From Peru with Love Part 9 "After Effects"

When I was asked "How was the Mission Trip to Peru"? I had to say "It is too hard to describe in a few words" I can safely say that the mission trip touched all of our hearts and minds!

I am currently blest and a bit overwhelmed by the response of e-mails from our new Peruvian friends. Several of the Peruvians Internet Messages me everyday.

I enjoy getting e-mails from all of them, but my favorites are our translaotrs Alex and Daniel and Miguel the worship leader! I enjoyed Miguels child like excitement for GOD will for his life and how he was emotional and excited for Machu Pichu! Escpecially how nervous he was before the plane ride, and how taken back he was by the town of "Cusco"! He stated how magical it felt to him!

Alex rocks and his music is enjoyable. Alex not only translates but he plays in a band and send me a cool music track via e-mail. Alex is so close to accepting Christ! My friend Nate Howard wjho was also one of our team members, gave Alex a englidh/spansih bible to read. Alex stated that he will be reading it from front to back:)

Daniel is incredible kind and has a great heart! His smile is very warm and friendly and I enjoyed how he helped me with my passion to learn another language. We first talked about my trip to Berlin, Germany and he burned a copy of "Beginning German" for me.

All of our new Peruvian froiends ROCK! THe kids were a blast and we loved how much attention they gave us and how sincerely interested they were in our lives!

They state how much we were a blessing to them, and we state how much they were a blessing to us!

They live so poorly and in harsh conditions and they are sincerely happy! Mostly the christian Peruvians! In american we Christians live so richly, but we tend to be so miserable!

After being there for the week, I was reminded YET again how discontent I am and how I bury myself in junk to entertain myself from boredom. My good friend Nate Howard, is planning to help me post most of my stuff on e-bay and/or other sites to get rid of the unneeded stuff this coming Wednesday.

Will this make me more content? No, but in my attempt to stay satified, I amassed many collectible stuff. I figure with less stuff, I can actually spend more of my time on GOD and less on the unused junk in my life, and see GOD more clearly. Our stuff can easily turn into idols in our lives.

In Peru I noticed that our american marketing was affecting the unsaved Peruvians, as some of them stated that if they had more money, they would be happy. I was shocked by the living conditions some of them had, and yet they had cable tv!

I was told a story of a family that was so poor in another country that all they had was a tent, but for some odd reason, they were able to afford a satelite dish and get Dish Network! How twisted is that. I blame our messed up society and our own individual wicked hearts. We are so selfish and one of the things we do is dig in so deep to materialism that we are trapped in a hole and can't see clearly enough the needs of others.

On a more enlightened note, I was glad to see that a little money went a long way in Peru! The mission support paid for big meals made by our loving hosts, two pre-made homes were built, a roof replaced, souls were won for Christ, and the town of Bonengra became brighter by GODs light!

I am very thankfully for GOD blessing us by being a pioneer team and assisting the Community Church named "Cristo Vive" (Christ Lives) They are currently waiting to hear back from GCLA about being apart of our many churches!:)

I just received an e-mail from that crazy love creature from Silvia's IM. He says, thank you!

Next Time; Tobi Time! A 15 part storyline!

Peace!

Keith

From Peru with Love Part 8 "Meet Adam Craven"

Pictured above; Adam Craven and Teresa

Adam Craven! Keeping love alive during our Peru mission trip! Adam is one of my favorite Peru Mission team members and a good friend! According to "Rap Fella" (Raphael) the Arch Angel, Adam was well protected from the unintentionally harmful effects of the love creature from heaven. The love energy around Adam grown stronger for him in Peru.

That creature is safely back in Peru and calming the gangs once again.

In Peru, everyone was impressed by how every Peruvian loved Adam Craven, especially the women, and girls. They stated that he has beautiful eyes!

I was impressed by how well him and Israel, and Miguel got along. They hung out alot. And Adam was one of the favorites with the kids of VBS, and the host familes!

The love in Peru was fantastic and it was more than I ever seen in America. It would take a months worth of love in America to match a days worth of love in Peru!

My friend Adam is gifted in art, one on one conversations, and has excellent knowledge of GODs word. He is very humble and he has a large heart for people! It was a good thing that Adam was well during and after the Peru mission trip since he had a big mission ahead of him that would take alot of energy and time! "School of ROCK" kids were being organized to do two Art works shops! Our hope is to get these kids to express themselves creatively and hopefully have artwork for the upcoming Artshow on April 27th.

