Today we dug a trench at the worksite in the morning.  The people working with us and around us were very helpful, kind and useful.  They would help us when we looked tired even when they had been working just as hard.  They are very efficient and helpful to us with the tools and they teach us tricks to the land which made things get done faster.  You can definitely see the love of God working within  giving them love, wisdom, and strength.

We went to a local Alliance church who served us yet another wonderful lunch, consisting of rice (the flavour was amazing!), pork chop, mashed potatoes and delicious ice cream for dessert.  They too have big hearts and are happy to serve us with the love of God working through them .

After lunch we went to a local market to see how many how many oranges and bananas we could pick up.  Colleen and I were in a group and we went out and ended up coming back with about 30 oranges and 40 bananas which was about 9 soles (about 3 Canadian dollars!).  It just shows if every one donated just a few dollars many people could be fed quickly.  The oranges and bananas are for the people that live and work in the dump. 

As we approached the heart of the dump I started to get nervous.  The pictures that have been shown to us only going so far.  My heart was really broken for these people as I saw the living conditions and lifestyle they endure on a regular basis.  There were hundreds of pigs and the people would whip the pigs to keep them back from the garbage and recycling, so the people could get to it first.  It almost seemed as though the pigs were assigned to the dump as most of them had a "D" spray painted on their side.  We ended up giving away all of the fruit, which was about  160 bananas and  100 oranges in a matter of minutes.  There were at least 200 people in the specific part of the dump we were in from what I saw.  It is hard to fathom that a 2 minute drive from the dump leads you to an average part of Trujillo.  It is also hard to understand how these 2 completely different worlds can co-exist within a 1-2 kilometer distance of eachother.

At the end after we had given away about 150 pairs of shoes and about 260 pieces of fruit we had helped so many.  I really wish we could have halped them in a way that was full of teaching about Christ but the language barrier and the fact that they were working held us back.  Everyone seemed to appreciate what we had offered them.  At the end as we were leaving the dump a boy had his shoes on already and pointed to his shoes with the biggest smile.  That really gave me a soft heart and helped me realize that we are affecting and reaching out to these people (even if they do not understand exactly why).  I hope we can reach out to the people of the dump more and I pray other teams will do the same through building and supporting and conveying the message more and more.  There is a daycare that is mostly built and running around the edge of the dump so it is great to see that previous missions teams have begun to reach out to them.  There is also a sunday school that is being run there for the kids which is awesome!

So I pray for the people in the dump to come to an understanding about why we are helping them (making known the greatness of God) and I hope you will to.  Well thats all for now! Buenes noches.

In Him,

Reed