"Diving into Friendship with God"

What a joy to be back in Peru after almost a year since my last trip there. I thoroughly enjoyed hosting nine ladies representing six North Wisconsin District congregations for just over a week at the beginning of February. I learned a few things about a part of the country I've never been to. North Wisconsin has culture! Some hardcore delegating helped them pull off a two-pronged project: a 4-day summer escuelita (VBS) at the Castillo Fuerte after-school program in the district called La Victoria, followed by a women's retreat about an hour outside Lima (which I'll detail in a separate post). 

As always, I arrived in-country in advance of the team so I had time to prep for their arrival. After walking by this mochi donut place a gazillion times over my past several stays in Lima, I finally grabbed one for an afternoon snack on my way to the grocery store. It was...chewy. 

The team "Lutheranized" a scuba-themed VBS program that included a memory verse from John and a Bible point beginning with "God is a friend who..." for each day. 

Kids rotated through four stations. Most of the time they flew by, but coloring sheets made for an easy way to fill a few extra minutes if we had them.

One of the stations was "Sticky Scriptures," which had kids looking up and bookmarking the memory verses.

What's VBS without SNACKS? 

We enjoyed a Venezuelan lunch at the conclusion of Day 1 before heading to nearby Gamarra for a women's retreat supply shopping adventure.

Noooooo way could we have found everything we needed (banner background fabric and fun ribbon) without seamstress Teo's (far L) guidance.

The incredible staff at Castillo Fuerte welcomed us with open arms each day. Director Yepci (2nd from right) deserves a special shoutout for her drive, creativity, and laser focus on instilling biblical and catechetical teaching in the kids daily.

Some of these Upper Midwesterners had never seen any ocean, so we wiled away the afternoon of Day 2 in Miraflores: eating pizza, souvenir shopping, and getting up close and personal with the Pacific.

(Correction: the team went souvenir shopping. My "translator voice" was struggling by this point, so I opted for a hot beverage and a quiet spot to sit.)

I'm not a tourist; you're a tourist!

It took us until Day 3 to refine the morning routine: park, then snack, then large group opening, THEN stations 1-4.

Reading Day 3's Bible story, Jesus Calms a Storm.

Sunset during our looooooong drive to Los Olivos for dinner with the Milagreses - worth it for fellowship with a lovely family and enough of Lúcia's scrumptious cooking to feed a small army.

We resorted to Uber Thursday morning, Day 4, when NONE of the THREE public buses we could have taken came after 45 min. of waiting (possibly due to a transportation strike, although there was zero waiting on the way home so...). 

An informal closing celebration doubled as an opportunity for the kids to rehearse song & dance routines they'll perform for their parents at the conclusion of the summer program later this month.

No volunteer was safe from being pulled to her feet!

I specially requested aji de gallina, quite possibly my favorite Peruvian dish, for lunch.

Each of us - even me! - received a handmade Luther's rose and llama as tokens of appreciation. 

Yepci's daughter Oriana and I. 

Fashionably late empanada dinner - by candlelight during a power outage because a transportation strike wasn't enough inconvenience for one day! I resolved to stay awake in case the electric company needed to access the premises. Just as I'd given in to exhaustion, I was thrilled to message Office Manager Lucho that we had electricity again at 12:37 am. 

Good thing I'd built in a lazy prep/transitional day between events. It's like I've done this before or something. Friday afternoon, though, it was over the mountains and through the desert to...the oasis that is Cieneguilla. 

Until next time, blessings in Christ!