Day 5 Nvo Valentin

Hey all :)

Ollanta won yesterday... Most people here in Iquitos seem pleased, not sure what that means for foreign mission yet, I'll let you know if I figure it out!!!

Today was the most amazing I think I have ever had!!! We got up super early at 5am for final prep and had breakfast at 6am then we load up the bible school/construction things in to what seemed to be a million motor cars and headed out to Nvo Valentin :) we hauled four bags of cement, about forty sandwiches, eight tubes of glitter, paper, glue, shovels, post-hole diggers which by the way is a cabador in Spanish... If you didn't know, lord knows I didn't... Who am I minding I didn't even know what a post-hole digger was in English...





The first thing you see when you come in is the church...
I'm not really sure why this picture won't rotate... Sorry





Once We got there we got straight to work...



Our group ( the men ) began clearing and leveling the land, which hopefully when our work is done, will become a bathroom for the church congregation :)




This is the standard home for a family living in Nvo Valentin, a raised home, to compensate for the raining season, with a thatch roof, no electricity or running water... The wash them selves and their clothes in the river, not to mention that's where they get all their drinking water...


But the real fun was with bible school and the local children...





My two new friends...




The baby I might have to take home with my before the week is up...


Hanging out in the church....


This is alex... Prepare yourself you'll see a lot of pictures of alex he's everyone's favorite and he has the best little faces and he's just the cutest little man



Ben with his new friends....


Some of our amazing bible study boys ...




My new love...




Craft projects...




Sweet little Peruvian babies ;)


So these are some of the pictures I took today we made crafts and taught some biblical themes and fell in love with the beautiful children of this quaint village in Peru...

It was amazing sorry I'm not full of stories tonight I really tired :)

Love you all ;)

Location:Iquitos Peru

Day 4 Election Day in Peru

Hey all :)

Today is election day here in Peru, so we're having a low key day...
We slept in till 8am had some breakfast, met for devotions and had a little time to settle ourselves.

It rained all of last night and most of the morning so leaving the pond house was quite an adventure... The water was almost at the level of our steppingstones which made things a little tricky, and parts of our path we're completely submerged in water, dirty water which makes it all the more hilarious when the dogs come running by and splash you head to toe! My toms became a wet casualty because I'm not sure they'll ever dry out, not to mention after breakfast, when I was headed back to the pond house to change into a more practical outfit, I fell off of our hop-Scotch stones that lead out to the pond house and sank three inches deep in mud... After washing them twice their still a dirty dingy brown :(

We went out to Ari's burgers for lunch, it's right on the Plaza de Armas. It was good nice to get out in the city a little, we had a pleasant lunch getting to know the group better, once we were back at El Jardin we started planning and going over the work schedule for the next day, our first day working on site. This group is really amazing their building bathrooms for the church, teaching children's bible school, and running a medical clinic all in four days... We're going to be pretty busy and have to be up at 5am tomorrow...

Elections... I mention earlier it was the presidential elections here today in Peru, the original elections were in April, today's is a run off between Keiko and Ollanta...

Reporting from Lima, Peru— Divided and tense, Peruvians voted for president Sunday in a neck-and-neck election between two controversial candidates, either of whom will be forced to lead a weak, troubled government.

The runoff pits Keiko Fujimori, the conservative 36-year-old daughter of an imprisoned former president serving time for corruption and organizing death-squad killings, against Ollanta Humala, a leftist former military man whose talk of redistributing wealth terrifies Peru's traditional elite.


Both have had to fight to overcome multiple negatives from their past and to build credibility before a skeptical and dispirited public. Many Peruvians expressed dismay at the choice and some considered deliberately nullifying their ballot. Voting is mandatory in Peru.

Opinion polls on Saturday, which by law could not be published so close to the election, showed Humala, who has steadily harped on the theme of corruption, creeping slightly past Fujimori, who had until then maintained a tiny lead. But they continued in a statistical tie, which was expected to prolong the count.

"We all have to go out and vote without fear, with confidence and hope, and with enough memory," Humala said Sunday before voting.

Peru has one of the fastest growing economies in Latin America, sustained for a decade or more by high prices for minerals and other commodities. Its richest citizens have become very rich, a bustling middle class has emerged in cities and poverty has been reduced at the national level to 30% of the population. But poverty is twice that in parts of the long-neglected Andean highlands and jungles that are the source of much of the exported wealth.- BBC international News

I'll let you know how it turns out...

