arrived at the gate just as the plane began to board.

So why did we have to go through this tense waiting episode? Speculation about spiritual lessons aside, let's stick to just the facts. This story starts back in the US. Someone sent a laptop and two two-way radios to David asking him to take them to Pastor Pablo. David packed them.

Fast forward to Lima. An over anxious customs inspector noticed the bags of eyeglasses in David's suitcase and tried to tell him that they were not allowed. He was rescued by an inspector with a more practical approach. She said, "they're with a church group, let him through."

But then the inspector noticed the radios. Radios required permits. David didn't have permits. That equation equals delay. The Isenhours waited with the Millsaps while the problem was dealt with. David was escorted to a small room with an ancient inspector who took his time telling David the radios were confiscated. David plans to try to pick up the radios on the way home.

You know those airport warning messages about not taking items from people you don't know? Maybe we need to extend that to well-intentioned donators of radios as well.