Peru: Day 6

Hola!
Ah- This morning we were able to sleep in after our late night last night. Then we took it pretty easy and slow in the morning. I went to the panadaria and bought some bread, butter, mild and eggs. then we had scrambled eggs with ham, and bread and butter. We also made a fruit salad- Oranges, apples, bananas, mangoes, and papayas and pineapples. Then had a tree honey called Agrobina  on the fruit. Great breakfast, and very delicious. We then cleaned up and got ready to leave. We hopped on the bus and headed to the central plaza. We saw the presidential palace and several other government buildings. We walked around a bit, tried some local desserts from the vendors, churros etc. . .  Stopped and watched a duet between a Cajon and a Djembe, fue muy bien. Afterwards we hopped on the "Mirabus" which is a open air double-Decker tour bus, and took about an hour to tour the city centre. It was really cool. After the Mirabus tour we did some more walking around and stopped at a food fair for supper. I had duck with rice and potatoes. It was really good, and some other people had dishes such as chicken, lamb, cuy, and cow heart. then we all got some desserts. I got Mazamorra morada. It is like this base of a rice and milk stuff, with a purple corn sauce on top. Very delicious! Then we waked down the mall. It was an open air mall, complete with tile flooring. It reminded me of the Nicolate mall in Minneapolis except no cars, and many many more stores. Then we stopped at the cinema on the mall and saw MI3, Hombres en Negro Tres. It was kinda difficult, but fun. Then we started for Stella Maris. We used a municipal bus for the first part, then had to wait about 45 minutes for the next bus, the verde B 73 autobus. We all arrived safely around midnight. then I started writing. This account might not be as good as the others because I am not in the roof tonight, I am relaxing in the living room. Buenos Noches!
En Cristo,
Miguel

Peru: Day 5

Hola! Today we did some cleaning around the house. Then worked a lot on our stories. I did a lot of work on the blog. For breaky we had the usual ham and cheese sandwiches. For lunch we headed into he market and went to a really ritzy place. Dimas ordered the Bistec for all, and we got to try chicha morada. The Bistec literally translates as beef steak- but I wouldn't have translated it like that. . . I have found that all of the beef down here is has a great flavor, but is super tough. This particular dish was a bed of rice, french fries, a mini salad, and a very thin (about a quarter inch), very tough piece of beef, it tasted great, but was very difficult to eat. Chicha morada is a very interesting drink. It is a very dark purple, almost black drink made from the juice of purple corn. Then they add cinnamon and pineapple juice. It has a very distinct flavor. Very Delicious! AH, I almost for got about the soup! It was kind of weird, but very good. It was a yellow soup served with a beef bone,- it tasted like both beef and chicken soup, had rice and corn. It was tasty. After lunch we exchanged more money, then headed back to Stella Maris. We waited here while Dimas, Blanca, Joel, Gamble and Emily went to visit with a person from Rauma to plan a visit up there. They returned, and Dimas said we would leaved a 9:15 for Las Brisas. 10:00 came and left. We finally left at around 10:15 and used a taxi, only 4 people this time, and arrived at 10:50. Only about an hour after it started. It was an amazing cultural experience. They had a very large dance floor in the middle, with a band in front on a stage. And there was seating all around the outside. They would have traditional and cultural dances in the middle that we would watch while eating our dinner comprised of a plate of fried chicken and french fries. Yes, it seams like everything in Peru is fried. . . Then they would clear the dance floor and the band would continue to play while people would fill up the floor. They alternated between cultural and free dances. IT was a very good experience, and I loved seeing and watching all of the cultural dances. Very nicely done.It ended at around 2:45 so we headed out, but for the return trip, Dimas needed to pick up Dheibarl (their son), so we had to have 5 in the taxi for the return trip. So another squished ride. Although this time Emily sat in the back, so it wasn't too bad. . . We all pretty much just went to bed right away. . . So I actually wrote this the next morning. Gracias! In Cristo, Miguel

