My top 5 photos from my trip

So, recently I had to send my Top 5 favorite pictures from my Buckner SOS trip to Peru to Buckner's Marketing Manager TK. TK is awesome and we got to hang out some in Peru, so she knew it would be hard for me to pick just 5 photos. I took over 300 photos while I was there!

I thought and prayed and then picked 5 pictures that I thought best portrayed some of my most memorable moments from my trip. I want to share them with you here.

By the way, I apologize that it is taking me so long to add to this blog. It takes a while to blog, for one thing. And I have a lot going on in my life, as I am sure you do. Another thing slowing me down is that I have been sad that I had to leave these children behind in Peru. I love my own son and family and friends, etc, but if you've been on a mission trip and worked with orphans, I'm sure you understand what I mean.

Anyway, without further ado...my top 5 fave pics!

Me and Bryan (I know that's not the way he spells it but I don't remember how he did) hugging
at the Hogar where he lives in Ancon (I think that's where this was). I got to help him with his new shoes.
Bryan has a piece of my heart and I hated leaving him. Leslie (Buckner Staff) explained after our visit that he is a true orphan. And not only has he dealt with the death of his birth parents, but he was "returned" by a set of adoptive parents as well. :( When I heard that, I wanted to go back and get him!
I wish he was adoptable! I love this precious boy. (This photo was taken by Jenny Pope of Buckner International.)

Thalia (age 14; she has been there since she was 12) and me at the girls home for girls rescued from sex trafficking Sunday 3-18-07.
Thalia really took to me and I to her--even though she wasn't in my group. I got to help her
with her new shoes, anyway! :) (The pic of me helping her with her shoes is an extra one I'm including in this blog--doesn't count toward the 5.)

5 year old Melindina (spelling?) at a Baby Home reaching out for some love.
I think this is a great representation of how eager these precious children are to receive true,
godly love. Once I picked her up she didn't want me to put her down!

Nyada, me and Dionicia at their girls home in Cusco. They made the "chal" I'm wearing. :)
They were so happy to show me all around their home! In fact, I was dizzy from the high altitude and could barely keep up with them. Another trip participant who is a nurse told me at one point that I didn't look well and then she asked them in Spanish to take it easy with me.

Me and Vladamir at the Boys Home where he lives in Cusco. I got to help him
with his new shoes, which happened to feature my college's colors! :) (Go, Campbell University!) I also got to play with him a little and hold him on my lap during VBS time. :) He's a sweetie.

I just noticed how he has his hand on my hand--eager for innocent and loving touch--even though he's sitting in my lap already. Love is the language that pulls us all together! We speak different languages and our skin tones are different but we have the same Father God who loves us. Praise the Lord for sending me to Peru with Buckner International's Shoes For Orphans Souls!

Go to www.buckner.org for more information!

Some of my new little amigos.

More later.

I miss the kids.

I finally finished unpacking a few days ago.

I may be going back soon.

More later.

Jenn

OK, so while I was in Peru I learned that I would be really scared to drive there. There are at least a few traffic rules. One seems to be--he who has the loudest horn and the most nerve has the right of way! Our bus driver was a pro, though. See (above) how close we were to hitting the wall at the first Children's home we visited? AHHHHHH! I was thinking about how I didn't have a will but that I was ready to meet my Lord if we were to die due to crashing into the brick wall. But, we made it through! Praise God!

Here we see Luis and Merryan P. heading into the home for girls rescued from sexual exploitation. Luis is carrying a huge bag of new shoes for the girls. :)

The girls and their children were happy to see us; they welcomed us with a song in Spanish. Why did I take French in middle school, high school and college?

Here I am helping my new friend try on some new shoes! She was happy to have them and they fit great!

We also brought soccer balls to the homes. These two little ones were glad to have them!

I was also able to give the little boy's mom some clothes for him. I had brought some that Josh couldn't use--and they ended up in the bag packed for this particular home! God is good, isn't He?!

Buckner SOS Peru trips radio reps, 1st lunch, etc

I was not the only radio station rep on the Buckner SOS Peru Mission Trip. When I got to the hotel late Sat. 3-17/early Sun. 3-18 and went up to my room I was eventually greeted by my roommate Liz. I had knocked on the door but got no answer. I was afraid that she was asleep or in the bathroom and didn't hear me. I was wondering where else I could sleep when she came walking up and gave me a hug. She'd been downstairs checking her e-mail. She just recently got engaged to a man who has the same name as my son--Joshua. But hers goes by "Shua". Cool, eh? Liz is a lovely and talented young lady.

Me and my roommate Liz Jordan of KSBJ Radio in Houston, TX. She's lovely, isn't she?

I met other team members the next day in the hotel as we organized all the items we all brought to give to the orphans and the Orphanage Directors. It took a while! We also met an essential part of our group--our Peruvian translators! Our mission would have been much harder without them.

Eventually we finished and loaded onto our lovely green and white bus and were off to have our 1st traditional Peruvian lunch.

We rode in this bus all over the Lima area during our trip.

Buckner Missions Coordinators Jouleen and Julie try to get our team to "number off" to make sure we are all on the bus. We were each assigned numbers (mine was 8) and had to say them in roll call fashion every time we got on the bus. I think we made it through without mistakes just once during the whole trip--and Jouleen didn't even get to see it! We did our devotions on the bus during most of the trip. We also got the scoop on the homes we visited, played our now beloved "Trip Participant Trivia", etc.

Two of my fave ?s:

"Which trip participant knows Matthew McConaughey?"

One Buckner staff member really has met him several times--and confirms, sadly I must say, that he does not believe in wearing deo.

