Snapshot 4

A bus bumps its way slowly down the dusty jungle road.  The windows are open- not by choice, but because they don't close.  Inside, there is a family.  Not a family by birth, but by choice.  As they bounce down the road, music drifts from the window.  The family members don't speak the same language, but that's okay.  They don't know all of the same songs, but that's alright.  As that bus bumps its way down the dusty jungle road, the members of this makeshift, multilingual family are all worshiping the same Jesus, and that's all that matters.

Snapshot 3

Grungy trampoline.  Breezy, steamy night.  Smoggy stars.  Limbs and hearts jumbled and intertwined.  Honest words.  Hot, salty tears.  Smoky air.  Car horns and mangy dogs.  Dust on the banana trees.  Shared water bottle.  Open souls.  Real conversation.  Genuine laughter.  Eternal connection.

Snapshot 2

The stars look the same here, but their patterns are different.  We lay on the trampoline and I think about myself, how I'm like those stars.  I look the same here, but my actions are different.  I smile more, laugh louder.  I hug more intensely, cry more easily.  My "comfort zone" is nearly non-existent.  I sing and dance.  I speak rapid Spanish.  I touch when I feel like it.  If the words pop into my head, I say them.  I look the same here, but my patterns are different.  This is who I really am.

Snapshot 1

Oh, Pucallpa.  Steamy, sweaty Sunday mornings full of unspeakable joy.  Dusty, noisy bus rides where we breathe through hankies and squinch our eyes shut between worship songs.  Late dinners in little restaurants, laughing and talking with the help of interpreters.  The most beautiful children you can imagine... brokenhearted and abandoned, leaning on us for an hour of God's love.  Bubbles floating through the dense jungle, accompanied by the laughter of Shipibo children and their young mothers.

In the midst of it all stands a gringa.  Back home, she hurts.  She's not known.  But here... here, she stands with a smile that could light up the night.  Here, she speaks for hours in broken Spanglish, often pausing to laugh from the deepest place in her heart.  Here, she's greeted with hugs and kisses every morning.  The tears are more ready here, they stand at the forefront.  Her heart is softer.  The sweat pours and the dust rolls, but she doesn't mind.  Here, she's home.

Snapshots

The next few posts that will be up are things I (Alyssa) wrote while at camp.  These are from my personal journal and the deepest place in my heart.  I hope that, as you read them, you sense at least a fraction of the passion I have for these people and this place.

I will also include a picture or two with each post, just to give you a chance to SEE some of Pucallpa, and our trip.  Many, many more pictures are posted on my facebook.

Thanks!

The port in Yarina.

Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday

Hi all! I'm sorry that this update is so late. The internet here just went away for the last four days. At least it wasn't the power or the water!

Sunday was a very relaxing day off. We went to church in the morning, which is always amazing. Because it was Father's Day, they had an amazing service. Lots of specials, two messages, and gifts and food for the dads.

After church we went to a restaurant on the lake for lunch. It was delicious, and we had a great time. While we were eating, we saw freshwater dolphins jumping in Lake Yarinacocha! It was absolutely incredible. We had a long, long lunch, then got in a peque peque to go to a zoo across the lake. At this zoo, we held a 30 foot anaconda! It was so much heavier than I expected. And yes, there are pictures to prove it. We sent Sunday afternoon swimming, then went to the restaurant near our old hotel for dinner. I finally got my frapé de maracuyá (passion fruit smoothie. Amazing.)

That night, the family we're living with set up their trampoline, and Craig, Efrain, Ben, and I sat out there talking for a few hours. Those times are so precious to me... looking at the stars on a trampoline in Peru, talking and crying with my brothers.

On Monday we went to the villages of Panaillo and Nuevo Egypto. Some of you may remember the little boy from Panaillo that I talked about last year, who had AIDS. I asked about him, and they took me to his house to see him. He's doing well, but has some bad days. His family was so happy when I told them that I had been praying for their boy.

Nuevo Egypto was a new village, and it's a Shipibo Indian settlement. Talk about indescribable. The ladies wore their traditional dress, and the kids sang to us in their native language. Everyone in this village was so excited to see us. I spent a lot of time snuggling with a little baby. :)

Because Ben was leaving on Tuesday afternoon, we had a blessing for him during devotions. Everyone cried, and we all laid hands on him and prayed for him. It was amazing. Craig, Ian, Efrain, Ben, and I stayed outside on the deck for a while afterwards, singing praise songs and talking.

