First Day in Peru

After an excruciatingly long flight (for people who are really excited, anyway), we finally arrived in Peru at 11:00 on Tuesday night. Our first morning was spent meeting with the Chief of Police of Comas to establish a connection to be used for a different ministry. We also visited our partner church, and planned the first run of Worthday photography.
About an hour before we left for the orphanage, we had a major change in the organization of the children´s information. We were all stressed and overwhelmed, but we still felt like we had everything somewhat under control.
Any illusion of control that we had completely shattered when we reached the orphanage. The situation was chaotic at best. No one had much of any idea what we were doing. Any organization that we might have had was gone. It was what we had dreaded the most, and yet it was exactly what we needed.
Somehow it all worked out. Somehow we got about 600 of the pictures taken. Somehow in the midst of all that chaos and confusion, we realized that this initiative was not ours, it was God´s.
Even though Sagrada Familia is not a Christian orphanage, God´s presence is already so apparent there. The children have a joy and a hope that is mind-blowing. They are hungry for something, but they don´t know what. They are yearning to know that they are loved, that they are known. We had hundreds of children introduce themselves to us today, and we so wish that we could know each and every one of those 922 orphans by name.
But, as painful as it is to know that we won´t be able to know every one of them, it gives us such excitement and anticipation for Worthday.
Sponsors like you will know them by name. You will have the chance to convey to an orphan that they are known, that they are loved, that they are worth dying for.
God went before us on our first day in the orphanage. He planned our every step. He knew that it would be chaotic, that it would be disorganized, and that it would be the best possible thing for our team and this initiative. We are anxiously waiting to see how God will change our plans today.