Toronto

Hi 

We just landed in Toronto and more we have to race to make our connection. But we should be home in a few hours.  Looking forward to seeing you all at the airport. See you all at 11:00ish. 

Kyle 

Good morning all This Sunday morning our first service was at 6:00. As usual, we led the singing. Amanda shared her personal testimony, we read from Philippians 4:1-10, and I shared an outline to help pastors develope a message from this passage. The team served breakfast to the pastors and now are shelling and pealing lima beans. The team has continued to serve with gracious attitudes even though some of the food preparation has been tedious such as shelling a 50 pound bag of lima beans!! So far they have not started to throw beans at each other although some consistantly miss the bowl where the shelled beans should end up. As Carson mentioned it was very rewarding to see the completed church in Haunca Huanca. They have oak doors and window frames, a tiled floor and painted walls both inside and out. Quite a contrast to the old church!! We also saw another garden plot with onions, leaks, cabbage, carrots and several other plants. The people have started selling produce to local villages and are developing plans to sell in larger markets. The driver of our rented van, who is not a believer, was impressed at the evidence he saw that Huanca Huanca was different from other villages because of our help. Unfortunately a number of people from the village were involved in a serious accident. A truck carrying 50 people rolled down a cliff back in March. Several from the church were injured. The lady who served us soup still suffers severe back pain. We prayed for her. The pastor's wife remains in a hospital in Lima. Her face was shattered and she lost an eye. There is no insurance or health care and here you have to buy your own medicine and supplies. She and her husband have six chldren still in Huanca. We have also met with him and prayed for them. ATEK has tried to help them cover expenses. If you feel led to help them, we can send money through HFL. Yesterday we had quite a day. During our devotional at 6:00 am we sang 'Our God is Mighty to Save', in Spainish of course. When we got to the chorus He can move a mountain, the 4x8 white board came crashing to the floor!! Speaking of accidents, Kyle and I witnessed our first accident yesterday. Unfortunately we were involved. I pulled into the 'passing lane' to turn left when someone decided to pass me on the left. I saw it the last minute and slammed on the brakes but we still collided. The damage was very minimal to both vehicles but I did not have my license with me nor did we have an interpretor. To top it all of the vehicle who hit us was a police van!!!. The driver was furious but fortunatley another policeman on the street corner witnessed the accident and actually supported us and understood our situation. They wanted us to pay for the damage. Kyle and I felt up against a wall. We were able to settle on 50 solas or about $20. Whem I returned Melagros asked me to drive her to the bank and the market. As we waited at the bank for 30 minutes(?), a truck parked in front of us. He began to back up hit us and continued to push us backwards. Of course the horn on the jeep does not work so I had no clue what to do. When he exited the truck he waved to me as though to say na-na-na-na-na-na! (Spelling?)By the way the mirrors on the Jeep are automatic. They automatically tilt down as you drive. Oh yes, there are mirrors on both sides now!!! The market is about 4 blocks square. Most vendors do not give receipts which ATEK must have so we walked and walked and walked to buy 200 lbs of potatoes (in one large sack) the above mentioned bag of lima beans, etc. Young boys load our purchases on two wheeled carts (like we use to move appliances) and wheel it to your vehicle. Rebecca and I stayed with the Jeep. We waited and waited and, you can fill in the blanks. The lady who sold us the potatoes had to go home to get her receipt book! We were at the market for at least 2 1/2 hours!!! In that time the tire went flat which I had to change. Fortunately I found a jacket and the spare still held air. On the way home the temperature gauge on the Jeep quickly moved to hot. A hose sprung a leak so we left a trail of water all the way back to ATEK. We tried to repair the hose but it kept splitting. I had to drive back up town, after filling the rad with several litres of water to find a hose. Morgan replaced the hose with the Jeep parked in the middle of the street. We got back after six, quickly ate supper and then Steph and I taught from 7 to 9. At 9 we had a team meeting. In our team meetings each of us has shared our testimonies. That has been a high light for me personaly as the each team member has shared very honestly. Last night Lindsey shared. Needless to say I slept well last night only to crawl out of bed at 5:30 this morning. In a few minutes we will go with the pastors to a soccer field where the team will share some team building exercises. The pastors also want the guys to play soccer with them. I have dibs on goal!!! I have shared in some detail to help you understand what life in Peru for us is like. Tonight we will lead a worship service with the pastors and ATEK staff. We will have a prayer time for them and their special needs. We leave tomorrow around 2:30 for the airport. Two more sleeps and then we should be back in Edmonton. A sincere thanks for your prayers. Your comments really encourage the team so keep them coming especially as the team winds down and we start to miss home more than ever. Pastor Bill

