from the deserts of trujillo

Hello from Peru!!

Just wanted to pop in quickly and give an update on life here so far. We are currently living in Trujillo, at the Inca Link Peru compound for the next 3 months — yay for not having to switch rooms every few weeks anymore ! ;)

I’m so excited to be living in one place for a longer period of time. Coming into this trip, I definitely underestimated the amount of physical and emotional exhaustion I’d have from moving locations so frequently. I’ve loved being able to experience so many different ministry sites and meeting so many people, but I’m pumped to be able to stay in one place for longer, and to go deeper in relationships and ministry engagement.

 chicken heads anyone?? grocery shopping in peru is proving to always be an adventure of it's own!

 morning views from where we live @ the compound

life updates !

>> 2 weeks ago we had an Inca Link Retreat at the compound. It’s a gathering Inca Link has every 2 years, and we happened to be here when they had it! All of the ministry directors from all of the Inca Link ministry sites came from all over Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru, and we had about 100 people on the compound for 5 days. It was super cool to meet new people and hear about their ministry and stories with Inca Link, as well as being able to reunite with some friends that we hadn’t seen since October from Colombia, or last month from Ecuador. 

Our team was in charge of the missionary kids’ childcare — we split the kids into groups from 0-5, and 6-13ish, and did activities and programs with them. I helped run the 0-5 kids — it was slightly draining constantly chasing after toddlers haha but we had a good time!

 Us linkers with our sweet friend, Elsy, who we worked with at Casa Elizabeth in Quito, Ecuador. She runs the home for pregnant teenage girls, and it was so good to see her and her family again!

 David!!! This guy is like a second dad to all of us linkers. Already missing him!

>> We met with our ministry director this past week to discuss what our ministry involvement will look like while we are here. Trujillo is kind of Inca Link’s main “hub,” since it’s where Inca Link was originally founded. There are 4 Inca Link ministry sites here in total, and we will be partnering with a children’s after-school ministry, “Mana.” It’s actually the first ministry that Inca Link ever created, about 13 years ago.

Since we will be here for 3 months, we’re hoping to go deeper with the organization and invest as much as we can — in areas like helping the ministry leaders formulate an ongoing pattern for youth discipleship, assist in providing more structured curriculum for the younger children, and help contribute to an overall atmosphere of joy within the ministry. 

We had our first full week with them this past week, and I'm so excited to go deeper with this ministry. I'm still a long ways off from feeling confident in my spanish, but it's been really rewarding to be able to start this new ministry and feel like I have some more spanish under my belt, and not have to constantly rely on someone to translate for me as much. This is such an answered prayer and often has me sitting in awe, especially when I reminisce back to my first month in Bogota, where frustration in Spanish and distant relationships nearly had me in tears on a normal day.

In addition to Mana, we’ll be interacting with the other 3 Inca Link ministries in the area here and there throughout the week, which include:

Inca Thaki: an extreme sports ministry that seeks to reach the children in the local community by playing sports everyday and holding regular devotions and worship time to disciple them deeper. We’ve been participating in their sports pretty often during the week and I’ve really enjoyed getting to know the kids and leaders. One of their main sports is Sandboaring down the sand mountain near the compound. We've gone twice so far and it's soooo much fun!–

Amijai: Amijai is a ministry primarily for mothers and teenage girls, which helps to enable women in practical home skills that they can use to make money, such as cooking, arts, crafts, etc.

Elim: This is another garbage dump ministry, that carries a vision to serve the families who work for the garbage dump. I haven’t visited yet, but they provide tutors for homework help, play sports, and disciple the kids through various bible programs.

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All in all, I’m super excited to be going deep with relationships here. Peru is a place that I hope to look back on and have seen rich growth in myself — and to see where my heart is in 2.5 months. It’s surreal to say that’s all we have left here; somehow already at the leg of the journey. Something I’m trying to keep fresh in my thoughts is the mindset to finish strong. If you’re willing, please pray for me to be filled daily with a mindset of serving and loving well, giving 110% of my effort and energy. 

Thank you!

-Allison