Estamos en Lima

We made it into Lima yesterday and spent our last day in ministry.  We joined the Alianza Cristiana Misionera for fellowship last night and several of the students sang, rapped, and did a skit.  Jessie and David tore up the mic with an amazing rendition of ¨Got Paper¨ along with team INCA.  Two performers surprised me last night, because I didn´t know they sang:  Andrew Fortney and Molly Luger.  I gave a gospel presentation last night and heard about several great conversations that followed.  All in All it was a great end to the ministry portion of our trip.  Today we are going to go out in style, in a double decker bus, to go sight seeing.  We are going to the catacombs which is what I am most excited to see and than to the Inca Market.

The students are doing well with the exception of some stomach junk and that virus that is going around.  Praise the Lord for Nancy and her hard work on this trip.  We will spend the next two days living it up in Lima and then we will board a plane to Newark.

Prayer Requests:

1.  Pray for continued health.
2.  Pray for life change in the students after having spent a whole week in ministry.
3.  Pray for life change in the leaders.
4.  Pray that Browncroft would leave and indelible mark on Peru that reflects the love of Christ.
5.  Pray that the Peruvians we came into contact with would have a different picture of what American culture looks like.

Peru update from Nancy

A note from Nancy regarding students health:
"As Patrick already said, this is a 24/48 hour bug. Symptoms include fever, headache, chills and body aches, but those who have gotten sick have recovered nicely. Some students did not effectively drink fluids as instructed and required extra fluids by intravenous. These are the following students: Katie Seeger, Alyssa Irish, Megan Farrell. There are several other students that have the typical travelers diarrhea, but are doing well with pepto bismal. I can talk further with you when we arrive home, but be assured everyone is doing well." ~ Nancy
If anyone has questions, please feel free to contact Heather at 817-575-7401 as she has been talking with Patrick.
Please bear with the team. The internet is very, very spotty. Patrick is updating as often as best he can. The team is currently on the bus to Lima and will be arriving there this evening.

Travel Update

We just made it to Lima. We should be at the hotel in about a half hour. Students are doing well. The students who had to get fluids have all recovered nicely. Thank you for your prayers. If you have any direct questions please email me at pjanson22@gmail.com. I will check my email this afternoon.

Prayer Request

There seems to be a bug going through the group and a few students have gotten sick.  It seems to be a 24hr bug, but we would appreciate everybody's prayers.  Nancy thinks she might have picked something up from the plane ride.  Thanks for your prayers and we will continue to keep you all posted.

PJ

A Student Blog - Pt. 2

The first half of the mission trip has been more amazing than I ever thought it would be.  God has been working in us and through us in ways that are completely indescribable.  A couple of days ago I was given the opportunity to go to Sister Rosa's AIDS clinic...an experience that I will NEVER forget.  When we arrived at her home, there were little kids running around outside waving at us and I could immediately tell that God was going to shine through us while we spent time with the kids.  The pure joy that was radiating from the children (who had next to nothing by the way) truly humbled me and made me think about everything I take for granted.  We played volleyball in the street with a group of girls for while and I wondered how that really was going to make their day better.  I came to find out that we were the first people to play with them and pay attention to them in a very long time.  They were practically in tears when we had to pack up our vans and leave and I wish we could have done more for them.  I was also able to play catch with a very young boy named Arno, who was so precious and thankful that my friends and I were spending time with him.  He'll never know how much of an impact his contentment with having so little had on me.  I'm so glad I am on this mission trip and I can't wait to see what else God has in store for us.

Rachel Theodorou
 

A Students Blog!

Hi Everyone!

A bijillion miles south of where you are at this moment the Peru team is having a blast! Our team (Andrea and Paul) spent Monday and Tuesday teaching at the Montessori school to kids around our age.  The students spoke very good English and we thought it was very easy for the non-Spanish speakers to interact and build relationships.  When our team found out we were going to the Robert Fuller school on Wednesday and Thursday we were a little disappointed.  The kids we taught spoke little to no English and our team spoke little to no Spanish.  However, when we arrived at Robert Fuller on Wednesday morning (bright and early) both of us were blown away by what happened:  God broke through the language barrier the second we walked into the classroom and words no longer seemed to matter.  We were able to show God's love through our actions.  When we left the classrooms we were overwhelmed by the impact we had on the kids.  It seemed like there was always a child in our arms.  It was amazing how quickly relationships were built, when we could only write one word "hola."  This is only one example of how God has erased the fear we had in our hearts.  Thank you everyone for your prayers and support.  It has made this trip possible.  Not only have they impacted the lives of the children and people of Piura, Peru; it has also impacted our lives.

Kisses on the cheeks heading your way!

