Home at last...

Just a quick note to let you know that we are home, at last!  

We left Iquitos Friday ~ 2:30 pm, arriving at the airport in the rain.  We flew to Lima, where we found ourselves in the longest airline queue I've seen.  The flight was delayed, leaving around midnight.  That delay, of course, caused many further delays in the travel plans for many of our team.  I understand that some of them are still traveling.  We arrived in Miami early this morning, and went through the lines at Customs and Immigration.  Our flight to Dallas had been rescheduled, and our connection in Dallas was late, so we ended up being a couple of hours late into Seattle.  

I'm afraid that we didn't have a chance to say goodbye to many of our new friends from the team.  It has been a pleasure working alongside you, and getting to know you.  Each of you brought your own strengths and personalities to Peru, and used your gifts for the Lord.  I'm sorry that we didn't get a chance to hug you one last time.  

I'll be working on uploading and editing photos, and telling some of the stories.  

On our way home... at last...

We are out of the jungle, and spent the night in a 5 star hotel in Iquitos, with air conditioning! We are gathering in less than an hour to head for the first of our four flights back home...

Iquitos is unlike anyplace I could have imagined. We had a nice meal last evening on a floating restaurant on the Amazon, and took motorcyle rickshaws back to the hotel on the main square. It was a holiday yesterday (All Saints Day?) and the square was filled with people. We had a nice ice cream cone ( 1 sole = 33 cents), and walked toward a gathering to see what was so interesting. We´ve traveled thousands of miles, only to find the amazing spectacle of... a Michael Jackson impersonator, performing Thriller and Billie Jean.

We have a long day ahead, traveling through the night, but we are certainly looking forward to seeing "all y'all" soon!

This is posted by Karen Harden

Greetings friends,

By the time you get this, you will likely be headed home. It has been wonderful to follow you along the way. Thank God for technology. I have found myself trying to imagine you both sleeping in hammocks and mosquito nets. I can't wait to hear Wendi's stories about her Amazon trek.

I pray that you will have safe travels and that you and your team will be blessed with no delays and I especially pray that your luggage will all get back here with you.

We are anxious to see you come home.....
Love,
Karen

A nice day in Lima...

It's about 2030 on Monday, and we are just getting back from a nice sunset meal at a restaurant on the water in Lima, La Rosa Nautica. We started the day by sleeping in, after arriving at the hotel after midnight. And then, a day of wandering and shopping. We had lunch at a wonderful local restaurant ... Tony Roma's! The menu was a little different - we could have had yucca fries, but chose potato instead. It was nice to have something a bit familiar. We passed up the Starbuck's, though.

We have a few more hours in Lima, and then we schlep our bags to the airport for a 0500 flight to Iquitos, the largest city in the world that is acceptable only by air or water. We are then spending the next couple of nights in a lodge, with hammocks, misquito netting, and no electricity. I'm not sure, but this might be the lodge: Muyuma Lodge.  [UPDATE:  The lodge we stayed at has a nice website:  www.AmazonLodgeSafaris.com.]

Then, a day in Iquitos, before we start our way back to EEUU, the United States. We'll be home in the early afternoon of Saturday.

We've met some wonderful people, and in many ways it seems that we've been here for weeks already. The Peruvians we met in Chao, Cascas, and Trujillo were each a bit different, but warm and thankful for the little bit of work that we did. As we left the Trujillo airport last night, Carlos Angulo thanked Wendi and I for our hard work - there is so much need; it seems that we did very little. But, as Jesus promises:

Matthew 10:42 (New International Version)

"And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward."

I pray that our work was some relief to some of the little ones we met. Not for our reward, but because we are his disciples.

And, we've met some wonderful people on the mission team. There is no way to give each of them their due, but I do want to thank them for their work, their help. Jack Story has done a wonderful job of taking care of us. It has been wonderful sharing time with Leon Jasper. And, we've shared in the fellowship that comes only in the Lord.

I don't know if we'll get a chance to update y'all before we get back to the US. (We're learning some Southern as well as some Spanish!) Until then, our thoughts are with our friends and family back home. We miss you ...

¨Yes, but no...´´

We are on the move again...

After a week of traveling with 53 team members, I can understand why Jesus chose only twelve! Our hotel lobby is once again filled to overflowing with bags of all shapes and sizes (mostly big). And, we´re going to be piling into a bus or two for a trip back to the Trujillo airport for a 2130 flight to Lima. We have a free day in Lima tomorrow, and then fly to Iquitos at 0520. Jack, our logistics guy, tells us we can be napping in a hammock in the Amazon rainforest by 2 oclock Tuesday afternoon.

This part of our trip is really just tourism. We spent the morning in church at the Mission Complex in Florencia, where we´d held clinic for the last three days. The pastor, Carlos, told the story of the work he has undertaken here ... he has planted twelve churches, and is planning a trade school and high school in the future.

We had ´chifa´for lunch ... chinese food. And then, time for a nap!

Thank you to those who´ve been leaving comments. It is encouraging to know that we are missed, by our friends and family and by Alley! (Otis only remembers us for a minute and a half, the trainer tells us. BTW, we are seeing some strange dogs, including a hairless beast that is a descendant of a pre Incan breed!)

As we traveled here, Wendi looked down at her watch in the Dallas airport to see that it had died. Perhaps that is the lesson we are both to learn ... patience in the way that others deal with the world. We are certainly not at home ... everything seems to work a little differently. It is customary to turn in your hotel key as you leave your hotel room for the day. The traffic rules are baffling. We watched only two channels on the tv for a couple of nights, and then learned that the remote control is held at the desk to be ´checked out´. We turned in some laundry in a duffle bag, and they washed the bag too! As we toured Chan Chan with Carlos yesterday, Wendi made a comment to him about our schedule. His response is typical Peruvian ... ¨Yes, but no.¨

The upcoming trip to Iquitos will certainly be even more bizarre. Or should I say, ¨bizarro¨ ... the name of the bar that our hotel balcony faces, it has kept us awake for the past few nights. We are headed to an ecotourism lodge, with no electricity. We´ll have a chance to hunt tarantulas, snakes, and all sorts of things. Maybe it is the right place to be for Halloween.

Thank you again for your thoughts of us. We are well. We look forward to sharing the stories with you. And, sharing the burden that we feel for the work here in Peru, just as Wendi and the Women of Purpose group have felt for Bolivia. ...

A note from Alley (your Cat!)

A posting from Alley, your Cat. You do remember me, don’t you?

Dear Mom and Dad, I miss you…well, I miss how you leave me alone. That Phill guy just wants to play, play, and play. I can’t even go eat without him shining that stupid red-light around me and the only way I can get him to leave me alone for a moment is to chase that darn thing. O’ how I miss those days of being left alone by you two. Please come home soon.

Love,
Alley (your cat!)

A long day...

Just a quick note as we gather to head out for dinner together ... we didn´t have lunch today, and it´s been a pretty long day.

We finished our clinic at the mission in Florencia, and then took a bus to the ruins of Chan Chan, for a tour. Carlos Angulo, one of the missionaries, is a trained archeologist, and it was a pleasure to have him give us a guided tour of one of nine palaces in this 20 mile by 20 mile ancient adobe city, the largest adobe city in the world.

I´ll catch up a bit later, after dinner...