News From The HBUMC Youth

Well, we made it folks.  We’re back in Raleigh and enjoying some very much anticipated time with our families.  Thank you once again for all of your support and prayers.  Make sure you get those kids to tell you ALL ABOUT their experience.  It was incredible.  Later!!

Thursday (I think), July 9th – 5:24pm

OK…we’re in Lima now at the airport for 8 hours until our red-eye flight to Miami.  I’m sitting in a Starbucks and enjoying my first real latte in about 11 days!  Yum!

We left the Pucallpa airport with about 30 of our new Peruvian friends crying and waving goodbye to us from the window.  It was tough to say goodbye, but almost all of them are on facebook, so that will help.  Beyond my expectations, we made some friendships that will definitely last a lifetime here.  They are beautiful, wonderful people of God!

We are all really looking forward to being home with our families and sharing our amazing stories about our incredible trip.  We hope everyone has enjoyed the pictures and also knows how much we have appreciated your thoughts and prayers throughout these 12 days.  Please continue to pray for our safe travels as we still have 2 flights left before we finally arrive home tomorrow just before noon.

I will try to blog once we arrive in Miami if wireless is available.  Thank you everyone for everything.  It was a once-in-a-lifetime trip!!  We love you all!

We are leaving our hotel in Pucallpa now and headed for the airport for our flight to Lima.  From there, we will hang in the airport until our 11:50pm flight to Miami.  We are all so looking forward to seeing everyone!!

Well, we finally made it back to Pucallpa!  We arrived at around 2pm this afternoon.  I am writing this from the hotel as we wait for our farewell dinner tonight at 7pm.  We had an amazing time onbaord the Evangelista and in the village.  The pictures are worth a thousand words, so I’m gonna let them do the talking.  We made friends and memories that will last a lifetime and God definitely worked in our hearts and the hearts of the villagers this week.  I’ll make sure to write more later with a bit more detail, but make sure to have your son, daughter, husband or wife share all of their stories with you when we get home on Friday.  That is…if they’re not asleep!!  We’ll talk soon!

Saturday, July 4th – 10:19am

Happy fourth of July everyone!  We successfully made it through our very first day onboard the Evangelista!  Our day (Friday, July 3rd) in Pucallpa began with an early wake up call of 5:30am when we boarded the bus that was to take us to the Evangelista.  As we arrived at the river we saw many shacks along the river banks.  They were all waking up and cooking their breakfasts via fires inside their plywood shacks.  We quickly boarded the Evangelista and were given a safety lesson on how to behave and what to expect while onboard.  After that, we pushed off and headed up the river into the jungle.

We are joined on the boat by a group of Peruvian youth from a church in Pucallpa, the boat crew (all local Peruvians), 2 translators, 2 cooks and 3 armed Peruvian police that are assigned to the Evangelista to help make sure we are kept safe.  Many of us quickly began interacting with the youth from Pucallpa.  They are a great group of kids with a real desire to get to know us and share with us.  The language barrier has been a little difficult at times for those of us who “no habla espanol”, but we have so many others who speak a little or a lot that have been really helpful in translating back and forth.

We had begun the journey and were told that we would push upstream until dusk where we would stop for the night.  During the day, many of us interacted with the Peruvian youth, sat out on the deck to enjoy God’s beautiful creation along the river, played cards, took naps, etc.  It was a very relaxing day and a great way for us to begin our river adventure.

The food onboard is very good and fresh!  It looks like we will be having a a lot of chicken (which is very fresh as they are kept onboard) and fresh fruit (papaya, pineapple, mango, banana, plantains, etc.).  All very fresh and very yummy!!

After witnessing a beautiful sunset on the river, it began to get dark and was time to “park” for the night.  When I say “park” I mean they literally ram the boat up against the river banks and tie it to a tree for security.  Pretty crazy!

From there, we had a wonderful, home cooked dinner provided by our cooks.  After dinner, we met in the common area of the boat for our very first evening program followed by our youth group devotions.  It was a great time for us to come together and reflect on what God is revealing to us through this experience.  I look forward to adding entries in the coming days sharing how God is moving in this mission project.

Following the devotions, many of us made our way to the roof of the boat for some stargazing and crocodile “hunting”.  The stars are breathtaking here away from all the light pollution of civilization.  We were also told by the locals that if you shine your flashlights along the river banks at night, you can see the glowing eyes of a crocodile.  Alas, we did not see any crocodiles last night…maybe tonight!!  The bugs really aren’t that bad, we just have to be conscience of applying our bug spray and keeping lights off in our sleeping quarters as often as possible at night.

At 11-11:30pm most of us headed to bed for the night.  I slept very comfortably until about 4:30am when the small wooden fruit boats docked next to us decided to rev their motors and drive around.  It was loud, but all part of the experience!

I continue to thank the Lord for this incredible opportunity and am praying that with His power and strength, we all will love without abandon, give without relenting and serve without expecting.  May He give you that heart and desire as well.