Peru: Day 4

Hola, sorry it has taken me so long to get another update up, I have been traveling to some different places, and didn't have internet access. Here is Day 4 as recorded on May 24th. This morning we woke up and did our usual morning routine of showers etc. . . Then we joined their weekly Karate class at 8AM. This first class was for the little kids, I think that they were about 4-6 years old. We started with about 40 minutes of intense stretching. It was interesting to observe his (the instructors) use of a variety of ballistic and static stretching, and which muscles he used only static stretches on, and which ones he incorporated ballistic stretching. After a very painful time watching 5 year old's show us up in their ability to stretch, we moved on to the next activity, running and kicking. This was fun, but very difficult. After one of the activities that we were especially bad at (frog leaping, not leap frog. . .) all of the kids burst out laughing, after a hearty laugh himself, the instructor said to the kids "If you were that tall, you shouldn't be able to do that either!" It was a lot of fun though. We then went downstairs and had breakfast which was fresh bread, butter and jam. This was a weird concept for Dimas and Blanca, to put Jam on your bread, and they didn't like it so they stayed with ham and cheese. We also had Fruit Juice made with the fresh fruit from the market. After breakfast we went to the second class of Karate for the older students, 7-10 years old. This one was more focused on stationary kicking and punching. The instructor really liked to "show off our weaknesses" and ask us to do stuff that we couldn't, like kick over his head. . . It was fun, and very funny for those of us who decided not to join. After the Classes, we headed down to the party for the First day of Kindergarten (I think that that is what the party was for, I got different reasons depending on who I asked, so I don't really know.) We then made our way to the supermarket to buy tickets to Las Brisas del Lago de Titicaca, which we will be going to tomorrow. After purchasing our tickets, we stopped at a McDonnald's kiosk and got some McFlurries. They tasted exactly the same as the US versions, except for the Orange flavored one. . . The plan was then to head out to Ancon, a "city" to the north of Lima. So Dimas starts to look for a bus to take us there. He finally finds one that is satisfactory. We end up getting a "MicroBus," Which lives up to its name. Very small, and packed full with people. All of the chairs were taken, and the ceiling of the Microbus was about 5'5", so it was a little difficult to stand. . . But after a long ride and a painful neck, we arrived in Ancon. We went to the Beach, the Pacific Ocean, and some people jumped into the fridged waters. We then headed to the pier and watched the fish salesmen try to sell us everything from strangely coloured fish to even a stingray. Then we went to have lunch, or do you call it supper because it was already 4PM? No se. . . We had a mixed plate from the ocean, each person got the same menu item, but there were all sorts of objects, all of them completely unidentifiable. I have some guesses as far as some of the "meat." I think there was fried Calamari, a random fillet of a fish looking thing that tasted like a mix of ocean water and that dead fish smell. Also there was a piece of "fried roe." That was pretty weird, it was just straight up fried fish eggs. Eating them proved to be a challenge. . . this was all served with fried yuka, which is a kind of potato. I have learned that EVERY dish in Peru is served with some kind of potato, most of the time in french fry form. On this trip there was a tray dog that started following us, so we named him Conan from Ancon. Later in Ancon a German Shepperd joined our group, so he was named Aleman (Germany). The two dogs stayed with us for about 2-3 hours and were VERY protective of us, if anyone or anything would come near us, they would let them have it. WE then got to experience an Anconetta, which is a bicycle with a basket in the front to sit in. We used this to go to the top of a hill where we had a great view! Afterwards, we headed back and hopped on another Microbus for Lima. On the way back, we stopped by a pastelaria and bought 2 cakes for Jacobs birthday. We arrived at Dimas' house and ate cake while talking about our day and trying some of Peter's Grapefruit Seed Extract. It was supper bitter. Then we came up to the roof and are writing. The weather is beautiful and all is well. I love it down here, although I have learned that everything is built for short people. I have to duck to get through most doors, and I can't stand stand up in some of the buses, and the chairs and tables, I just plain don't fit in them. I have also learned that Lima could survive a Zombie attack- as every house and shop is outfitted with thick, heavy steel gates, with several locks on them. Also, Dimas is very laid back, but when we are done, it is time to leave. Another great day gone by, this trip is going so fast! It is Crazy! One last thing that I have learned today, is that Dimas has friends everywhere! Everywhere we go we get discounts because Dimas is their friend. Also, copy fakes are everywhere, the streetsides are lined with the stuff, its crazy. It was a great night- but it is time to say goodnight. Adios! En Cristo, Miguel

