Sunday July 1, 2007

We arrived in Atlanta, Georgia about 8:45 AM, in time to pass through Immigration Control/Customs, to reclaim then recheck all our luggage, and take the train to the proper terminal. Our flight to Indy was delayed, but we still landed in Indy pretty close to noon.

We are grateful to our drivers—Clay DeYoung with Megan, Bob Hanstra, Curt Vanderkleed Sr, and Lorraine Reeder.

We are tired, but happy. Grateful to God for calling each one of us to go to Peru, floored by His work already in progress and continuing after we left, grateful to have been used by God in ways more amazing than we had even dared to hope. We showed up…and God did all the work, even ahead of our arrival. Now we leave the results in His hands, while asking Him how He might like to use each one of us in the future.

Thanks to each one of you reading this for your prayers, and love, and monetary support, and more prayers! To God be all the glory.
With love, your Sunrise Peru Mission ‘07 Team

Saturday June 30, 2007

With Mark still feverish, the rest of the team headed to Jesus Mi Luz boys’ home for a morning with boys from 6 to 15 years old. They put on a very nice program for us, featuring folk dances and songs. After the director gave us a tour of the facility, we split the boys into two groups for the Bible story and play time. How they love soccer! During the Bible story the boys were attentive, even mesmerized to hear about Jesus as their Good Shepherd, and many prayed to receive Christ as Savior!! Please pray that God will grow each one to be a vibrant Christ-follower, even with seemingly little opportunity for godly instruction.

Before we left this orphanage, we were pleased to be able to buy the rug/wall hangings that the boys had personally made on the looms in their little workshops. The director was thrilled that we bought all the wall hangings that were available (about 7 or 8). The money from these sales will be used to take the children on a field trip. Our group also donated money for the children to be allowed to play in the city park that borders the orphanage. Previously they had not been able to enjoy the 2 story slide or the rest of the playground in the park as there is an admission fee.

We stopped by the hotel briefly to pick up Mark, who is now feeling quite a bit better, and to load the last of our luggage into the big bus. On the way to the Cusco airport, we had a city tour. Our flight out of Cusco was delayed by more than an hour, but we are grateful for more safe travel.

Once we arrived in Lima, we were taken back to our original Colon hotel—felt like coming home! Here we had another answer to prayer! Bob had lost his eye glasses in Lima, we thought at the hotel. But when Buckner staff had called this hotel, they were not able to find any glasses. Now, just hours before leaving Peru, Buckner had arranged for each family to use a hotel room for a half hour or so, to prepare for the long overnight flight to the USA. Amazingly, the Lyzengas were assigned to the exact same room that they had stayed in earlier this week….and found Bob’s glasses (on the floor, under a bed near the night stand). God continues to be so gracious to us all.

Our last evening in Peru was spent reuniting with our wonderful translators who helped us shop for one hour in the local Indian market place. That was an interesting experience. We were very grateful for our translators who helped us find quality goods at reasonable prices.

Fond farewells to most of the translators, then on to Bembo’s for burgers with the last two of our translators. We were brave and tried some interesting combinations. Then farewell to our faithful bus driver Benito who had kept us safe through some wild Lima driving. A few minutes at the hotel to reload luggage and check Evan’s tired laptop computer which is currently not working—hence the delay in posting this blog.

From there the large bus took us back to the Lima airport. Our group made it through check-in procedures much faster that Jeremy, our Buckner Dallas representative. He missed his flight, but was able to catch another just a couple of hours later.

We passed the hours of waiting in the airport with a bit of shopping and resting. Then on through tax area (Jeremy had already paid our tax required to leave the country), through Immigration Control, and through Security, to our gate where we finished the wait, as our flight was delayed for an hour or so.
We flew out at about 1:30 AM (that is 2:30 AM Indiana time), grateful for the time God gave us in Peru.

Friday June 29, 2007

The day began very early with a 4:30 AM wake-up call. Many of us were not feeling very well, probably related to this high altitude. By God’s grace we all made the 6 AM train for the trip to Machu Picchu to see the ancient Inca ruins. By the end of our 4 hour train trip, most of us were feeling better, and could endure the steep climbing needed to see these beautiful ruins.

The climbing combined with the altitude slowed us all down somewhat. Occasionally, as we sought to catch our breath, we took turns suggesting that we all rest, “for Kay’s sake”. Some could be heard muttering: “If Kay can do this, I can do this” and “I’m not about to let a 70 year old great-grandma show me up in public” as we walked and climbed steps for our 3 hour tour. (It should be noted that Kay did have Evan’s assistance for every steep step). We were grateful for the sunny day and that we all endured the tour in good shape—no twisted ankles, no bad sunburn.

With narrow roads and many switchbacks, we were all grateful for safe travel as a large bus took us back down the mountain to the town of Machu Picchu! Thank you all so much for your prayers for our safety! At the bottom of the mountain, we made the most of a quick shopping opportunity at the market there, before boarding our clean and pleasant train for the nearly 4 hour trip back up to Cusco.

We had a quiet dinner in the hotel that night, followed by team devotions and prayer—always a highlight of the day. Unfortunately, Mark was ill with a significant fever that night. We are grateful to God for showing us that, because of his other symptoms, Mark should start taking the Cipro antibiotic that we had been advised to pack with us on this trip.
The night ended with everyone packing for the next day’s travels.

