Guest Blogger: Moments With Mere

Hi guys! I'm SO excited to have Mere posting for me! I did a few guest posts for her, and was super excited that she said she'd do one for me! Mere is in Peru right now, and she wrote this post for me before she left. Be sure to check out her blog and leave her some love!

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Hey y'all! I'm Mere from Moments with Mere! Mel was kind enough to ask me to do a guest post for her about my trip to Peru! (In fact, she's soooo nice that she's done TWO guest posts for me! Go check them out!)
This will be my second time going to Peru on a mission trip. I honestly had no idea what to expect when I went two summers ago... I was hoping for warm weather, sunshine...basically a tropical getaway. Boy, was I in for a surprise!!!

First of all, the traveling
It took us a whole day to fly into Lima, and then a whole night just to ride a bus up to the mountains where we would be staying. Then, we took a taxi to the actual house which was 30 minutes or so outside of town. After a total of 48 hours traveling to get to our destination, I was exhausted! Plus with the huge change in elevation, my body was wiped out. Gotta stay hydrated though!

on the bus ride

Secondly, the weather
Because we were in the mountains, yet so close to the equator, it was chilly and hot at the same time, and it rained almost every afternoon. The days were in the 60s and the nights were in the 30s. I don't think I've ever been so cold sleeping in my entire life. It was miserable, but the Peruvians live like that all the time! They have no heaters and no electricity! (We stayed in a guest house built next to a family's home so we had a kitchen with lights and a gas stove, AND we had a toilet that flushed!) It was such a shock to see the Peruvians living off so much less than I do.

there had been a landslide on the side of the mountain!

that's snow on those mountains. it was soooo cold there!

Thirdly, the people
I fell in love with the Peruvian people. They are so beautiful and so warm and inviting. They constantly give more than they take. They sometimes skip meals just because they don't have food, but if they do have food, they offer all they have to you. Makes you wonder what the Peruvians would think of us Americans if they were to visit the United States!
While we were serving in the mountain villages of Peru, we mainly met their physical needs. We gave children shoes and socks, and they were so thrilled to have something warm on their feet...it was such a special moment. We gave them rice and sugar and probably the most important thing of all:

we showed them God's love.

Simply by 3 gringos spending their time in the various schools ministering to the kids and telling Bible stories, they were helped in a way that most people never realize. The looks on their faces when I told of how much God loved them that He sent His son to die for their sins was priceless. They had never heard the story. And that made me all the more willing to tell.

This summer, I'm going back to those same mountain villages. I can't wait to see their beautiful sun-chapped faces so eager to talk to the gringa. I hope I can effectively communicate with the Peruvian people in their native tongue, Spanish, and I hope that lives are changed because of our willingness to go!
Have you ever been on a trip like this? If so, I'd love to hear about it!