Well i made it to the last day, without one single hot shower for 88 days… wow… can you beleive it???? because i can i assure you.

The alarm went off on queue, but i had a terrible time getting gabriel to wake up……too long on skype last night i feel….. my computer is feeling very warm when i unplug it from the plug

next to his bed upstairs.

Any way we get up to the hill by about 7am somehow????? and start drilling in the concrete wall blocks….. never done this before, but hey i was not going to make that stop me i

can tell you……. i was up early for a cause and that cause was going to happen.

It took a while to measure it all up and start the drilling process….. took too long i think, the minutes just flew bye.

The plan was to get home by 821 am, but that didnt happen, we were going to pick up soley  and letti outside Metro for the trip to the airport at 845 am, well that didnt happen till about 910am.

Just had enough time to have a birdy bath, and a birdy shave , a change of cloths from drilling, zipp up the cases , pack up the computer etc and get everything into the van for the pickup.

Boy what a rush, a little fine really but hey sometimes when we have a mission …..we have a job to be completed…. we just have to bite the bullet and get it done……best as we can.

Well i was able to say that i got the cross carved and hung before i flew from Peeru.    ifffff only just.

Just about to carry the cases out the door, and the handle of the  old orange case fell apart( the pull out handle that is).

Then who should be on the phone… my old friend from anglesea australia…. margaret  to wish me well on the flight….. how good was that.

if we had not have been late, we would not have touched base i am sure.

Got to pick up the girls, and travelled through the traffic to the aeropourte right on time of 10.01am…. most impressed.

rodo, and dan and victor met us there, we all sat around for an hour and a half and munched on doughnuts and cappuccino.

it was going to be a very tough farewell today, and a real long, long trip home by myself……. or was i by myself…….. i will carry the memories of the last three months

and the sounds of those whistles forever.

dan was asking lots of questions, i could not answer them all.

it was time to head towards the customs doors, roado grabbed the camera, as he always did at airports and started to take the farewell shots.

he handed back the camera to me as i passed by the handrailing, just before i dissapeared.

it was hardest of all saying farewell to gabriel  and also soley…….. i will miss them both so much.

feeling very very tired, couldnt sleep very well last night, lay awake from about 4am i think.

will i sleep on the flights? will i arrive home feeling even worse?     whats  going to happpen over the next 30 or so hours as i travel home?   wait and see the nect blogg.

Well today is my last full day in Peru on mission at las lomas.

And as it happens in Peru sometimes, things dont always happen as fast as they should, or could, but hey its all part of the experience.

Had a shower, and breakfast and headed down to the markets to purchase some large hooks and eyes and chains to mount the large carved cross onto  a wall inside the locale building

on the hill at las lomas.

While at the market i replaced a couple of the large plastic jugs that got distroyed with painting duties a few weeks ago now., and finally got a large easy to read wall clock .

It was weard walking around the market today, knowing that this is  the final visit to this place. Tried to take in the smells, the sights, and the sounds of busyness around the place.

Too late to get up the hill with the goodies…….. i thought all this shopping would have been done hours ago,      God wants to tach me patience i think and it is working bit by bit.

So we head back to the casa( house), as gabriel has now decided he wants a shower before heading to his parents place in Lima for lunch.

We arrive at about 3pm for a late lunch, his mum has been very busy cooking some lovely peruvian dishes. Everything tastes so wonderfull and fresh, i can still smell the aromas

today. we share conversations as we eat……..dont get to say goodbye to his dad as he has been called away for somthing.

At the end of the meal and chat, his brother Angel and his mum and sister pray  over me for safe travel and thanks for time in mission.  A very special part of the visit for me,

and a very lovely family that i have grown very fond of over the past three months.

Well we get locked in the grid lock of traffic on the way back to the hill, oh and we have to stop off at a department/ supermarket as i have to replace a small carryon suitcase for the three flights

tomorrow.  And while we are at it we have a mackers fancy type  icecream delight.

Anyway, we arrive finally at the hill in the dark at about 645pm, it’s really cool now outside and not many people walking around the place….toooooooo coldddddddddddd.

