Hello, hello! Joy are you there?

by Joanna Lackey

They made it!!!!!! Tommy Smith, Joy, Zeke and the translator started from Huaraz this morning and arrived in Tapacocha around 1pm our time - Peru does not observe Daylight Savings Time, so they are one hour behind us right now. Joy emailed before they left Tommy's place. She said that the bus ride from Lima to Huaraz on Tuesday took 9 hours, but it was actually a nice, air-conditioned bus and they even showed a movie!!! She also told us that Huaraz is beautiful with snow-capped mountains all around. Then she called from the pay phone in Tapacocha this afternoon. We only talked for a minute or maybe two and the silly thing cut us off. Then she called back and it cut us off again. I guess that unlike pay phones here it doesn't give an option of inserting more coins - when your time's up it just disconnects!

We learned just yesterday that when the team arrived in Tapacocha on Sunday they found out that the school had been closed as a precaution for Swine Flu - although there were no cases in or around Tapacocha. I have no other details on that until the team gets back or maybe Joy or Zeke will report what they know tomorrow. However, I'm sure that development changed Shane's strategy for the team, as the children of the village have been quite open to the gospel being shared by our other teams.

Also, we were made aware today that Nathan Shireman, LifePoint's Connections Director, who was part of the team, became violently ill with motion sickness on the flight from Columbus to Chicago on Saturday. He was not able to continue the trip and rode a bus back to Columbus - so sorry for Nathan!

The team is to leave Tapacocha for Lima in the morning, spend the night in Lima and do the touristy thing - shopping - Friday. They leave Lima very early - 1:20am - Saturday morning and finally get in to Columbus Saturday afternoon. Joy, Zeke and the translator will drive back to Huaraz with Tommy. They'll have to let us all know when they are to return to Tapacocha for their first 2 weeks of ministry. Please continue to pray for the team, Joy and Zeke, the translator and Tommy as they travel. And pray that the kids will be able to indentify God's activity in Tapacocha and work with Him there!