Tuesday morning we took the peque peque to Once de Agosta, and did our program. Craig was at the immigration office (his visa had ended up in his laundry and he had to get a new one) and Ben wasn't feeling well, so Ian and Rick did the story with Efrain and I. I saw my little Diego in 11 of August. After I took a picture with him, he disappeared, then came back with a small basket. "A gift for my sister." Precious.

We lunched at the church, then returned to our house to shower and nap. Ben packed his things. Craig was sick, so he slept. (He's better now.). Ben left around 5:30, then my mom and Marilyn went to the church for the women's Bible study. We picked them up after, and headed to dinner. It was 11 by the time we got home, so we did devotions and went to sleep.

This morning we went to the church, and the guys worked on construction while the women learned how to make Juane, a traditional dish for the festival of St. John the Baptist. We had time for shopping this afternoon.

In about an hour, we will leave for our goodbye dinner at the church. They have a huge program planned for us, with music and testimonies. Kleenex will be essential.
Please pray for us as we prepare to leave tomorrow evening. We are nowhere near ready. We just got here. We're just starting to build relationships.
So many more of my heartstrings have been tied to this country, and when they get pulled all the way back to the US, it hurts.
Thank you for your prayers.
We love you
--Alyssa

Saturday

Hola Amigos y Familia!
This morning we got up and headed to the church for a program practice (Yesterday's was a little rough). Craig, Ben, Efrain, and I spent about 40 minutes going over our story, learning to be more animated and enthusiastic. We practiced a few songs, then boarded the bus for the orphanage.

Some of you may remember me talking about a girl named Maria last year. She was 13, and had a 3 month old baby. As soon as we got to the orphanage, she found me and hugged me and told me that she remembered when I was there last year.

My mom found her "Peruvian daughter" Patricia, whom we have seen every year. She was very happy to see us, and kept saying "Mi Americana Mami, y mi hermana americana!" It was a very emotional reunion, and an emotional parting as well.

Our program went very well at the orphange. We acted out the creation story as well as telling it, running around like birds and fishes, and making animal noises. The kids loved it. Our songs were better, and the puppet show was HILARIOUS. We gave ice cream to the kids, and airplanes to the boys. We had hair things for the girls, and candy for everyone. They were all very happy.

The orphanage is such a hard experience, but so rewarding. These children remember us year after year. Maria did not let go of my waist for literally 20 minutes. Leaving is hard, because we don't know what will happen to these kids.

We had lunch at the church, then went back to the house for a siesta. After that, we went back to the church. The guys worked construction, and the ladies talked with Monica and Betsi, our translators. It's amazing to hear these ladies talk about their ministry. Betsi and I walked down to a few shops together, and just talked and laughed. These experiences... building relationships, making friends... they are so precious to us.

Now we're leaving for dinner at Los Rosales, one of our favorite Peruvian restaurants.
Thank you for your prayers.
We love you.

Alyssa's Perspective

I debated posting this, but we have friends who read this blog but are not on our email list. If you're only going to read one account of our day, read Craig's. (below)


Hi friends and family!

We are very tired, as this has been a long day.  Each evening at devotions, our team does "pow-wow's". The "pow" is the worst thing to happen to you that day, and the wow is the best. To try to keep this short, I'll give you some pow'wows for today!

Pows:

-Our bus could not cross one of the bridges on the way to Alejandria (the first village we visited), and we had to walk for about 45 minutes. (There was one car, so we went in groups of 5 or 6, walking in between car trips)

-Ian and Mike are sick, and I got heat exhaustion while walking and nearly passed out.  I'm still not feeling the greatest, and Mike and Ian are even worse.

-It was over 90 outside today, and super humid. We are sticky, dusty, and hot nearly all of the time. It's something to get used to, but annoying for now.

Wows:

-Visiting Alejandria again (we've gone every year) and visiting Santa Rosa for the first time.

-Taking pictures of the children and allowing them to see their faces in my camera's monitor (My main way to bond with los niños.)

-Dinner at Parrillada Orlando's, the restaurant we go to each year. Lots of delicious grilled meat, and bananas, potatoes, yucca, etc. Muy rico!

-Having several REAL conversations (beyond what is your name and how are you) with people... In Spanish.  I have been so blessed to be able to understand most of what is said, and reply to almost as much as I can understand.

-Continuing to bond as a team. 

Craig posted on the blog today, so you should all check it out... His perspective is slightly more humorous than mine. :)  www.pucallpa2010.blogspot.com

We love you, thank you for praying and loving.

--Alyssa 

Hello everyone!!!  Here the computer is use to spanish, so every word i write is underlined in red like i spelled it wrong.  Well, today was a very interesting day.  There were so many things that happened today.  This trip has been one filled with many new, strange, and definitely WEIRD(as ben geiser would say) things.  But we have had a blast.  This morning we woke up at 6 am.  It was early after a late night.  But it was our first day in Peru and we were so excited.

