We are so excited! Like kids at Christmas waiting to tear into gifts and see what prizes are inside we can’t wait to see pictures from Christmas at the orphanage. Before we left Pucallpa to come back to the States a donation was used to buy gifts for each of the children. An outfit, a few small toys and some candy were chosen specifically for every child.

Definitely an adventure shopping for things especially items that are Christmas themed. Gifts are not really exchanged there. Additional funds are pretty much non-existent, so the availability – well let’s just say there are not too many options. However, it all came together and there is no doubt they are going to be over the top excited. It will mean the world to them to know they are remembered.

With gifts bags and tissue paper in hand all the bags were assembled.

What a treat to receive the support from a special family in Dallas and then be able to “connect” them to children in need. Wish they could all be together, the family and the kids as the gifts are opened. Now that would be an amazing story! 

Lining everything up – well it was “beginning to look alot like Christmas.” How fun to look over the gift bags once they were done. 
Gathering them all up, we headed to the orphanage when we knew the kids were in school and they wouldn’t see us “sneaking” the gifts into the house. After all this is a surprise!

Gifts delivered and left behind – CHECK.

House mom sworn to keep them out of sight until Christmas – CHECK.

House dad ready to take pictures of the kids as they tear into the gifts – CHECK.

Stay tuned for the follow-up story and pictures.

‘Tis the Season to be In His Mighty Grip,

Stephanie and Cindy

http://www.TrinitysAngels.org

It was not so many weeks ago (just under 2 months!) that we announced the “Make The Change” campaign to benefit The Angel House. Here is the original link to the story in case you missed it and want to join in: Make The Change .

The time has come to drop by and pick-up the jars of coins that you have been collecting (dollars, a check, or even Peruvian currency you may have!). We are excited to see you, drop off some treats and gather up the coins you have saved. Please send us an email so that we can schedule a time that works for you this week.

Thank you ahead of time for always being willing to support those left fortunate, those in desperate need and those that don’t even know you. That is benevolence in action

We are excited to see many of you – so don’t delay and email us – right away, today, NOW!

Collecting much needed Change in His Mighty Grip,

Stephanie 

http://www.TrinitysAngels.org

Two weeks ago marked our “semi-goodbyes” at Casa Moises until we return next year. Who knew that when we started spending every Thursday with them 6 months ago, all the great times, the laughter, the giggles, the hugs and slobbery kisses it would make such a difference not only in their lives but really it impacted us in a HUGE way. And it all started because of Coke Zero.

In an earlier blog (The Open Door )we wrote about the lady who sells us cases of Coke Zero. We have bought cases and cases in the past 2 years and one day early this year she mentioned her church and the orphanage they support. So we checked it out and have never looked back. In fact THEY are the inspiration for THE ANGEL HOUSE PERU.

Well … how do you find the words to describe the emotion that swirled that last day at Casa Moises? It started out like every other Thursday – we grabbed our bags filled with crafts, games, snacks, candy and drinks and headed out to catch a motokar to take us to their home. When we got there, of course, we spent about 5 minutes hugging and kissing everyone. We played pin the nose on the dog, had balloon relay races, ate cookies and drank juice. We handed out a small cross necklace to each child and then we were asked to come inside the house.

They had prepared a special show for us! Some of the kids danced – several choreographed dances, and there was a crazy, funny skit – just a great spectacular show. And they were so excited. Several of them stood and spoke about what the time spent with us on Thursday mornings meant to them, and Robert – little 3 year old Robert prayed out loud for us! How do you stop the tears from flowing. You can’t. And Tia got us kleenex for our eyes! Then the Dad and Mom that are in charge of the house spoke.

They spoke about the time and fun, the love and joy and their captured hearts by Trinity’s Angels over the past 6 months; how the kid’s lives had been positively changed with the interaction every Thursday. And then it was pointless to try and control the tears. We told them what they meant to us and how much we were going to miss them for the next 2 months. That’s alot of time! And then to top it all off they presented us with a remembrance of our time at Casa Hogar Moises…

I think this was the absolute best day of our entire time spent here. Certainly the most touching.

We could only do all of this – play with these kids every Thursday  – because of our partners back that  provided the backing and prayer. We pass this along to ALL of you who are reading this. Thank you. Thank you for allowing us to be on the front lines here – we will NEVER be the same.

Deep within His Mighty Grip,

Stephanie and Cindy

http://www.TrinitysAngels.org

One day we got the fun idea to have an ice cream party at the orphanage. With “secret” plans made with the Mamita  (the mom of the orphanage ) we arranged to show up Saturday with ice cream and all the toppings and surprise the kids in the afternoon. 

And they were excited and surprised when we showed up unannounced with ICE CREAM. Lots and lots of ice cream.  There were brownies, M&M (real M&M’s), peanuts, sprinkles, homemade Hershey’s chocolate syrup and of course cherries to put on top. What a blast to watch them as they ate bowl after bowl.

Take a look……..

Robert…

Alexis…

Yerica…

Jesus, Patrick, Lucero and Esther – oh and Stephanie in the back with chocolate chip ice cream!