Peru! Day 3

Hola! Como esta? Here comes the recount of day three as written on the 23rd of May. What a great day! Today d by going across the street o the local panadaria, (bread shop) buying lots of bread, ham, and cheese along with more milk. we ate our traditional, but really delicious breakfast of Ham and Edam cheese sandwiches. We then sat in on and helped with the religion classes in the school here. After our feast, we went down into the school, and taught English. After teaching about colours and heights, sizes and shapes, ages and what you did today, what your hobbies are, we got ready for the parade. We all lined up and prepared ourselves. After only one practice we were all kind of nervous. But it was super fun- and went off with out a hitch. We marched around for about 45 minutes to an hour- then came back for P.E. class, which consisted of stretching and jumping, up on the roof. after school had finished and we had said the customary goodbyes the the kids (Si, incluyo bezes y brasos traditional) we headed out for lunch at our normal lunch time, 2:30. We went to the same place as yesterday- Rosas. We had their shrimp and rice cream soup (sopa de camarones) and split 2 different main dishes, I don't remember their names, and I don't really know what they were. . . But I think that one might have been chicken and the other pork. They were both served over rice and of course- french fries. They also plated it with a weird type of banana, called a plantain. It tasted kinda like a sweet potato. The meal was very good. After returning form lunch we went to the fruit market. It was about a 20 minute bus ride to a "random" street which there were tons of vendors. Everything from chicken to corn to mangos. Every square inch of the space on the sidewalk was used and filled full with food, and stuff. Most of which I have never heard of. We bought and ate some morada and leche arroz, which is kind of like a rice and mild combo with a weird purple corn based syrup that was sweet poured over it all, and served hot. It was kinda odd, but good. We tryed various kinds of fruit including some thing that looked like snot, but was really sweet and tangy. We also tried sugar cane juice. We bought lots of different types of fruit then headed back on the bus. We waited about 20- 30 minutes for a not completely full bus, with no avail. If you want to know the meaning of a full bus, just visit Peru. In rush hour every other vehicle was a bus, and was filled so full, that all of the windows were literally smashed full with people. Finally we found one with about 7 people getting off, so the 8 of us and 4 other random Peruvians tying to get on, we all made it safely- except for Jacob. He was helping the kids on first. As the bus starts moving, he grabs the door, and puts a foot on the already full outer step. Joel and myself were on the step, and both put an arm around him, and pull him in as the doors try to close, but get stuck on his shoulders, so we pull harder, and he finally squeezes through. We all made it safely on the bus. Whew! But we were still packed like Peruvians on a bus. I am always amazed at the money collectors on the bus, who slip in an out between the many people and collect their money, all while remembering who paid and who didn't. After a LONG trip, we finally arrive at Dimas' house and entre, and the feast of the rare fruit begins. We had everything except one bag of fruit that got stolen on the bus. Later I will list what fruit we got to try, but it was all very good. I am on the roof again writing this, it[Lima] is amazing- and beautiful in its dusty, dirty, sad way. I think that I could live here! Hasta Pronto, Miguel

quick explanation

Just a quick explanation, Day one was on the 21 of May, day two on the 22 of may, etc. . .