Just realised we still dont have a drill and bitts to attach the cross,  better ask  someone from the hill tonight.

We get out of the car, nobody about tonight, and walk over to enter the locale building.  all is quiet and not much happening inside.

or so i thought….. when i enter the door, it starts…….. the most unbeleivable sound of baby whistles being blown by mums and children.  i can still hear it today, it was amazing.

there were bunches of balloons around the hall, lemonade in cups, and chocolates, small biscuits and lollies etc to eat, and this was followed by a potato dish in a mustard type sauce

presented on salad leaves…very yummy and one of my favourite peruvian dishes( i think someone there knew somehow).   of course they did.

anyway i start to go around the circle of mums with small children saying goodbye to them one by one, and still the shreaking of the whistles continues.

The mums were teary, and so was i …. i was a mess, but it was a moment i will never forget and will cherish.  

Griselda was the master of ceremonies, and started the speeches, which were then added to by quite a few of the mums… one at a time.

Even big julie  had things to say( poor love), she had to turn away from me as she was really emotional as she said what she had to say. it was amazing, and i was feeling very humble

and loved this night.

they presented me with a giant gold watch type clock, which i now have displayed in my office at home.

the mums thank me for the cooking classes and for all the fun we shared, for showing them love, and for loving the kids, for making them enjoy cooking again etc etc.

and then they all ask if i will return??????????????????????????????????

i replied to them through gabriel translating, and told them how blessed i was to have had the time with them on the hill.

i told the story of the cross, and how it was designed…… with the view from the locale being carved onto the cross……

and how everyone who moves either up or down the hill each day passed by the path with the small cross half way up the hill behind the houses…

 to make it truely a one off las lomas cross.

and asked them to keep going to bible classes, and all the other activities in the place, and to never forget to do all things under the cross on the hill.

the party did not go for too long as it was a tuesday night, and that meant decipleship training class, so while this was happening inside, gabriel and i hung out, outside with some of the older boys.

i let the kids have control of the camera, and they took some great shots.

boy was it getting even colder outside, i was frozen by the time the class had finished.

one of the mums offered her drill kit, so she brought it down, and i said that we would mount the cross early tomorrow morning before flying home to Australia.

One more time going down the hill, to drop off letti and rositta for the last time. then into soleys to make a much needed  toilet stop,and to bid them farewell…soley and cesar.

and of course soley, just happened to nock up a wonderful light meal of chicken salad filled avocadoes…wow was this good or what….. fantastic.

Soley  let me know on numerous occasins today that Julie and I would be most welcome to come and stay with them on our return to ventinilla.

then it was back to our casa, to finish packing the suitcases,  and tidying up my room.

tried to have an early night, but hey it is Peru.

I set the alarm for 5am, must get that cross attached in the morning, and have to be at the airport by 10 am for a 1pm flight…….first of three to get back to melbourne.

what an emotional day today, lots of thoughts flying around inside my head, lots of memories, lots of love, lots of faces.

UP EARLY AND OFF TO POTENTIAL CHURCH for the last time.

its always a long trip in , in the van…..just rodo and trev today.

most of the youth group will be there already, as dan hires a bus each sunday to get them all into lima.

feeling a bit alone today,        the message was great again, and so was the singing.

after church its time to start the farewell process, with those i have met during the trip.

a few hugs and a few kisses, and even a couple of pics.

then off to lunch at chili…… with dan and rodo and his girlfriend jessica.

going good until dan asks the question well when are you coming back?

its really hard to explain… but my eyes well up and i have a lump in my throat.

i say that i would like to come back next year and he replies, ?????? january???//

he says….trev tell me what your thinking…….. that is such a hard thing to listen too……    

i tell him, that is such a hard question to be asked, and how i always get told that i never share what it is i am thinking.( just ask julie?).

i cant say a word, i feel like i will just blubber……..so i dont say anything.

sometimes you dont have to say words for the other person to probaably know what it is that you want to say… i think it happened like that today.

then it was time to return to the hill and join the ladies for a service of worship( for the last time).

