Our First Post for our 2009 trip

Post by Bethany

So this is it. After months of planning, meetings, and fundraisers we are finally off to Peru this Wednesday night to join Brad LaBriola, Julia Black, Seth Shimkonis, and Andrew Heo who are already living there. Those that I've talked to on the team are all super excited, especially after Jesse Rahn, who lived down there for several of the past months, attended our last meeting and updated us on the latest goings-on down there. I've been thinking about it nonstop for the past two weeks. We don't know what exactly to expect and that's part of the fun. I'm really excited to make new friends on the team and play games with the kids all day long instead of working my desk job.

I've been praying, and asking anybody who asks me what to pray for about this trip, for some kids at the orphanage to give their lives to Jesus while we're there. There's nothing in the world more precious and special than that. I went to London for my first missions trip in the summer of 2001. On the tube (aka subway) to church one Sunday while we were there, a middle aged woman sat with a large group of 12 and told us a story about her life. She was also on her way to church, but she didn't become a Christian until a few years before that. She told us that she grew up in a small remote village in Africa. One day a missionary came to her village and stayed for a few weeks. Then he moved onto the next village. Even though she didn't accept Christ at the time, what she heard and saw, stayed in her mind for years and years. When she moved to London, the seed that the missionary had planted in her through the Holy Spirit, was watered when she started attending a church and sprouted into salvation after a year of living in London. This story really encouraged our group and I hope it encourages our group and for those of you who are praying for us and other missionaries and those that they minister to. The seeds that we plant are buried deep in the soil so that one day, when they grow, they will have a deep root in Jesus. And any child who confesses belief in Jesus dying for their sins, is a result of many other people's influences in their life. What a privilege it is that the Holy Spirit allows us to be a part of this process...

So Sunday night, 1/11/09, after our evening service at liberti: Fishtown, the Peru team of 2009 will be meeting at Stacy's house for dinner and to collect and pack all the things we have accumulated from charitable donations. The things the kids really need are socks, underwear, and sports gear. I hope we have a lot of those things.

At our last meeting, Sarah Gulish announced that she will be making a short documentary of our trip. I'm excited about that and hope that it can be posted here on the blog for everyone to view. There's nothing like a video, aside from the actual experience, that can capture the essence of a trip like this, though a blog like this is certainly a plus!

A typical day for us in Peru will, theoretically, look like this: Pancake and egg breakfast at the mission house where we will be living, spend the day at the orphanage and eat there as well, followed by going out to eat dinner in the city every evening, and possibly playing sports with the older kids afterwards. Our team is blessed to have many musically talented and trained people so I imagine that there will be a lot of music lessons and practices while we are there... maybe even a mini recital at the end of the two weeks? That would be super cute.

Until later,

Bethany DePoy

P.S. Hi Mom!