Peru: Day two

Seven AM comes with conversations and sunlight as I roll out of bed, grab my stuff, stumble down the stairs to ask Dimas "puedo duchar?" He points to a bathroom on down the hall on the third floor. Something is really striking, and that is that all of the Peruvians are really, really short, but all of the light switches are all up at my chin hight, so around five feet and ten inches off the ground. How does that work? Also, the showers are something different, they have the only hot water in the house- and the water is not adjustable. Just on or off- and quite hot for a few minutes, and a very little, small single stream of water which makes it difficult to wash. . . (Later, as of this morning- so the 25, day 5, I figured out that there is a small dial on the pipe which which you can control how much hot water mixes with the cold water.) Also, because all of the Peruvians are short, the windows come down pretty low in the bathroom. . . Next Dimas runs to the market and gets some fresh bread and milk. We then head over to the market together and pick out some Edam Cheese and weird looking ham- along with butter. The bread was some of the best bread that I have ever had, with butter and really good cheese and oddly spicy ham. . . The milk was really intiresting, it tasted like un-skimmed milk or half and half. But had a very strong taste. In the words of Daniel "La leche es muy fuerte. . . " (ya, the milk is VERY strong) The next several hours were spent trying to plan our next two weeks. After planning, we went to the roof to help and observe the games at recess. Then we got out a mini green soccer ball and played a little roof top soccer, until we learned that if you kick the ball off of the roof, it does not get retrieved, so after that lesson, we played hacky-sack. Next we went down to join the "marching" band. I played the snare drum, Joel played the cornet and everyone else played tambourines. It was fun and the name of the song was Lima Chorillos. After the band session, we said goodbye to the students as they left for their homes, then we headed down the road for lunch. We went to a restaurant run by a friend of Dimas, the restaurant is called La Rosa. Dimas told us we have to listen to him, and he will tell us whether or not something is safe to eat. He ordered a Peruvian favorite, Lomo Saltado, for all of us. He then instructs us to use napkins to wipe down everything, the plates, cups, silverware, etc. . . as they were washed with Peruvian water. The first course is sopa de sustancia (soup of sustenance), and comes in a huge bowl. We are pretty much full after the soup, when they bring out the Lomo Saltado. It is a bed of rice with pieces of tough beef on top, onion, french fries, tomatoes all with a kind of light cilantro sauce. This is all served with Inca Kola, Peru's coke product, which tastes like a cross between coke and bubble gum. it is weird, and oddly addicting. And bright neon yellow. Best meal I have had for $2.50! Next plan of action is to exchange some of our money into soles. the exchange rate today was 2.64 soles per dollar. the money traders examine each bill very carefully before giving you your soles, which you also should examine very carefully, because sometimes they try to rip you off. To get to the money trader that Dimas likes, we had our first experience on a a Peruvian bus. The buses are, at very best, a ride and a half. Between the hair pin turns and the unexpected use of the brakes combined with the petal hitting the metal, they are certainly exciting. Not holding on is not an option. When we return, we played some card games and had some free time until we left for dinner- a place downtown called Roky's Karaoke. It was a blast! We had fried chicken with a salad and french fries, all while singing karaoke to our hearts content. It was super fun! When we returned- we did more trip planning- then called it a night. Tonight Jacob and myself are going to sleep in a tent on the roof- so that will be exciting. Although I must say that it is very interesting as I sit on the roof of the roof (the fifth floor), writing this at 1:30 AM, the rosters are crowing, the many wild dogs are howling and there is a general din between the constant honking of the cars, and the random noisy animals. The temp is perfect, I am sitting on the roof with athletic shorts and flip-flops, and I am just right. It is very comfortable. Another observation is that although during the winter it is almost always cloudy, and you never can see the sun, during the day it is really bright outside. Tomorrow we will be helping teach in the school, so that should be a lot of fun, also there is a parade for some festival of the kindergardeners, which Dimas wants us to play in. (With the Marching Band) We have also been told to wear a white shirt and blue pants. One final closing remark, even though it is extremely dusty here, Dimas' floors are always shiny clean. (Later I found out from Daniel, that they are actually really dirty, but they use a wax that make is look shiny even though it is dirty.) Also, even though the streets are filled with trash, the people dress very nicely. They also wear a lot of soccer garb. You rarely see tee-shirts down here. En Cristo, Miguel