we still have not got the cross attached to the wall??????? can i possibly get it done by monday sometime???? i hope so….

the singing was great again, except they never handed out the song sheets( in spanish), so it was not easy to sing along today……

i had to keep looking out the window, as my eyes welled up again………..xome to think of it my eyes have been feeling veery over worked already today.

down the hill we go,and drop all the girls home, then turn around and off into town to the cdv church service….. on this occasion i ask soley if she would like to come along,

she has had an up and down emotional few days… and she says yes.      on the way we pick up a canadian guy and his girlfriend that gabriel met last year.

and we arrive late at church, but still get to share some of their fantastic music………another good sermon and message. then out for a quick bite to eat just the five of us.

you guessed it for chicken….everyone in peru always eat chicken……….

we have a great talk around the table about god moments, and how gabriel and this canadian guy met last october in peru.

we arrive home late again , nad straight to bed.   

must write a list of things to do on the  last day that i visit the hill……..not looking forward to this last day/ but then again i have to have a last day, its all part of the plan.

TODAY IS A GO SLOW DAY.  my main job today will be to print off about 40 or so A4 sized pics to leave on the wall on the hill.

and it takes me until after lunch sometime to complete these( and laminate them.

so hard choosing 40 from aver 3500,  but hey i got it done.   the memories flood back of each day, each person, each activity, each laugh, each moment that the pics were clicked.

then up to the hill for childrens ministries, junior youth group and youth group.

another good afternoon/night of fantastic numbers……god is still good on this hill.

back to soleys to practise skype, so that she feels confident when i am not around…..gabriel can then later run through facebooking etc… and  hotmailing….we will bring this old girl( 61)

up to date with communications. 

two more days on the hill. wow.

Oh no,      the end of the week……………only one full weekend to go…..and a monday…. then out to the aeropourto by 10 am on tuesday for the first of three flights to get home to wantirna.

i am feeling very emotional today, wow and its only te first few minutes so far.

up to the hill, hopefully to finish carving the cross today, and yes we did it, it is finished.

now its time to varnish it, a few hands on deck to help out with the task.    oh and i forgot to say that yesterday i tried…..and i think that i did actually repair the lecturn.

it was looking very rickety, and the whole top kept falling apart.  a few nails and a thick coat of varnish was all it needed…..see if it is still in one piece for sunday afternoons

worship service.

last friday afternoon childrens activities, all i wanted to do was turn away and have a little cry….. but too many people everywhere.

on the way down the hill,  i get dropped off at soleys awaiting gabriel ( returning from Lima) with soleys computer tower replacement.

she cooks us a very simple dinner of chicken and egg in a roll and a te. ah the te…. just the thing i needed.

we talk around the table for about 1.5 hours about this and about that.

she is just so happy to have the new computer( that she could never afford).     she says that trev and marg are just so good to her, to which i reply….soley  you are only being repaid for all the love

and kindness and devotion that she shows to everyone on the  hill ( they love her up the hill)….she is such a lovely lady.

she tells me that julie and trev are always welcome to live in her house in peru…. with her and cesa.

another late night,   my project for saturday is to print off on the computer a4 size pictures from my time on the hill, and laminate them and display them on a wall at the local( remember the place on the hill).

i will also…… try and get lots of pics printed at a one hour place for an album for the coffee table on the hill.

last childrens ministries tomorrow on the hill in the afternoon…… oh boy……. i will miss these times, and the kids……better take a few hankies with me…. oh…

they are all in the wash ready for farewells on  sunday/ monday and tuesday……….

Well i got up early today, and i really wanted to get up the hill early to work on the cross.

only thing was that gabriel would not wake up or get up.  ( skypes all night to holly)…. true love……he is besotted totally and good on him.

