Yungar. its a place of hope.

there is this small town outside of Huaraz. its small. its quaint. it used to be a place of desperation but now it is a place of hope.

my first trip to Peru...we went to the AMG childcare center there. and we had been forewarned that the kids would be small. they would probably smell bad. and the whole town would want to know what we were doing there. it was so small. a little room with benches but so full of love. the pastor of this church is incredible and the most genuine person i have ever met. Yungar became a place that i loved. the kids wanted us to love on them. they needed attention. and they needed our Savior. in 2005, there was 1 sponsored child at this center. now, there are many sponsored children hearing the Word of God and getting a hot meal everyday.

isn't it incredible how our Jesus works? His hand is all over that center. you can see it. you can see it in the children's faces. you can see it as the women stand in the dirt floor kitchen and prepare meals for children that are not their own. you can see it as the pastor plays soccer with the children. Jesus is the reason for that place and it shows.

my favorite part of our time at Yungar was that we got to serve the children their meal. there are no words to describe how it feels to sit down that plate knowing that it could be their only meal for the day. no words to describe what its like to stand in that dark room and hear them singing to God with such joy thanking Him for the meal they are about to eat knowing that i often forget to thank Him for the meals i eat three times a day. there are just no words. this is one of those places where His goodness overflowed. and it overtook me.

and i thought about my friends living on the street in Albany. and i prayed. i prayed hard that they had a hot meal that day.