Day one parte dos

Here is the next installment from my journal: Next we head over to the baggage claim to see a regular looking conveyor belt carrying the luggage around. While waiting for our luggage to come around on the very long belt, we get sniff "searched" three times by police dogs. After getting our packages we had to claim them with our baggage claim tags at yet another scary-looking Peruvia guard. The time is 11 pm when we head over to customs, where another fast moving line awaits. We show our documents and customs claim, and get directed to push "the button of decision," basically a big green button that you push- if it lights the pole above you green, you are free to entre the country, but if the lights turn red, then you have to go into the search room, where they x-ray all of your bags and search "random" people. Out of all of us travelers, Joel was the only one who got the green light, the rest of us were subjected to a search and had to try to figure out what the annoyed security guard, who didn't speak English and spoke very fast, wanted. Finally, after finishing customs, we headed out and met Dimas Vivanco and Daniel Pfieffer. We then had to wait for Peter to come through as he was on a later flight that got delayed. So when we where all rejoined in the center of the airport with about 200 peruvian eyes staring at us, Dimas instructs us to wait while he bartered with the taxi's before they saw we were "Gringos." Ten minutes later Dimas returned and beckoned us to follow him. We got to our taxi, and it is a regular sized Volvo style hatchback station-wagon weird thing with four doors. So four of us climb in, and the driver gets in after packing the back with our luggage. However not all of it fits in the back, so we have our laps very full. next thing we know, the driver of the the taxi is motioning and telling us to pile all of our luggage from our laps into Joel, who is riding shot gun. We didn't realize what is happening and tried to say that we were fine, that we were comfortable. But the driver became more insistent, and completely buries Joel in duffels and backpacks. We enjoy the space until the driver starts saying "uno mas, uno mas!" (one more, one more). Then we realize, what was a tight fit with Jacob, Dalton and myself became and impossible game of sitting of each others laps as Daniel tries to squeeze in. The driver had to physically help us push the door closed. We soon figured out that if Jake sat backwards facing us, it worked slightly better. Ten minutes of laughter turned into hysterical laughter when we passed Dimas' car, and say that Emily Marzofka was sitting in the front seat, with Elijah and Peter in the back. After a fifteen minute ride, we arrived at Dimas' house. We were then very promptly told to go into the house and let Dimas and the taxi driver get all of the stuff because it was not super safe in the street at one in the morning. We get settled in, and get introduced to Blanca, Dimas' wife. We chat for an hour or so, drink a "special" drink which turned out to be Coca-cola. After much conversing, and some comprehension, Dimas broke out the guitar and started playing and singing several songs including something having to do with the flower of canola and the National Anthem. After more musical enlightenment and talking we head upstairs to our sleeping quarters. Being two AM, I am very surprised while walking up the stairs to find that I am out side- on the roof. There are two rooms and a Bano on one side of the roof, and an open roof on the other side. We very quickly fall asleep after being instructed to use bottled water even to brush our teeth. This concludes day one, sorry it took so long to post this. But it is finally up. Enjoy and feel free to comment, subscribe, share, etc. . . Gracias! En Cristo, Miguel

Peru: Day One!

Sorry that this is so late, I have been quite busy in this very laid back country. I have been writing everything down each night in a notebook, so that I won't forget by the time I get the chance to update the blog. So here I will begin the recount, as recorded on May 21. PERU, DAY ONE WOW! Back up- we are still in Minnesota . . So we all get to Jacob's house around 8 pm on Sunday evening, go into the basement and start dividing up the massive quantity of books, tee-shirts, and crafts into our bags. We are called from our labors to partake in a decadent feast put on by the Gambles comprised of delicious smoked BBQ ribs, potatoes, vegis and finished with New York cheese cake topped with peanut butter fudge. This is our last supper in America for a while. We conclude the night with some billiards. We awake the next morning to the smell of bacon and eggs. After eating a hearty birthday breaky for Jacob, we head off to the airport. Our adventure has now officially begun. We get dropped off and head through security. Waiting at our gate brings a couple of rounds of 500 to the table. Finally we board our very small plane headed to Houston, Texas. They didn't like running the A/C, so it was a sweltering ride squished in a claustrophobic environment. After a very long flight, we finally arrive in Houston. In Houston, we were struck with the Spanish influence. Everything had both Spanish and English. We had about a four hour layover- so we enjoyed some lunch at Chili's. We met up with Elijah here and we soon boarding the Boeing 767 that was going to take us to Peru! During our 6 and a half flight they served two meals, one was your choice of two microwaved meals- either pasta with "meatballs" or BBQ chicken. They were served with a dry dinner rolls, and a salad with Caesar dressing and a chocolate bar. The second meal was a soggy turkey sandwich, carrots, and a kit-kat bar. As the plane begins its descent, our excitement rose through the sky. Because the plane was VERY full, our carry on bags had to be put all over the plane in the overhead bins, so after finding them, we were just about the last ones off the plane. Right when we exited the plane we were hit with the fact that we were in Peru by the lady directing us into the Immigration lines, in full frenzied Spanish, and the airport sported Spanish only. Immagration consisted of a long line and a dude who stamped our passport. Well, that's all for now, I must go to bed. . . I will post the rest of Day one, and continue shortly. Gracias! Miguel.

