Friday, April 7, 2006

Post Spring Break Missions Trip Report

John & Justin Downtown Lima


Friday, March 10th
We headed out from Bryan/College Station around noon and headed over to Bush Intercontinental in Houston. After getting stuck in traffic on I45 (surprise, surprise!), we made it to the airport in plenty of time to catch up with the RUF group from the Univ. of Texas. We boarded the plane about 3:30pm, and sat on it for a long time while they made a repair to the engine (!). If that wasn't enough, the pilot came on and informed us that as soon as the repair "dries", we'll take off. I thought about offering some duct tape if they needed any additional strength for the glue! After a long 6 hour flight during which we watched "Walk the Line", we landed on Peruvian soil and headed out to the Hotel Meleia which was very nice. I think we turned off the lights and jumped in bed around 2:30am.

Justin at the deck of a restaurant overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Lima


Saturday, March 11th
After eating breakfast at the hotel, we drove to downtown Lima and tour a few amazing cathedrals. The main cathedral housed the bones of the Spanish conquerer, Pizarro, as well as some 25,000+ bones in the underground catacombs. After eating at a nice restaurant that overlooked the Pacific Ocean, we headed back to the airport and caught a one hour flight up the coast to Trujillo. After checking in to the Hotel Country, we headed out to an italian restaurant just off the town square and had some very good pizza.

A Monestary in Lima


Sunday, March 12th
We headed out to the church plant in Arevalo where we spent the week working. I preached in the morning service on Mark 8:27ff. Rev. Bill Bradford translated for me, and I'll tell you, I'm convinced that he worked 10x harder than I did. I had the easy part. After church, we walked the neighborhood with some of the church members and invited adults and children out to the church for the week's Vacation Bible School outreach. After church, we headed out to Wes & Jami Baker's house for lunch and an afternoon of singing psalms and hymns. Sunday evening, we headed back out to Arevalo where my collegue, Benji Slation (RUF UT), preached on Mark 9.

John & his amigo, "Ben-hi"

Children at the VBS Outreach


Monday through Thurs, March 13-16th
We started construction after morning devotions at Arevalo. The team started out with much gusto and vigor having waited many months to get to this point. We busted up concreted, uprooted trees, and moved rocks & boulders in preparation for the digging for the foundation of what will be the medical clinic. At 4pm every afternoon, many of us split up the work and some attended and helped out with the VBS outreach. We had 50+ kids and a handful of adults attend. This served as very good relations to the neighborhood, many of which were greatly surprised that many of the girls on our team were working hard.

The church at Arevalo under construction.

Josh & Kara working hard on the foundation for the medical clinic.


Wednesday night, we met with students from the English Language Institute which is an outreach of the mission to the community and university students. We had many opportunities to tell folks about the Gospel and invite them out to the church. As you might expect, many of the students were very self-conscious about speaking English with North Americans, and a handful were very excited.

Our meeting with the university group.


One evening, we went out to eat at Chelsea's which is a very nice restaurant. We had chicken & beef kabobs which were very delicious. I sat with Gerado who is one of the seminary students who is working with the university students, Percy who is another seminary student who will be working with the youth at the Arevalo church, and Pastor Ricardo and his family. He is the pastor at the Larco church. 90% of the conversation was in Spanish. My head was swimming after about 2-3 hours of conversation. My brain never processed that much Spanish in one setting. One of our students, Kara Zeiger, helped me understand some of what I couldn't, but I was surprised and encouraged with how much I did understand!

A handy and pretty way to remember how to spell "Huanchauco."


Friday, March 17th
We toured the Moche ruins in the morning, which is an ancient paramid that is only about 25% excavated. After that, we headed out to Huanchauco which is famous for their handmade bamboo-like canoes and surfing. We ate out there and then stopped by a market to look for souveneirs, and then headed out to the airport. We flew back into the Lima and waited about 6+ hours in the airport until our flight left at 12:54am.

One of the carvings at the pyramid ruins at Moche.

Brian Franklin at the Beach

Heading back to the Lima from Trujillo's airport.

Saturday, March 18th
After a long red-eye flight (during which, I slept more than I thought I would) we arrived around 6:05am back in Houston. After a smooth transition through customs, we headed back to Aggieland.

Justin and his new friend, Luis.

1 comment:

Brittany Smith said...

Hey Ferguson Family! That was a very good synopsis of our trip, John. I hope to return one day and work along side all of you in Peru! Until then, I will be praying for your family.