Good morning from Peru! Today is our last day in Iquitos before beginning the eighteen hour boat ride to Riquena, where we will stay for five days before traveling to other villages along the river. Although I am excited for everything that lies ahead, the bonds formed, lessons learned, and innumerable experiences that have happened here in Iquitos have been life changing have truly been life changing, and I know it will be difficult to leave. I feel like I could write five blogs a day about everything that has happened and it still would not cover everything, so I´m going to touch on the things that have affected me the most.
In my last blog I mentioned a nineteen year old named Fernando who I met on the first day of our prison ministry, his struggles with not having parents or siblings, and his four remaining years in prison, and I am enthusiastic when I say that the blessings drawn from that relationship have not stopped. On the last of the prison ministry, Fernando gave some of the team members bracelets that he had made with each of our names on them (manly bracelets for the guys, of course), and gave me a Spanish copy of a book called No Aceptas la Tristeza! (Don´t accept the sadness). The copy was signed, and in it he wrote a small message about how, although he has no hope, he is putting his trust in God through his fears and doubts. I mention this story because I am blown away by the amount of compassion, friendship, and kindness shown by someone that has had such a difficult past, and look forward to communicating him when he gets out of prison. The best part of the story? God is amazing, and Fernando´s sentence was reduced to three months. He should be out of prison shortly before I return from Peru!
One of the great things learned from the trip thus far is how far God will take you and how much he will show you if you simply allow him to. Over the past couple weeks, I´ve really been challenged to step out of my comfort zone, and love to see where it has led. A couple of weeks ago, I felt called to give my testimony in front of the church we were going to speak at that coming Saturday, but was very hesitant. I had never shared too much with anybody and was nervous about how people would take it, but decided to go for it and see what happened. After speaking on Saturday night, a couple of guys, who were leaders for one of the youth groups, approached me and asked me to give a message at their next meeting the following Thursday. I went with a few of my group mates, and it was great! It really affirmed my love for youth and passion for bringing hope to those who may have had rough backgrounds, am I am seeing more and more that it is something I would love to do in the future, whatever happens. After I spoke, we hung out with the youth, played games, and even had a dance off between the Peruvian men and us gringos. Although I feel that Eoghans ¨shopping cart,¨my ¨sprinkler, and Joshs worm were top notch, the Peruvians won hands down.
Needless to say, the trip has been a blast. Outside of ministry work, the team has continued bonding and having awesome experiences with each other, including random fruit tasting, lots of ninja games, futbol (soccer), swimming, frisbee, getting muddy with village children, being mauled by tiny monkeys, and me and Josh Hill going on late night rat hunts.
Hope everything is great in the United States, and I miss and love you all!
Grant