We are not entirely sure why only three of us (Adam, Leon, and I) were not effected by the unintentionaly harmful effects of the love creature, but we do know GOD had his hand of us three for health reasons, and thankfully all of us team members were protected in the hostile neighbor of Bonengra. The gangs are very rough, according to our hosts, our translators, and Carlos Gomez, our point man.

Adam Craven ROCKS, and hopefully he won't have too many Peruvian ladies busting down his door? LOL

Next Time; From Peru with Love Part 9 "After Effects"

Peace!

Keith

From Peru with Love Part 7 "Problems and Solutions"

In Peru we experienced a number of problems. One of the major ones was our team trying to adjust to the food and living conditions. Explosive diarrhea was unfortunately an ongoing experience for many on the team. Some team memebers needed to lay out for almost a whole day.

Solutions to this problem came in the way of drugs and lots of prayer.

Another experience that looked like a problem was the living situations in Peru. My american endrenched mind was working overtime on how we in America could improve their lives! Then I received clarification. I am wishing my life on theirs. Although my life is not that great but with Christ it is great! Most of the Peruvians who were living below the poverty line were happy. The ones who were miserable were comparing their lives to us "Rich Americans" and they thought that if they have more, they will be happy.

I was overjoyed to hear that over 40 Peruvians in Bonengra accepted Christ!

O'Malley shared the info to me on what is happening. Apparently the little creature I finally spotted is Peruvian. He noticed our team come in and immediately his powers went to work. This creature is an embodiment of "love from da heavens above"! According to "Rap Fella"!

What transpired is in emitting his powers to soften our hearts and let love in, it accidently softened something else. Our body systems run a little differently than Peruvians do, so while the team experienced explosive results, the Peruvians we experiencing peace, especially the gangs. GOD was definately a large part of this, but he sent this little creature down since it did request to help Peru.

When we were leaving it grew attached to us, just like the Peruvians did and smuggled itself on board to my suitcase. Since it was mostly spirit it did not weight anything but its physical form left a shape and created footprints wherever it went.

Unfortunately we have a dilemmia, because the creature was calming the gangs of Bonengra, and with it gone, chaos was happening. With it in North Minneapolis, they never experienced such peace.

Rap Fella and O'Malley make the scene!

O'Malley; Time to do your work "Rap Fella"

Rap Fella; I made da scene ta make everything clean!

The creature was sad that it had to leave, but it was glad to see these gang member play nice for once. Rap Fella extended his hands and O'Malley and I received word from our contacts in the hospital that all cases of diarrhea were disappearing! Rap Fella and the creature of "Love" flew back to Peru to help calm the gangs in Bonengra.

I then remembered that I forgot to ask why Leon, Adam and myself were not affected by the misapplied love?

O'Malley had the answer. He stated that Leon and I were preventing everything by drugs. Adam had a different thing going! As Seth had stated "Some people got and Adam has all of it"! Adam had the "Love going on strong, to the point of many ladies in Peru swooning over him"!

Next Time From Peru with Love Part 8 "Meet Adam Craven"

Peace!

Keith

From Peru with Love Part 6 "Follow the Footprints"

I was going through some of my photos and I found a picture of these footprints. These prints showed up in my of my photos. What ever I brought back must of been with us the entire time we were in Peru?

O'Malley was having a blast with his new friend. He happens to be a angel who likes to be hip with Rap Music! He goes by "Rap Fella"! His name kind of sounds alot like Raphael?

I was very unsure about this angelic help, since he rhymed everything he said. It was hard to take him seriously.

Keith; Yo! Rap Fella! Can you enlight us to what is happening?

Rap Fella; What ya seek iz actually meek. It wuz yo' teams charm dat meant ya nahh harm.

Keith; What do you mean by our charm? Was it protecting us?

Rap Fella; It wuz appointed ta keep ya team from being disjointed!

O'Malley; What can we do to stop this?

Rap Fella; Yo...

Keith; I apologize for interupting but this rapping and rap music is giving me a headache! O'Malley, can you interpret the info from our new friend "Rap Fella" and get back to me? I need to get some fresh air!

I grap an air bike (it is like a hover car but looks like a motor bike) and I decide to follow the footprints from my neighborhood.

I find that the footprints are slightly washed away, but still tracable, and it unfortunately takes me into North Minneapolis which can be a very tough neighborhood.

Bonengra was reported to be a very tough and dangerous neighborhood, but our mission team experienced no problems. It was like everyone was subdued.

After about an hour, I notice something very odd? The rival gangs are playing soccer with each other, and it looks like a peaceful game?

