Houston Arrival - Part 2; Finally Home

Walter and Donna are safely home at last. They got on the 8:15 a.m. plane out of Miami and their luggage was waiting on them in Houston. They picked up the truck, headed for home, and got in around 3:00 p.m.. They are grateful for all the prayers.

This was a difficult trip but we praise the Lord for all that He accomplished.

Pray for a great night's sleep and renewed strength for tomorrow's adventures for each of our team members. I know we all will look forward to hearing the stories in the days ahead.

Getting Out?

Walter and Donna were not able to get out of Miami last night. They did get some rest - without luggage - and are praying to make it out this morning around 8:15 a.m. Luckily, their Peruvian training of wearing the same clothes has come in handy today.

Pray they will make it out of Miami, that their truck will still be in Houston, that their luggage will be easily retrieved and that they can make the drive home with no problems. Finally, pray for rest for them tonight as Walter prepares to go back to school tomorrow.

Praise God for His continued provision for and protection of our Peru Team.

Houston Arrival - Part 1

Brad, Jackie, Gloria & Linda have safely arrived in Houston, TX! Gloria and Linda are in the process of renting a car and trying to find one piece of missing luggage. They, along with the Chandlers, hope to be back in SATX very soon.

Meanwhile, in Miami, Walter & Donna are still waiting on a flight to Houston. Pray they make it out tonight or first thing tomorrow morning.

Updated Prayer Request

We are happy to report that God has answered our prayers and Walter has been allowed back into the US! His passport, however, was canceled so he will have to re-apply for a new passport. Walter and Donna are presently on stand-by at Miami International. They hope to get on a flight to Houston later tonight but may not make it out until tomorrow. Walter obviously will not be back at school tomorrow. Pray for Walter and Donna to find rest and comfort while waiting. Pray for Walter to be ready to return to school on Wednesday.

As best we know, Brad, Jackie, Gloria & Linda made it out of Miami and should be landing in Houston later this afternoon. Pray for them as they arrive, retrieve their luggage and determine their next course of action.

Praise God that our team has made it back to the States and has had a very eventful trip. I know we all wait anxiously to hear the first-hand reports!

URGENT Prayer Request

We just received information that our Peru Prayer Walking Team is facing a few more difficulties. Please pray right now for the following situations.

• Walter has been detained by Immigration in Miami after his passport came up reportedly "stolen." Donna is alone in Miami International and awaiting more information.
  
• Brad & Jackie are on the plane and preparing for departure.
• Linda & Gloria are still being processed through security and hope to make the flight that departs in about 30 minutes.
• The group has been split up again but hope to rendezvous in Houston later this afternoon/evening.

Pray for Walter's passport issue to be resolved so he and Donna can catch another flight to Houston.

Easter Sunday

We got up early to worship with the missionaries at their church. The church is a satellite campus of Flamingo Road Church based out of Florida. They have two services, one in spanish and the other in english. We went to the english service but we entered late after we spoke with the UBC congregation via telephone.

The rest of the day will be spent in debriefing the Reapsouth team on our trip and updating the blog as much as possible here at starbucks.

We will be leaving very early monday morning for our flight back. Please pray that our return trip will be more efficient since most of our team must be back at work on Tuesday.

Ciao, Hasta Luego.

Good Friday in Lima

Good Friday in Lima is a big Holiday. Most places are closed and an otherwise extremely busy city is reduced to very light traffic and oddly deserted streets. We took advantage of this day to get rest and reflect on our journey, And fill out some Reapsouth paperwork.

This is the day that we had originally scheduled to return to Lima, and there was plenty to do to wind down the trip. We struggled to fill the rental trucks with fuel and get them washed since there are no do it yourself carwashes. The rental company will pick up the trucks first thing in the morning so we need to hurry and get these trucks cleaned.

San Pedro Day 2

The sun came out just as expected and the vistas around the town are breathtaking. Walter, Donna Brad, Ana made preparations to visit Huachupampa. Huachupampa is a town that the vision team identified as a potentially difficult town to get into. Our goal was to seek out the Mayor and School official to introduce ourselves.