We're about to go over the medical clinic stuff have some dinner and go to church at 7 pm so I better go and get some stuff sorted now... But I hope you all take care and that you're enjoying reading my blog

Location:Iquitos

Day 3 mission team arrival

Hey all :)

Today was amazing... Ben and I were up at 5:30am this morning because we had to head out to the airport at 6am to pick up the first mission team of the summer an amazing group of people from Charleston South Carolina, there are 11 members of this team including: the pastor and his wife, the church's missionary works coordinator, and several other couples... Including a set of newlyweds who are doing this work as part of their honeymoon!!!

After we get back to El Jardin and had breakfast the group had a little time to settle in and rest :) then around 9am the pastor of their partner church here in Peru turned up to go over the plans for this week, these plans including building a new bathroom area for the church and surrounding area, a children's bible study school, distribution of medical relief supplies and victims. It seems like it's going to be an amazing week of service.

After the planning was done and everyone was rested we had some lunch and then me and Ben lead our first tour of the city of Iquitos we began by heading up Napo street which is the street El Jardin is on and then it was a straight shot to the Plaza de Armas we walked down by the Itaya river which is one of the three rivers that encircle Iquitos. The other two are the Amazon to e northeast and the Nayay River to the south! We walked down through the Belen markets in which you can find anything from fruit, to meat, to jewelry, to spices!!! It's the coolest places all the colors and sounds and smells overwhelm you :) but it's also kind of crazy because we walked out through it at around one in the afternoon and there was raw meat sitting out everywhere without refrigeration in the Peruvian heat of around 86 degrees...I don't think I could begin to describe the smell... But despite the smelly meat it was probably the coolest thing we've done in Iquitos thus far :) it's so cool to think these people grocery shop like that everyday

After our tour we had to hurry everyone into 'Motokars' ,which only seat two people, and give the drivers directions to the port so we could go to Butterfly Island, Ben and I are counting today as a success because we got everyone to the port! Not a single missionary was lost, which not gonna lie was my biggest fear for today! Ben said he would have settled for 8 out of 11 arriving safely because a 'C' on our first day was acceptable but I'm happy to report we made an A.

Once on Butterfly island we meet the craziest woman I have ever had the pleasure of meeting to date in my life thus far owner of Pilpintuwasi Butterfly farm and Amazon Animal orphanage, she's a nutty Austria woman, total nature nut, who owns forty something archers of land out on the Nayay river and she breads butterflies, keep in mind she comes strolling up to us through the jungle walking barefoot 6" inches deep in mud it was quite a sight !!!

The place was beautiful :)

We're going have dinner and head to bed early love you

Location:Iquitos Peru

Day 2 Mission Prep in Iquitos

Hey all :)

Tired does not begin to describe what I am right now... We had a very long amazing day :) tomorrow the first mission team from Charleston comes in at 7am so we're leaving El Jardin at 6am which means me and Ben will be up and 5:30am bright-eyed and smiling for the lord :) so pray we get some good sleep tonight...

Today we finished our final prep for the arrival of the first team by cleaning, and shopping, and planning... We woke up and chairs had to be clean, beds made, food bought, and information packets prepped:)

We went out and learned the city today, because tomorrow we give our first tour of Iquitos... Wish us luck, I'm just praying we don't get ourselves lost or worse loose someone in our group, the future kindergarden teacher in me is going to come out and I'm going to be doing mad head counts at every street crossing our turn lol
While we were out learning the city Ben and Pam saved my life a little as I was almost hit by a passing motorcycle so thank the lord for them :)

It's harder to talk here via phone then I figured were running around a lot so please email me... Nancy, mommy & daddy I'm checking my email everyday so take a minute and send me a little 'amor de casa' please and anyone else whose reading I'm keeping up with my .Mac account best because it comes direct to the iPad so send me a little email :) I love all of you, stay safe and pray for the work were doing here, and pray our energy levels hold out to get us through it

Me and Ben took a little time today to explore the El Jardin property today and here our some of the pictures... I hope you enjoy them, this place is so beautiful!!!




Ben out in front of the pond house!




My new best friend dolly after she was done swimming in the pond




Ben hopping over our hop-scotch course that leads to the pond house... We need them because without them we'd get stuck in the mud because the ground is so wet...




El Jardin main house where our Darling Pam lives and we share our meals and basically do everything else ;) isn't beautiful ?




