PhotogenX Peru Video Update

Our first three months...

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You're Welcome!

We have been working the last three weeks on a video project to raise support for this orphanage.. They're the cutest kids!

Pisac. Pancakes. People.

I LEFT MY FOOTPRINTS AT THE STREET MARKET IN PISAC

The Blue Llama

is a cute little 

"all you can eat"

PANCAKES

place.

Can you tell we just ate all the pancakes we could?  I ate 5 :)  - photo by Stephen Kertis

Peruvian Natives.  They dress traditional, carry some kind of baby animal, and ask a Sole ($) for a photo.  I snuck one.  Woopsy.

My Beautiful Girls!!  Cass, Kassie, Sarah and Rachel.  We enjoyed a scenic mountain drive there and back.  Thanks to Eric who lives in the downstairs apartment.

Amazon Jungle

IN THE JUNGLE -THE MIGHTY JUNGLE  

"I feel closest to God when I am faced with the vastness and wild beauty of His creation"

A bunch of gringos boarded the bus to Puerto Maldonado on the 4th of March 2013.  In the middle of finding seats, shuffling camera bags, backpacks and swallowing gravol an excitement and anticipation hung in the air.  A week in the Amazon jungle is a far fetched idea for most, but here we were about to experience the wilds of creation and face the elements away from the comforts of home and far from civilization.

The bus wound its way through the mountains, curving around sharp turns, going up steep hills, edging along the roads through the rain and bringing our team ever closer to an unforgettable adventure.  We went there to work at building up an orphange, but the project turned out being much more than just a bunch of gringos lending a hand.

Kassie takes a photo of the jungle houses.

Preceded by his reputation of being a "Loco Gringo," it was no surprise when Bud Lenz picked us up from the bus station with a big beard and bare feet.  We piled into his pickup truck.  Those riding in the back got a good skin-stretch when Bud reached 120kph before turning onto a dirt road.  The pickup splashed through deep mud puddles, crossed rickety bridges, and eventually passed a sign that read:

"You are now leaving the box" 

Like the Swiss family Robinson?

We ate meals cooked in an outdoor kitchen.

We fell asleep to the sounds of macaws, monkeys and hoards of insects.

We showered outdoors in the open jungle.

We used a five gallon pail for a toilet.

We milked a cow.

WE SWUNG ON VINES.

We spent hours working in banana fields.

We ate grubs on a stick. 

Sarah working to save a little banana tree.

With the sun beating down, we worked to hoe weeds that threatened to overtake the banana trees.

Did we really come all the way to the Amazon jungle to pull weeds?

Why would anybody subject themselves to beating down weeds with a hoe?

Why would we blister our hands, burn in the sun and endure chigger bites for a mere crop of banana trees growing in the jungle fields?

That's where the beauty comes in.

Where the real story starts.

Bud and Laura Lenz are building an orphange in the jungle.

There are about 40 orphans living at their home in Cusco, Peru.  They are parents to 9 biological, but really, their family is the largest I've ever seen because they are momma and papa to every single child in their care.

Approximately 11% of Peru’s children will die before they reach the age of five.

More than half a million children under 12 are forced to work outside the home to help their family.

More than a third of Peru’s population lives below the poverty line – surviving on less than $2 per day.

It is estimated there are over 600,000 orphans in Peru.

The jungle orphanage has a goal of being self-sustaining. 

 The banana fields, corn crops and fruit trees will provide food, and help to sustain the orphanage.

This orphanage will help to better the lives of so many children.

It will change the lives of young girls, who may have ended up in prostitution or drugs.

It will change the lives of young boys who will learn to be brave men and good fathers.

THAT'S WHY WE ENDURED THOSE CHIGGER BITES

so that the orphans can have a better life

The beauty is the heart behind it.  They have sacrificed many things in life to give these orphaned children a loving home.

The jungle will provide an oasis and safe-haven for the children to grow up. 

Andrew poses with his new friend Poncho, the family monkey.

 I took this Mission Statement from the website:

The mission of the “Asociación El Arca” is to love as many orphaned, abandoned and/or abused children as we possibly can, one precious soul at a time, healing them emotionally and preparing them both physically and spiritually for a brighter future. At El Arca, we receive the children into our family, and into our hearts, not into an institution.

www.elarcafam.org

I got to tile a bathroom floor, and teach others along the way.

I learned the power of prayer when we spent time praying and worshiping under the stary jungle sky.

"For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods." -Ps. 96:4

The stary night sky. Photo by Andrew Hall

We heard stories of jaguars, boa constrictors, bullet ants, moths that burrow into skin and lay babies, wild boars, poisonous snakes, dangerous plants, trees that drop nuts onto your head, crazy monkeys, trancullas and piranhas.  Maybe God knew the amazon would be too much to handle if we were actually part of those stories because the scariest things we saw were a bunch of cute monkeys playing in the trees, some interesting snakes, a caged tranculla, and parrots flying overhead.

VIDEO COMING SOON

Our first team video project is now in the making

Stay tuned!!

We are currently in the beautiful city of Cusco, Peru studying video making with Stephen Kurtis from Louisville, Kentucky.  It's chilly here!!  Cusco is at an elevation of 11,000 feet.  It makes my morning jogs harder to breathe, but the scenery is absolutely breath taking.

From March 29 - April 4 we have our first week off.

I am going to Climb Machu Picchu.

Brazos Abiertos - Track Team Ministry Update.

You know it's a small world when you visit Peru, find a ministry and end up writing a story about people you've met many many years ago somewhere else in the world. 

Yes! This is what happened.. 

Meet Jordi and Ria Bosch and their family. 

 Here is a little article I wrote about the work they do here in Peru. We pray For God's richest blessings on their lives... Enjoy!

Market in Lima

A trip to run errands turned into a market adventure

We met a clothing repair lady who loved us, and pulled out her Bible to ask if we knew Jesus.

Mother and daughter selling food on the streets.

How delightful!  I clearly love the elderly, and this man had me at "Hola!"

We didn't dare walk past the remainder of whatever animal that was. 

The market was full of so many colours!  Fruits, meats, fish, jewelry, pirated dvds... they had it all!

This chicken was seriously exposed to the public.  Nothing left to the imagination.

Yes folks.. Cute old people.  Thats where it's at!

This reminded me of working with the seniors.. they needed to read everything up close.

Glory glory.. what an old beauty!  I was banned from punch buggie games because of my hard hit, and there are so many punch buggies here.

Hope you enjoyed your trip to a street market in Lima