The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round......
First of all huge apologies for waiting so long to do another post. The bad thing about waiting so long is that there is soo much to tell and so little time so things end up getting cut out. But I will do my best to share with you all what has happened in these past 4 weeks.
First off the split our group up into three groups of ten, but because of different circumstances we are now into two groups. I wouldn´t be lying if I said that these past four weeks have been incredibly challenging, but before I get to that part I will share with you a little bit of where we been and what we´ve been doing.
So after we were done in the jungle we flew to Lima and the boarded a bus to Chiclayo, which is in the north of Peru. It was a long bus ride but as you guys can tell from the title of my blog that we spent a lot of time on buses, so the length of bus rides I don´t even remember anymore, other then they were long long long trips. So Chiclayo to me was a pretty awesome once in a life time experience. My group was teamed up with this church that had it´s own t.v and radio show. So all week we were on t.v and the radio. It was pretty sweet. Saturday morning we did a full out live kids program. We were pretty much like the teletubies, but way cooler and not dressed in lame outfits.
From Chiclayo we boarder another bus to Lima, had the day in Lima and then boarded another bus to Arequipa, which was in the north of Peru. For this week our team went from 10 to 8. In Arequipa we were working with another YWAM base that had a preschool for kids. It was really awesome to just hang out and play with the kids all week. I love kids so this was a really nice week for me. After this week our team went from 8 down to five so this is where we joinded with another team.
From Arequipa we boarded a bus to head to Bolivia, but because of problems at the boarder of Peru and Bolivia we went through Chili. So we get to the boarder town of Peru, get out of the bus and then took taxis across the boarder to Chili, to the bus station and then hopped on another bus to Cochabamba Bolivia. Here we worked a lot with the youth of the church which was really fun, it made me miss all the youth kids back home. It was also a chance to rest since we were a part of a bigger team, which was so needed for me. There was also a family in the church who blessed us a lot and paid for us to take a tour of Cochabamba and go up to big Jesus, which I believe is even bigger then the Jesus in Brasil, but don´t quote me on this. It was a really nice day hanging out as a team and hanging out with the family that took us. Me and a couple other people walked up to big Jesus instead of taking the gonadolas. Which was good but the down side is, because of the altitude of walking up, my ears have been unable to pop since then. But it was really cool seeing the whole city from up there.
From Cochabamba we headed to Santa Cruz, which so far as been my faveorite city that we have been in. Also in this city we were split up into different families and this was the first time that my group has been split up. I lived with a girl who was 30 and her family. She was so awesome and it was just really nice sharing with the family. In the morning we also did a lot of practicle work around the church which was a nice break from doing a lot of dramas. We also went and did a kids program in an orphanage, we went to a hospital, did a kids program for the kids there and then went around an prayed for different patients. There was also this lady who does a kids program on Saturdays that is called Happy Hour, so we went there as well.
From Cochabamba we were suppose to go to La Paz, but the contacts we had to stay with there all fell threw. It just so happened we met people in the bus station in Arica Chili that hosted YWAM groups before so we contacted them and now here I am in Arica Chili.
From here my team was suppose to go to Juliaca Peru but it is really dangerous there so we are going to go with the other team to Cuzco and then from Cuzco we spend a week in Lima and then we have a few days at the base back in Iquitos, then thats all for my DTS. Where has the time gone.
So what have a learnt.... alot and I am still processing some of it. But has I mentioned earlier it has been pretty challenging. After our week in Chiclayo for different reasons, two girls in our group decided to go home. Then in Arequipa the girl that had Dengue, which we think turned into Viral Arthretis, was not getting better so her and her husband made the right decision to go home to. Also we had a Peruvian on our team who didn´t get his passport in time so had to stay back in Arequipa, but he will be joining us again next week. So all of this really took a tole on our team and it led to a few people doing the job a many. I got quite burned out in Arequipa so was a little bit glad to join the other team to have a chance to rest and share some responsibilities. Before we left for Bolivia I pulled a leader aside and explained to him how I was feeling and he told me that I could take the time I needed to rest, which was an answer to pray. Thank you to the small group of girls that were praying for me in this time,
Through this I learned a lot. I learned how important rest is and how God wants to give us rest. I also have to admit that there have been some frustrations with the way some of the things that have been happening, but through this I let my tongue take control and it led my down a path that I shouldn´t of been on. The tongue really does have a lot of power has it says in the book of James and I am further challenged to control it. The tongue is meant to encourage and build up, not tear down and divide.