:)

Heya peoples! How are all of you back home? I am expecting many comments on this post as you can all answer that question. Just saying... So life here at ATEK has been really great, and tiring. As you most likely know, we had several youths show up here last night and had the great opportunity to serve them as well as the pastors here for the conference. Numbers here in Peru seem to be very similar to Peruvian time: loose. We were told that there maybe 90 pastors; 40 arrived. We were told 80 youth were coming last night; 120 showed up! We were extremely busy to say the least. Prior to our youth group adventure, those of us who had been serving here at ATEK for the pastors conference, took the day to go out and visit our brothers and sisters in Huanka Huanka. Danille, Kyle, and Pastor Bill had all been to the village before, but it was a new experience for Reyna, Rebecca and myself. It was amazing. The mountains here are unreal and such a testament to the greatness of our God. The village of Huanka Huanka was so beautiful as well! The people were so welcoming and were excited to show us around their village, the finished church that many of you may have worked on, and the new garden plots and plants that Bernadino (the agriculturalist). If you have never been, let me tell you, Huanka Huanka is amazing, and it is so amazing that we have had the opporunity as Beach Corner Church to be a part of God's work there. Before leaving for the drive back to ATEK, the President of the church in Huanka Huanka served us soup. I thought the soup was really good, but there was a point where we considered playing: "what part of the chicken is in your soup?" Well folks, we have had some busy days here, including some interesting driving stories that I am sure you will hear when we arrive home! Ask about how the Peruvians like to pass you on the left while you are turning left... scary. Buenos noches amigos! Estoy cansado (no casado para mi... en el futuro ;) voy a mi cuarto para duerme! Carson

UPDATE: New Arrivals

We found out at around 5pm that a group of 90 youth was coming to stay with us for a night on their way to a national Christian youth conference in Lima. According to Mila, the youth conference is hosted by a group of Korean Christians and they pay for everything - food, flights, accomodations, and regularly support many of the youth at home in their villages. Isn't that incredible? Anyway, it means we are frantically washing dishes and making whatever beds we can for them to sleep on (some will be two to a bed like Morgan and I in the village). And the rest of our team will be coming home to a REAL shock!!! - Pastor Mark

In Livitaca

Well this is my first time blogging on this page and ALOT has happened since we left ATEK for the village. Monday we left at about 11:30, ate lunch on the road and arrived at the village in time for supper and registration. It was interesting for us since our translator wasn't expected to arrive until late that night. First thing we did was check out the bathroom situation which

