Roof Dog Trip 2009

As many of you know, I had the opportunity to travel to Arequipa, Peru with my mother-in-law and a group from her church. We traveled from February 14th-22nd, and it was an absolutely amazing experience.

I went on my first mission trip when I graduated High School and ever since then I have had such a "tugging" to go back on more mission trips. I never really had the super strong urge until recently and I found out from Toni that I was able to go with her church. After much prayer, I decided to go.

For the week while we were there, we just spent that time loving on these beautiful kids. There are a total of 28 orphans split into two orphanages. The "casa" for the older kids (13 and older) is called Sagrada Familia, and the younger "casa" is San Jose. Both of these orphanages are overseen from an amazing couple from Christ Church Plano who moved down there to be closer to the work. CCP has built the orphanage for the kids and are actually in the process of looking to build another, sturdier, orphanage. They also run fundraisers and drives to raise money for the kids.

Many of the precious children came from horrible backgrounds, but I believe the Lord is taking these terrible pasts and transforming them in to beautiful stories. When we were down there it was so awesome to hear the dreams and goals these kids have. Many of them wouldn't open up or trust anybody in past years, but this year they seemed to be more trusting of the Roof Dogs.

I guess I owe you an explanation of where the Roof Dog name came from. In that part of Peru, the dogs sleep on the roofs in order to protect the home. Their sole purpose is to watch over their house and family and protect them fiercely. Well, on the very first Roof Dog trip 5 years ago, a few of the people in the group climbed up to the roof of the hotel we stay at every year. When they were up there, they had the revelaton that they were Roof Dogs in a way, sent there to protect the kids of the Casas Hogares and show them Christ's love.

Anyways, it was such a great week. To make this post a little less long, I will just give a brief synopsis of what we did. We reiterated over and over how much God loves them and treasures them. We did a ton of crafts, making picture frames, beaded necklaces, shields, etc. One "Roof Dog" is a hair stylist, and she used her gifts to cut every single one of the children's hair while we were there. What a blessing! The kids loved it! We also took them horse back riding, took them to the park, and even got to take them to see a movie! (Never thought we'd get the chance to do that!)

We also brought clothes, shoes, and backpacks for the kids. That was a lot of fun. It was awesome because we had to guess on the sizes. We were off only on 1 kiddo - all the others fit great! How's that for a God-thing?

Last but not least, another Roof Dog and I had the privilege to share our testimonies with the older kids. I really felt I needed to share mine, but at the same time it felt so insignificant to her's. It's awesome how God works, though, doesn't it? I know that He used both of our words to connect to the kids, on different levels, but on very crucial areas.

I can't wait to go back next year, God willing! Daniella and me - she captured my heart right from the start!

Julio Cesar with the new shoes he picked out.

Me and the Roof Dogs teaching the kids "Pharaoh, Pharaoh" - this was part of the VBS we did.

Daniel, Angela, and Areleis - beautiful, beautiful girls

Oh my goodness, sweet Juan Diego! Love him so much!