While I had time in Cochabamba I had a lot of time to reflect on this and to spend time with God, which was also difficult to do in a jam packed, no chance to rest schedule. There was a time in Coachabamba that I was scared that God was going to leave me or that He wouldn´t want me anymore or that it didn´t matter to Him or not if I got through this little dark place I was in. I spent the day reading over my journal of things that I learned in this DTS and I have also been joting down promises from the Bible as I have been reading it and I went through and read all of those and it was a healing time for me.
I learnt that God wants us, He wants us so bad. He died on the cross so I can live in Him, He didn´t die for no reason, He died for me, He wasn´t going to let me go or give up on me. And every time I fall He is there to help me back up and dust of my knees. He promises to sustain me and restore me and give me rest and if I believe that the bible is true then I need to believe that all His promises are true and that I can claim all those promises. Our God is a God that restores and that is what I really needed to hear and cling to these past few weeks.
Well there you have it. I am this honest and share whats on my heart because when we go through things like this He wants us to share so we can help others,
So thank you all so much for your prayers through this time and your encouragment and even for those of you that have been so faithful in praying, I really truly did feel surrounded in prayer.
Prayer for continued rest will be nice. The long night bus rides really do take a lot out of me and sometime its not in out control to take that Sabbath day of rest, so prayer for that would be apreciated to.
Thank you guys soo much again for all your support, encouragement and prayers. You all our such a blessing to me and I do feel so blessed to have you guys all behind me in this journey. Thank you, thank you, thank you,
In Him
Ingie
First off the split our group up into three groups of ten, but because of different circumstances we are now into two groups. I wouldn´t be lying if I said that these past four weeks have been incredibly challenging, but before I get to that part I will share with you a little bit of where we been and what we´ve been doing.
So after we were done in the jungle we flew to Lima and the boarded a bus to Chiclayo, which is in the north of Peru. It was a long bus ride but as you guys can tell from the title of my blog that we spent a lot of time on buses, so the length of bus rides I don´t even remember anymore, other then they were long long long trips. So Chiclayo to me was a pretty awesome once in a life time experience. My group was teamed up with this church that had it´s own t.v and radio show. So all week we were on t.v and the radio. It was pretty sweet. Saturday morning we did a full out live kids program. We were pretty much like the teletubies, but way cooler and not dressed in lame outfits.
From Chiclayo we boarder another bus to Lima, had the day in Lima and then boarded another bus to Arequipa, which was in the north of Peru. For this week our team went from 10 to 8. In Arequipa we were working with another YWAM base that had a preschool for kids. It was really awesome to just hang out and play with the kids all week. I love kids so this was a really nice week for me. After this week our team went from 8 down to five so this is where we joinded with another team.
From Arequipa we boarded a bus to head to Bolivia, but because of problems at the boarder of Peru and Bolivia we went through Chili. So we get to the boarder town of Peru, get out of the bus and then took taxis across the boarder to Chili, to the bus station and then hopped on another bus to Cochabamba Bolivia. Here we worked a lot with the youth of the church which was really fun, it made me miss all the youth kids back home. It was also a chance to rest since we were a part of a bigger team, which was so needed for me. There was also a family in the church who blessed us a lot and paid for us to take a tour of Cochabamba and go up to big Jesus, which I believe is even bigger then the Jesus in Brasil, but don´t quote me on this. It was a really nice day hanging out as a team and hanging out with the family that took us. Me and a couple other people walked up to big Jesus instead of taking the gonadolas. Which was good but the down side is, because of the altitude of walking up, my ears have been unable to pop since then. But it was really cool seeing the whole city from up there.
