Prayer List:

• Safety for the team as we venture to potentially dangerous places to reach people who need to be reached.
• Tenants to rent rooms in my house in Brantford.
• Finances for our next quarter of our journey.
• Protection during our time in the Amazon Jungle.

Niños Topos

Today we went to the niños topos.

The mole Kids.



When we got off the bus we walked through a market. We paid .50soles to use the baños. We ate our bagged lunch in a nice park. The landscape was meticulous, people were happy, there were families playing together and laughing, there was a small theme park and water fountains. There was a pleasant aroma of flowers and fresh air that filled our nostrils.
There is a river. There are train tracks. There is a bridge.




They live in garbage under a bridge.




We leave that suburban park we walk down train tracks. There is dust on our feet. We pass dead rats and ever increasing amounts of garbage. There is a river with polluted water, there are wilted trees and the smell of urine and filth fill our nostrils. We come upon small shelters of tin, cloth and foam. This is the home of the mole kids.

We meet the "leaders" who said the kids were out working for the day.

They will return around 8 or 9 in the evening, but they will be high and they will be violent.


This was one of the saddest emotions I have felt in Peru. My heart broke for these children as we learned that these adults we met were actually gang leaders who send out the kids to work the streets begging for money and food. In return these children get drugs and this "home" under the bridge. Some of these children are as young as six years old. When I was six, I used glue to construct home-made cards and crafts for my parents, but these six year olds use glue to get high. As many as 30 are in this gang we met, including the leaders.

What can we do for these kids?
First we are bringing them bread and juice.
Time after time we will go back and tell these kids they are loved.
We want to develop relationships and help them get out of their situation.
We want to kidnap them and bring them to a kids shelter.
We want to take them home.
Pray for them.
Love them.

After two weeks we will leave them behind.
What then?
If you're like me, and got sticky fingers from making crappy cards with glue and paper, consider yourself more than blessed. WAY more than blessed.

Psalm 37:3-6

Trust in The Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
Delight yourself in The Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to The Lord; trust in him and he will do this:
He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noon day sun.

Valentines Day

Valentines Day.

Woke up - 3:45am.

Left our friends - 4am.

Breakfast of cappuccino and chocolate - 5am

Singing love songs and talking about boys - 6am

Boarding the plane to Peru and opening a valentine from my best friend - 8:30am

The rest is history...

It was a good morning.

Time to talk about Argentina.

Our six weeks there flew by in the blink of an eye.

We met some of the most amazing people and made great memories.

God worked on the hearts of everyone on our team, especially myself.

I have been reading a book called Amplified Leadership (excellent read).

Starting off as a leader of this track, I thought I knew a lot.

I thought I knew what being a leader was all about.

In fact I was so confident that after week two, I had already picked out two potential leaders from our team.

But, God has a way of showing me that I don't know everything.

That plane ride to Peru, I relized I thought wrong.

I don't know everything about being a leader.

And I chose the wrong people.

Good thing I didn't tell anyone except Andrew.

I am learning to listen to God instead of myself.

Of course, Anita!  God knows infinately more than you do.

Anywhoo, Argentina.

Some of my favourite memories there were made by these very people:

List of favourites:

 - Dancing, of course.  We stayed out til 6am.  Wild.

 - Ultimate frizbee games.

 - Morning runs to the park and workouts.

 - Photo Classes with Jon and Layne Grime.

 - Photo Story Classes with Brett Marshall.

 - Princess and the Pea Photoshoot with Layne Grime.

 - Twenty-one in the pool with Kyle and David.

 - Icecream runs to the local shop.

 - Squish squish squishing on the train to the Once Station.

 - The track team cook off.

 - The hippie camp

 - The San Tamo market

 - Riding the bus with Kyle and Brett for 1.5 hrs to find the Book Store

 - Celebrating Chinese New Year in the rain storm

 - So many wonderful staff meetings

 - Girls nights

 - Christmas Maracles.

Photo story project

PHOTO STORY

Inside the Libreria located on Calle Martin Fierro, Buenos Aires, Argentina you will find a 

woman just as colourful and vibrant as the store front.  Mariana opened this 

store five months ago giving the neighbourhood their first Libreria. 

Mariana and Chiara, her daughter, work together behind the counter.  Mariana has three 

daughters.  The eldest, Martina, is thirteen years old, Chiara and Zoe are twins age ten.  

Often times Chiara and Zoe would help their mom at the Libreria with customer service.  

During their free time they would play "store" just like mom.

Sometimes the Libreria can get very busy seeing as many as 30 customers in an hour.  

Each customer is considered a friend and is greeted with a warm smile.  Mariana also 

shows integrity seeing that her products delivery quality to the consumer.

An elderly customer comes in to the Libreria to ask Mariana for assistance wth her 

stitching.  Mariana has an interest in art.  She creates unique ornaments from glass and 

does sublimation printing on mugs, tea sets and matte cups. 

From her art studio at home she has taught various art classes. 

Every wall of the Libreria is splashed with bright colour.  While Mariana decorated, 

organized the store layout and and made window displays, her husband, an arcitect 

helped to establish and renovate the store to what you see today.

This two year old girl visited the Libreria with her family.  The Libreria helps to supply 

people of all ages with books, art supplies, paper, writing utensils and craft supplies. 

Martin Fierro is a busy street and many people walk, bike or push strollers past the 

Libreria everyday.  Mariana and her family live only 10 streets away from the Libreria.  

She describes her neighbourhood as tranquill with opportunities to connect with nature 

and meet friendly people. 

Mariana takes a moment to pose behind the counter with her twin daughters Chiara and 

Zoe during a busy day at the Libreria.  The Libreria has been an asset to the community 

and Mariana's winning personality keeps people coming back time after time.

Don't cry for me Argentina

Desperate times call for desperate measures.
Leaving for Peru.... Need dry clothes!!

Hip hip hip

H.I.P.P.I.E.S >>>

a community living in unity with the earth. sleeping in trees too.

yoko showed us around. people come and people go. peace & love.  <3  

we spent some quality time in that nest above my head chatting about life. scariest part was getting down by that blue piece of cloth.

how would you like to leave all the luxuries of home to live simply?  to simply live?  to take all you need from the earth and give back what you get?  to share everything as a community?  remember jesus calls us to leave everything and follow him. to live a life simply in his presence daily... could you be a hippie for christ?

these feet were made for walkin.

Skate Park Days

S
K
A
T
E

Plaza Italia
Buenos Aires.
January 2012







<  From Columbia.  I spent the afternoon speaking in Spanglish with this teenager.
He's studying film making.
He was so patient while I tried photo after photo to get him into the frame//