Jackie, Linda and Gloria were to stay behind and continue visiting and praying for the people of San Pedro.

The team headed for Huachupampa encountered trouble with the roads and had to abort the trip up. In fact the road conditions were worsening as more rain began to fall. There were several vehicles, some larger than our trucks, that were having a lot of trouble navigating the muddy roads.

As the rains began to fall again by the afternoon we decided as a team that we should act wisely and depart for Lima because the roads were only going to get worse. We all had a difficult time with this decision, but in the end we determined that it was the best decision to make.

We arrived back in Lima just before nightfall.

San Pedro De Casta

Left Carampoma for the town of San Pedro de Casta. The sky was clear and bright as we passed some extraordinarily beautiful scenery. The scene quickly changed as we reached the the summit where San Pedro is located. The town was under heavy fog, much like laraos but this was cooler and there were rain showers that fell. The town was busy making preparations for the Easter celebrations. The town square was bustling with activity.

Were able to meet with Herlinda, she is a Christian lady that is working with a small local group of believers to begin starting a new church. Herlinda had given away her bible so we gave her two new bibles: one for herself and another to give away. Herlinda’s prayer requests right now are for her health and Family.

We continued our walk for a while and coninued to meet some of the town people and prayed over the children’s playground.

The weather was very cold and rainy so we returned to the hotel for the evening, we decided that Thursday would be a much better as the weather usually breaks in the morning. The plan is that we would send a team up to the town of Huachupampa and leave another team in San Pedro to keep talking with people and possibly set up a bible meeting with Herlinda and Pastor Luis.

Prayer walk in Carampoma

Did some prayer walking in carampoma in the morning and visited Laraos in the afternoon. We found that the people of carampoma are hungry to learn more about Christ and we were able to identify a man who calls himself Abram (not a typical quechua name, probably renamed himself) and identifies himself as an evangelical Christian not catholic. He was in the fields all day so we did not have the opportunity to meet with him, an excellent possible contact for future visits.

We also met Dino, who is a government official in Carampoma. Dino is the communication officer and came up to our hostel rooms in the evening to ask if we would be here Friday so we could tell about Jesus on the radio. Although we will already be back in Lima by Friday we did give him some evange-cube cards and the instructions to use them. He indicated that this would really help him reach more people. His language is a clear indication that he will be a great tool to be used of God in Carampoma.

Laraos is a town that is a little higher up on the mountain, and when we arrived there it was coated in very thick fog and mist. We spoke with several city ladies that were busy cleaning mud and debris from the city gutters in preparation for Semana Santa (Holy Week) activities. We prayed with them and let them know that we were here to see them and not to visit the usual tourist sites.

We also met an electrician from Lima who has been placed in charge of installing electricity to the church in Laraos. He allowed us into the church to see the religious tradition of the people. He also took much time away from his work to show us around the town and eventually introduced us to Sixto who is the City Secretary. Sixto showed us the city Museum and told us about the festivals that occur in June. He is also excited about our future groups coming.

Tomorrow we will make our trip to San Pedro de Casta.

Arrival in Peru

Finally the entire team has arrived in Peru and we have picked up the rental trucks. We met with the Reapsouth team as we packed the trucks for our drive into the town of Carampoma. Anxieties and expectations were high as well as the altitude. Due to all of the shenanigans by American Airlines we will have to cut our time in the villages but God is definitely going to be moving in the Highlands of Lima this week.

Reapsouth has teamed us up with a college student from Idaho named Kyle. Kyle has been working with the Huarochiri people for a couple of weeks and will be an invaluable asset to our journey this week.

We also had Ana and Orlando two young Peruvians who were excellent in helping us navigate the language barrier. “no hablo castellan” was a phrase spoken often by our group.

Arrival...FINALLY!

