Deborah?

Today was a trying day. In a good way.
The Canadians planned a trip to Trujillo to The Dump and to the Women's Prison.
So Heather and I went along because we are part of the group.
And it was a real day of ministry. I felt like I was in Australia again.
Going to the dump I was a little nervous about the smell because as many of you know, I do not smell through my nose pretty much ever because my sense of smell is so strong already that I do not have to be smelling through my nose to smell some things, they are just that strong. But even though the smell was horrendous, I breathed through my nose because Heather told me it was better too. And the smell was not what was so difficult for me.
It was seeing the houses made of nothing where people lived surrounded by nothing but trash. These men, women and children live and breathe trash every day and work on sorting the trash all day from like 6-6 everyday. Some do not live there but most of them do. And they choose to remain there. I think it is because of deception. They do not believe they are worthy of anything more. They do not see the beauty that Christ has placed inside of them.
Seeing the children, under the age of 5, in there with their parents, standing on so much trash and so many disgusting things. It was heartbreaking.
I felt like I should be crying. I mean my heart was broken and others were crying but I was not. I want more compassion. I feel like I used to have so much more compassion and because of things from my past, I have allowed myself to lose some of that compassion and I do not want that. So I pray God will give me eyes so I can see.
Then we went to the Pastor's land that he is currently building an orphanage on and showed us what they have so far. We prayed for him and shared in his desires and it made me think..."That could be me someday." And it was a beautiful, scary thought.
Then we went to the mall for lunch and I had Papa John's :) Enough said.
Afterwards was the women's prison.
We had to give them our passports when we went inside and they patted us down, like for real patted down.
We sang songs with them, prayed with them, handed out gifts for them, and then they sold us some of their things they had made.
When I went in, I could not help how much they just looked like us.
And I saw children there. Babies. 4 of them.
The babies of women who go to prison have to go with them to prison until they are 3. That broke my heart. Brian and I were like, why are they not in orphanages or something?
Wayne is one of the Canadians and he always asks me to interpret when he prays and it is so difficult and challenging but I am glad for it. I also was able to practice the small phrases I know in spanish that I say to my beautiful best friends, such as, Tu eres muy importante de Dios. Because these women need to know how loved and precious they are.
Afterwards we came back and had dinner at MaryAnne and Tony's. They made really great food and we had amazing fellowship and a time of worship. It was a great way to end a very emotionally draining day.
So much more to contemplate but I needed to write something before I could get any sleep..
Tomorrow is the Canadian's last day, please pray that God blesses it.

P.S. Here are some specific prayer requests that I asked of my church in Oklahoma. If you could be in prayer for these things as well, in agreement, I would appreciate it. Thanks so much...

Avis Goodhart, the founder of Go Ye Ministries, is traveling back to the States to not only go to a doctor to figure her health out, but to get funding for the ministry.
That God would send more godly men to help the ministry. Men that would be good examples to the men here who are trying to live a life for Christ but do not have good examples. And that God would use the men that are already here to make a difference.
That God would guide Heather and myself in what He would want us to do as the schedule will be changing and different opportunities will arise.
Financially the orphanage needs to make some changes but cannot afford it, so that God would provide.
Also, that God would guide me on what I am to do after Peru. I want to stay longer than a year and I am believing for a miracle that God will take care of my loans for ORU. So if you guys could believe with me, I would appreciate that.
For continued good health and God's wisdom, always.
That no deception would be inside of me.