¡Perú!

Hola from Peru. We are here and having a GREAT time! We all have a bit of a headache trying to keep up with the Spanish, but we are having a blast! Tonight I will have more time, and will bring you up to date on the trip as of now. Adiós, Miguel

Prof G writes the following about our packing list: "Packing List -- Peru Trip 2012

As I was putting together the packing list for the Peru trip, I was reminded of the packing list that Jesus gave His disciples when He sent them out two-by-two to teach from village to village (in Mark 6:6-12). It was actually a list of what NOT to take though. They weren’t allowed to take money, food, a bag, or extra clothes! They were only allowed to take a staff and their partner. Why was that? Perhaps it was a reminded to rely completely on God to take care of them. Perhaps it was also a reminder of how Jesus was their Good Shepherd in Psalm 23, “Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”

Of course, I’m not going to suggest we don’t take money, food, bags, or clothes on our Peru trip! However, it’s a great reminder for us to rely completely on our Good Shepherd, who provides for all our needs, whether we are here in the U.S. or traveling to Peru!

Baggage:  United Airlines offers the first checked bag (up to 50 pounds) for FREE  on flights to South America and the second checked bag for $70. I suggest weighing your bag before you leave for the airport. In addition, you are allowed one carry-on item and one personal item.

1.      Apparel

a.    It looks like it will be in the lower 70’s during the day and drop down to the lower 60’s at night.

b.    Keep in mind Dimas’ house doesn’t have heat or air conditioning, so I suggest being prepared for both cooler and warmer weather.

c.     It doesn’t rain much there. Instead it mists. Keep in mind this is the winter season where they do get more moisture. So a light water-proof jacket might come in handy.

d.    Something dressy/nice for social event. They just now started having weekly church services on Sunday.

e.    Good walking shoes.

f.      Sunglasses/hat

g.    I’m not yet sure what they do for washing clothes. I’ll get back to you on that.

2.      Documents

a.    PASSPORT!

b.    Copy of passport to carry with you on day trips

c.     I also highly recommend scanning your passport and e-mailing it to yourself. That way if you lose your passport, you have a copy of it on the web to access.

d.    Gov issued photo ID probably isn’t necessary, but might be handy to have with you for some form of ID.

f.      Minors need notarized permission to travel and medical release form. Give to Prof. Gullerud to carry with him.

g.    Medical insurance card and/or travel insurance information

h.    Dimas's contact information. This is included on the permission slip.

i.      Spending money (These are just rough estimates.)

                                                    i.            Food = $270

                                                  ii.            Transportation $200

                                                iii.            Other = $100

                                                 iv.            All U.S. bills must be almost new, no tears or wrinkles. Otherwise they will not exchange the money.

                                                   v.            Optional: Credit Card

                                                 vi.            Dimas is looking into the possibility of going to Machu Picchu. I’ll have to let you know the extra cost on that. It might be around $300 extra.

                                               vii.            We plan to use some of the fund-raising fund to pay Dimas for housing us.

3.      Sleeping

 .      Since Dimas doesn’t have enough bed for everyone you should bring a mattress pad/bed roll/air mattress, along with bedding or sleeping bag & pillow.

4.      Toiletries/Personal Items

a.    at least a half-roll of TP; most restrooms don’t have TP, so you’ll want to carry some with you at all times

b.    hygiene items

c.     bath, hand, wash towel

d.    sunscreen

e.    medicine = pain reliever, cold/alergy

f.      hand sanitizer

5.      Media/Technology

a.    cameras & batteries or charger

b.    phone (unless special plan is purchased, you’ll only want to use your cell phone in the U.S. of course)

c.     Wi-Fi is available at the house

d.    I will be taking my laptop with web-cam, so video Skype conversations will be possible. If you don’t already have a Skype account, I suggest doing so. It’s free and easy to use.

