We were assured we'd have our container by early afternoon today and then once again Customs had issues. This time it was with an antihistamine we had on the container that they just recently (within the past few weeks) took off the approved list of medicines allowed for import into Peru. There were some other issues as well but the short story is we didn't get the container but we had an amazing day with the kids - and we got some other construction projects accomplished. Ryan will blog about the time with the kids in a moment.
I just talked at length with our customs agent and he assures me we will get the container tomorrow morning (Friday July 1). Every inch of our container was checked today and it came up squeaky clean. He said the only thing that could derail our container tomorrow would be Satan - and he's not getting any glory in this story. Please pray with us to that end and pray for stamina for the team as we're going to do a 5-6 day job in 2-3 days if we get the container tomorrow. Thanks!!! Sorry for the infrequent updates... Rich (Now here's Ryan with highlights from today!)
Hi all - as Bill Walker put it in our debrief devotions tonight, the time with the kids tonight was a little taste of heaven - except that he'll know Spanish (his words)! We split the team into 3 houses and were guests with the young girls, the boys, and the older girls for dinner. Can you imagine sitting around a large table, holding hands with all of these children, and praying over a meal? How about sharing conversation? Laughing? Smiling? Telling jokes? We had it all, with plenty of pictures to show for it. (by the way - picture loading on blogspot is very slow, so you'll have to wait until we make it available on Flikr at the end of the trip - sorry!).
After the meal (which, of course, was a delicious Peruvian treat), we all gathered for a time of devotions with the children. Now, again, imagine a large room full of children and the team. The home director STARTS the evening with prayer requests - and the kids raise their hands with requests, and other kids raise their hands to volunteer to pray on those requests! The prayer time lasted over 10 minutes (after the requests!). How beautiful to hear these children praying for one another. In addition, an older boy prayed for the playground project - they want it badly! After prayer, we launched into 4 different worship songs; 2 were songs the team learned (Open the Eyes of My Heart)(I've Got the Joy, Joy, Joy Down in my Heart) in Spanish, and the other 2 were different. Imagine yourself closing your eyes and hearing the praises of these kids; to many (or most or all), Jesus is so real because of the pain they have had in their past. It was absolutely beautiful! After the songs, Alex Smart gave the lesson in Spanish and English on keeping our focus on Jesus - and used the object lesson of Jesus walking on water and Peter's response. Alex's impromptu lesson sank in with the kids. Praise the Lord!
After our devotion time, we all went outside (in the dark, with kids in their jammies) and played for another 30 minutes. Again - no playground yet, but sheer delight on all our parts as we listened to the kids just giggling and enjoying themselves. I spoke with an intern at the home and she mentioned these kids never get to spend so much time with teams and that "this is just awesome."
So there you have it; a little taste of heaven. Thanks again for all your prayers and your support for making this happen. There's still time to pray for us, and time to complete the playground. God bless! - Ryan
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