As we traveled the eight hours by bus to get to unchartered territory, I kept thinking about the man with the caged chicken on his lap.  What would happen if that chicken got out?

I stared out the window to capture the scenery and reflected on the bag of shoes I brought for kids.  I thought about the children that would receive the shoes.  I thought about the flood-affected area that we would soon embark upon and I thought about the fact that I don’t necessarily swing a hammer very well.

This was the image I had in my head when I found out I was going to Peru.

Last Friday, I received a call from the Compassion office in Colorado Springs.  Ian was calling me to see if I was available for a Mission trip.  The trip to Peru would be leaving in two weeks.  The leader of the trip could no longer attend due to a family emergency, so Ian asked if I could step in.

Funny, I had just prayed last week that I would have the opportunity to travel with Compassion this summer.  I had a trip cancel in July so I had the time. After all, Isabel has collected over a hundred pairs of shoes and we need to get them to kids.  So I did not hesitate when Ian asked me.  I just checked my schedule and cleared the dates and said yes.

As it goes, this is a different type of trip then what I am use to doing with Compassion. Instead of visiting several projects during the week, we will stay at project PE 350 and work.  The kids need bathrooms at this project so we will be building bathrooms.  We are going to La Merced; an area that was completely flooded this last year and damaged heavily.  It’s a place that has never had a sponsor visit and the staff has rarely been able to get there.  Where will we stay you ask?  Humm….a hostel of some sort, I don’t really know what to expect.  I am bringing my own towel though.

I looked at the itinerary the other day; saw that we will travel on a bus for eight hours.  I imagined some city bus crammed pack with people and livestock based on what I have seen in foreign lands.  I did talk to Ian this morning and he assured me this was more like a Greyhound bus.  Darn it, no chickens, but what about my story? Ok then…..is there a bathroom on the bus?

So in nine days I will be traveling to Peru.  I will go to a small village out in the middle of nowhere.  I may not have Internet.  We will see.  I will be working and hanging with kids.  I will learn what it is like to live and stay in this area.  It’s unchartered territory!

Finally, I get to take some shoes to kids.  We are going to get Isabel’s closet cleared out so we can start collecting more shoes.  So friends, I will definitely get pictures, share stories and let you know how it goes.

Oh….. and here is a picture from my friend Karen who recently returned from Peru.  She delivered several pairs for us.