Newbies!

NINETEEN more people moved down here as long-term volunteers this weekend. 12 new 40/40s, 1 cluster support couple with 3 kids, and 2 other young ladies from Canada who will be managing our FamilyZone project in April.

This is a picture they took in LA, California during their orientation a couple days before arriving here. The extra people are members of the mobilization team who work in the U.S. This picture happened because of their hard work.

Please remember them in your prayers as they learn to adjust to hundreds of new things while living with a local Peruvian family, eating weird foods, and learning a new foreign language.

We're excited to have them all here!

Colca Canyon Tour

After the project team departed on Wednesday we had our debrief meeting on Thursday and were all assigned to take a long three-day weekend. Sydney and I decided to take a trip to Colca Canyon.

I am not sure exactly how they measure canyon depths but Peruvians will tell you it is the deepest canyon in the world and over twice as deep as the Grand Canyon. Anyway, we were sold and purchased a 2-day tour package.

We stayed the night in a town called Chivay located at the entrance to Colca Canyon at about 12,000 feet above sea level. Needless to say it was very cold in Chivay (about 25 degrees Fahrenheit in the morning), especially in a room without a heater or windows that really seal. However, they do offer lots of HEAVY blankets and hot water.

But the best thing about Chivay is the hot springs that are nearby. The hot springs are fed into a facility with 3 open-air pools nestled into the canyon. The canyon walls glow from the setting sun as they tower over the steamy pools. For being in the outback of South America the hot springs offer unexpected comforts such as free lockers, changing rooms and showers.

On the way to Chivay we went through a wildlife reserve where we saw many llamas, alpacas and vicuñas (like deer sized llamas). We were fortunate to be able to stop and get good photos of them in many areas.

The second day of our tour we stopped at several little towns to take in the local culture. However, the highlight of the day was the visit to the Cruz del Condor lookout. This is the best place in Colca Canyon to catch a glimpse of the giant Andean Condor make its morning hunting commute up the canyon on the thermal updrafts. Our guide said it was not the best day ever to see condors up-close; however, we were fortunate enough to see to condors swoop by relatively close and several from a distance. These are truly impressive birds and the backdrop of Colca Canyon was amazing.

We signed up with a tour agency in Arequipa as part of a 13 person tour including guide. Within the group we had 4 Spaniards, 2 Germans, 2 Brits, 2 Peruvians, us 2 Americans and our Bolivian guide. Having so many countries represented also helped to make a very interesting trip.

Arequipa 1 has Come and Gone

Well, we are now battle tested. Both the Arequipa project teams have come and gone. The latest team of 79 left this past Wednesday, August 19.

The project team was assigned to working on the Garman Missionary Training Center and doing various outreach activities around the city. Significant progress was made on the building with many people putting in 12 or more hours a day on a few occasions. Outreach activities were also very rewarding. Over 300 Peruvians made commitments to Christ that and will be followed up on by local Peruvian pastors. The team members (from the USA) were also affected as many reported that the project was very memorable and rewarding. See http://www.extremenazarene.org/ShortTermDetail.aspx?ID=2 and scroll down for more Project pictures.

During the project Mike served to make sure that everybody was comfortable in their rooms, well fed, transported, and kept safe. It is great to report that nobody froze to death nor starved. Also, nobody was lost in over 150 bus trips. Mike also served as emergency translator for the teen Sunday school class with acceptable results.

Sydney served to help maintain the finances and run the Extreme Store. The Extreme Store was open at the site where the project team members were staying. She had anywhere from a 2 to 10 times markup on cookies, chips, juice boxes, Cokes, etc. and was still able to sell items at less than USA prices. Sydney also ran the money exchange for the project team members where she exchanged over $10,000 USD.

We now turn our eyes to Puerto Maldonado. The next project team arrives at the end of September and is much smaller at around 15 people but we are very excited.

Somebody Has A Birthday Today...

My Mom:

1. Is the only child of Joe & Dera Keen.
2. Always has the right answer to any of my questions.
3. Likes putting saltines into a cup of milk and eating it with a spoon.
4. Has been married to my dad, Bob Mitchell, for 26 beautiful years.
5. Has always been the parent to enjoy riding roller coasters with us kids.
6. Paints walls weirdly well….and only fell off a tall ledge once…
7. Has 4 children: Sydney (her favorite), Janna, Samuel, and Roxanne.
8. Has the most perfect handwriting ever seen – looks like it’s been typed!
9. Is a great planner/researcher for family vacations.
10. Is a wonderful, loving, Christian lady who is the best mom a person could ask for.

Happy Birthday, Mom!!! We love you!

The Last 2 Weeks

We, Mike and Sydney, spent the last couple weeks very differently from each other. Arequipa 0 was a great success, due a lot to your prayer and the hard work of the volunteer missionaries here. Being as Mike is my husband and this IS our blog, I can brag on him as much as I want. J As the Logistics Head, he did so much behind-the-scenes work, not even I know every little thing he did (mostly due to the fact that I will discuss a little further down). He kept the short-term volunteers fed well, transported well, sleeping well and took care of every little problem and/or complaint that came up. The short-termers were great – there’s just always going to be a million little things that come up when you’re in a foreign country.

Our communications team, headed up by Daniel Duran, did a fantastic job keeping everyone in the loop during the project. Here’s a link to Arequipa 0 Project details. http://www.extremenazarene.org/ShortTermDetail.aspx?ID=1 If you scroll down, you can see news and pictures from most of the days. And praise the Lord, almost 200 people came to Christ during these 2 weeks!

I, however, have a different story. Extreme is trying to get ready for an audit and I had to fly to Boise, Idaho to help my fellow volunteers get prepared for that. Renae is a terrific co-worker to have and was so helpful with anything I needed her to do this last week. I won’t go through all the dull details of accounting (even though I like them!), but we got a LOT done. Maybe one of the coolest things was that my parents/sister were coming through the area to go camping and our schedules overlapped without either party even knowing the other’s schedule ahead of time! I got to spend a day and a half with my parents and Roxanne – plus, my sister Janna drove all the way from eastern Idaho to see me, too! It was such a special little reunion and I thank God for working in our schedules so perfectly. Plus, I got to see Grandma, and cousins, uncles, and aunts, too!

Oh, and I can’t forget – every time I come back into town, my Starbucks friends and I all get together. This time was such short notice, half of them were working, but it was still a really fun night!