Greetings from the land of the Incas!
We made it to Peru, and my GOODNESS are things ever different here!
Peru is CRAZY different from Argentina, and in fact, it reminds me more of Mexico than anything else. There is SO much poverty here, along with the huge vices of domestic violence, abuse, alcoholism, and theft. It is far more dangerous than Argentina, and when we leave to go ANYWHERE, we can't even take a bag with us, cause it will be stolen. We even have to dress kind of grubby because they will rob the clothes right off your back if you dress nicely! But apart from those things, the Peruanos are some of the most welcoming, genuine people I have met thus far in my travels, and we have been received SO generously in every church and home. The food is fanTASTIC - rice with EVERY meal, which I ADORE, and then we usually have chicken or some other meat, and Soya (which is a sweet type of soy milk - never thought I'd like it, but now I can't get enough!). The only food that I've been avoiding at all cost it Cebiche, Peru's most famous dish. It is raw fish but that is very often infected and causes SERIOUS stomach infections (we had one entire team get sick for a WEEK because of it!) So I've definitely been staying away.. We met up with a bunch of other YWAM teams here, and have been working with them on this huge project called Peru en el Corazon (Peru in our hearts). We split up into a bunch of little teams and have been living in houses and churches ALL over the city of chiclayo. I am only with 2 other people from my DTS, and am living with a girl from El Salvador (Tania) and a guy from Mendoza (Paulo). We're having a blast - painting a school, visitng families from the church, and then nearly every night, all the teams meet up and we have these HUGE performances and shows on stage in the central plaza of the city. We perform dramas, choreographies, songs...it is fantastic. Today we are ALL traveling to the city of Trujillo to spend the last 3 weeks there doing similar ministries. Time is flying, and the Lord is working in incredible ways! Just the other day, I had the privilege of leading a boy to Christ, and 2 days ago, my team and I were able to pray with 2 more girls who made the decision to follow Jesus! And that is just our little team of 5, and just the past 4 days. There are like 15 teams, and people have been coming to know Jesus left and right!! God is SO good!!! Please pray that He will continue to soften the hearts of this beautiful people, and prepare them to receive the AWESOME message of hope we have for them! Hopefully I will be able to shoot our another update here soon - possibly once we're settled in Trujillo. I miss you ALL, and am SO looking forward to seeing you this coming month!!!

As we say here, !Adelante! (keep running forward - press on toward the goal!)

All my love,
Katie