This guy had really never played soccer before. He is doing fantasic. Way to go Calvin!
Mateo!!!!
Yep, It hurt. If you notice all the grass.
No, that is a sheep on top of the taxi.
The door of the Church. I just though it was pretty cool.
The view from Cordova.
This is Sharon’s little friend.
This volleyball team was professional. J/K but they really did beat us in Volleyball. They were incredible.
This is about half of the people who came to watch the soccer game. It was awesome, and we got to share the gospel with them. His word does not return void.
We are now in Alis. I took about a day to get here but we are here. Sharon got very sick on the bus ride up the valley. The Driver was crazy, and seemed to have no fear it was like a 5 hr. roller coaster ride.
Alis is beautiful. So far it is one of my favorite towns though it is in the middle of nowhere. The people are so friendly and inviting, and it is great to feel welcome. They have posted signs all around the villages about the soccer game, which is thursday. They say Alis verse USA, it´s awesome. Yesturday, we played basketball with some of the kids from the local school. Basketball definantly isn´t their sport. Not to mention the tallest peruvians are just about 5-6… haha. Anyhow I will try to post pics again soon. Thanks for the prayers.
You would think it would be much easier to witness here, but it is not. This trip is unlike any we have ever been on. It is not planned to the T, but rather free. We are just people in Peru playing soccer. We have a schedule but that is it. I guess what I am saying is, you have to find the opportunities. Mantecana has been our first opportunity for that. We were supposed to have a Game here but it fell through. Instead we played with a bunch of kids. It was a real blessing. We asked them if they had ever heard of a Christian soccer player and the all said no. We shared a small bit with them and left. Today we found the kids again and played on their soccer court. As you can imagine this is kind of their hangout place. Anyways, we played with them for a few more hours and even though we did not lead anyone to the Lord, I know that it will open doors for the team who is staying in Mantecana all summer. I tell you this b.c it is just as easy here to sit and watch TV, to just stay at your house and enjoy the comfort of familar. But doors open when you step out, you find the gems that you were wishing for all along.
The Waterfall in Mantucana!
The view from the trail.
Cabeza de Leon (The Lions Head)
Fire Crackers – really just giant bottle rockets
They ran under the falls!
That´s right Steve. We miss you. 
The girls were very productive at camp.
It sure was great to see Britne.
Cute kid huh? He´s American.
Currently we are in Mantucana. Mantucana is a cool town, except that it is very Catholic. The priest has been preaching and warning the people about the Grengos and many people will not even say Hello. It is very interesting. It kind of puts you on the other side of the fence. How many times do we tell Christians to avoid certain people groups? I believe we are commanded to love all and yet we twist the command around so easily. It seems that many people here think we are white devils, when we just want to tell them that Christ loves them.
There are some beautiful waterfalls here. The hike is about an hour, but it is no where near as hard of a hike as we had in San Pedro. The mountains are just so steep, the trails just zig zag up the mountains. I will try to post some pictures as soon as I can.
This is now an old story but I wanted to share it while I had time. Again, this is not for the faint of heart. It is really easy to get sick in Peru, and when you are sick you spend much of your time sitting on the toilet. In San Pedro all of us but 3 were sick. A few had fevers and were very tired. The rest had the runs. The runs hit me the worste, I believe. I spent an entire night falling asleep then finding I had to go. I probably went 15 times that night. It was terrible, and only got worse. I didn´t work out the next day, b/c it was untelling when I would have to go again. Anyways, it was during practice. I was coaching and proceeding to show the team how to shield the ball. My stomach had been hurting but I thought just a moment more. That was when Elijah said “WHAT IS THAT”. I looked down to find a brown pool at my feet. What can you do in such situations? I felt the cold pooh on my legs and replied I am sick as a dog. It probably should have been the most embarassing moment in my entire life, but I was not embarassed. There was nothing I could do. I just walked back to the hostal, which by the way was beyond gross. I showered and washed my clothes until I was convinced all the pooh was gone. When everyone got back we joked about it, and still to this day we do. We know it was a first on this trip, and ironically, it is probably not the last. So what is the lesson: While in Peru, if you think it´s a fart it´s probably worse.
Pan con Huevos Baby!
Donkeys roam the streets.
Yep, those are Roads!
Where Abraham went to sacrifice Issac. Where Sharon sacrificed me!
These people look like they are having a good time. They were, but they were out our worst nightmare, literally. This lasted from 1:00AM until 6:00PM and yes the instruments were out of tune. AHHHHHH!
San Pedro de Casta. That is the whole whole city.
Did I mention that’s a road!
I am sorry it has taken so long to really write. And I wish I could do justice for Peru and what the Lord is going to do. Here is a brief summary to kind of get you up to date a little more.
We left our training camp on friday morning to go to San Pedro de Casta. Talk about the start of an adventure. I don’t believe that there is a size limit to the number of people you can fit on a bus. They just pile you in, it’s really quite hysterical. People will be sitting and standing in the isles and even in some cases riding on top to the bus. There is no problem with this. If we were to be driving here it would be a recipe for disaster.
San Pedro is, I believe, a little over 11,000 ft. We started at about 3,500 feet. The mountains here are so big, so rugged, and so beautiful. The roads on the mountains are so small, so steep, and have a cliff for the shoulder as they wind around the mountains. It took about 3 and a half hours to reach San Pedro. The ride was insane. As I said the roads are thin. I mean barely wide enough for the bus. There may be only like 2 ft on each side of the bus, yet somehow they find a way to pass one another. The horn is used so much, which is cool because, that is what it is there for, to warn others. That could be why there are surprisingly little wrecks.
San Pedro is a cool little town. There are lots of cattle herders and farmers here. The people are really friendly. Here is like the top of the world. You can see how deep the valleys are and the greatness of the mountains. We are in the dry season now, and every thing is really dusty. Our nostrils are filled with dirt. You will see in the pictures that the mountains are a little hazy, I wish they were clear so you could really see them.
Our guide on the trip, Luciano, is a great guy. However, he speaks very little English. This is really a blessing though because teaching him English is teaching us Spanish and each day gets a little bit easier to learn. Luciano is a huge help, even though we often find it hard to communicate, he watches out for us and makes sure we are not doing anything we shouldn’t be.
The food in Peru is fantastic. It consists mainly of potatoes and rice and then a main dish which is some sort of meat, beef, chicken, etc.
Let me also say. We have a great team. No one is afraid to be adventurous, to some extent. We eat the food without complaint, and explore the cities. Everyone is really close. They call me and sharon “Papa D” and “Mama Ron”, It’s really funny. Each of us are learning stories, from the Bible that we can tell to people we run into. The stories are hard to learn because most of us are learning them in Spanish. But this is a great learning opportunity for us.
Last thing, We also had the best family group leader, Steve Reems (not sure on the spelling), and we have come to determine that Steve is really Chuck Norris in Christian form. Sorry Steve we all know your secret.