Hands of Praise

So, our time of working in Lima has ended, and today we flew to Cuzco to start the official cultural/touristy part of the trip. Our flight was scheduled to be only one hour, but due to a storm occurring in Cuzco, we got delayed 5 hours, to make the total time of the trip 6 hours. Not exactly as planned, but we knew God had a reason. On the positive side, we ended up landing in Arequippa, Peru, to refuel and wait it out a bit and they rolled stairs up to the doors of the plane

Today was absolutely amazing!!! We went to an international, inter-denominational English-speaking church and God did amazing things there!!! We received bulletins as we entered, and after we sat down, I read through it and realized that their structure had some similarities to my home church, New Life Community Church. Even from the moment we entered, the church felt very much like “home.” I even mentioned this to our director, Arlene, who was sitting next to me. Before the

We went to Beethoven School this morning and wow, what an amazing school! It has its own nicely spaced out compound and they are able to provide some great education there! Efata was the only school that compared to this one, and Efata was definitely a Christian School; but for being a government run, pilot program, I was quite impressed! God has definitely put the right people in place to make the decision to ensure that the deaf students are getting their needs fulfilled. I

We went to Dahlia and Homberto’s home this morning, but what an adventure it was! First, Dahlia is an amazing woman who works as Ernesto’s house-keeper and cooked, cleaned, did laundry, etc. while we were there. Homberto is deaf and is Dahlia’s son. He goes to school at Beethoven during the day, then Nisor in the afternoons. Anyway, we ended up in a traffic jam and our bus wasn’t moving. We sat there for almost 10 minutes until we got off to go to another street to try and ha

Today was really great, but a little bittersweet at the same time. We went to Efata Ministries in the morning and it was really awesome. It took us a while to get there by using three different types of transportation – taxis to the train station, a train, then moto-taxis to Efata. The moto-taxis were the most vicarious and interesting by far! Once we arrived, it was soo obvious that God was working there. It was pure joy to work with them, see the love that exuded from every

Today was a crazy, yet amazing day! In the morning we went to the school “Manos Mensajeras” (pictured below) and it was a really great experience! I was able to interact with the students more during the lessons and help them do the activities. I really enjoyed this morning and felt a lot more comfortable conversing using what Peruvian Sign Language(PSL) I had picked up, as well as what Spanish I knew. The rest of the day was very interesting and my Spanish was tested quite a

Today was really cool! It was actually sunny for part of the day, which was nice for a change as well. In the morning we went to the Pachacamac ruins in Lima. When we got to the top of the ruins where the temple of the sun god was, we had the most AMAZING view of the Pacific Ocean, lush fertilized land, and desert. It was breathtaking! Such a beautiful display of God’s handiwork, yet terribly sad that the location had been used by the Incas for human sacrifices. In the aftern

Today was awesome and a great learning experience! Satan continued to attack me all day, but I was glad I was able to be interacting with the schools and had other team-members who were very supportive. We went to two different schools and I discovered that my role here would also be at least partially connecting with individuals through the Spanish I did know. At the first school, the Lut Program, I was able to converse with some of the moms in Spanish since I still was not

Hello!!!! I'm back and am trying to organize my thoughts, experiences, etc. so I can coherently and concisely share what happened while I was in Peru. I have decided to do a day-by-day/grouping-of-days kind of posting that mirrors my journaling I did while I was in Peru. Here is just some overall info that will help you understand my madness... :) There were 2 parts to our trip - Saturday, July 6 (arrival) to Monday, July 15 (when we left for Cuzco), we were in Lima, Peru. Du

PERU!!! We arrived! After a 2-hour delay trying to take off, we arrived in Lima and made it to Ernesto’s house by 1 AM. It didn’t hit me that we were there until this morning while journaling and realizing how God was still working and active in my life even in the little things. It was so peaceful to be able to sit on the top concrete step at the top of the staircase in Ernesto’s home, have the early morning light streaming in the windows, and hear the birds chirping. Everyt

So today is the day...My journey to Peru begins this morning. I am picking up the other team member that lives in Stafford, Susan, and we are heading to NJ to join the rest of the team. Words can not describe the excitement, anticipation, and pure longing I have for whatever the Lord has planned for us/me in Peru. This trip is going to teach me so much and possibly be a pivotal point in my life! I have no idea what the Lord has planned for me in the future in regards to missi

Our God is an Awesome God! This past Friday evening we had a fundraiser variety show at my church, New Life Community Church, for my trip to Peru this July. What an outpouring of love and support!! I am continually amazed and encouraged how God's people come together in total service to others and show Christ's love and compassion through being the hands, minds, servants, workers, etc., to benefit His kingdom. This was so eloquently epitomized in the amount of people involved

"Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path." Psalm 119:105 So on Sunday, April 7, we had our second Team Meeting! It was really awesome. Since 5 members of the team are in New Jersey, and 2 of us are in Stafford, the other team member in Stafford and I meet together at her house and Skype in to the Meeting. This allows for some funny interactions sometimes. :) Anyway, this trip is shaping up to be quite exciting! The goal of our trip was refined to be that we a

On Friday, March 16, 2012, the day the Lord confirmed my call to Peru. I was searching online to see what I could find about Deaf Missions to Peru. Through a links page on another website, I found a link to EFATA Ministries. While perusing EFATA's website, I really liked what I saw and agreed with their doctrine, so I really wanted to learn more. I was not able to email them to give them some background about myself, describe the Lord’s call for my life and ask for more infor

My first step to getting to Peru is going to be a short term trip this July 6 - 20, 2013 with "Signs of Fun Camp and Missions" that focuses on Deaf Missions. We will be in Lima, Peru July 6 - 15, 2013 working with four different organizations that all work with the Deaf - EFATA Ministries, Senales, Nisor and Fundesorp. We will then be going to Cuzco and Machu Picchu, Peru July 16 - 20 interacting with the Deaf Community and doing some sight-seeing. The focus of this trip is e

(Watch the video to see this post signed in ASL.) In the fall of 2004, I took a “Deaf History and Culture” class at Germanna Community College in Fredericksburg, VA. My professor was involved in Deaf Missions in Peru and told us about her experiences there. After that, whenever someone mentioned missions to Peru, I was immediately interested and would inquire about their trip. In 2009, I started to become restless at my interpreting job because I felt that I had become profic