The bus arrived as we were eating breakfast so we had to hurry up and eat fast.  We then left to the church and then we went to a small village called Alejandría.  On our way we had to pass a bridge over a river.  I am pretty sure that the bridge is the same one that the team went over 2 years ago.  But this time the wood was too close together and the bus driver didn´t want to go over it.  So after being in the bus for 45 minutes or so, we got out and walked for an hour.  Our time walking in the selva (jungle) was amazing.  we saw monkey, tons of trees, efrains (actually just one efrain) and many other exotic things!  it was a wonderful walk.  It was hot and we got a sun tan for sure.

 We got to Alejandría and we did a program.  We sang in Spanish, we read in Spanish, and Momma C (Mrs. Cuthbert) told a story in English.  It was a really enjoyable time.  I talked to the pastor at the CEMY church as we were driving there and as we were there.  While we were presenting the program, out of no where came loud music.  We kept doing the program but it was distracting.  The pastor told me that the Devil is always at work and that with God we are stronger than his distractions.  After that we started walking back to the bus.  There was a taxi driver who took us part of the way.  BUt there was not enough room in the car for all of us so he had to make a few trips.  We finally got to the bridge again and ate lunch.

While eating people from our group went down to the river to cool off by putting their feet in the water.  Efrain Soto happened to be one of those people.  he was doing something and he dropped his sandal.  it took us a while to get it and it started to flow down the stream.  WE all watched it go down the river until one brave soul jumpped into the river rescued the sandal and saved the day.  It was not that amazing but I, Craig Zebell, saved the sandal, which actually was mine.  Efrain Soto gave craig a big hug and was so grateful for his brave efforts.

Then we went to San Rosa another pueblo (small town).  We did another program there which was warmly welcomed by the people there.  it was fun to do another program and especially one that the people so enjoyed.

We went back to the church and then came back to the missionary house.  we took showers AFUERA, which was a new experience.  you will have to do some homework and find out what afuera means.  Then we went to a restaurant named Orlando´s.  THe food is really good there and the waitress just kept bringing food out to us.  We all enjoyed it and went out to another place for ice cream.

When we arrived at the ice cream place we were only expecting ice cream.  I mean what else would you expect?  WE ate our ice cream and we were just chatting, and starting to get ready to leave.  A guy walked up to Rick Miller and asked him if he was a gringo, which is the term that Peruvians use when refering to us or  people from the US.  Rick said yeah i am from michigan.  The guys was happy and said that he was from California.  He then asked Rick to sit down with him.  Rick calmly said that he wanted to stay with his friends.  One big detail i have left out this far is that the man from California had been drinking a little too much.  And he was not drinking agua or water.  As soon as rick said no the man became mad and started saying mean things to rick.  It was scary for me but everyone else seemed fine with it.  the man eventually walked father down away from us and started yelling mean things.  But we are okay and have recovered from this incident.

Now we are going to have devotions at this moment in time so i must leave you all now.  THank you so much for reading this i hope that it all makes sense.
GRacias por todo.


Escrito por: Craig Zebell side sentences came from Efrain Soto and Ben Geiser

PUCALLPA!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hola Amigos y Familia!

I am ecstatic beyond belief to announce that I am writing this email from Pucallpa!  We arrived this evening!

Everything went as planned last night, and we got our luggage quickly and got through customs in Lima with no problems (Thank you Jesus!)  Delta also moved us up to business class after messing this up so badly, which was an incredibly luxurious blessing. We spent the night in the Hostal Regency in Miraflores (a district of Lima), and were able to have lunch with our dear friends Cesar and Margarita. (Ben's parents.)

The flight to Pucallpa was mostly spent bouncing up and down from excitement (Okay... maybe that was only me.)  When we landed, we could see several of our Peruvian friends standing in the window of the airport, waving. It is no exaggeration when I tell you that my mom and I RAN across the tarmac.  

Once we got inside, it was an explosion of hugs, kisses, exclamations, and excitement.  I have not stopped smiling since. It is quite literally the happiest I can ever remember being.  There were about 16 people at the airport to meet us, all friends from last year.

We took the bus to Zaida´s house (the woman who coordinates our trip) for dinner. The food was delicious, but the fellowship even moreso. We had a quick meeting to figure out our tomorrow, and now we are back at the house we´re staying in.  We're living with a family of 5, and there are other people in and out all the time.  There's no air conditioning, but we have fans, and big windows.  I'm in love with the house at this point!

