If you have not previously seen this video, it is a video of the location where our team is this week. This is not a video of our team, but it is the same boat, the same location, and the same leader that we are working with down there. In the video Joe Mercer, the missionary that is leading our trip right now, is talking. He makes references to “The July Trip”, which is our trip right now. Pastor Charles King is also in the video in the yellow shirt. He is the other missionary with our teens now. It gives a good glimpse into the areas where they are ministering. Joe Mercer has other information and videos on his webiste at www.southamericancall.org

Hello family and friends….this is Amber…and I have an update from the team! This morning I was praying for a way for us to connect with them to reassure you all. I talked with the missionaries’ wife and within minutes of talking with her, the missionary and Jeff both called with an update:

They are having a wonderful time of ministry down there! Here  are some bullet points of the information that he gave me over the phone in our 3 minute conversation. There have been 130 salvations! A miracle occurred…a girl’s eyes were healed who had not been able to see. The team has done an amazing amount of ministry to kids. They have brought them joy and hope, and have been spending lots of time playing with them. They have handed out clean water filters and given hygiene training to the people. They are also handing out more eyeglasses to people who are in need of them.  Each night they have had services where people continue to accept Christ. They have alot of stories to share with us soon!

The teens have been blogging each day and Pastor Jeff will upload them all when they return to Pulcappa on Monday for us to read. Most of the villages that they have been stopping at do not have a phone or connection for us to make calls. This is completely normal and everyone is doing well.

We are also working on the satellite internet connection in hopes that it may work even before Monday.

Jeff called with the following information for an update because they were not able to access internet service today:

Hi from the team. Everyone is having a great time so far and everyone is healthy! We are enjoying our time on the river.  We have had the opportunity to do lots of children’s ministry.  The team has loved playing soccer with the kids. We have also given away many pairs of eyeglasses to people who needed them.  We are headed back deeper into the jungle.  We have had the opportunity to lead 64 people to the Lord.  We will try to access the internet tomorrow.

Hola todos! It’s Rachel and Corinne blogging on this beautiful Peruvian night (currently we are stationed beside the jungle). Since we really haven’t gotten to keep you guys up to date in detail so far, we are just going to start at the beginning. After we left you on Saturday morning, we drove our way down to D.C. Once we got there we caught our 10:00 AM flight to Panama City. The flight was 5 hours long and surprisingly had really really yummy airplane food. Woohoo! Once we arrived in Panama we had a drum roll please…. FOUR-HOUR LAYOVER!!! We found a random terminal that fit us all and entertained ourselves with some mow, reading, sleeping, and gymnastics. We gave the other flyers some good entertainment. We finally boarded our flight to Lima, Peru at 6 PM. Three hours of precious sleep and more yummy airplane food passed by and we arrived at 10 PM. Since we were finally in our destined country, we had to go through the lovely process we like to call customs. In this airport they performed random bag searches of anyone who got a red light when passing through the terminal. Of course, we got our fair share of red lights (about 6). After that fiasco, we found an empty corner and practically collapsed. Our tentative plans for that night were to stay in a hotel until our flight the next morning. After about and hours of just chilling in the airport we were informed that those were no longer our plans. Instead, we would be staying in a coach bus for the remaining 3 hours we had left due to the fact that we had to be at the airport at 4 AM the next morning for our flight at 7. We made our way to the parking lot and realized very quickly that Peru is NOT hot at nighttime. When our bus pulled in we all piled in and got settled for a “pleasant” nights sleep. (Personally, I have trouble sleeping while sitting and listening to Tony snore quite loudly. –Corinne) (Oh yeah, me too!!! –Rach) Nonetheless, we were very thankful for our time of slumber no matter the conditions. We arose at the crack of dawn and headed back into the airport. We got on our flight to Pucallapa and praised Jesus that this was our last flight for the beginning of the trip! The flight lasted about an hour and gave us the blessings of some more sleep and yummy airplane food. Finally, finally, finally, after THIRTY-THREE HOURS OF TRAVELING, we made it to Pucallapa, Peru! We walked outside and breathed in our first breath of Pullcallapain (Rachel made up this word) air. We saw lots of interesting sights including: Horse and buggy-ish car/bike things, sweet boats, and lots of doggies. Due to some of the previous flooding we had to take a speedboat to our houseboat. Once at the boat, we got settled in and got to meet up with Joe and Chuck. The food on the boat is AMAZING and we are beyond fed well. Today, along with some much needed rest, we got to assist some of our leaders in putting together food and medicine packages that we will be taking to the villages the rest of the trip. It was a great opportunity to work together as a team. We put together over 200 bags today and will continue throughout the week. The night was ended with some awesome worship and prayer on the top deck of the boat. God is going to do some amazing things on this trip and we are all ready! It’s getting late and P. Jeff wants us to be in bed at a decent time so for now, we will say adios to all you loved ones! Hope everything is well at home. Keep on praying and following the blog!