6.      Teaching & Writing Material

a.    paper & pens

b.    journal

c.     craft and puppet show materials

d.    lesson plans

e.    Bibles

f.      music

g.    Spanish dictionary

7.      Transportation/Map Information

a.    city/area maps

b.    tourist attraction information

8.      Travel Items (all of this is optional, so just consider what you might need/want)

a.    water/drinks

b.    snacks

c.     book

d.    music

e.    cards/games

f.      extra sweatshirt (last time I went the plane was very cold)

g.    backpack for day/overnight trips

9.      Gifts/Donation Ideas

a.    money donation for housing us (I will take care of this from the fund-raising fund)

b.    candy

c.     crayons

d.    books

e.    toys/balls

f.      hacky-sac

10.  Other

a.    personal snacks for when we're there"

PERU MISSION TRIP UPDATE 4-3-12 

            Notes from Meeting

Documentation- does everyone have a passport? YES! It is a little important. . .

Make a photocopy of passport, or two. Prof will do this for us.

Plane Ticket- Gamble, Emily, Micah, and Prof G have tickets, Barthels will get one through American Airlines. Elijah is working on getting one/ has one and will fly out of Milwaukee.

Notarized consent/ permission form and medical consent release forms needed for all students exept Micah (I am 18).

Medical insurance coverage Check it out! Gamble, Emily, and Prof are covered- the rest of us need to get that figured out. Here is a suggestion from Peter- allianztravelinsurance.com

Bible Lesson:

Jesus Camina sobre el agua puppet show (walking on the water)

Divide the parts (4 speaking, several puppet-tiring)

Gamble- Pedro

Elijah- Jesus and puppet-tiring

Micah- Narrador uno

Dalton- Narrador dos (Derek is back-up)

Emily- Puppet-tiring

Prof G and Peter- set up and watch/ help with questions/ responses.

Went over words/translations

Visual Aids-- Colouring assignment

Emily is on the JOB! Then Prof G will laminate and Popsicle stick them

Sermons4kids.com activities and colouring sheets

Bring supplies so that they can make their own puppets.

Weather-

Low 70s and 60's

Packing list

First bag free on United Airlines (50 Lbs) second $70

We might invest in one additional “group bag” for supplies

Laptops for some of them, one for village and one for Demas' son.

I hope to post a "packing list" soon. . .

UPDATE

2 church services in Spanish -Daniel Pfeiffer

several baptisms

Itinerary

Dimas is working on it

That's all for now, sorry about the format, I wanted to get it up today, and ran out of time to type it up in a nice paragraph, so I left it in note style from the meeting.

Hi, sorry for the delay in posts and updates, its been pretty busy here lately, but as far as Peru goes, Pastor Nolting is down there right now, and will update us on the situation when he gets back. So at our last meeting yesterday, we talked about a packing list, somethings we need. we also talked about using a puppet show with narrative to help teach one of the stories, Jesus walking on the water.
Got to go to class, I'll keep you updated.

Hey!
Today we discussed a couple of things, we talked about the possibility of taking a couple of days in Cuzco, possibly doing some whitewater rafting, and other activities/tours. As far as the Bible stories go, we want to teach them in pairs, and we are thinking about a general theme of "Pointing to Christ." This would be a selection of Old and New Testament stories that Point to Christ, finishing with the birth, death, resurrection, and Pentecost. This series would focus on the Love and Mercy that God has shown us through His Plan of Salvation.

Itinerary planning meeting

We started out by discussing how we wanted to plan, and we decided that we should plan our itinerary every Monday, and on Thursdays, we would plan our lessons, and improve our teaching skills. For our first meeting, we basically just discussed some activities that we want to do. We want to do some of the following:
Go to the ocean/coast, go to the plaza de armas (possibly at night to see the lights), spend a day downtown (possibly take a bus tour), visit the presidential palace and see some cathedrals. We also want to visit the Mega Plaza and the fruit market, as well as the zoo. We also want to travel to Ancon, Chancay, Huaral, Huancayo. We want to see their cemeteries, visit meil de abejas, el circuito magico del agua (a cool fountain park), and las brisas de titicaca (traditional dance theater). These were just some ideas that we had, we also want to do some more google searching, and if you have any ideas, please let us know, either comment on the blog, or contact me directly micah.reim@yahoo.ca.