consisted of a small building with two sides, one for guys and one for girls. There was a nice hole in the ground, and Lindsay was a bit confused as to how to pee in a hole that looked full of water, so she dipped her toe in... hence her nickname, "Happy Feet". This was the first but not the last time that she tested the waters so to speak. Even though there was a bit of confusion as to our sleeping situation, it all worked out in the end. Mark and Morgan slept in one building with the youth boys, while we girls slept on the church stage with a curtain to separate us from the other girls. The nightly service seemed to drag on since they tried to introduce everyone in the room, but we managed to keep our eyes open for the most part. Tuesday morning came WAY too early as the Quechua music lasted nearly all night long. Our translator Mila had arrived!!!! And she explained to the cooks that we would only be eating lunch with them because we had, "weak stomachs". So we had breakfast and supper in a nice little mud hut that stored lamb carcasses much to Amandas' disgust. Mark spoke that morning in the service and after that we joined the youth for games, which entailed standing still as they raced around us. Everyday for lunch we had some kind of soup with lamb in it, and yes we got to see the lamb before it was put in the soup. The bucket of blood on display in front of the cook hut had quite a powerful smell. Pretty sure I found a nose in my bowl the one day... We helped serve all the meals, dishing out heaping servings to feed the hungry youth. Breakfast consisted of bread, and some kind of oatmeal drink. The pot we served from was ginormous!! Lunch was a soup, and supper was quite similar. Mila explained to us that the potatoes were left out at night so they could store them for longer. (dehydrated). Overall I think the youth picked up more English then we did spanish because when they came through the food line they said, "Thank-you". Wednesday we led games which was alot of fun as the youth did the trust fall, human knots, a relay race and more. Lindsay and Morgan both shared their testimony on the trip which was really great. They both did a fantastic job. The youth loved having us there and when we went up to sing they didn't want us to stop and all took out their phones/cameras to snap pictures and record us. For some reason I thought it would be the other way around. Presentations were given, some skits and alot of singing. One of the fathers there wrote us a song and performed it for us, all about the English missionaries. We girls left before it all ended and retired behind the stage, although the music was very amplified. We may have accidentely pulled out the cord a few times which seriously decreased the volume... oops. Thursday was a good day but sad because we had to leave all the friends we made. The service in the morning held goodbyes and a penecostal pastor from the area went up to speak after Yoni and her husband Luis finished talking about relationships. He was SO animated and although we couldn't understand what he was saying we joined in the laughter as he lept around the stage. His voice lowered and his smile grew as he talked about us all seeing each other again when Jesus returned. Then he led worship and his grin never left his face, this was clearly a man who knew and loved his Lord and Saviour. Afterwards we played in the soccer tournament and lost, then Mark sprained his ankle. Once everyone gathered again we Handed out giftbags which brought many smiles and a big group picture. Yoni had to explain that the glowsticks weren't to be broken open to see the contents inside. Overall it went really well, everyone on our team put in great effort and came through on the other side. Our return ride home was packed as we had some extras for part of the way, then our driver decided to make up time by hurling the bus around the mountainsides. My stomach didn't do too well but we made it back to ATEK. It was great to see the rest of our team when we got back, they have all gone to Huanca Huanca now so we are left to peel the dehydrated potatos :) <3 Brianna

Youth Camp Village Adventures

Hello all! We got back from the village last night and went to bed very soon after arrival, considering we were lacking a bit of sleep from Quechuan music being blasted by our beds at all hours of the morning!:) I don't even know where to start with all the funny stories that we all have from our experience in the village! I'll try to tell you a few but any that I miss Brianna will blog about later. The four days we had in the village were definitely the most amazing and memorable experiences in my life. Getting to know all the children and youth and seeing so many of them come and learn more about God. Each meal we helped serve heaping bowls full of 'interesting' tasting soups and different kinds of meats to the lines of Quechuan people continually coming back for seconds and thirds as our group occasionally had a hard time choking down firsts! (A couple of us had to go for a 'walk' at one point starting with a full bowl and coming back with nothing haha). The night we arrived we very quickly learned that the youth have a very long attention span as we sat and listened to their service for three long hours. They had three of those a day! Getting to know the youth and the children was amazing! Playing many different games with the children and youth included lots of volleyball, crazy canucks, soccer, and our arrangment of volleyball called Caveza Bellar (excuse my spelling) which means head ball as we tried head butting it to eachother in a circle and keeping it off the ground. It was definitely an experience that our team bonded through and just had so much fun! Many of us didn't want to leave in the end! There are lots and lots of pictures that i'm sure you'll all see when we get back home! Brianna will be blogging later telling you all some stories from our amazing little trip! Miss you all! - Heidi :) P.S. As for the 200 bags we made, it was all worth it seeing them being put to use and seeing the faces of the Quechuan people! I want to go back already!

Back safe and sound

Hello all

Just a quick update. The youth team just made it back to ATEK safe and sound. They all have many stories to tell and are very tired. Most of the team is either in bed or are getting ready for bed. Tomorrow some of the youth will share some of their stories.  Everyone doing well and is in great spirits. 

Goodnight for now from Cusco.