Happy 4th of July

Nazca was amazing, I didn´t get to see the Nazca lines though. But it was an amazing time with everyone. We stayed in a nice hotel, Hotel Alegria, that had heaters and fans and a swimming pool and it was just a fantastic time. The time with everyone was amazing and very encouraging. God definitely opened up my eyes to more things and our purpose here in Coracora is now more known because of other teams testimonies and hearing stories of what everyone has been doing. Before Nazca, we had just been trying to become one with these people and planting seeds and having Bible studies. Now after Nazca, we are praying for the harvest and are preaching more of salvation. We have a different purpose now.

The trip back from Nazca was very interesting and definitely an experience I will never forget. We were the last team to arrive in Nazca and one of the first to leave. We left Nazca on the night of the 30th at about 11:30 at night (our bus was suppose to leave at 9:00 but didn´t show up until 11:00) and arrived in Puquio at about 3:00 a.m....We then found out that nothing would run to Coracora until about 5:00 a.m., so we went inside the bus stop and waited. I slept on the floor on top of Ben´s poncho, it was still freezing cold though. Then at 5:00, we found a taxi that would take us to Coracora and it cost us 200 (that is 50 a piece) soles to go. The price was super high but we just didn´t care enough to argue him down.

On the road, we needed to make a restroom break but there are not really any cities between Puquio and Coracora so we pulled over on the side of the mountain and found bushes/rocks to hide behind and go to the bathroom. As I was climbing to a good hiding place, I stuck my hand on a cactus. Thankfully, I had my gloves on and only had two pieces of cactus stuck in my hand. Needless to say though, I had to jerk the pieces of cactus out. It was not a pleasant feeling and you can still see the dots on my hand where they poked me. They landed right in a muscle, it is still very tender but nothing that is unbearable.

Okay, so we arrived back to Coracora at about 9:00 in the morning and me with my upset stomach and Albee who had been throwing up all night, head straight to bed. I slept all day, I woke up at about 1:00 in the afternoon, ate a few crackers and some potato chips to keep something on my stomach and fell back asleep at about 1:30. I woke back up at about 6:00 and decided that I needed to try and eat a dinner if I could. I go knock on the guys' door to see if they want to go eat but they didn't answer. I just head downstairs but no restaurants were opened so I ran to a grocery store and bought some yogurt and cereal and a gatorade. I get back up to the room and eat a little and then the guys come and knock on my door about dinner. They had just gotten back from a bull fight in another small city. They said it was pretty cool and stuff and they got some good pictures. We are going to go to a bullfight later in July as a team that is hopefully going to be better than the one that they went to.

We were suppose to head up to a volcano before the Creative Ministry Team and the Popular Grove team comes to Coracora but I had a very deep conviction about leaving right before they come and not being here to prepare the way for them. So we have moved our trip to after they leave. We have had a lot of chances since staying here to do a lot of outreach and let people know of our plans. We have also ran into a couple of roadblocks that we are hoping will fall before the teams get here. Both teams will arrive in Coracora tomorrow afternoon and will stay until the 5th so pray for them as they come to us. We are praying for safe travels and that God will move beyond compare as they bring the message of salvation to these people.

(This three paragraphs below were added July 5th)

We started our first Bible study in our hostel on Thursday and it went great. Pray for Albee and my neighbor, we invited him to our Bible study but he denied the offer because he is agnostic and doesn't believe in God. Pray for our ministry with him in the very short time that he is in Coracora. We had our second Bible study last night on John and invited Flor the English teacher in Santa Maria and Andres the English teacher running around Coracora trying to find people to teach English to. It was good and Flor had some good questions and Andres had some good words of wisdom. We also gave Flor a bilingual Bible last night so we are hoping that it comes into good use. She leaves Coracora come July 27th so we are praying for an impact with her before we leave.

We celebrated the 4th of July with fried chicken, french fries, and cokes. We then found a place here in Coracora that sold firecrackers and bottle rockets so we bought a few to celebrate on the roof with. We found out that we weren't the only ones celebrating, we heard some firecrakers going off in another place too but there is also a couple here from Illinois that is heading back to the States tomorrow and headed back to Lima today! It was cool running into them in the internet cafe. Pray for Allen, as we were celebrating on the roof with fireworks he accidently stepped on a board with a nail in it and it went into his foot. We cleaned it out pretty good but his foot swole up today and is causing some nerves in his neck to start hurting. So we have him walking with a stick and are using water to try and ice his foot since the water is very cold here. The hole isn't deep but it is very painful.

We are expecting both the Creative Ministry Team and the Popular Grove Team today so pray for their safety as they come to us and pray for their safety as they leave us. We are all very excited about their arrival. Pray that, that excitement doesn't leave once they leave! I am so ready for them to be here but I don't want to fall out of that excitement once they leave and fall back into a complacent just living in the city situation so pray that our ministry doesn't stop after they leave.

(This next part was written on July 4th)

We will be leaving the 10th of July for Sarasara (the volcano) and will be spending a day in a city and then heading up to the crater on the 11th. The crater is about 16,000ft up so pray for that because it is going to be a challenge getting up there and not being short of breath. Then we will come down a little ways to about 10,000ft and spend the night on the mountain and head back down to the city on the 12th. We will then be doing some ministry in the city and talking to some of Yulber´s friends about Christ. Pray for that: pray that we will not be worn out completely from the trip, that we will get a good nights sleep on the mountain, and that none of us will run into physical barriers going up. We will have a few donkeys to go on, so some of us will be riding donkeys and the rest will be hiking. It is going to be lovely. But I am very excited about our trip up! It is going to be great and I can't for the views. This is a once in a lifetime chance and I am so excited about being able to do it. Just pray for safety!

Oh Happy 4th of July everyone! I hope it is a great one for you all!