PRAISE THE LORD!! All of our Peru Team members have safely arrived in Peru and retrieved all of their luggage! Donna emailed to say they are "tried" - which may or may not be translated "tired" - and will be sleeping until Noon. I understand Walter and Brad had a fast lesson in Lima driving from the airport to the hotel!

Pray for our team to get the rest they need this morning then to be renewed by God's Spirit for the incredible journey ahead. Thank the Lord again for answering our prayers and providing for our team thus far.

Congratulations guys on your safe arrival!

More Answered Prayers

Walter, Donna, Linda & Gloria are on the plane and waiting for take off from Miami. They are scheduled to land in Lima about 4 a.m. Monday morning. Brad and Jackie called. They landed safely in Lima.

Pray our team will be back together - with luggage - on Monday and rested for the next stage of their adventure. Perhaps they can all feast on Guinea Pig for lunch.

An Eventful Day

It's been an eventful day for our Prayer Walking Team. Though everyone had hoped to be on the same flight and landing in Lima around 9 p.m. tonight, our team has found themselves split up again. From the latest accounts, Brad & Jackie were able to get out this afternoon and are hopefully arriving in Peru tonight. Meanwhile, the remaining four members have been meeting various folks at Miami International. Several have commented on the great spirits they seem to have in light of their travels. I think the team is doing walking warm-ups in the airport; no doubt, they are praying!

God certainly answers our prayers and continues to provide for our team. We spoke with the four Miami confined members tonight and prayed specifically for them to be able to make a midnight flight. This flight would send them to Bolivia then on to Lima. Just moments ago, our pastor received information from the team that they had received 4 confirmed boarding passes to depart Miami and fly directly to Lima! Praise the Lord for this miracle. We hope to hear from the team again before they depart Miami.

Here are some other prayer points for you to remember over the next few hours:

* pray for Brad and Jackie who should be arriving in Lima tonight around 9 p.m. (CST); pray they make their contacts and get into a hotel easily

* pray for the midnight flight to occur without any other major setbacks; pray that the remaining team members will be able to rest during this flight

* pray for all the luggage to find its way to each of our missionaries; because of all the flight issues, only God knows where each piece is at this point!

* pray for renewed energy and excitement for the team as they all arrive in Lima and begin preparing for their journey by truck

Thanks for your prayers for Walter, Donna, Brad, Jackie, Gloria & Linda. Praise God for their continued sacrifice and for His undeniable intervention and provision. We don't know when or if the team will have access to this blog, but feel free to post your comments and notes of encouragement. Above all else, continue praying for their adventures!

Travel Begin Stateside

Please be in prayer for our Prayerwalking Team. All have been delayed in Miami this evening. Four from the group arrived in Miami first and were scheduled to be in Peru by this time tonight. The other two team members were to arrive in Peru tomorrow morning. Airplane troubles delayed the first group. The second group has met up with them now and all are awaiting vouchers for a hotel for the evening.

Pray specifically that the team can get rest tonight and that the contact details with the Peru connections will go smoothly tomorrow. Pray also that the team is able to get out tomorrow and arrive safely in Peru. The team sounded tired but still excited about the work God has for them in Peru. Pray that even through these circumstances, our team will be able to be shining witnesses for Christ.

Praise God for preparing the way for them and providing for their needs during their travels.

Departing for Peru.

The Prayer walking team has gathered one last time on Tuesday night to go over last minute packing lists and come up with a plan for our first day in Peru. The excitement and anxiety have been building as most of the team departs San Antonio for Houston Friday. Walter, Donna, Gloria and Linda leave for Peru early saturday while Jackie and I get one last night in the comfort of our own home (we depart Saturday evening).

Everyone is feeling healthy and looking forward to the things that God has in store for us on this trip and future trips.

Specific Prayer needs at this time are:
-Uneventful flights
-safe arrival and rendezvous of teams members on Sunday morning
-safe travel (by road) into the village of Carampoma on Sunday Evening
-continued health of team and families that are back at home

We will post to this blog as often as possible, although we are unsure how many internet connections we will find in rural Peru.


Here is a map of where we will be in Peru and some helpful locations for future teams.


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