Tired Of Waiting For An Update Yet?

Ok. So it’s been real long since I’ve updated. Sorry. A lot has happened, and I’m still pretty busy. Here’s a lot of what happened.

First off, before Love Extreme even happened (the actual event), I ran out to Torre Fuerte and was able to “help” them to the event. It was really cool to see the faces of the people when I offered. I could tell it really meant a lot to them. I was able to do something else for everyone there later too (you’ll read about it later).

Another thing we did before the event, was Promotion; which consisted of taping posters all over the place, a competition with the taxi drivers to see who could get the most of their passengers to the event (winner got a laptop), and various other things, Construction; we worked on a few churches, one is the church I go to, and it was a surprise for the pastor and his family (it was also where everyone met at the beginning of each day). So that was our main construction focus.

The day before the event, Felix Vargas and his wife showed up at the church. I was able to talk with him and his wife a little since there weren’t very many people there. He is one of the nicest, most massive human beings I’ve ever met. That day I was supposed to help with the setup for the project, but last minute, Scott England changed plans on me, and Jessi (a short term volunteer) and I went to a school with Felix, his wife, John (a professional soccer player), and Pastor Genaro. It was really cool. I got to hear the testimonies of both Felix and John, both of which are extremely powerful, and see well over 25 kids come to Christ. I also made a couple new friends haha. When Felix was done talking and we were ready to leave, all the kids walked past him on the way out and shook his hand. Then one shook mine and Jessi’s before Felix, and everyone from him on followed. Then I was asked for my email address. Then my autograph haha. Jessi and I were both put on pedestals with Felix. It was interesting.

That night, I was security through the night at the event site to make sure no one stole any of the stage equipment. We took shifts, and I was able to sleep around 6 hours, which was well needed because I was security from 6am through the whole event until around 9.

At the event there where three main parts, two of which occurred at the same time. Those were the men’s and women’s conferences. Felix, John, and a few other I think, spoke in the men’s conference, and around 150 men came to Christ out of I’d guess 500. Tammy Trent, Lonna Vopat, and a few others spoke there. Of around 1,200 people, I believe 300 people came to Christ, but it’s been a while so I may have numbers wrong. The other, and by far largest main event, was when Nick Vujicic spoke. There was over 10,000 people there (our goal was 10,000). Of all of those people, around 8,000 people accepted Christ. Now, the other 40/40’s who have been here longer are meeting with the people who filled out some papers to make sure they stay Christians.

During, before, and after the event, I made quite a few new friends among the short termers. I have a most of their emails, and hope to get more later. They were a huge help, and we wouldn’t have been able to do it without them. We had nearly 400 people come and help us. I am very grateful to all of them for coming and being willing to work their hardest every day they were here.

Well here is where you read about the other way I was able to help Torre Fuerte. After the event, Extreme had a LOT of extra food. They had two other orphanages come by and take some food, but they still had around 16 large bags (as in large garbage bag bags) or bread, 2 of hotdogs, and 4 of lettuce. I was asked if I would like to take a group of 15 to Torre Fuerte with the food and then to a few other places later. The plan was that I would go to Torre Fuerte first, they could take what they wanted of the food, then the next closest place, then the next, and so on. But, when we got to Torre Fuerte, they wanted it all. At first the lady’s in the kitchen said they only wanted half, but then Pastor Dorio said he wanted it all. So he had everyone sit in the cafeteria and had a formal thank you to all of us. It really meant a lot to the girls that we brought them all that food, and that we were going to stay and play. Everyone was really happy. And the leaders were extremely grateful for the food. Also, during the thank you, I was able to tell the group the story of the mural of The Lion and the Lamb and tell them that the girl standing next to me was the girl in the story (Delia). I thought it was pretty cool, and it made a lasting impact on all of the people there with me I think.

Through all of this I’ve been asked to be translator many times. As a result, my Spanish is WAY better. I feel like I’ve learned more during the event than I did in school. I’m learning really fast, and was actually able to invite a couple taxi drivers to the event and explain what it was a little (although my Spanish was VERY broken haha). I thank God that He has gifted me with languages.

Now we’re up to date. So, what was interesting today? On my way to work at one of the churches again, which is going very well, a short termer and I were almost T-boned. Neither of us had seatbelts so it would have been bad. And the other taxi was going faster than it should have been. God was definitely looking out for us.

To end, I’ll look to the future a little. Mom and Dad are going to come to Peru in late July/early August. So I’ll be able to see the reactions of the girls first meeting Mom and seeing Dad again. Whenever I go to Torre Fuerte, I am always asked by at least one girl, “When is your dad coming to visit again?” So hopefully Mom and Dad will bring me down a camera so I can take video of the reactions =P

P.S. I’ll try to update again soon.