Peru SOS Update #2

Well, it's been a few days since I last wrote, and alot has happened since our first day of shoe deliveries. So, to catch you up, I will try to write in two postings. The last prayer request was for a home with over 700 children. It is called Sagrada Familia Home. What an incredible day it was!!! It was a LONG drive from Lima although just outside the city. Traffic delays, construction, stop lights (that actually work), and traffic policemen extended what would typically be a 30 to 45 minute drive to a 1 1/2 hour to 2 hour drive to reach the home. Lima typically has no rainfall. It is either high humidity and overcast, or high humidity and a very light mist. This day was quite overcast, cold, and misty. As we pulled of the main highway, we pulled on a dirt road, and the dust began to fly. It was uphill, and with a 45 passenger bus with boxes of shoes and many bags of vbs supplies, the ride was quite interesting to say the least. We pulled through a gate, and found ourselves in a very narrow strip of land with several buildings. We exited the bus and met the director, and said a quick prayer. As we unloaded the bus and hauled our shoes and supplies up the hill to the chapel, we saw very few kids. The ones we did see said hello and asked to help carry our items. Each time we made a trip to the bus to get supplies, we would see a few more kids, but not the 700 we were told about. Then, just past the chapel, as we were checking the facility to see where we could house vbs, we saw the multitude of children headed to classes, or other locations. We quickly located a place for the vbs activities, and I headed to the chapel to start to sort the shoes. Our Peru staff separated the kids into groups. The older kids attended class in the afternoon, while the younger ones were in class in the morning. And then it began! Our first group of teen arrived and for some reason, we thought it would be a good idea for all of the group to come in to get shoes...not the best idea. Sixty or more teens were in each group, and with 8-10 people fitting shoes, it was crazy! We were moving as fast as we could to get five groups of sixty or more teenagers through the shoe station. After the second group, someone finally brought wisdom to our shoe team and suggested we only bring in ten to twenty kids at a time. What wonderful wisdom indeed! This help our stress level and allowed us to visit with the teens with out rushing. And then, we realized what was about to happen. Most of the teenage girls wore the same size shoe, and we were running out of the size we needed. Our Peru staff had the forethought to bring along the shoes from the previous day in case we needed more sizes. That helped tremendously, but we still were running out of shoes, and it wasn't even lunch time. We continued to try on shoes knowing God would provide, and then he did! Our Peru director, Claudia, had left mid-morning and had hired a truck to go to the warehouse to get more shoes. Of course we didn't know this, so just before lunch, she arrived with forty to fifty boxes of shoes. It was the answer to our prayers! We had still not completed all of the teenagers, who were to head to school after lunch, so we quickly ate our lunches, and pulled the remaining teenagers into get them shoes. Finally, about 2:00, we finished with the teens, and we then realized we had the younger kids to go. We understood that the groups size would be about 50-60 kids in each group. Now the real fun began. As the small ones came in to get shoes, the excitement and joy on their faces was contagious. It spread to all the team members. You could see how excited the little ones were when hearing the vbs story, doing crafts and playing games. Then they realized they were getting new shoes. The smiles were unbelievably huge! Many of the small ones ended up with spiderman shoes, shoes that lighted up, movie theme shoes, and even Miley Sirus shoes, the young girls really liked those! Each child would thank us and give us a hug after getting their shoes. When the perfect pair of shoes finally fit after three or four tries, the joy from the kids was uncontainable! It is quite the scene to see ten to twelve young boys jumping up and down to see thier shoes light up. The laughter from our group filled the chapel.

We arrived a Sagrada with the understanding that we would not see all of the kids, so we did our best to see as many as we could. As the afternoon turned into evening, I constantly checked the clock to see what time we needed to leave. As I did this, Claudia would come to tell me we have fifty more kids and then we needed to leave. Again, after those fifty, she would say there were forty more, then we need to leave. I finally caught on to the fact that more and more of the kids at the home were coming to get shoes. Two of our team members, Phil and Angela, asked if they could take the infant shoes to the baby home. We said that would be great, so they put the shoes on the thirty or more infants and toddlers. As they were doing this, Claudia came to me and said,"I think we only have forty more children." I responded, "Forty more and then we need to go, we can leave the shoes for the kids who were not here." Claudia smiled and said, "No, Jeremy. You don't understand. Forty more and then all the kids have shoes!" WHAT!!! I could not believe it. This incredible group of people placed about 730 pairs of shoes on all the kids at this home. What a blessed day for our team! In addition to the shoes, we also gave each child a small bag with school supplies and hygene items. Here is a great photo of Donna receiving a hug from one of the little girls after getting her shoes and gift bag.

This day was a very humbling day for our team. We saw God in so many ways. We saw him meet the needs of each child we met. We saw God meet our need for more shoes at the exact time he wanted us to have them. Not sooner and not later. We saw God use willing hands and feet to share his love with 730 children.

This post is getting long, so I will close with one final story. As we packed the bus to leave and return to our hotel, Claudia gave me a quick tour of the orphanage, and she told me the story of the director. I believe his name was Carlos. Before Carlos started this orphange, I believe he worked in the business world. He had a young child. The child passed away unexpectedly, and Carlos grieved dearly for this young child. After burrying the child, he was returning home, and saw several young children living on the street. He took these children into his home. After a few days at his home, the childen disappeared. Carlos was very sad that the children left. But to his surprise, the next day the children returned...with all of their friends living on the street. Carlos sold his home and started to build this orphanage. Now he has a home with 730 children from infants to teenagers. What a picture of grace!

Blessings,

Jeremy