I scan the crowd to see if anything stands out, and sure enough, in a crowd of young kids, I see something that looks like a man, but different.

Suddenly my phone rang and it was O'Malley and "Rap Fella"!

O'Malley; I received a bundle of info from our friend! We need to find the "Cryptid" and get it back to Peru pronto!

Next Time; From Peru with Love Part 7 "Problems and Solutions"

Peace!

Keith

From Peru with Love Part 5 "Mountain Top Experiences"

Peru overall was amazing, but when we went to the mountains, it was breathtaking! I miss the mountains! Don't have any mountains in Minnesota. Plenty of hills and bluffs, but no mountains.

I had many mountain top experiences during the missions trip! One of them was helping tear down and build two homes. Another was helping with Vacation Bible School! The kids were great, and amazingly well behaved!

It has been while since places and people really moved me and brought me up to the height of mountains.

Currently O'Malley and I have a "Mountain" of a problem since I accidently let something into the country that is causing people alot of discomfort. O'Malley is looking into files of certain "Incan" gods and godesses. I took the route of crypids. creatures presumed extinct or hypothetical species of creature known from anecdotal evidence and/or other evidence insufficient to prove their existence with scientific certainty. The slang term "cryptid" was first coined in 1983 by John Wall.

We ruled out the possibly of one of the kids from the neighborhood climbing into the suitcase due to the weight restriction. They would of been pulled out at the airport checked luggage area.
I flashback to another "Mountain Top Experience" of visiting a shanty town near the ocean. Even though these people lived in shacks in very poor conditions, they were still joyful and there was fours boys that stated that they read the bible and memorized bible verses. Pastor Arturo shared a good message with us about the area, and this message was hopeful.

O'Malley and I were striking out on research and a solution to what this thing might be? This reminds me of how we tried to figure out why our team was sick and having a hardtime recovering. Could this be a spiritual attack? Did I carry back a demon in my suticase?

I then received a e-mail from one of our translators in Peru, Alex, and he stated that the gangs in the area of Bonenegra were causing major problems and acting like they lost their minds. Many gang wars were breaking out. Very odd?

Time Agent O'Malley; Keith, I just got word that the hospitals are filling up with people experiencing explosive diarehea!!!

Keith; Oh Oh! We better figure this out fast?

O'Malley; Maybe we can call on help from above?

Keith; What do you mean?

O'Malley; I was given an ability to call to heaven to bring help when needed.

O'Malley made the request for help, and instantly a bright shining light pierced the sky. As the figure descended, I hear odd music? It sounded like rap music?

Bright Shining Man; Yo! Yo! Yo! Bruthers from another mudda! I be here ta assist so da problems do not persist!

Keith thinks; Very odd! This Bright Shining man rapped like a hoodlum, but he was as white as a norweigan! He is wearing a baseball cap on backwards, and baggy pants with lots of bling!

O'Malley; Who are you?

Bright Shining Man; Names "Rap Fella"! I'm yo' man who has got da plan!

Keith; What did we get ourselves into?

Next Time; From Peru with Love "Follow the Footprints"

Peace!

Keith

From Peru with Love Part 4 "Team Up"

Pictured from left to right; Ann and Seth, Kelsey, Nate, Leon, Me, Marc, Justin, Andrea, Dan, Adam, Jodi, Ben, Alyssa, and Emily.

As I mentioned earlier, I team ROCKed! I love each and everyone of our team members! Carlos Gomez and Marc Holtey really organized us well, and we split into three different teams on some of the days. With some of our members laid low from what we believed might be the food, the other team members pulled with their full strength! GOD really worked us well!

One of my favorite team ups was with Marc, Justin, Leon, Adam, Nate, Andrea, and Alyssa. We were at the second home site, and Leon was pulling down the roof. Andrea and Alyssa were sharing the gospel with onlookers, and Nate and I took a break from the physical labor and were praying for Andrea and Alyssa's effectiveness.

Back home here in the states, on a Sunday, I was teaming up with Lizzy to try and figure out if this thing that came back in my luggage was still in the house or not. We tracked the mud prints and noticed that the footprints head out of the neighborhood. This can't be good for the city? We prayed and I quickly went to one of the Galileen Time Agency's sites to see if there was any news?

After several hours, nothing turned up and I tried the "Men in Black' website. Too much info to shift thru. I made a call to the agency and let them know what happened. They stated that they would let me know if anything came up?