"Which trip participant auditioned for 'The Bachelor'?" Hint-it was a tall young lady with naturally curly hair. :) She and her friend did it for a laugh. We couldn't let her live it down on the trip once we found out. I kept trying to find her handsome Peruvian bachelors for photo ops, etc. :)

Some views outside the bus window:

Big mountain of dry dirt KFC! With bike delivery! Photo shops (gates are common)

My first lunch in Lima was at El Bolivariano. It's a Peruvian Buffet restaurant.

My plate Anticucho (grilled beef heart) Me trying Anticucho

Brad Fisk, Director of Client Services for ShareMedia (center in blue shirt and glasses) and the Christian radio reps Left to Right Merryan from 89.7 Spirit FM Miami and her awesome husband Luis, Susan of KVTT "The Truth" Dallas, Liz of KSBJ Houston, Doug of WFRN Indiana, and me from WBFJ Winston-Salem/Greensboro during our first Peruvian lunch.

Here are the sites for Share Media and the radio stations represented on the Shoes For Orphans Souls mission trip in Peru:

www.sharemediaservices.com

www.897spiritfm.com

www.kvtt.org

www.ksbj.org

http://wfrn.com

www.wbfj.fm and www.stereo1550.com


Well, I have tons more pics but this is really taking a long time to do. I need to take a break. I'll blog more asap! Thanks for your patience!

Jennifer

Colon Hotel

Pics from the Colon Hotel in Lima.

Photo blog-2nd leg to Peru

My 2nd leg--Atlanta to Lima, Peru.

This is the plane I took from Atlanta to Lima. It was supposed to leave at 5:10pm. My flight from GSO landed in ATL a bit before 5pm. By the time I got off the plane and hauled myself as fast as I could to the train to the concourse for my flight to Lima, found my gate (it had to be one of the ones at the far end of the concourse) and checked in at the Delta counter at the gate, it was past 5:10. I was out of breath and nervous, but, Praise God, the flight had not even boarded yet! I checked in and the agent crossed my name off of a list and I waited for my flight to board.

I have never (as far as I can recall) flown in a plane with 3 rows of seats before. I was a bit nervous b/c the last time I saw such a plane was in the movie "Flight Plan" (featuring Jodi Foster).

This was my seat on the plane. Another window seat! :) A pillow awaited my arrival.

Here is the "remote" I used to turn my reading light on and off, etc. I don't think I'd seen one of those on a plane before!

As a germaphobe, I was impressed by the generally clean Bano (bathroom) on the plane. This one was roomy, even! I could spin around in there, stretch my legs, etc!

My first experience with "airplane food" other than pretzels or peanuts. This dinner was actually quite yummy. BBQ'd chicken (I think), mashed sweet potatoes, festive corn, salad, water, roll with butter, cheese and crackers--and even a brownie to help me curb my chocolate craving! My seatmate Jessica, who is from Peru but now lives in Alabama, said this was a Peruvian type meal.

This is my seatmate Jessica and me after our long flight to Lima. I was as tired as I look.

I was also thankful that God put a Peruvian next to me on this flight. She and I talked quite a bit and I was able to share my faith with her and she was able to give me some tips and suggestions on eating and travel in Peru. She gave me some insights into the culture and told me about the influx of Chinese/Japanese people in Peru, etc. By the end of the flight she was like a sister to me. She even helped me get my luggage, guided me through immigration and customs, etc. Praise God!

When I got through immigration and Customs, I looked through the massive crowd of people waiting for friends/families/strangers arriving into Lima. I spotted the orange Buckner sign held by one of the amazing members of Buckner's Peru staff=Sylvia. She and her husband Mario were waiting for me and 2 other SOS team members who had delayed arrivals into Lima.

One member (Brad from Kentucky)'s luggage had been lost. :(

It was after midnight if not later when we left the airport in Sylvia and Mario's van and headed to the hotel. I was TIRED.

More later.

Jennifer

Jenn

Pics from my Peru trip--the 1st leg

Well, I'm back home from Peru (as of Sunday morning March 25, which is a blurr after flying all night Sat. 3/24!) and have been busy trying to catch up with work here at WBFJ and at the JB homestead. And now I'm finally able to blog some photos from my trip.

If you've read the blogs I managed to write from the Colon Hotel (it stands for Christopher Columbus; not the body part) in Lima, Peru, you know I had an awesome trip. It was life-changing. If I could have, I would have brought several precious children home with me. I couldn't, so I have them safely tucked into my heart. I think about them often and lift them up in prayer to our Abba, Father.

As far as trip photos, I will start at the very beginning, which is a very good place to start.
I learned that from The Sound of Music. :)

Here is the luggage I brought with me to Peru. The purple bag was packed (by Joe) with my things and the green one was full of items (also packed by Joe as I had a packing breakdown!) for the children and orphanages. I took a pic of my bags in case they got lost. The only other time I flew out of the USA--to Nassau, Bahamas--for a College Fair when I was an Undergraduate Admissions Counselor for Campbell University (Buies, Creek, NC www.campbell.edu) ---my luggage got lost. :( Turned out it got sent to LaGuardia (spelling) instead of Nassau. I did get it back eventually, but it was a stressful situation!

Bon Voyage pic with Joe and Joshua taken by a Security Official before I went through security at the Greensboro, NC airport. I took great care packing my quart sized ziploc bag of liquids and gels in my shoulder bag. I also had a bookbag with me containing reading materials, my Peru journal, a change of clothes, meds, etc.

Here I am looking out the window before we took off from Greensboro to Atlanta. My flight was delayed. I hoped and prayed I'd get to Atlanta in time to make my connecting flight to Lima!

Tight quarters in El Bano on the plane from Greensboro to Atlanta! I could barely move in there!

So, this is Atlanta? It doesn't look as big as I thought it would....

More pics ASAP....Jenn