Hi Readers!
               Just a quick update, we are working on letters for the spokesman, branches, and clergytalk, so look for them in the up and coming issues. We have set up regular meeting times, {finally!} on Mondays and Thursdays. On Mondays, we plan on planning and making lesson plans for our teaching days. We are thinking about having a 5 - 7 story series on the major stories of the Bible. (Creation, Flood, Abraham, Joseph, Nativity, a Miracle by Jesus, The Death of Jesus and Resurrection, Pentecost. We are going to make our own mini series following a common theme through these stories. (If you have any suggestions, please do let us know!) We are also going to discuss and practice English teaching stills. On Thursdays, we are going to plan the general trip Itinerary. As far as fundraising goes, we are planning on having posters made and posted, especially for Grade School Basketball Tournaments.
                                                                  That's all for now, I'll keep you updated
 

HI, another trip meeting update!
       We talked about several things at today's meeting, fundraisers and raising awareness. One of the major things was whether or not we want this trip to be officially sanctioned by the CLC mission board, or if we want to go and support and mainly help Daniel Pfeiffer. That is the big decision that we must make. Another topic was finalizing the letters, and getting them ready for the publications, mainly Clergy-talk, Branches, and Spokesman. We also delegated Derek to make a promotional poster for us that could be sent to congregations who request it. Our last topic of the day was based on tee shirts, we decided that we should try to come-up with a cool design. Discussed was the purpose of the tee shirts, whether they would be a fundraiser, promo, or something that we would bring down and give each kid in the school, Stella Mariz, a tee shirt. That would raise the cost dramatically, but we talked about possibly having people "sponsor" a tee shirt for the kids down there.
When we resume, we will talk more about designs and purpose of the shirts, as well as send out letters.
Thanks for listening to another dry update.

grill fundraiser update from January 26, 2012

Hey, well, our last grill out was a success! We bought less stock this time, and sold out, making a net profit of $40.50. It worked quite well. However, we recently got word that there can only be one fundraiser at a time in the commons per game night, so we will have to work that out with the robotics, who often times have a bake sale on game nights. So that will complicate things slightly, but we will work it out in the end.

Recap of meeting from January 23, 2012

Today we planned another grill out fundraiser for this Thursday at the Melrose-Mindoro vs. Immanuel home girls game. We also set up plans for selling coffee and hot cocoa at the Friday boys game against Alma center Lincoln. We finalized a personal letter that we can send out to congregations as well as individuals. We are working up something to send across Clergy-talk as well as the Spokesman and the Branches. Jacob is our main writer, and he is doing a very good job of that. We are going to have a organizational meeting on Thursday to finalize the plans for the Grill out and the coffee sales. This time for our Grill out we plan on buying less stock, hopefully maximizing our profit. We also are setting up a time for regular trip planning meetings. That's all for today's meeting notes, see you next week!

Fundraiser update

Grill out Fundraiser was a success. For the most part. . . We sold out, with some discounts. . . but in the end, we made a net profit of $53.28.
Thanks to everyone who pitched in, and all of the support from our buyers. We hope to do this again in the future.
Speaking of the future, we will be planning a meeting real soon to figure out our next endeavor.

Meeting from January 10, 2012

Sorry for the lack of updates lately, I have had issues with the firewall, but I think they are cleared up now.

The big focus of today's meeting was brainstorming for fundraising. Jacob is going to draft up a letter asking for support for our effort, it will then be bounced around between the group and finalized. We are planning on sending that out to different people and congregations. Each traveler will also be able to personalize a letter to their congregation. 

Another big focus along with fundraising is just raising awareness of the trip, we plan on doing the in part by making posters and signage. (I just like the word signage- and for those of you who don't think that it is a word, http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/signage) We want to put up the posters and signs in the Commons here at campus as well as send them out to various congregations and personnel. When we get snow (weird to have to say that in January in WISCONSIN!) we plan on doing some snow shoveling in the community. 

Bake Sales: Just kidding, that's what girl scouts do, we are having a GRILL OUT! that's right, at this upcoming guys home game, Immanuel vs. Blair Taylor on Friday, we plan on selling freshly grilled hotdogs and hamburgers. 

Yet another idea that we are contemplating is having tee shirts made, both for us, and possibly as a fund raiser. The designs still need work. . . 

As far as trip planning goes, we are planning on making a couple of day trips, and if the fund raising goes really well, we hope to possibly maybe, go to Machu Pichu.