So i am really lucky to be given his car keys and i drive myself all the way to las lomas…… first time ever driving a left hand drive car.

fantastic freedom, no worries in the world, overtaking combies and moto’s, even the occasional toot to blend in with the place.

get to the hill, put on the music, and a keetle for a cuppa te,  after an hour or more a couple of the mums join me…griselda nad her sister julie.

we all work away with the wood, and later a couple of the little guys join us as well……..i think this all happened on the wednesday but come to think of it i think it was tomorrow( thursday 21st july).

sorry about that guys……cant really remember what happened on wednesday.

home for a late lunch, then into town to try and buy a few things for the hill…..

a large rubber floor mat for the main entrance, a clock( which i could not find), two mirrors for the toilets, a couple of stackable containers for things an for the aprons and chefs hats.

and a small electric mini drill come carving  tool,     with a fully flexible arm and all.

then off to a computer mart to try and get a new computer for soley…..hers is so old and ancient that it is not possible to skype on, come to think of it , it is not much good for anything.

then we get stuck in the rush hour traffic of lima, and decide to sit it out in the car for 45 minutes, ( good time for me to read the instruction sheets for the new tool), what a bonus the instructions

just happened to be also in english. thankyou God.

Time is drawing near to leaving peru…. one week to go today… wow…. where did all those 81 days go?

what was i doing?

did i know all the things i was  going to do before i left australia?

I had no idea whats Gods plans included for me in Peru, but boy he kept me busy, introduced me to some fantastic people, opened my eyes yet again and totally blessed me.

I now have the duty of sharing everything with the people i come up against when back home.

it’s going to be hard for the first few days, its just the way it is, and the way it has to be.

busy carving the cross again today.

I have never carved anything in my life, but some how , God tapped me on the shoulder but again, with the( his suggestion), of carving a cross for the people on the hill.

i can remember one day arriving on the hill and looking back across the basketball court to see the dirt path that winds up the side of one of the barron hills……and thought

to myself now that is what the people of las lomas see everyday when coming or going from the hill.  Right opposite the combi( bus) stop which is next to a group of half fallen down

stalls that back onto the basket ball court/ soccer court??????? which is just outside the front doors of the building on the hill…oh and the name of the building( i finally now know

of its name)…….the local…….. what a good name……

must go.

so i penned onto  a piece of paper a rough design of the hills, and the path…….which has a small cross half way up………….    that was to be the design.

i can remember buying the wood, and  looking for a shop to buy some chissells…..we already had a few hammers….   what else would i need??????

maybe some children and some of the mums to help out,  some music in the background and some time by myself to think it through and start working

with the couple of pieces of wood and the one little sketch  with ideas.

Well i am now down to about i week left in peru.

the cross in now coming together,  and the business has slowed down some.

i have plenty of time to think, and reflect on what has been/ will be.

also time to take one more look at this and that, one more time to listen to this music and that person, one more time to take it all in.

through it all i have felt the prayer from others, the hands of god on my shoulders, and dust of the hill on my feet and shoes.

i have felt the wind blow up the hill, the cloud stick to the hill in the mornings and in the evenings.

thats all i am blogging today

a lovely sleep in again today, a light breakfast of porridge and a lovely cld shower to fully wake me up.

then gabriel and i take a drive for just under two hours around an area to the north of ventanilla to a place or area called pachacutec.

you will see some of the pics on facebook……took about 286 in that time , but culled it down to about 158 or so. 

i tried to take lots of activities in the streets, shots of the long and steep lanes, and some of the longer shots all the way down to the coastline.

this area and ventanilla house about 750,000 people in very basic housing, which sometimes is only protected from the wind and elements by cardboard roofing, or plastic film,

they use  bits and pieces of whatever they can to construct their dwellings.    i hope to get printed a book of pictures of the faces of ventanilla and surrounds, the buildings, the people

the children..

then it was off into lima for a pasta meal…..while watching brasil get defeated by paraguay in the quarter final of the south americas cup of soccer.

everyone in the restaurant was shocked when brasil lost……..it was down to penalty shootouts,   as the score was both teams nill.    brasil never miss a goal when this happens, but never got

a single goal in the shootout.

travelled further into lima, to the inka market.       poor marg bought a lovely nativity set which got smashed in transit to australia and asked for a replacement if i could fit it into my baggage.

then off to a night church service at cdv church…..

the music is amazing, i will try and take a video next sunday night. the message was translated( but didnt really nned it as it was from an american 78 year old paster) into spanish.

and wouldnt you know it the headphones with translating worked really good tonight.

dropped into the little hamburger stall for dinner in the car on the way home, and as usual had a great talk about many things with my bro gabriel.

loaded the days pics from my camera into the computer and set to work with the culling process, then uploaded to facebook.

