#28 Visit a new country: Peru! Completed April 2007

#28 is connected to #16, my previous post. It was one of those "kill two birds" moments, though no fowl were fouled in the process. =) As someone who loves travel, I figured listing "visit a new country" would encourage me to see even more of the world, but it was somewhat of a "gimme" because I would have done it anyway! My opportunity to travel to Peru - a new country and new continent - came when I volunteered again to help lead a spring break mission trip with the FPC Youth in the spring of 2007. It was my third spring break trip (I had previously been to Romania in 2005 and Kenya in 2006). In the spring of 2008, I got to return to Peru - so I've been to the same "new" country twice!

One major highlight of my 2007 trip to Peru was my accomplishment of "international humor". When we went to the beach to meet the Peruvian youth group, our students wanted to know what we were going to do there. When we told them we'd have a bonfire, one girl asked if we'd have s'mores. I said, "Yes, but here they call them s'mas-es". Get it? (mas = more in Spanish) Get it? Get it? Well, SOME people thought it was funny! I'm not typically good at telling jokes, so I'll continue to bask in that witty moment for a while. I think I can live off that one for at least another year. =)

The following are pictures of the other highlights of my trips in 2007 and 2008.

2007:
The 2007 Peru Team!

We spent a few days at the orphanage in Lima playing with the kids there and delivering supplies. We had a language barrier, of course, but kids are kids in any country =)

Giving out Bibles









On the beach (see the previous post!)

At the Incan ruins on our "day off"

The church in the shanty town

Vacation Bible School at the church in Pachacutec, a shanty town outside of Lima.

The group outside our Hotel Yeyas.








2008:
With girls in Pisco, the town devastated by an earthquake last year

Adorable boys in Pisco

Liz and a llama!









The same church in Pachacutec a year later. They have built walls! It was great to see the growth over the past year.

My group for the language class we held each night at Agraria University

With some of the girls from the class









The 2008 Peru team at a different set of ruins in Lima.