My first ministry day.

wSo. Yesterday I had to stay in the hotel because there were things that I needed to work on for Big World, but today I got to go out with a team for their ministry day. I chose team 10, and apparently I chose well because we had an amazing day.

We started out around 9 this morning, and it took our bus nearly an hour to arrive in the poor district where we would spend the day. When we got there, I was reminded somewhat of the dump in Quito...the streets were dirty and filled with trash and there were sick/nasty looking dogs running around everywhere, it was not a particularly pretty sight. We headed over to the soup kitchen and the pastor told us to go around the neighborhood and bring children to come eat with us. I set out with one of the small groups, and we began to meet children and tell them to come with us...before I knew it, we had probably 20 kids following us around singing and laughing--happy to just be shown some attention. More children came along with the other small groups and it wasn't long before there were at least a hundred kids waiting in line for their food. Since most of the children were very young, we helped feed them to make sure they didn't burn their mouths with the hot food. After everyone was done eating, we began to wash their hair. I was the official hair washer for my small group. As each child knelt down in front of my tub of warm water their friends all smiled--excited to watch. You know, I never really thought about how special it would actually be fore the children, but to them it was like being a prince or a princess. The thought of having someone wash their hair was far too grand to comprehend. How amazing to be able to treat them like the princes and princesses they are in God's eyes! Within in hour or two, I had probably washed 30 or 40 children's hair. It was an amazing experience for me to see how a little compassion--even in the form of hair washing--can bridge even the largest of cultural and language gaps. I love that today I got to share the love of God with those children. That is the most amazing things I have ever or probably will ever do.

The greatest blessing I have ever been given is to have the opportunity to share the love of Christ. To the people of Peru the Highlanders are most certainly the "least of these" but to God, they are princes and princesses--they deserve to know that and to be able to be God's hands and feet to these people is an incredible thing. I am so thankful that God has allowed me to be here. That I not only get to minister through my work with Big World, but I also get to get out there in the trenches and minister the people of Peru.