10. The Schedule. Every day we awoke to a rooster crow, usually around 3:00 am, which a touch earlier than what I am used to getting up, but I loved rolling out of my hammock around 4:00 or 5:00 and heading to work.  Generally we worked from 6:00, or so, in the morning till 2:00 or 3:00 in the afternoon.  Then we had our afternoons off to go swimming, hang out with the villagers and build community, or just take a nice siesta nap until the evening service.

9. Pastor’s Who are Hungry for God. We worked with two pastors along the Itaya river who were just as passionate about reaching their villages for Christ as the pastors at Calvary are about reaching our community.

8. Kid’s Can Use the Restroom on the Church Floor and No One Cares. It didn’t matter if it was a kid who couldn’t behave quite right, an old man who smelled a little odd, or if it was someone who was just a little “different”, people were just glad that others were able to be at church….even if they make a little mess on the floor.

7. I Learned I Can Live with a Lot Less. I realized that I really don’t need my iPhone, my computer, or even that new Kindle I really want.  The people of Peru live without running water, electricity, and a whole lot less than what I have.

6. No Need to Go to Gym, Because Just Getting Through the Day is a Workout. Just getting from point “A” to point “B” requires expending a ton of energy…and sweat.

5. The “Downtown Square” of Every Village is a Soccer Field. Enough said.

4. The people of Peru are Very Family Focused. It didn’t matter if they were cooking dinner, eating breakfast, going to work, going to church, or just hanging, out the people of Peru do everything as a family.

3. Everyone has a Place of Ministry in the Church…Including Kids. I love being a part of a church that values kids, and it was great to see that same value in Peru as well.  The kids were a part of the church services, especially when it came to the music.

2. Hospitality on a Completely Different Level. When the people of the second village we visited found out we were coming they actually built bridges to make our 2 or 3 day stay easier.  They don’t use bridges.  They just walk down the hill, through the creek, and up the other side.  But they didn’t want us to have to do that, so they actually went through the trouble of building us bridges to use.  Just one example of their amazing hospitality.

1. There are No McDonalds…so I Lost 11 Pounds! We worked so hard that sometimes I didn’t really even feel like eating, but when I did eat it certainly wasn’t McDonald’s.  Fish and rice made up the majority of our afternoon meals.