Mission Peru

written by: Rebecca Dods

We arrived in Trujillo, Peru today, and Lima before that, and to Toronto even before that! One group actually had to fly on a 1.5h plane flight to Toronto from their Thunder Bay too. It goes without saying that we’re all tired out from the travel in different ways. Some of us are ready to sleep, and some of us could stay up ridiculously late and talk all night from all the sleep they got while traveling. No matter how they were feeling however, everyone was able to group together to work, washing dishes, and supporting each other to do what needed to be done.

While travelling too, anyone who wasn’t sleeping was ready to help anyone who was sick, support each other in learning Spanish, and get to know others who weren’t even in their church. It seemed like the traveling itself was a kind of “ice breaker”, bringing people together in a way that only small cramped places can.

When we were still in the airport, a girl named Jill introduce herself to me and my friends from our church, Risen. This was while we were about to board, and really helped with my confidence in thinking that I could really make friends, and get to know the people on this trip, especially since I’m a pretty shy person myself. While I was eating lunch at the compound too, we were supposed to sit beside 2 people we didn’t know, and ended up bonding over the food. It was chicken with mashed potatoes, rice, and some veggies. It was super good, and we all agreed that the rice was awesome, something was added in to enhance the flavour, and although we don’t know what, it made the taste so much better. There was also a spicy paste that we could add to our food if we wanted to that ended up being way spicier than we thought it would be. That was a real bonding moment right there. I loved those moments, and hope to have more along the next few days. First impression mission Peru: Loved it! Both the moments inside the compound, and out had ended up having great bonding moments showing God’s work!

 

When we finally got to the compound, we did more “ice breakers”, sorting out sleeping arrangement, and getting to know each other in the dorms. I personally didn’t manage to get a bunk beside anyone I knew, however ended up getting to know the people who I am bunking beside, who are all super nice, and I ended up sitting beside during lunch. Afterwards, we did some more official ice breakers with our awesome interns, introducing ourselves to different people, and doing fun group bonding activities.

 

I suppose this is another example of how God uses even difficult circumstances to bond people who he will use later. God willing, any circumstance can be used to break the ice between two people. I really look forward to getting to know everyone here a lot more, and seeing how God uses them on this trip, and how God will use this trip in their lives.