Many Miles & Minutes for Amor

Amor: Spanish for love

Love: the reason we’re here

Snow fell in central Wisconsin as we gathered in the wee hours of the morning to finish packing our last minute items. 3:30 am comes around real fast, so quickly that some of our team opted never to go to bed. As we exchanged our excited yet tired greetings, we zip-tied our last action packers, loaded the bus and began our return trip to Lima, Peru.

Five years ago, we began a partnership with Esperanza Viva (Living Hope) church in Condevilla, Peru. Reaching out to the community using medical clinics have met physical needs of the community but has also allowed for spiritual and emotional healing. In the past four years, Esperanza Viva has doubled in size and moved to a larger building. It is here where the Gospel of Jesus Christ continues to be preached and sustainable life change takes place.

We are returning this year to come along side our Peruvian siblings to aid and equip them in ministry. We will travel 3 hours south of Condevilla to Chincha, where Esperanza Viva hopes to build their own partnership church. A devastating earthquake toppled this small city nearly 3 years ago. The effects of the quake continue to ripple through the people of Chincha today.

But let’s get back to our travels. Everything went as planned as we arrived in Chicago- everything except Terry Schott’s wardrobe that is.

(Terry didn´t get the memo that we´re Packer fans in this team)

Now you can have a bit of sympathy for the man, as he is the only Bear’s fan on the team. As we checked in our multitude of bags and weaved our way through customs, jovial banter was to be had by all- including the airline workers. They even joked about having Bears fans in one line, Packers in another.

Our flight to Miami went as scheduled and we continued to bond as teammates. Just when we thought everything was running like clockwork, we hit our first bump in the road. Actually, it turned out to be more of a boulder. After boarding our plane for Lima, we were informed of some repairs that needed to be done to the plane.

So they fixed the broken patch. We taxied. We stopped. We returned to our stall.

The pilot was embarrassed to announce another problem that was overlooked. But, not to worry, it could be fixed in 45 minutes. They just needed some quick-drying glue. No joke. They glued some part of the plane back together in 15 minutes and then had to let it dry for 30.

Mind you, by his point it was 6:30pm- 2 hours past our original departure time. Praise the Lord for Vicki as she whipped out multiple 100-calorie snack packs for such a time as this! We munched and mingled, making new friends with our co-journers on the plane.

Then we heard it, the dreaded “bing-bong” of the intercom, signaling the captain was about to speak. You guessed it, both wings fell off and we had to slide down an inflatable raft to exit the plane. Just kidding, that really didn’t happen but it was one our hypotheses.

We were informed that another repair had to be made and we weren’t leaving any time soon. That’s just the way we like it! And we made the most of our time-

(Scot solving the Rubiks cube for the 5th time)

(Tamara relearned the wonderful game of Cribbage)

(Aleah got some quality reading time in)

We finally took off after 8 pm, 4 hours after our original departure was to take place. Not our favorite change of events, but we rested in the truth that God is sovereign and even our flight delay had a purpose.

We arrived in Lima a little after 2 am and flew through customs. Only 3 members of our team were stopped but were let through the security checks in record time. Praise the Lord! One more 30 minute bus ride and we arrived at La Hacienda, a second home to many of us on the team.

Though reminiscing about our travel day may seem humorous at times, some of you readers may be wondering- why? Why spend 24 hours and travel hundreds of miles to put on a medical clinic? What’s the point?

(We made it! Our whole team on a bus in Peru)

Amor. Love. It’s that simple. We love because He first loved us. We have been so changed by the love God has shown us that we want to share it with the world. And it’s worth the travel, the delays, the customs, and the sleep-deprivation. It’s worth it.

Now, after much anticipation, a reunion with our Peruvian family awaits us…stay tuned.