I flashback to Peru and remember another team up were Miguel brought Nate with him to meet a friend. I forgot to ask Nate about this one. Maybe I will remeber to aske at house church.

Probably the ultimate team up had to be Carlos Garcia and Marc Holtey! They really helped hold the team together, and organized us well...in my opinion!

I receive a call from the agency and I am asked twenty questions from Time Agent O'Malley. He asked me were I was in Peru and if I took photos? I stated that I would send all the photos to him via Yahoo photos, so he could examine each one. O'Malley stated that he would be over and we would need to team up on this case.

This turned into a case? As far as I know it could of been one of the kids from Bonenegra stowing away in my luggage, but then the kid would have to way much less than 25 pounds, and I don't see that as being realistic.

O'Malley stated that he suspects what it maybe, and asked if we visited any Incan sites. I stated "Yes"! we visited two sites. Sacsayhuamán (also known as Saksaq Waman) O'Malley chuckled! And Machu Picchu; sometimes called the "Lost City of the Incas")

O'Malley went silent for a moment and then asked if we experienced any sickness while we were in Peru.

I stated most of our team experienced explosive diarrhea and some had vomitted.

O'Malley stated that hospitals are reporting a record number of emergency rooms full of people experiencing explosive diarreha! Thankfully no vomitting!

What did I bring back with me???

Next Time! From Peru with Love Part 5 "Moutain Top Experiences"

Peace!

Keith

From Peru with Love Part 3 "Community"

Our team in Peru was awesome. I did notice that after many days together it was looking like a reality tv show. Nerves were wearing thin, but thankfully Christ held us together and GOD's grace was sufficient for us all!

The community of Boneneca was amazing! What looks like a bombed out city is actually a slow build in progress of what they can afford. The Peruvians build their houses straight up, by building upon the existing structure. It was good to see the families working together.

I also enjoyed the food. I find it hard to understand how one can be joyful spending the majority of their day in their kitchen, but they love serving the family and they do it well! Unfortunately not everyone on the team was able to enjoy the food like I did. Most of the team got sick.

Jokingly one of the community bonding moments happened Tuesday night thru early Wednesday morning, as I came to the house for breakfast, the other twelve members of our team reported having a "Explosive Diarrhea Party"! Not exactly my idea of a fun time, but it was their way of copeing by joking about it. Unfortunately many were laid up but the work still got done and many that were sick still pushed themselves and completed projects.

I really enjoyed Mark Darling message on "Disappointment" and I thought about the Peruvians on how they rarely let their circumstances disappoint them. Their main way of life is "Community" and this is where we got to witness alot of Boneneca's warmth.

I arrived at our annual all church gathering and it was good to see the many faces that I rarely get to see on a weekly basis. The message of going "Back" and then towards the "Future" was clever, and I hope to see the church in Boneneca grow in this way?

After a greasy meal at "Little T's" I got back home and found my roomie Lizzy, watching movies. I asked him some questions about the suitcase.

Keith; Hey Lizzy, I appreciate the humor, but how did you do it?

Lizzy; ??? What are you talking about?

Keith; My suitcase and then the muddy footprints.

Lizzy; I have no idea what you are talking about?

Keith; Are you pulling a prank?

Lizzy; I don't have time to pull any pranks, with planning the wedding with Cheryl, working two jobs, and full time church duties! What are you talking about?

Lizzy and I go upstairs as I show him the suitcase, and then I show him the dried mud footprints on the patio. Lizzy went pale, and stated that he did not do this and was wondering where this thing might be?

Keith; Looks like we got a mystery on our hands?

Next Time; From Peru with Love "Team Up"

Peace!

Keith

From Peru with Love Part 2 "Memorable Moments"

Pictured; (From left to right) Jose, Daniel, Jodi, Justin, Dan, Ben, Nate and Leon.

I don't seem to be missing anything? It is very odd that I would have space for a body in my suitcase and still make the weight requirement of under 50 pounds?

I don't remember leaving my suitcase unattended? Very odd? I best check around the house and see if maybe it was a prank from my roomie Lizzy? It has been four days since we got back and maybe he had someone small enough to lay in the suitcase and form it, and then cover it in clothes for the joke?

Oh well, I will deal with that later! Time to clean up this mess and simply reflect.

One of may favorite moments was seeing the kids at VBS! There was about 52 kids that attended through out the week. Singing songs and playing those crazy activities were they got to run around like wild animals! It was simply a blast!

I feel in love with the town instantly. Even though the city of Boceneca is in a desert and the houses look like a bomb hit, it was still feeling like a home away from home for me.