Tomorrow is a full day, and obviously we have lost two entire days in Pucallpa due to the airline's unfortunate problems.  Please pray that God will work through us hugely in the time we DO have here.  We are so thankful for every second.

A few praise pieces:

I have been complimented on my Spanish many times

The house is large, clean, and comfortable

We got to Pucallpa safely and without incident

Gracias por tus oraciones (Thank you for your prayers)

We love you.

-Alyssa for the Sister Lakes team

The Adventure Begins.

Hello, prayer warriors!
We are especially grateful for you and all your prayers this morning, as I am writing from the business center of a hotel in Atlanta, Georgia.  You may notice... this is NOT Pucallpa, Peru, which is where we are supposed to be this morning.
After a long, tiring, frustrating, and confusing day, we think we have things figured out, and should arrive in Lima tonight around 11.

We got to the airport in Detroit yesterday at 10, and got Marilyn on her flight.  We were still about an hour early for ours, so not worried at all... YET.  Soon the attendant came on and said the plane had been grounded for maintenance, and we would be informed at 3 as to whether or not we could leave (we were supposed to leave at 1:30. The flight to Atlanta is 2 hours long, and our connection was leaving at 5:05.) 

After visiting rebooking, issuing a call to Atlanta to ask them to hold the plane, and sitting in the airport praying furiously, we finally boarded the plane at 4.  We taxied out towards the runway, and suddenly the brakes began making a horrendous grinding sound and literally shaking the ENTIRE plane.
The pilot wasn't comfortable flying the plane with those problems (neither were we!), so we went BACK to the gate for "a 30-minute fix."  40 minutes later, we were told that we might as well get off the plane, weather in Atlanta wouldn't allow us to leave yet anyway, and they had no idea when the brakes would be fixed.  Another hour or two at rebooking got us on the "7:30" flight to Atlanta, and gave us hotel and meal vouchers.

By 12:45 AM, we had FINALLY left the Detroit airport (after OVER 12 hours there.)  We got to Atlanta around 2, spent two entire hours in LINE for customer service, and then dealt with them for another hour or so.  To make a long, frustrating story shorter and slightly less frustrating, suffice it to say that we ended up paying for our own hotel (which we finally collapsed in at 6:15 am), and are set to fly to Lima in business class (!!!) at 5:05 tonight.  We will then spend the day in Lima, unfortunately, before flying to Pucallpa TOMORROW night at 5 pm. Our travel agent friend in Lima is trying her best to pull strings and get us on the 11 am flight tomorrow, but it's not looking good. Please pray.

We don't know why this happened.  We have lost two entire days with our precious friends in Peru, two days of ministry. We've lost a substantial amount of money for the tickets that had to be repurchased IN Peru.  We don't know what's going on, or why. We have no answers.  Thankfully, God does. He's got this. He knows EXACTLY why we stayed extra time in Detroit and Atlanta.  We may never know, but He does.  And He will be glorified, and that's all that matters.

Thank you so much for your prayers. We love you all.
-Alyssa

ps: Marilyn is (if everything went as planned) in Pucallpa as I type this.

Tomorrow!

Wow! I'm sitting here in awe (and slight panic!) because our team leaves for Pucallpa in the morning!  The Dowagiac contingent (Craig, Rick, Efrain, Marilyn) had a packing party last night.  My mom and I (Ellen and Alyssa) are packing today, in between last minute errands.  And Mike and Ian are probably currently sitting on top of the roof at CEMY, pounding or measuring.

A few prayer requests before tomorrow:

• Ian (already in Peru) has been sick for the last few days. He's doing better, but please keep praying for his full recovery.
• Mike (also already in Peru) had a bit of an accident with a hammer, and they had to remove his fingernail.  We hear that he is also doing better
• I (Alyssa) have been sick since Thursday. While my fever is gone, and I am mostly un-congested, I'm still having a lot of issues with my ears (pressure, popping, etc).  The doctor warned me that I could be in a lot of pain on the airplane.  I'm trying a candling procedure today, so please pray that this works, and that the Lord alleviates my pain during flying.
• Efrain has also been having some congestion issues, which are mostly better now! Please be praying for him as well.

Rather than asking you to pray for our safety, I'm going to close with this (thought provoking!) quote from Francis Chan's book, Crazy Love.

"Haven’t we all prayed the following prayer? Lord, we pray for safety as we travel. We ask that no one gets hurt on this trip. Please keep everyone safe until we return. And bring us back safely. In Jesus name we pray, amen.

