Macchu Picchu and more kids club!

It's been a great couple of weeks. We'll go from the top down as far as the pictures go. Starting off with the trip to Macchu Picchu on Wednesday, January 11th. It was such a long day. Anna and I were picked up at our apartment at 5:30am by the nicest travel agent ever. He took us to the train station where we boarded at 6:15 for our 4-hour journey to the city of Aguas Calientes. We sat across from two girls about our age - one German and one Australian. So we all chatted and enjoyed the scenery until we arrived around 10:30am. We then took about a 20 minute busride up to Macchu Picchu. The bus goes up the mountain with these hairpin turns and guardrails are rare. It reminds me of a family vacation to the California coast which was characterized by motion sickness! It was a beautiful view though.

Once we got up to Macchu Picchu, we went through the gates and caught up with our tour group. We listened at the beginning and then sort of explored on our own. There are very few areas you can't go into in the entire city of Macchu Picchu, so it makes for good exploring. Basically, it's a lost city of the Inca's and it's a huge city with three temples and it's just beautiful. We looked around a lot and then took the bus back down for lunch. They had a typical Peruvian band at the restaurant and it was a nice meal. After lunch, we bought some expensive ice cream and looked around in the market before boarding the train again at 3:55pm. The train ride back took a little longer and we had lots of friends on the train by the time we arrived. To get in and out of the train station in Cusco, the train goes back and forth, zig-zagging up or down the side of a mountain, so you feel like you aren't getting anywhere! Our whole car was a little delirious by the time we got home, but it was a fun trip.
























Me at the 'entrance' to Macchu Pichhu




























Ok, following are some more pictures from the past few weeks. The time on Tuesday and Friday afternoons is going better and better. This past Tuesday, we started with a relay where the kids ran down to a chair to pop a balloon on it. We played boys vs. girls and they were loving it. (Anything with balloons is a hit with these kids!) Then we read the story of Isaac and Rebekah and the kids did a great job listening and answering questions. Miguel, who helps me out, does a great job of asking questions to keep the kids tracking with us. After the story, we played "chubby bunny", where you put first one marshmallow in your mouth and say 'chubby bunny' (in english), and continue adding more marshmallows and saying your phrase of choice. We had to improvise on the sayings, but it was actually better having them say "Jesus loves Me" after all.

Things are continuing to go just wonderfully. Thank you for your prayers. You can continue to pray for the kids clubs, that we will be able to really disciple these kids. You can also pray that my Spanish will continue to improve and that meaningful conversation will ensue in many different situations.

God is teaching me a ton and I can see that He is working in the lives of so many Peruvians as well. It is a joy and a privilege to be here. Thanks for your prayers and support!











Susanna, Anna, Me and Rebecca out in Cusco.














Playing "chubby bunny" with the kids. They were so funny. We said things like "jesus loves me" because chubby bunny didn't quite translate.












Mariela popping her balloon.















Daniel had a little trouble - we had to basically drop the littler kids onto the balloons to get them to pop!

















playing...the boy next to me is Miguel, he's 14, and the bigger guy next to him is Billy, who's 15; they both help me on Tuesday and Friday afternoons.











Here is one of our group from New Year's Eve. We were about to dig into our wonderful dinner and embark on a night of incessant laughter!