God bless,

Rach & Corinne

Zach K: Hi Mom and Dad! We’re having an amazing time! Can’t wait to see you! Aeriel, Kelsi, Abbi, and Mackenzi…wish you guys were here. Shoutout to my family from Long Island: Grandma, Aunt Tricia, Uncle Tom, Bradly, Alexis, Aunt Debbie, Uncle Dennis, Brian and Noel! Love you guys! Keep us in your prayers!

James: Hola mommy I miss you and love you a lot cant wait to come back and tell you stories. Also I want to say hi to my brothers, you know who you are haha…Nickerbocker, Aaron, and Izzy. I love you guys so much and miss you dearly. And how could I forget the Sullivans…that includes you Dave I love you haha and miss getting beat up. Oh and say hi to Nathan for me, you know who im talking to. But anyways I miss all of  you so much and cant wait to see you all again! Love James of course.

RACHEL!! – HELLO EVERYBODY! Okay so I have a lot of shout outs but first im gonna say hi to my famillly! HI MOMMY DADDY & MILESZ! im having an awesome time down here and it was so good to talk to you when we were in DC! Haha, we found PJeff btw! I MISS AND LOVE YOU A LOT. I hope its not very hard up there.. im praying for you!! Let us know updates on stuff. Love you guys!! MAKENA- I miss you baby!!!!! So much! I cannot wait to stay with you for a week when I get back. But for now just pray for all of us down here! We really need everyones prayers. Tell miss peyton I love her too <3 & Johnny!! I miss him. Cant wait to hear from you!!! love you! TAYLOR- baby!! I miss you!! You need to come see me when I get back bc I MEEES you. <3 I have been taylor deprived & TYYYLERRR!- hello dollface!! HAPPY EIGHTEENTH BIRTHDAY!!!! I miss & love you soo much! But I hope you’re having a fun time up at the beach! Tell Christian I said hello! & your mommy, daddy & your brothers I LOVE YOU ALL!! Keep praying for us down here!! Love, Rachie

Corinne- Mi familia, I miss you oh so much already. I realized that I get homesick very quickly but it’s so hard to be homesick in such a beautiful country. Daddy, I made Brookie link arms with me on the airplane for lift off since I didn’t have you there. I miss you & love you and hope camp and everything is going great! Mommy, you know how stressed I get when I don’t know whats going on and all this traveling has really been stressful & I miss your reassurance and such. I love you also & miss you mucho! Felipe, miss you broski and love you! Tyler, if you remember to read this, I MISS YOU and cannot wait to see you when I get back! Aeriel, Mackenzi, Makena, Taylor, and Kelsi: I miss my girls <3 & love you all and cant wait to share all the amazing things that happens on this trip with you guys. All the Laws, PopPop, and Grandma: I miss and love all of you so much and hope you guys are following the blog! PS. Mom & Daddy, give Brewster a hug for me & Rach. Tell him we are praying for him <3 All my love, Corinne

We drove thru town and took a water taxi referred as the “Chulupa”… It’s just about 10a and we are going to have breakfast! Here is our view from the boat right now!

We just landed safely in Pucallpa… Smoothe sailing from here on… This will be the end of my mobile coverage… Please keep the comments coming on the blog… They were a real boost last night for the team as we were waiting in the airport! We love you all!! Keep praying for the miraculous!

Here we go!

Immigration was good! But customs was a little more interesting… I got stopped for the batteries for the water filtration systems… And the Jobes got stopped with all the glasses we are giving away… But we made it through! Our next flight is at 7a… Then the real mission begins!!

We safely landed in Lima! Now the fun begins… Customs and immigration… Then we will connect with our missionary friends Joe Mercer and Chuck King! Thanks for all your prayers!

We are anxious to get to Lima! We are so ready!