Thursday June 28, 2007

We had an interesting morning getting up early to hurry to the airport for our quick flight to Cusco. The timing was tight but we managed to board on time. Another answer to your prayers---the plane that carried us over the Andes mountains was much bigger than we had expected--a Boeing 737 that seats about 120 people and has 2 jet engines!

We were warned about how to deal with the potential altitude sickness, since Cusco is at 1100 feet above sea level---twice as high as Denver!! So we are drinking lots of water and local coca tea and trying to not exert ourselves.

Our hotel is lovely and has a 5 story mural in the dining room depicting Inca history. Our first ministry in Cusco was at a girls' home this afternoon. The girls, aged 6 - 19 years old, had specially prepared a musical program to welcome us. It was a joy to see the various historical cultural dances that they performed for us. They treated us like royal guests, seating us at a high table and bringing us snacks during the performance. They even included us in the dance by grabbing us one by one and leading us onto the dance floor. So much for not exerting ourselves the first hours at this altitude! :)

The girls sat quietly during the Bible story time, enjoyed face painting,and loved playing the outdoor games! Before we left, we were asked to come to their workshops to see and hopefully purchase some of the items they make. We found all kinds of knitted and textile goods. Buying some of their wares was a good way to support them.

Tonight the plan is a late dinner and folklore show here in Cusco. Tomorrow we need to be ready to leave the hotel by 5:30 AM to catch the train down the mountain to Machu Picchu.

Although we are all having a great time, please pray for relief from altitude headaches and fatigue. Hasta mañana!

Wednesday June 27, 2007

Since Mark dearly wanted to go to the beach, our translators arranged for a brief stop at the Pacific Ocean on this misty morning, and he finally got to throw his rock into the sea.

We returned to Reina de la Paz (teen moms’ home) where our activities included a Bible study on forgiving others (based “Breaking Free” a Bible study the Sunrise women did some time ago), craft time, and game time. We gave each girl her own Spanish Bible, the first for most of them. We presented a small bag of gifts including a framed photo of each mother and her baby. Buckner once again was extremely resourceful and helpful in finding a place to finish printing the last two photos for the girls because they were not present the day before when we took the majority of the photos.

Many of us thought that we may lose weight in Peru. This has not been the case because of the amazing quality of meals that Buckner has arranged for us. Today’s lunch was yet another example as the fed us a mouth watering chicken cooked on a rotisserie over special wood.

The late afternoon brought us to San Ricardo (children’s home) with its hundred plus children. We never expected God to do such great things the last hours of our ministry in Lima. In addition to those teenagers who accepted Christ on Monday, even more made the decision to accept Christ as their personal Savior, and beyond even that we were encouraged by their insightful questions about what it means to be a Christian.

Please pray the leadership at the state run home would allow some of our translators, Julianna and Eduardo, to return for follow up visits to disciple these teenagers so that they may grow further in Christ.

In the evening, we presented our thank you gifts (which included Purdue and Colts t-shirts) to our translators and Jeremy. In gratitude Eduardo returned the favor by taking the shirt off of his own back and presenting it to Evan.

We finished the night with devotions and prayer and preparing to move on to Cusco. Please pray for our continued health and safety especially as we travel in the coming days.

(The teen moms wanted us all to sign the Bibles we gave them)

Tuesday June 26, 2007

We want to give God the glory for His goodness to us. This morning the DeYoungs had a concern about Evan’s injured finger. One week prior to leaving on this mission trip, Evan lost a chunk of flesh from his little finger. He saw a doctor and is taking antibiotics. Still, this morning his finger continued to look infected. The Buckner staff here was extremely helpful in calling for a doctor who came to the hotel, evaluated the wound and prescribed additional antibiotics. Within 80 minutes of our original concern being voiced, Evan had seen a medic, received instruction, gone to a local pharmacy and taken the first new antibiotic. We are so grateful to God for providing all that we needed, and doing it so quickly.

While the DeYoungs waited for the medic, the rest of the group took a short bus ride to the Pacific Ocean. We found coarse black sand, a beach covered with rocks of various colors, and cold water on this gray overcast morning.

Reina de la Paz (teen moms’ home) was our first ministry site today. The young moms were so excited to have us take individual photos of each mom holding her child. They cheered when we told them the plan. Mark was a great photographer, getting the little ones to smile.

We were grateful for the opportunity to pray a blessing over the moms as they held their babies, after the photos.

Today, we divided the moms into two groups. We utilized Julianna, our energetic translator, to help us teach the five main points of the “Believing God” Bible study that the Sunrise women have studied in the past.. More good news!!!! Several of these young moms chose Christ today, asking Him into their hearts! What an answer to your/our prayers. It is amazing to see how God has been preparing their hearts for His salvation, to see how much He treasures each girl.

A box lunch and a bus ride brought us to San Ricardo where Otis and Paco were again well received with the help of our superb animated translator Eduardo. The second day of vacation Bible school went well. The kids had an amazing time and did not want us to leave. Every day we become better at communicating and working with the large number of children. Prayers were answered from yesterday because the littlest children finally sat quietly and listened to the Bible story.

In the evening, we walked to a restaurant and enjoyed local cuisine. Julianna joined Jeremy and our group for devotions and prayer. The rest of the evening was spent preparing about one hundred and fifty gift bags for all the children. Whenever we are tired we remember our new motto “Sleep is for Sissies.”