From Cochabamba we headed to Santa Cruz, which so far as been my faveorite city that we have been in. Also in this city we were split up into different families and this was the first time that my group has been split up. I lived with a girl who was 30 and her family. She was so awesome and it was just really nice sharing with the family. In the morning we also did a lot of practicle work around the church which was a nice break from doing a lot of dramas. We also went and did a kids program in an orphanage, we went to a hospital, did a kids program for the kids there and then went around an prayed for different patients. There was also this lady who does a kids program on Saturdays that is called Happy Hour, so we went there as well.
From Cochabamba we were suppose to go to La Paz, but the contacts we had to stay with there all fell threw. It just so happened we met people in the bus station in Arica Chili that hosted YWAM groups before so we contacted them and now here I am in Arica Chili.
From here my team was suppose to go to Juliaca Peru but it is really dangerous there so we are going to go with the other team to Cuzco and then from Cuzco we spend a week in Lima and then we have a few days at the base back in Iquitos, then thats all for my DTS. Where has the time gone.
So what have a learnt.... alot and I am still processing some of it. But has I mentioned earlier it has been pretty challenging. After our week in Chiclayo for different reasons, two girls in our group decided to go home. Then in Arequipa the girl that had Dengue, which we think turned into Viral Arthretis, was not getting better so her and her husband made the right decision to go home to. Also we had a Peruvian on our team who didn´t get his passport in time so had to stay back in Arequipa, but he will be joining us again next week. So all of this really took a tole on our team and it led to a few people doing the job a many. I got quite burned out in Arequipa so was a little bit glad to join the other team to have a chance to rest and share some responsibilities. Before we left for Bolivia I pulled a leader aside and explained to him how I was feeling and he told me that I could take the time I needed to rest, which was an answer to pray. Thank you to the small group of girls that were praying for me in this time,
Through this I learned a lot. I learned how important rest is and how God wants to give us rest. I also have to admit that there have been some frustrations with the way some of the things that have been happening, but through this I let my tongue take control and it led my down a path that I shouldn´t of been on. The tongue really does have a lot of power has it says in the book of James and I am further challenged to control it. The tongue is meant to encourage and build up, not tear down and divide.
While I had time in Cochabamba I had a lot of time to reflect on this and to spend time with God, which was also difficult to do in a jam packed, no chance to rest schedule. There was a time in Coachabamba that I was scared that God was going to leave me or that He wouldn´t want me anymore or that it didn´t matter to Him or not if I got through this little dark place I was in. I spent the day reading over my journal of things that I learned in this DTS and I have also been joting down promises from the Bible as I have been reading it and I went through and read all of those and it was a healing time for me.
I learnt that God wants us, He wants us so bad. He died on the cross so I can live in Him, He didn´t die for no reason, He died for me, He wasn´t going to let me go or give up on me. And every time I fall He is there to help me back up and dust of my knees. He promises to sustain me and restore me and give me rest and if I believe that the bible is true then I need to believe that all His promises are true and that I can claim all those promises. Our God is a God that restores and that is what I really needed to hear and cling to these past few weeks.
Well there you have it. I am this honest and share whats on my heart because when we go through things like this He wants us to share so we can help others,
So thank you all so much for your prayers through this time and your encouragment and even for those of you that have been so faithful in praying, I really truly did feel surrounded in prayer.
Prayer for continued rest will be nice. The long night bus rides really do take a lot out of me and sometime its not in out control to take that Sabbath day of rest, so prayer for that would be apreciated to.
Thank you guys soo much again for all your support, encouragement and prayers. You all our such a blessing to me and I do feel so blessed to have you guys all behind me in this journey. Thank you, thank you, thank you,
In Him
Ingie
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