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Travel tales

Traveling Days

Flights The flights from San Antonio to Lima through Houston were mostly uneventful. We had arrived at the San Antonio Airport as a team at 9 a.m. In Houston we had time to get lunch and rest a bit before taking off to Lima. On the flight from Houston, there was a group of three, a group of two, and a group of 8 that were able to sit together. Keith sat in the back by himself, in time out 😅, but honestly God blessed good conversation with a gentleman that was flying to Lima to stay for a few months. Once we landed and got off the plane, we were able to pray for the gentleman as he began his trip.DUN DUN DUN Once arriving at the immigration line in Lima, it was about 12:30 am and it took about an hour or so to get through. While waiting for all of us to get through, we see Fred get pulled into a back room. We're wondering what's happening and later find out that his name got flagged by Interpol! 😯 It all worked out, but was a point of discussion and joking for a bit. Once through immigration, we picked up our bags and were just waved through customs. In CountryUnlike prior years, the ticket counters and security were open and the team was able to check the bags for the domestic flight and get through security pretty quickly. After taking a photo in front of a frog in the central area of the airport, we decided to split up, with some grabbing a bite to eat and others heading to the gate to try to get some rest. We boarded the flight about 5:30 a.m. and were able to land in Pucallpa and get checked into the hotel about 10 a.m., just over 24 hours from the start of the trip in San Antonio. Pucallpa and Beyond In the afternoon, we met up and went around the central plaza of Pucallpa as well as going down to the river to see the sights and start to get accustomed to being in Peru. We tasted chocolate and ice cream as well as getting bottled water to make sure we were keeping hydrated. The following morning after breakfast, we met our transportation to Iscozacin consisting of four trucks and a car. The first half of the trip was pretty smooth on pavement. The second half was on dirt and gravel with several water crossings, one of which was on a ferry consisting of a platform across two large canoes. One of the trucks fell behind a bit and when it caught up, it seemed to have a leak of diesel from the engine. They tightened one of the hose connections and we continued on, arriving at the hotel in Iscozacin or "Isco" about 10 hours after starting the trip. Make sure to check the Photos gallery page as pictures are constantly being uploaded by the team throughout our time here. We're writing this on Sunday. Stay tuned for the next update for news about the service and time at El Camino today. How You Can Partner with UsThank you for your prayers for our travels. Praise God for safe travels. Pray for the man Keith was able to talk to on the plane. Pray for the city of Pucallpa and the region. We saw quite a bit of spiritism symbolism in the artisan works of the souvenir shops.

Four Days... um... Zero Days Left!!

We had our last meeting this past Sunday, time is upon us. We went over some packing list items, itinerary updates, gifts, and schedules. Itinerary Updates We made sure we all downloaded the airline applications and made sure that everyone knows how to be travel ready. An update is, since we are landing in Pucallpa around 8am, we weren't going to be able to check into our hotel until 2pm. That complicated meals and luggage security more than we'd like. So we will be staying at our hotel a “second night” so that we can go directly to the hotel to our rooms and breakfast! We also got a rough estimate of what our week will be like in Villa America! A basic format of the week is that after breakfast the men and women will load up into the trucks and head out. The women will be at the local schools in the morning (changing in the day). The men will be at Villa America technical college assisting in construction until the early evening. After lunch, the women will join the men at Villa America and assist with school clubs, kids clubs, and other activities being held until we drive back to Isco for the night. Communication & Blog News With lack of cell service, or at least limited service if team members decide to get an add-on international plan, we have all started a WhatsApp group chat and included our translator, Giulianno! We are super excited to see him again. We have added a gallery to the blog site so as team members all upload pictures, you can begin to see them as we share them! Hopefully service works enough to get everything loaded 😀🤞🏼 If you'd like to get short, team wide updates, this is the link the team will be posting at. But you'll have to reload the link daily for it! https://app.managedmissions.com/OurStory/2859/94739 Gifts Gifts! The bibles have been distributed! As I won't be having to pack so many on my own! Allen, took the image of our team shirts and printed them out as stickers, allowing us to add the stickers to each Bible. He also added them to the tape measures he is gifting so that the construction workers have a Bible verse.Matthew 28:18-20 ESV [18] And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. [19] Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, [20] teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” So that's pretty neat! I think other members of the team will be taking some collapsible water bottles for the workers. Soccer balls for kids club. And school utensils for Villa America. Devotionals & Music The Turners put together a devotional book for us to have some individual devotional times during our trip. The hope is to also have team devotionals during breakfast and then a debrief at night before bed time. Doyle has been working on some songs to sing in both English and Spanish for church on Sunday. The plan is to do How Great is Our God; and potentially Open the Eyes of My Heart. Last Minute Packing Questions At the end we went over some packing list questions and just reminders that are needed before we depart. We are on the last few days as we pack, but the last minute items. Order fans, clothes, trinkets, etc. And spray our clothes with permetherin. PrayersPRAISE God we're fully funded! Pray that our families here in the States will be safe and taken care of Pray for health (as I am sick) before we embark and for a healthy, injury free trip for the team Pray for the Blocks Pray for travel safety and ease of travel Pray for memory for the orality story Pray for the hearts set before us Pray for our own headspace and hearts to be ready when we leave Pray for God's hand to be seenAnd, We're at the Airport With all the things to get done, we didn't get this published until now, while we are sitting at the gate in the airport. We are excited to get going and be sure to check the gallery page for pictures as some are starting to be uploaded.