Mission in Peru a great success

submitted by Marjorie Cassidy

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]The Peru Mission Team, composed of Nancy, Emily, Carol, Diane, Dan, Ryan and Grayson was led by Father Bob Poole of St Philips Church Richmond.

Earlier article: St. Philips Church – people helping people in Peru

The Mission Team arrived at Jorge Chavez International Airport in Lima at 4 a.m. February 8th following a delayed departure from Montreal. Our friends, Maria and Jose, met the Team and drove them by minibus to the site of the first camp at La Gloria retreat center outside Lima.

The Mission Team arrived there at 7 am.  Finally, they were able to rest as the camp was not due to start until 6pm that evening.

Friday afternoon was spent resting but some members of the Team began to open up some of the suitcases full of clothes, shoes, toys and toiletries which had been brought from Canada. Some of the goods were distributed to participants at the camp. We had sponsored 82 children, youth and adults to this camp. The total camp comprised 200 people. Father Bob had a special birthday that night, the people at camp sang “Happy Birthday” to him in Spanish and English and three cakes were shared amongst all the camp!

On Friday evening, after dinner there was a teaching on the Love of God.  All fell to sleep exhausted.

Saturday was a full day:  Breakfast at 8 am, praise and worship at 9 am, followed by teachings on faith, dances and crafts. After lunch there was a time to rest or play depending on your energy level. Father Bob gave a talk on forgiveness. After dinner charades were played using various Scripture texts.

Sunday followed the same format with Father Bob giving a lesson on prayer. After that everyone went outside for Global Prayer for the different continents of the World. At days end we had time to share a meal with our friends before the next Camp started on Monday.

Campamento Palabre de Vida was the location of the next camp. Maria welcomed all the participants.  She expressed her gratitude to the Canadians on behalf of many of the families from Los Columnas, Humagascar, Huanuco and Venezuela.

The next 5 days were filled with wonderful rivalry. Three teams were formed for the week with each Team receiving points for their wins … swimming contests, volleyball, mud contests (pictures to prove it).