Peru Mission Trip: You ate what???, Kids and our Future

The most frequently asked question about Peru is how did our children do while we were gone?  This trip was the first time ever that we have left our children for more than 2 days so it was a huge step for them and for us.  My parents and my sister and brother in law all pitched in to help with our kids while we were gone so we knew they would be getting spoiled rotten and be fine without us. We were honest with them about the dangers/risks and explained to them what to do if something happened to us and we didn't come home.  We also told them about trusting the Lord to take care of us all, reinforced the importance and power of prayer and read scriptures with them leading up to the trip.  They did GREAT...my parents said the girls cried a few times for us over the course of the 12 days but Wyatt never cried one time.  However, when we got back home and my parents brought them to our house, he got out of the van and ran to our arms and just lost it.  He cried SO hard ~ it was like had had saved it all up for our reunion. Of course, I cried too because I was so happy to see our babies again!  

One really cool thing our church did for each of us on the trip was have people from church write us a "letter a a day". So each morning you had a letter to open from someone in the church. You never knew who it would be from or what it would say but it was also encouraging, uplifting and a blessing!  On Day 8 of the trip, I woke up really sad, missing the kids, missing their hugs/kisses, missing our bedtime routine with them, etc.  I was pretty "weepy" that morning and determined that I was going to have to send them an email from the missionary's house on his computer because the Mommy in me couldn't stand it. When I read my letter for the day it was from our youth minister and his wife and halfway through the letter it said "Stay away from the computer, cell phone and television.  They are just distractions to keep you from focusing on what you are there to do. Trust God to take care of your family back home and remember He is watching over all of you."  Talk about divine timing...so I knew I was not supposed to email them but I was supposed to pray and remember to trust God because He WAS watching out for all of us and this was my time to believe it 110%.  

Meals were an interesting thing in Peru.  Overall, we ate a lot of chicken because it was the safest meat.  I did eat some grilled pork chops that were good and one night, we were treated to a Peruvian delicacy of Guinea Pig. In Peru, they call it "Cuy" (koo-ee) and it is served head and all crispy fried over a bed of half-baked french fries.

 In past years, none of the teams our church has sent to Peru have had every person on the team eat cuy. Our team was determined to be "Team Cuy" and for each and every one of us to try it. So we made sure to take pictures of each person eating cuy.  Don't worry, I won't make you view all 10 pictures but we do have them for "bragging rights".  (ha!)  However, I did eat the cuy leg and it tasted a lot like squirrel meat (not that I eat that often but I have had squirrel dumplings on a couple of occasions).

Some of the guys (namely Murph and David) decided to have a little fun with the cuy. David ended up putting the entire cuy head in his mouth just for kicks...seriously.  The gross part was you could still see all the little teeth inside its head too...it was gross!  By the way, he did not eat it he was just having fun and getting crazy pictures with it. 

 One of mine and David's personal favorite parts of being in Peru was the opportunity to interact with the children there.  We love working with the preschool and children's ministries in our local church and we couldn't wait to get have fun with the kids in Peru too!  We were blessed to be able to play with preschool age kids, have fun at Kids Camp with elementary/middle & high school age kids and share the Gospel and the Bible with them through children's tracts and children's Bibles.

 Pray for Josh & Crystal Murphree (the residents missionaries in San Luis, Peru).  They are doing an amazing work and you can see the results of their hard work and dedication.  It is not an easy task to be the only Americans in an area with no other Americans to talk to, share life with, sound off to, etc.  They only have each other and their two precious children, Ella & Isaac.  They need our prayers as they work in the Andes Mountains for strength, that doors will be opened so the Gospel will continue to be spread, that the eyes of the people in Peru will be opened to their need of the Savior and for safety and protection over them and the believers in Peru.

To spend wonderful, quality time with Josh, Crystal and their kids learning more about their ministry in Peru and about being in the missions ministry as a family was a huge blessing to us as well.  We will always be thankful to each of you prayed for us while we were gone, contributed to help send us financially or partnered with us through both prayer and support.  This would not have been possible without each of you and the role you played in our mission work.  Even our children have been changed and impacted by our trip and they are learning to have a heart for missions at young ages and for that we are thankful.  Above all, we praise God for the opportunity to be His hands and feet in Peru.

READ OUR OTHER BLOG POSTS ABOUT OUR TRIP/PICTURES:

Huaraz & the 2nd Deadliest Road in the World

Ministry in the Mountains

A brief overview & pictures