Surrounding property/ pond area




Other building within El Jardin




'El Pastor' we'd finished our work and he took a little nap in a rocking chair





EL Jardin and all it's greenery




Other views of the property :)

I leave you tonight with my inspiration... And the new love of my life




Meet Tammy everyone she's an angel

I hope you enjoyed my pictures sorry tonight was short but I'm exhausted and have to be up early tomorrow so I'm going to bed :) night !

Thoughts and prayers especially for all the missionaries traveling and for a smooth start to our work week :)

Location:Iquitos Peru

Day 1... Arrival in Iquitos

Hey all :)

Ahhh I've had the most amazing day!!! It's also been extremely long so the fact that I'm blogging shows all of you doubters out there how dedicated I am to keeping you all informed :)

Any who so I boarded my final flight to Iquitos early this morning around 5am we left thirty minutes later and arrived just before seven :) I got about a twenty minute nap in on the plane which was the first time I had slept all throughout my traveling... I woke up to the sound of our flight attendant telling us we were on our final approach into Iquitos looking out my window, I could see the winding river below and finally parts of the city came into view. Iquitos is a collection of rag tops, thatched roofs, and tiled ceilings the view from the air demonstrates the wide variety of social classes present here. Once I finished the treacherous disembark-ment of the airplane via the wet stairs leading to the Tarmac, once inside the Iquitos airport I collected my things and met the amazing Pam McAbee McCraw outside the airport, we venture back to El Jardin, which is the name of the property we're staying on, making our trek back via motor-car which are glorified motorcycles with passenger Rick-saw it was a great way to see the city because you are immediately immersed in the sights, sounds, and smells

Iquitos like many cities in South America has tons of stray dogs and stray people running all around it, the smell of cooking meat and the smell of citrus fills the streets and the zooming motor-cars might the city quite a site to behold :)

Once back to what I'm sure will become my home away from home, El Jarden Pam made me and ben a lovely scramble egg breakfast, I unpacked and began to settle myself into my room in the pool house. It's quite an experience getting back into the pool house because El Jardin is just that a garden an indigenous garden :) Pam told us it's the only original forest that is left in all of Iquitos and looking outside its almost like being in the jungle, a jungle in the middle of the center of a huge city, a jungle surrounded by an eleven foot wall :) but a jungle none the less... We hear birds chirping and the dogs barking and just beyond that we hear the hustle and bustle of the street, it really is like it's own little world down here...

After breakfast we discussed the prep we'd be doing today as the first American mission team arrives here in Iquitos on Saturday so we went out and bought groceries and bottled water, and other basic essentials one might buy to prep for visiting guests :) the supermarket in Iquitos was interesting... There was a lot of plastic products... Bowls, cups, trash cans, water bottles, anything you could think of that would be made of plastic you could find here the food look good and we got what we needed and headed back to El Jardin for lunch!!!

After lunch came one of the best conversations I have ever had... Pam, Ben, and I talked about everything and anything that you could think of from feminism to Christianity to Santeria... We talked about how the summer would go and what we hoped to gain from each other, there were tears and hugs... And I was so honestly filled with hope and great expectations for this summer that I can not even begin to express them into words. Me and ben got to know each other a little better and guess what the jokes started rolling in Ben made himself "management" ... "intern management" which apparently gave him power to "direct me or delegate tasks to me" lol which made for some funny jokes later when he the management had to go out and do the hard labor like hauling 64 cases of water from one end on El Jardin to the other and I got to grocery shop :) ya ok management whose laughing now

But management did help out a little today by clearing some spider webs in the pool house...




Thanks Ben!!!

El Jarden is beautiful I'll be sure to post detailed pictures tomorrow, but due to my tiredness and the fact that it's quite dark outside here already you'll just have to settle on a picture of my room



Thoughts and prayers :) c u soon

Location:Iquitos, Peru

Half way there :)

Hey all :)

Guess what... I made it safe and sound to Lima!!! Don't judge my tiredness it's a long flight ... Lol




The flight was actually pretty amazing I got to hand it to LAN they put on a pretty good little international show :) the lovely woman with twins and a little baby was on my plane... But to be honest her kids did quite well... Other than the moment the twins were wrestling in the aisle way :) minor incident only one flight attendant had to get involved :)

Lol other than the musical theater that was occurring in our aisle ways, I had the pleasure of sitting next to a very sweet girl from Ole Miss who was headed to Peru on a month long mission trip :) we of course began exchanging notes... They were heading into the mountainous rural areas to spread the good news and teach English to the rural indigenous. It's funny actually there were three college girls traveling with her, and once here in Lima I was surrounded with different groups gathering together in the Lima airport to head out on various mission trips... I passed three separate groups going three different places and most likely representing a wide variety of Christianity :) it was pretty amazing!!! I feel like this experience is just the first of many that will prove to show me that the service I'm doing is so much bigger than myself :) seeing all these various travelers choosing to go out and embark in service reminded me of the grand scale of mission work and that adding in a nod to all those missionaries traveling and doing service in my evening prayers is a must!!!

