Our two missionaries to Peru return home tomorrow. This has prompted me to reflect on our vision trip and so finally I will record my journal entries for everyone to read.
Wednesday 11/3/10
It is now Wednesday, Nov. 3 at 1:40 a.m. Long day! The flight from Houston to Lima left about 45 minutes late so we arived here around 11pm. The flight was not as bad as I expected. I met Stacey Bowen who is an associate pastor at a church in Florida. He is on a trip with a group called XMA. The group leader has been everywhere it seems. They do work all over the world. Stacey and I visited about many things. His church recently went through a split where the pastor took about half the members. he was being interviewed for the pastorate but they brought in someone else. He has four daughters ranging from 17 down to 7, whoa! Gerald could not hear our conversation so he read “Don’t Waste Your Life.” I spent some time reading “The Screwtape Letters.” I also listened to “Here I Stand” by Max McClean…very, very good! All in all I got about an hour or so of sleep. So I need to go to sleep now so I can be fresh tomorrow. The customs here in Lima was very easy. We are going to try to get the 6:30am flight to Iquitos…but if not then we will be here until 11am. Well off to sleep…
Wednesday 11/3/10 4:32 am
Got up at 3:30am to check in with Air Peru. Note to self: They do not take credit cards, only cash!!! Good thing I brought $200. Twice now we have been stuck behind the same big group…tons of bags…way slow! Well despite our thoughts of getting on an earlier flight…not happening. They don’t have an earlier flight with Air Peru…but hey they were the cheapest. We are all checked in and ready to head to Iquitos at 11! Well back to sleep…oh before I forget we did get a chance to speak to a guy but not able to get much communicated b/c of language. He did speak some English but very little…anyway…sleep becons.
Wednesday 11/3/10 9:20am
Well I slept till about 6:30, off and on that is. I had to put on mp3 and sunglasses to block out the annoying lady on the overhead speaker and block out the light. I got a chance to speak with Caleb and Amy this morning around 7…so good to hear their voices. We finished eating a very expensive breakfast…it was good, but not that good. I will stick to granola bar from now on. Got a chance to read from 2 Samuel this morning…it was encouraging to read how the Lord was with David and blessed him in his work…may the Lord be so kind to us by his great grace. I slept on a 3 seat bed last night…can’t wait to sleep in a tent and sleeping bag…wierd, I know. Well we have roamed around our little section of the airport and now time to catch a catnap…
Wednesday 11/3/10 9:30pm
We arrived in Iquitos around 5 today. Brandon picked us up at the airport and boy there are a ton of motorcycles and mopeds, and trikes. That is the main form of transportation. And they drive crazy. I could have sworn we were going to kill someone today. Then the pedestrians just walk across in front…LOL! It is crazy. First, we went to the Utia house where we are staying. They are very nice. Had a drink of juice…probably shouldn’t have but did…oh well. Talked with Brandon about his vision, where we fit, and many other things. We left here and went to Brandon’s house to look at a map of the upper northeast of Peru. He showed us where we were headed. Then we went and changed out money with a guy on a street corner. I felt like we were making a drug deal. Then we went to Billy’s house. He told us his testimoney, which is a wild God story. Then pastor Hugo, of the house church showed up. We sat around talking theology and practical living for a long while. Billy’s sister is in ICU at the hospita. She does not want anything to do with God. Pastor Hugo’s wife has diabetes and is not doing well. We prayed for them and left to get something to eat. We had baked chicken, fried rice and french fries…yeah weird but excellent. We also had some fruit juice that was good. We just go home to take a shower and the water does not work. We have to rinse outside with a bucket. I did get to brush my teeth which was great since I have not done that since we left. Well, I am tired and it is going to be a long day tomorrow…
I will continue tomorrow. Here are some pics from the first day:
