My second time in Peru was amazing. I travelled with a team of 26 others from two of our local churches. We spent a week serving in Lima with the ministry, The Lily and The Sparrow.

Many days, we worked out of a community center in the district of Carabayllo, on the outskirts of Lima. The ministry uses this center to host workshops for parents and families, to train the community on trafficking prevention, and to give the kids a place for crafts, games and other activities.

Below is a photo of me with the mural I got to paint at the entrance on the outside of the community center!

On our first day, we drove from our hostel in Lima to the community of Carabayllo. Though the locations are only 8 miles apart, it took us two hours one way to get from one to the other. We got to meet the team that works there year round and introduce ourselves. The drama team rehearsed the skits we’d be performing in the schools throughout the week. Then, I spent hours painting children’s faces while watching our team play futbol with others.

Throughout the week, I got to love on the community of Carabayllo by visiting many of the schools. For the younger students, we performed skits that innocently demonstrated the dangers of human trafficking. We dressed as Anna, Elsa, Olaf and Hans to show how easily Anna was pulled away from her best friends by a man that did not have good intentions for her. 

Photos of our programs in two of the schools.

A photo of a hallway inside of The Lily and The Sparrow Drop-In Center.

Thursday evening, our team visited the Drop In Center in downtown Lima where trafficking victims can go at any time to receive help, resources and care. Afterward, a small group of women on our team hosted an event at a nearby restaurant for sex trafficking survivors. Hearing first-hand the accounts of these women was heartbreaking at best. I was forced to face the atrocities that many are put through daily, at no fault of their own. Yet again, their joy was evident. It was so inspiring to me. 

The English translation of a song shared during our event.

Throughout the week and that night especially, I learned the power of testimony and just how much strength it takes to put one’s story into words– to own it & embrace the freedom that Jesus offers in spite of it all. I got to see how one person’s honest testimony can beautifully impact the life of someone else. Since being home, I’ve found myself often thinking of the smiling faces of those women and the countless children I got to befriend for a week. I miss the team that I spent a week living with and getting to know deeply. There aren’t quite words to express the power of such a strong community and the intimacy of late night conversations about our Savior. I can’t wait for the day I get to return<3

W/ Love, Sailor!