Peru Mission Day 3

This morning we were up early and to student-led devotions at 7:15am. At 8am we had breakfast, then at 8:30am 2 groups headed to a school 10 blocks away, and the other 2 groups stayed at the church. The groups that went to the school painted a schoolyard wall, and some of the team members went to classrooms and conversed with the elementary students, answering questions about America and helping them practice their English. During recess everyone went to play with the children. Basketball, soccer, parachute, balloon animals ... We found ourselves surrounded by seas of children, all desperate to get a balloon or just touch us. Seriously. Next they all came running up to our team with notebooks asking for -- you're not going to believe it -- autographs! lol! It was complete pandaemonium. The groups that remained at the church also did painting and Jimmy and Aaron worked on re-tiling the baptismal.

Everyone ate lunch at the church, then the school groups returned to do more painting and classroom interaction with the middle- and high-school students. Unfortunately, the vice-principal of the school decided to go on a power trip and stopped our students mid-class from conversing with the students, in spite of the wonderful interaction that was taking place and the pleas of the teachers. This kind of thing is rather typical in developing countries. Despite prior clearance from the administration, this fellow decided to flex his muscle for whatever reason. We have our speculations. In any event, some of the students helped with the painting, and some others returned to the church to do other things. After dinner we had a little free time then had a church prayer service at 7:30pm. Only a few folks from the church showed up, but we had a powerful time of prayer for the people in attendance, Pastor Jorge, the church, and those outside the church who need to know Christ. After the service we had a nice treat of some local pastries then our small groups and a team debrief.

The boys finally fell asleep just after midnight. I've been waiting for the pictures on this post to upload for over an hour-and-a-half. Finally done. Off to bed. :)

Praying for the people outside the walls of the church who need Jesus.