Another memorable moment is when we went to "Miraflores" the capital city of Lima, Peru, and a number of our team were excited about coffee and icecream! I had an iced chai, since it was warm out and I was in desparate need for caffeine! The place we went to was a shopping center overlooking the ocean.

The translators Alex and Daniel were excellent and very istrumental in helping us communicate to the Peruvians. They are great guys and I hope they geet a chance to work together again and if the church in Boneneca signs on to GCLA, and we are called to go back to the church to help them, I hope we can request these two again?

Building the two houses with the extra support money raised was awesome and it really touched my heart! I wish we had more more to built many more houses, but that is when I needed to thank GOD that thru the support, two prefab houses were made possible! The families that received these houses were not saved, but thankfully showed up at church and we pray that they will continue coming? Jose was very instrumental in getting these house up and operational!

So many memories to talk about, but I spent too much time in reflection and not enough time cleaning up! I wish my roomie would of slowed down enough to help keep the place clean, but unforgenately that seems like too tall of a request order:(

Off to the ROCK, But before I left I noticed something. Muddy footprints on my patio! Not again!!!

Next time! From Peru with Love Part Three "Community"

Peace!

Keith

From Peru with Love Part 1 "Too Peru"

DISCLAIMER; This storyline is not a "blow by blow" account of the mission trip, but mereluy a recollection of the Peru trip with a sci-fi twist:)

I must admit, I was very excited and a bit fearful of our Peru Mission trip. Our team members are Rockers; Jodi Bonkoski, Adam Craven, Leon Dehnke, Nathan Howard, Emily Kurek, Justin Kremer, Kelsey Murray, Andrea Norgren, Alyssa Perry, Ben Robison, Dan Rollins, Ann and Seth Rosenzweig, and our team leader Marc Holtey.

Our flight left the Minneapolis airport around 10am Saturday March 10th. Even though Ben Robison (Soon to be the Time Controller) and myself, are time agents, the Time Agency wanted us to take a break and enjoy serving and vacationing in Lima, Cusco, and Machu Pichu, Peru!

The flight went smoothly and we landed in Altanta for the layover. I was contacted by Kat (a former Rocker) and we were hopeing to connect in the Atlanta, Georgia airport, but unfortunately time was against us, and our flight was ready sooner that we expected. I let Kat know that I would be in touch with her thru "MySpace".

As we landed at the Lima, Peru airport, we were greeted by many of the families and Pastor Carlos Gomez and Pastor Arturo. We took a bus over to the house and it was packed with our luggage and many of the latinos.

It was 1am in the morning as we split into two groups. I went with Seth, and Adam to Pastor Arturo's house. The neighborhood looked like it was hit by a bomb? But it seemed so warm and welcoming. After a good night's sleep it was time for breakfast at the other house at 8am in the morning. I was not used to eating this early:(

On the way over I noticed many stray dogs, and a few cats.

I also hear my a name a few times, but I passed that off as jet lag.

Breakfast was delicious! I love having eggs in the morning. We hit the ground running with projects to help replace the roof of a home directly behind and help run VBS, lead by Miguel!

I was not used to eating so much. Even though the meals were spread through out the day of Breakfast at 8am, Lunch at 1pm and Dinner at either 6:30pm, 8pm or 9pm, I noticed that I don't eat the scheduled. Sometimes I actually miss a meal during the day:(

The familes were awesome and the neighborhood was great. Pastor Carlos Gomez was awesome at organizing everything and Pastor Arturo was awesome and instrumental in keeping us safe! Alex and Daniel were awesome translators and not only kept us safe but taught us alot about the area! Silvia, Esteban, Jose (jr), Fannie, and the other kids were awesome to play with and they warmed our hearts. Miguel was incredibly awesome with the kids! His leading of worship and VBS was excellent! Israel is an awesome servant of the church and the familes. Adam and Israel will probably be lifetime friends!

Currently I am at home on a Friday reflecting on all that transpired, and slowly unpacking since I was so tired during the week. I noticed something very odd! One of my suitcases has the indentations on a human form?

Next Time! From Peru with Love! Part 2 "Memorable Moments"

Peace!

Keith

Thank You!

Hello friends! Thank you once again for reading!

I really enjoyed writing this last story line, and I am eagerly waiting to write the next one, but I plan to take a break and start up again after coming back from Peru.

In late march I will start a 9 part story line!

From March 23rd to March 31st; "From Peru with Love"

God Bless!
Keith