Jenna & Linnea

P.S.  Please don't plan on any meals consisting of rice, potatoes, chicken, or purple soda for the first several days we're back.  Only good-ole American food would be great!  Gracias!

El cuarto dia de nuestra mision

As you can imagine we are all very busy and as a result have let our updates fall behind.  I hope to have several students blogs up in the next day or so.  I will also mention that as a result of a bad internet connection we have been unable to upload a ton of pictures and also video, but several of the leaders have uploaded pictures on Facebook.  I will try and get some pictures for you tonight or even tomorrow.

This is a quick log to let you know that we are all doing well.  The students are doing great with their Spanish skills; even the ones that don't have much.  We finished our last day at the schools teaching our ESL classes.  Each group got to go to the AIDS clinic and minister to the families.  We were all brokenhearted, but blessed to have been able to make them smile for just a moment.  The team also made a bunch of cupcakes for our Saturday coffee house.  It has been a very long day.  Mr. Stack (or as one Peruvian Starbucks barista called him "Pool")  is teaching a class this evening.  He is closing out the class that him and I team taught called "Evangelism and Discipleship."

If I haven't said this yet, in the midst of this busy week, these students have blessed me so much.  My team has been amazing and I know from other leaders that their teams have been equally amazing.  I was blessed yesterday as Maggie and Megan sang "You are my Sunshine" to the families at the AIDS clinic.  They sang for over an hour.  I just pray that they would have had a moment break from all the turmoil and that they saw Jesus in our students.


With the exception of a little stomach problems, no one has gotten real sick (sick of chicken and rice perhaps).  We are all healthy.  In the chaos of the Peruvian traffic we have been safe, largely in part to the awesome taxi service that has been driving us around all week.  They even play American music, well that is music from the 80's.  I personally love the music myself.  


Things that you can pray for:
1.  For Joe, Jeremy, Brianna, and Jessie as they teach at a seminar this weekend.  Pray that God would give them the wisdom to teach students about purity.  
2.  For the whole team that we would be given more opportunities to share the gospel.  
3.  For the students at the Montessori School and the Robert Fuller school that would come to the seminars and be encouraged with the truth of God's Word.  
4.  For our on going health, as we are in a different culture.  


Thanks to all who are following this blog.  I am so thankful that you get to catch a glimpse of what God is doing in the lives of our students at Browncroft.  I have been keeping up with the Johnstown team and have been blessed as well.            

El primer dia de nuestra mision

Today was our first full day of ministry and it started well.  We spent the morning at the Montessori School teaching English classes.  It was a bit frustrating at first because the teachers didn't even seem to be prepared for our time there.  After a few minutes of figuring things out, though, the group was off and running.  The most notable thing about our time at the school this morning was how the Peruvian students viewed American culture, particularly teen culture.  They imagine that all American teens do is party and eat at McDonalds; apparently they learned everything they needed to from a movie called Project X.  Hopefully in the next several days we can break free from these stereotypes and show these students the love of Christ.   

In the afternoon we went to La Plaza de Armas were we spent two hours sharing the gospel and making balloon animals for children.  We were like rock stars by the end of our time in the plaza.  Everyone was coming out to see the crazy Americanos and their balloon animals (especially Jackson).  We hope that when we return tomorrow we will have more opportunity to share.    

Things to pray for in the coming days:  

1.  To break the American stereotypes with the students at the Montessori School. 

2.  For energy to push forward.  

3.  For the group to be able to step out of their comfort zone and muster up the courage to share the gospel message.  

4.  Specifically pray for Gabe Agostini who is very sick and has not been able to be with the group.  

5.  That we don't get beaten to bad when we play the Peruvians in futbol or at least that we don't take ourselves to seriously.  

Thanks all for the continued prayer and I hope to have some video up soon.  

   

Our Journey to Piura

So, at this point we are on our long journey up the coast to Piura.  Everyone is very excited and I know that because the majority of the students keep saying "guess where we're at."  I guess I can get annoyed, but there is no reason to because "guess where we're at!"  Driving down the road looking at the surroundings, I am thankful that God has given these students the opportunity to be apart of such a great missions experience.  Culturally Peru is worlds apart from the United States.  Life is quite a bit different and I hope to convey some of that over the week as I keep everyone updated.  Continue to pray for all of us on this journey.  This is only day two and we haven't even arrived at our destination.  I will continue to post pictures and I will try to put some videos up, as well.   

Getting Ready to Go!

The Peru team had a great time at the Catanzaro's House on Tuesday night and wanted to share a few pictures from that meeting (compliments of Jessie Schnall).


This is a quick post to say that we want you all to get excited for both teams and encourage you to continue to pray for us as we are on this journey.  We leave in two days and each team is very excited about what God is going to do with the students of Browncroft Community Church.  Keep in touch with what the group is doing via this blog spot. We will update it as often as possible.