Peru

It has been awhile since I posted.  October was very busy and it culminated in a mission trip to Peru.  I was honored to be a part of a conference on international finance and economics at San Marcos University - the most left-leaning, socialist, communist university in all of Peru.  It was as very different mission trip than I have been on before but we definitely saw God move.  Americans are not usually allowed to speak at San Marcos.  We had an all day conference with 200 students.  Six of us spoke at it and we also spent time interacting with the students on breaks.  As we spoke, we explained our views by speaking our of Christian faith and using bible verses.  I spoke on Working in a Global Marketplace. At the end, a student leader I had particularly connected with spontaneously shared her testimony with the entire conference.  My teared up as she was sharing knowing how bold she was being. She thanked me afterwards for as we shared that day she realized that her belief in God and what she was studying were not mutually exclusion but could go together and it gave her the boldness to share.

We were able to spend the rest of the trip learning more about Peru and it's culture. That Wednesday we flew from Lima to Cusco in the Andes.  We had a city tour of the cathedral and an Incan temple that the Spanish turned into a Catholic church.  As well as a bus tour into nearby Saqsaywaman archelogocial park to see three Incan ruins.

Thursday we took a tour of The Sacred Valley.  We got to go to three Incan ruins and did a lot of hiking and stairs.  There were amazing views.  The Andes are different than any other mountains I have ever seen - very sheer.

The last day we took the train from Cusco to Machu Picchu.  It was incredible.  Never even imagined I would visit there.  It hard to capture how tall and sheer the mountains are where it is situated.  It was an amazing trip and a wonderful team to share it with!