With a Touristy Touch...The Week in a Photojournal

Well, this week has been a special treat, because not only have we been able start getting ¨settled in¨after our trips to do church planting, but Lauren´s mom came for a suprise visit!!! So, Lisa joined us in our daily lives...and I took some of her pics from the week so that maybe you could get to see our lives from a bit of an outside view. Enjoy!!

The night Lisa came in! (I had convinced Lauren that we needed to fix a nice dinner cause we´d had a tough week...but what she didn´t know is that part of the plan was to cook a nice dinner and have a surprise guest!!) It turned out pretty good! Lauren had no idea until Lisa walked up behind her and put her hands over her eyes. =)

And, of course, Lisa came bearing gifts...She brought SMORES!!! =))

Next morning was Sunday, so we woke up and headed off to our first house church.

Sun. morning house church. 

Drinking Inca Kola after house church. This is the second of 5 house churches so far.

 

Second house church of the day...

Yes, in honor of Lauren we stayed up til 4 am that night playing board games. 

And went to go see Pirates 4 in 3D, baby!

Lauren showing off one of her birthday gifts.

The rest of the week has been filled with both ministry moments and touristy moments. Here are some sights around Lima that I thought you might enjoy. Most of these are taken from the busy downtown part. It´s cool but weird to be a tourist in your own town for a day...but definetely something I should do more often.

These are the ¨combis¨ or busses that we ride all of the time. It is the main form of transportation here.

People walking around downtown Lima

This is what most of Ventanilla, (where I live) looks like.

The streets of Lima...

These same streets become places of crime and prostitution at night.

Yes, we are ¨Los Amigos...¨ or rather ¨Las Amigas¨

Typical assortment of veggies and other random items at an outdoor market

We went down to the beach as well, for those of you who have been to Lima, we went to the part down below Larcomar where the water meets the sand =) This is what we found (along with the beach...)

The great thing about living in Lima is that you can be in the dessert, a market, downtown and the beach all within the same day.

Nicchola took us around that day, and we ended up eating at a restaurant in a part of Lima I´d never seen before. It reminded me a little of the Riverwalk in San Antonio...it was so beautiful, and SO MUCH FUN!!!

The sweet family that hosts house church number 2.

Thursday night we hosted a Mexican fiesta for some of our closest Peruvian friends. Over 50 came!! It was so much fun. We got to eat tacos and quesadillas and share the gospel, hang out, talk, dance, and watch some performances by some of the kids in the group. It was such a wonderful night and something we could not have done without the money Southmont has given us for ministry purposes. Such a blessing. It was my first Peruvian party, (and to think that I helped host it...scary!! Haha) But I think it went well considering that the people didn´t want to leave even after they had eaten, the music had stopped. It was so cool to see some of our friends in a group setting really step out and start opporating in their giftings. One of my friends is very good at making others feel welcome, so she was very lively and got people involved. Another was walking around with a plate of glasses full of coke, serving the other guests. Another was filming the party for us with our camera. Another brought a sound system (without us even asking!) Another had brought her guitar and organized a few songs to perform. Let me tell you, it was incredible. Tons of work, but so much fun. Please pray for each of the people that were at that party...they are in some way involved in our ministry here.

Rainey...she is a neighbor who will be moving back to the jungle on Monday...please pray for her protection and that God will draw her closer to Himself.

Family that hosts our first house church. Please pray that gospel will become something that moves from the head to the heart.

Nicchola and his family!!! Finally got to hang out with him!

Capricio and I. What a cutie!

Today, we started our 5th house church in the streets of downtown Ventanilla with about 10 kids. Please pray that the Lord will use this to touch the families that work in the nearby market and neighborhoods. Today went great. We brought a ball and played some fun games, sang, and talked about creation, Adam and Eve and the problem of sin and redemption. I will post pics about this tomorrow. Hope you enjoy!