#293 - Letter from David

I got a letter from David, the LDP student I met in Peru! This was written shortly after we met...

Dear Kevin, Jill, Sydney and Kayleigh Foley,

I greet you in the precious name of our Lord Jesus.

I received your last letter and I am grateful to God for showing me His love and mercy through your lives. These past two months my life was greatly blessed by your letters. Each word you write helps me, strengthens me and encourages me to work 4 times harder to achieve the goals God has given me. And, you are an important part of my achievements because I can feel your prayers for me and I see how God speaks and listens to me in a different way and helps me grow spiritually, physically and intellectually.

This love God has put in your hearts to help me will always be greatly appreciated. I will do my best to achieve my goals so that God and you feel proud of having helped a servant leader with his professional life.

I had the privilege to meet a wonderful person. This is Jill. I will never forget these two days I spent with her. They have changed my life. I met a true servant who reflects much love. I have seen God's great love in her life. Dear Jill, thank you for your words and for taking your time to come to Peru to meet Jazmin and me. You are a very kind and cheerful woman and you are one of those few people who cause a great impact on others. Perhaps I did not tell you this because I was too excited. I know God let us meet so we can learn new things from each other. Now I feel I love you and your family more and I appreciate your support.

I thank God for this beautiful experience, for this unforgettable day in my life. God has spoken to me through Jill and not only through her words but also through the things I could see and feel.

Dear Jill, I just want to ask you to read every day each promise that God has for you and four family through the little gift I gave you. And, please give a strong hug to your daughters and your husband for me. I want you to know that I have restarted my reading of the whole Bible I have begun with three chapters and within a year I will have finished studying this beautiful book. I want to tell you something else. Thank you for the gift you sent me and for the photo album in which I can see your beautiful family and your lovely daughters. Continue to guide them on God's way. I see they will become wonderful servants of God like you. Also, thank you for the Bible (Spanish/English). I believe it is the best gift I have received because it will help me with my spiritual growth (and with my English). May God continue to bless your lives and may your family continue to grow according to His will. I say goodbye to you until next time. Your brother in Christ and friend, David.

I am so thankful that this relationship is already at a more meaningful and deeper level because of our meeting. I am humbled by his words and encouraged that this ministry really does make a difference.

What struck you most about this letter?

#292 - Peruvian Coffee

So here is another story from Peru...

Our trip leader, Ian, has a friend from college who now lives in Peru. He, his wife and two small children own and run a coffee shop and roasting business (Cafe Verde - you should definitely check out this website, although it's in Spanish). He works with the coffee bean farmers of Peru, and exports their beans for a fair price.

We all went to the coffee shop and bought out his supply of coffee for sale. I've been purposefully saving it for a time I was missing Peru and wanting to go back. This morning I ground some of the beans and enjoyed a cup of coffee while remembering Peru.

I miss hearing God's voice when I was in the midst of poverty. I miss seeing Jesus in the faces of the children. I miss the questions I was asking. Sadly, with the distractions of everyday life, I'm forgetting. I knew it would happen, and it's natural, but it saddens me to think the trip is becoming a distant memory.

I was on fire when I came back. Determined to be a better advocate and find sponsors for the 5 children I had packets for. I did find a sponsor for Waldir, and I did inspire a friend to sponsor CSP. I praise God for that. But the other children....their packets expired and now they will be re-entered into Compassion's system and sent to someone else to find them sponsors.

I know I'm not a failure, but I still find myself discouraged. God has other plans for those kids and I have to trust in His timing.

What a heavy post....I meant to just be thankful for the Peruvian coffee and then it turned into more.

Final Pictures

We have finally reached the end of my pictures....sad, but true.

However, I hope to go through some of the pictures others on the trip took and post them. But for now...here are the final pictures.

I saw this CAT machine in the village at the bottom of Machu Picchu and took a pic for my dad and step-dad who work(ed) at Caterpillar. I think it was there to repair the damage the flooding caused earlier this year.

On our drive back to Cusco, I was a bit more awake to take in the gorgeous countryside. I loved seeing the primitive farms and fields against the backdrop of the majestic Andes.

I think I mentioned it in an earlier post and here is another example. It was not uncommon, while driving through the Andes, to look up on the side of a mountain and see Incan ruins. It was fascinating to see.

Here are quite a few pictures of people we passed while driving through the towns. You will see that this is very traditional dress for the women in the mountains.

I love this picture of this baby on her mother's back.

Here you can see what some of the buildings in towns looked like. At the bottom of the picture, you can see adobe bricks drying in the sun.

And again...a common sight was dogs and garbage. Here we have dogs in the garbage. I think the one in the back is doing his business!

We passed many, many street markets




The end (for now). Thanks for following along - I hope you enjoyed the journey!

Flowers in Peru

If you know me at all, you know that I enjoy taking pictures of flowers. So I took quite a few pictures of flowers in Peru and thought I would put them all in one post. Enjoy!

These orchids were growing wild in and around Machu Picchu.

I saw quite a few variations of this flower. I'm not exactly sure what it is, but it's beautiful and very dramatic looking.

A large poinsettia...



I couldn't decide which shot was better - with flash or without. What do you think? This is a bird of paradise I think.


These cactus were at our hotel, but there were cactus growing everywhere along the road.