While sitting in Lima for my long lay over I've devised several ways to keep myself entertain, first the practical ways... I went through customs (obviously lol) re-checked in my luggage and proceeded to change a little money... Then I was faced with a dilemma it was not even 12am yet... We had landed early (another successful check mark for LAN) and I had finished all the business I had, and I didn't start boarding for my next flight till around 4:45 am so I wandered a little... Found a little coffee shop at which I over paid for two cappuccinos and one espresso, before you comment on the amount of caffeine I'm consuming remember I got up at 6am Wednesday June 1st and spent the majority of my day sitting around waiting for planes :) then you have to take into account the fact that I didn't sleep on the plane... The conversation was too good... And then there is the fact that I haven't gone to bed yet and most likely won't till this evening... So the coffee is necessary :) lol to go along with my coffee I watched one of the movies I rented through iTunes a low budget 90s film called "love and debate" yes I know it sounds corny and trust me it was... But I was pleasantly surprised that the film was set, and actually film in Miami so watching it comforted me :) There is also some really awesome people watching in the Lima airport in the wee hours of this thursday morning... interesting people a lot of them are trying to sleep ...



I also did a little doodling ...




And a final shout out for LAN... Lol




Here I sit in Lima... In Lima I sit... Lol it's ok my lay over is almost over it's almost 4:30 am here so praise for that because I'm beginning to loose my Mind... As I'm sure you can tell from this all over the place entry :) but I'm gonna go now :) more stimulating people watching to do...

(This will have to posted once in Iquitos because I lack wifi here in Lima :( sorry)

The next time I talk to you I'll be in Iquitos :) so very exciting

Love you all :) thoughts and prayers!!!

Location:Lima Peru :)

Peru Bond :)

Hey all :)

So I'm sitting here in the Miami Airport :) very excited to be prepping for my first official leg of my journey to Peru!!! I'm leaving on my LAN airlines flight 2515 to Lima this evening at 7:15 arriving just before midnight lima time, and 1am for all of you on the east coast ;) and then eventually onto Iquitos thursday morning at the bright and early time of 5am :) Where the dynamic trio of Pam, Ben, and myself are finally together for the long hall... Yay!!!




I had the amazing privilege for having a lovey send off breakfast this morning with my dad, and then a wonderful send off lunch with my two amazing Tias... Who are freaken' out a little about this whole adventuring to Peru thing... We had a very funny chat about the realities of living in Peru for an extended period of time, and they expressed the desire for me to stay safely indoors away from all people and interactions that may be detrimental to my health :) lol although I welcome and love all of the humorous advice I have received lately about my adventure to Peru, I'm going to be fine everyone. And seeing as I was hired to facilitate and translate it's kind of my job to go out and talk to people lol... But any who I've posted below the pictures from lunch... Love you Tias and thanks for lunch!!!



Here are my amazing Tias Maura and Marlene



I had a great time...


After my send offs it was back to marinade in Miami International :) so here I am blogging, I came up with several ways to entertain myself first I read up a little more about Iquitos... For example it's the largest city in Peru that can not be reached by roads... You either have to fly in (like I am) or you have to come up the Amazon River!!!! then I people watched...you'd be surprised by the number of hilarious things that occur in airports :) like a women traveling by herself with a set of twin boys who couldn't have been older than three and what looked to be a new born baby... They were in the LAN line check in before me and one of the little boys unzipped their mother's suitcase spilling her clothes and toilet trees everywhere... Needless to say when they turned up at my gate later I was quite reassured that my flight to Lima should be quite interesting :) I'll be sure to tell you how it turns out...

I wanted to take a moment to thank my amazing friends and family :) your support is amazing and I love you all!!!

The next time I talk to you I'll be in PERU!!!!

Location:Miami international airport