( seems betty grewcock was online  shortly after the upload and made comments).

gabriel is a real servant of god, he is totally amazing, and i will surely miss his company when i return to australia.

nothing is too much to ask of him, he is always so willing to help you out with whatever, whenever, how best he can.

he knows i love taking pics, and would always be on the lookout for what i keep calling the perfect shot, he would reverse the car, or re drive a street, wait for the chickens or children to be in

just the right spot.

i was starting to feel a little bad at taking shots and driving around the slum areas of these hills, i felt like i was intruding on their territory, yet i felt the call to take pics, and to share them with

people who need and want to know about how it really is over here.

why has god made such differences in the way people have to live, in the way people have to cope, in the way in which  people have to suffer?    why why why why????

i am starting to feel ashamed of being an australian…….with our high level of living, our well paid jobs, our gadgets, our two cars for most families, or large houses, our large blocks of land,

our investments, our ease of travelling vast distances, or chances to travel overseas.

but then i realise that, because of all these things, we can have our eyes opened, our hearts tugged apon, and our faith strengthened, especially if we offer a hand of friendship, offer financial

assistance, travel on mission trips to make a difference, and to share gods word with people of different languages and countries.

who of you reading this blogg would be prepared to stop what you are doing, and seriously consider travelling to peru…. to las lomas actually and sharing your life, your faith and your

bellongings with the people that live in dust, and dirt, in tiny dwellings , with deseased dogs roaming everywhere, and where people go hungry because thats the lot they have been delt in life?

i know god will be travelling back to peru with me, and that i have lots of projects to accomplish for him, with his people over here.

i think god has shown me the place where i will live, how will i get it?   will it still be available?  will that be the time that the coffee shop dream comes true?   

will that be the time that the ladies on the hill will have employment?  will that be the time that the school on the hill is built?  will that be the time that the school will be staffed?

at north ringwood uniting church we have a sign above the doors when we go out, which reads…. MAKE A DIFFERENCE…..

and you know the other saying ……NO PAIN  NO GAIN  ?

i am starting to feel very sad at the thought of having to leave these people on the hill……..for a while…….. i hope not for too long.

but i am also so blessed that i have been allowed to share three months of my life , serving, shareing , laughing and crying , painting, cooking, teaching, walking, soccering, talking,

singing, travelling, …..must go to bed. its late.

A sleep in today, then off into Lima to sit in with gabriel as he attends to a live in australia seminar…….

this runs in a hotel from 11 am till about 1pm    , and was full of information on different types of visas to apply for and all that sort of detail.

gabriel comes away feeling a little low, as the requirements are complicated, and the expenses are great, and the time frame is very drawn out for application

through to possible acceptance.

He would dearly love to travel to australia or usa  to study and or work and to make money that is not available in peru, and then to return to peru to assist as many as he could

as they struggle.  Please pray for him, that he seeks gods will in his life…..as to the future he is to live out.

a quuick shop at metro for home supplies, then back to ventinilla and up the hill for the childrens ministries  on the hill.

two of the mums take the childrens and junior youth groups today………and how well they do it is totally amazing…. blown away… about 30 little kids for 1 hour followed by 1.5 hours

with about 53 junior youth. god is working in this here hills.        check out facebook for the latest pics of the childrens and junior youth.

then onto the youth group down the hill at the back of a school building, again about 90 kids in attendance.   and again amazing at how the leaders( all kids from the hill/ and from the soccer team

put together such eventfull nights each week.    the laughter, screaming, loud music, muffins and drinks, prayers and themes  all blend in to make a great night.

get home late, check out the fridge for something for dinner……about 1030 pm, talk a bit , then off to bed…. tomorrow is another day.