The exact wording may vary a bit, but that is the standard prayer we recite before leaving on mission trips, retreats, vacations, and business trips.

We are consumed by safety. Obsessed with it, actually. Now I’m not saying it’s wrong to pray for God’s protection, but I am questioning how we’ve made safety our highest priority. We’ve elevated safety to the neglect of whatever God’s best is, whatever would bring God the most glory, or whatever would accomplish His purposes in our lives and in the world.

Would you be willing to pray this prayer? God bring me closer to you during this trip, whatever it takes…

People who are obsessed with Jesus aren’t consumed with their personal safety and comfort above all else. Obsessed people care more about God’s kingdom…than their own lives being shielded from pain or distress."

 Thank you for your prayers and support!
We love you.
-Alyssa

T-Minus 6 Days and Counting

This time next week, we'll be on a plane, somewhere over Central America.  That's right... we're within a week of our departure. Here are a few pictures to make you as excited as we are. (Just kidding... that's not even remotely possible. :D)

This is the corner of our guest room that has been devoted to Peru.  My mom and I have to fit all of this, plus our own clothing, in 4 suitcases and 2 carry ons.  We'll see.

We have more teeshirts than ever this year, thanks to efforts by friends and family, including the kids at Calvary Baptist in Southgate.  They also made bracelets for us to take to the kids at CEMY.  We have cards made up for our story, and "American" items for Ben's care package, as well as candles for the ladies we work with.  Small sacrifices to attempt to express our gratitude to these people.

This is the house we will be staying in in Yarina.  We will be staying with a woman named Rosy, her husband, her 3 daughters, and her son.  Obviously this is going to be a very full house, but we are thrilled for the chance to bond with this family.

From what we've heard from Mike and Ian (who have been in Peru for around 4 days now), the family is absolutely wonderful (we would expect nothing less) and have been a huge help already.  Please pray for unity, and for the love that we know will transcend the language barrier.

Finally, this is an aerial image of the town of Yarina.  The yellow star marks where the church is. Our house is about 12 blocks from the church, which will make for a nice walk each morning and evening.

Thank you all so much for your prayers and support! Please feel free to leave a comment or send us an email if you desire.

"The Letter"

 Dear Friends and Family,

By now, you are probably expecting this letter to arrive!   But read on, there is a “twist“… 

As most of you know, one thing became abundantly clear to Alyssa and me soon after we arrived in Peru for our first missions trip in 2008:  We wanted to go back again!  And we did, last year.  Our second time being there was even better than the first, as impossible as that seems.  Once again we worked alongside the believers at CEMY Church (Centro Evangelico Misionero of Yarinacocha).  Our task was two-fold.  Part of our team worked on building an addition to the church.  The other part of our team (including us) traveled to several “nearby” jungle villages and presented programs to the children.

CEMY is definitely a church with a vision for the people around them.  They have already planted several churches and are in the process of discipling those believers and training leaders to take over the ministry of them.  The addition at the church will serve as a training center to help accomplish this.  They continue to strategically map out their area and target other villages where there is no Bible-based church, making plans to reach those as well.

This summer, from June 15-25, Alyssa and I will be returning to Peru to work with CEMY.  We have been faithfully saving money since our first trip, knowing how badly we would want to return year after year.  Thankfully, we have enough to cover our personal costs this year!  So, instead of raising support for ourselves, we are concentrating on raising money to go directly to the CEMY building project.  If you would like to donate towards that project, please see the attached page.  Most of all, though, we are asking you to pray for us as we prepare for this trip.  I am leading the team this year, so there is much more responsibility on my shoulders.

Our time there will once again be split between construction and village ministry.  We can hardly wait to be reunited with our dear friends!!

If you would like to hear from us while we are in Peru, we will be blogging and sending out email updates.  If you wish to be added to our email list, please send a note to Alyssa (email below).  We are blessed with the ability to keep you updated throughout our time in Pucallpa.

We wish we could sit down and are our stories with each and every one of you.  Our lives have truly been changed because of the time we have spent in Peru.  We are so thankful to have been given this opportunity!  Your prayers and support have made it possible.  Can we count on them again this year?!

With joy,

Ellen and Alyssa Hobson


If you wish to donate to the construction project,  your check should be made out to Sister Lakes Community Church with "Peru Construction 2010" in the memo line.
Please mail your donation by May 15 to:
Sister Lakes Community Church
67119 State Route 152
Dowagiac, MI 49047

Just Starting Out

Hello friends and family!
We have less than 60 days until we head to Pucallpa again.  Please pray with us that we raise the support needed to complete the building project.
Thank you for your thoughts and prayers!
-Alyssa