Thursday, July 2nd – 8:57pm

Hey everyone.  Well, this will be the last post before heading into the Amazon for 5 days!  After a 5:15am wake up call tomorrow morning, we will be heading out of the hotel at 6am towards the Evangelista!  After boarding and a quick safety lesson, we will begin our journey to the village where we will be working.  We learned today that we will be building a church for this particular village, so that should be really cool.  We will arrive in the village sometime on Friday and will work through Tuesday before heading back down stream to Pucallpa.  We are all super excited and a little nervous.  This will be VERY different for all of us, but are hopeful that God will do amazing things!

We ask for your prayers as we begin this leg of our journey and that we will shine the light of Christ brightly for all to see!  Talk to you next week!!

Thursday, July 2nd – 2:15pm

Well, we made it safely to Pucallpa!  After arriving at the airport and meeting our 2 other Group representatives (Allisa and Stephanie), we boarded a bus for the Hotel Sol de Orientes.  It is a beautiful little hotel and a nice place to relax before heading into the jungle tomorrow.  After a quick swim we all went to a local restaurant for burgers and ice cream for lunch!  After finishing lunch, Allisa took us on a walking tour of downtown Pucallpa.  It is a VERY different town…with very little tourism.  We are probably the only Americans in the vicinity.  It is beautiful in it’s simplicity but also very poor.  We are looking forward to heading to the market this afternoon to check out the local crafts made by the villagers.  Then we will head to dinner as a group.  Be on the lookout for more tonight!!

Wednesday, July 1st – 9:05pm

OK…sorry it took me so long to get this up, but we’ve been on the move since the last update!  Here’s a quick update of Peru – Day 3, Machu Picchu.  We started of the day with a wake up call of 4:45am!  We all gathered, ate breakfast and then made out way to the bus for our ride to the train station.  From there, we boarded Peru Rail for a 3 hour journey through the mountains to Machu Picchu.  The trip started VERY COLD and everyone was wrapped like mummies in the train blankets.  As the journey to Machu Picchu continued, we all began to warm up and enjoy the view.  At 10:30am we arrived in the village at the base of the mountain where Machu Picchu resides.  We quickly made our way to the bus and began the 25 minute zig zag ride up the mountain.

We finally arrived at the entrance to Machu Picchu around 11am.  We then began our 2 hour walking tour guided by our friend, Ruben.  Let me stop here to say…there is absolutely no way for me to describe the breathtaking, awe-inspiring sight that is Machu Picchu.  So, I won’t even try.  All I can say is, it is probably the most beautiful place I have EVER been.  Check out the pictures to see for yourself.

After our 2 hour walking tour, we stopped for a great buffet style lunch at the Sanctuary Lodge just outside the gates of Machu Picchu.  The food was fantastic and so was the view!  When finished with lunch, we made our way up to the “guard house” for a big group picture from the top.  From there, we split into two groups, one went back down into the village for some shopping in the market, while others of us made our way even further up the mountain to the Sun Gate.  It was about a 25 minute hike further up the Incan trail.  Originally the Sun Gate was the outer check point on the Incan trail into Machu Picchu from Cusco.  The view from there was beyond beautiful.  Something that can only be experienced.  Check out the pictures to see what I mean!

After climbing back down the mountain, we all met back down in the valley village for dinner at a very local, authentic place called “Tipical Food.”  No joke people…Tipical Food.  We then boarded the train for our 1.5 hour ride to Ollantayambo.  From there, we disembarked and proceeded to pay 1 Sole each to use a village restroom:)  We then transfered to the bus for the remaining 1.5 hour ride back to the hostal in Cusco.  We were VERY tired and all went to bed to get some rest before our 8am flight back to Lima.

This morning we flew back to Lima where we then made our way to an area known as MiraFlores.  We were told it was the nicest area in Lima and it was most spectacular!  The views of the sea and mountains were incredible.  Make sure to check out the pictures.  We ate a GREAT lunch on the water and then made our way back up to be picked up by our taxis.  We split up into two groups again and one went back to the hotel while the other went to the old part of Lima for a quick walk around the big square.  We saw the President’s house and a majestic old church.  After a harrowing ride back through Lima traffic, we arrived back at the hotel for an evening of rest and relaxation….ahhhhhh.

We will board our next flight tomorrow morning at 9:30am for Pulcallpa where we will have a day of rest in the city.  It will be the last time I have internet access before boarding the Evangelista on Friday, so most likely tomorrow evening will be the last post for a while.  I look forward to sharing with you again then.  In the meantime, make sure to check out the pictures from Day 2-4!  I updated day 2 with more pics from other cameras.

Thanks for all of your comments and prayers.  We love and miss you all!!

http://gallery.me.com/jeffamccauley

Tuesday, June 30th – 11:01pm

We jsut arrived back to the hotel after an incredible, but very long day!  Tired and going to bed.  We need to get up at 5am again tomorrow for our flight back to Lima.  Will update and post pics then.  Good night!

Monday, June 29th – 10:14pm
We’re all off to bed after a great dinner at a local Cusco restaurant!  The hostel is very nice and is really more like an inn or bed and breakfast than a hostel.  Be on the lookout for more pics from today and from Machu Picchu tomorrow night.  Good night!!