Monday at the Orphanages!

Today we traveled first to Reina de la Paz, the home of about 25 teen mothers and their young children. We had several stations planned, including sewing, Bible lesson, and crafts. Each group had a translator and a number of team members participating. In the afternoon we traveled about 45 minutes to San Ricardo, the siblings orphanage with 100+ residents.

(From Sally) Each Mom picked out her own material to make a potholder,like the ones Heather sold for the trip. Each took a turn sewing parts of her own creation using one of the two new sewing machines we purchased here. All of the Moms really enjoyed the sewing project.

(From Rick) I floated among the stations at RDLP this morning and worked with sports at SR this afternoon. We were encouraged by the close attention that the Moms paid to all of the volunteer instructors. They seemed to enjoy and appreciate the learning and also the time spent together with volunteers from far away. In the Bible study, the leaders addressed a number of direct questions about Christianity and the girls learned how God made each of them as a unique creation, and that God has a purpose for each of their lives. Because most of these young girls (some as young as 11 years old) have been victims of abuse, this is hard truth.

At San Ricardo, after we waited for the children to return from school they greeted us warmly. Before we began the Bible School we were told that because of H1N1 we were required to wear surgical masks. This was an unexpected challenge, especially on a warm day. We also greatly enjoyed the singing time with all the kids led by Erika and Emily. Our team taught Bible lessons, Bible memory verses, crafts, and games. John and Rick participated in a very competitive game of futbol (soccer) with the teenagers on their concrete pitch (field). We experienced the frustration of losing control at times with some of the many young and active children, but we were amazed at the way some of the children already remembered our names and family relationships. One unexpected part of our being in the orphanages is simply to be who we are, members of families, an unfamiliar sight to most of these children.

Lima is a large city (about 15 million inhabitants) with areas of relative wealth and extreme poverty. Travelling from our hotel to the orphanages we see the very heavy traffic that Lima residents experience daily.

For our evening meal we walked to a nearby restaurant and ate outside along one of the busy avenues of Lima. The desserts were incredible!

Please pray for the attention span of the younger children of San Ricardo as we tell them about Jesus tomorrow and the rest of the week.




-Rick and Sally