Alexis, Jesus, Patrick, Lucero and of course the big kid herself…Cindy!

Lissy’s face tells it all!

Tanya…

Junior…

Esther.

It just was so much fun to watch them take it all in. Cannot, absolutely cannot wait to go back and do it all over again!

Dishing it up In His Mighty Grip,

Stephanie and Cindy

http://www.trinitysangels.org

Just a couple of days ago Cindy asked me what I would miss most about the apartment we live in when we leave here and head back to the states. It was an odd question because really there isn’t alot to miss…

There is a mountain of dust that flies into the apartment everyday. The bugs???Definitely not the bugs……The noise level – nope – it is atrocious and there is no “sound” control here. It’s either the honking of the motokars all day and night, or the bass of the stereo that blares from one house or another sometimes until 3 AM. The smell of burning trash – ummmm no I won’t miss that or the other smells that you just can’t figure our that assault your senses!
Hmmm. Would it be the dogs that bark all the time or tear up the trash leaving it all over the street? Or would it be all the times we head upstairs to hang laundry only to make sure we don’t leave it out too long or the clothes will catch fire from the intense sun or soak up the smell of burning piles of who knows what or be covered in dust from the road below!
I asked Cindy how long I had to come up with an answer!!! I just couldn’t seem to think of something positive AND … I WAS TRYING!

And then – there it was – my answer – I WILL MISS THE ROOFTOP. I have blogged about it before, written to many of you about it – the place we go to talk to and hear God. It never ceases to amaze us that this rooftop, that is really sort of ugly although it has a great view of the Ucayali River. is the place where we feel very, very connected to God. I will definitely miss the rooftop.And the sunsets….

Check out that “Cross” cloud above our riverview!

So as I write this blog,  I remember back on all the times I looked heavenward and HE SPOKE…In His Mighty Grip blogging from the rooftop one last time  😦    before we head to Dallas,

Stephanie

http://www.TrinitysAngels.org

We love our “job” and more importantly we “love” our employer. He sends us on mindboggling adventures time after time. A couple of weeks ago HE gave us another assignment: Take a donation that was received and multiply it. Stretch it and bless families.

Of course we agreed and set out to negotiate our way to buying food for 7 families for a week. We weren’t sure who would be the recipients but we were 100% sure that He knew….and that was enough for us.

We changed up our tactic a little. We have found a local store that sells what we have been “negotiating for” at the local street markets for about the same price!  And the packaging (not a plastic bag tied in a knot) and quality is even better. Who knew!

Everything went into bags with room left to spare for the additional items we would pick up on the way. Excited is not the word to describe our feelings as we got into the motokar ready to embark on the adventure.

We stopped at a couple of homes where we knew the families were in desperate need of food. This woman, pictured below, has 8 children ranging from 20 down to 9 months. Unfortunately the father is not present. As we handed her the bag of food she began telling us about her current situation and tears started forming in her eyes and ours. It is sad to hear their stories but it is a beautiful thing to watch God bless her family. 

She lives in an old schoolhouse with dirt floors and rotting, broken wood for walls. But this day – she was in her castle – the recipient of a God sized blessing.

The grate you see above is what they often cook on…..

Some of the families we didn’t personally know. We drove out to the Angel House site where we have seen families with nothing, literally plastic homes or homes pieced together with boards that look like they are been collected from alongside the roadways. We felt led to drive around the area and knew that families would come to mind. God would place them in the motokar’s path. And HE did. What an incredible adventure to walk up to someone’s home and say that God had placed them on our hearts and that the food had been paid for and provided by someone in the U.S. 

See for yourselves…..

Houses are definitley substandard but they provide a “home” for these families. 

Common home near The Angel House (above) and their bathroom (below).

The woodlike structure in the middle of yucca plants is the outhouse/shower.

It was so fun to see the reactions. Even the motokar driver, Pablo – a man we know from Luz Divina church – got into the spirit.

Pablo and Cindy in the MotoKar…

As we drove around looking for the last family to bless he pointed out a woman that was squatting down doing her laundry in a small wash basin on the ground. We said – “okay, but we are looking for families with children.” “She’s pregnant” he said. We hadn’t even noticed what he had seen. We didn’t get her picture but the look on her face was as if she had won the Publisher’s Clearing House sweepstakes!

As we drove back to our apartment we couldn’t stop smiling and recounting the families that had been blessed. Many, many heartfelt thanks to the one who donated the money!

In Our “Employer’s” Mighty Grip loving our “workweek,”

Stephanie and Cindy

http://www.TrinitysAngels.org

http://www.TheAngelHousePeru.com

4 weekends

47 volunteers

Over 500,000 corny dogs…..

All this adds up to one SPECTACULAR fundraising event. Thanks to EVERYONE who stepped up to step out and make the first ever Trinity’s Angels fundraiser for The Angel House a huge success.

Who knew that at the beginning there would be laughter, fun, corny dog training and craziness going on???  We did!  The volunteers are a hilarious and extremely entertaining bunch of people. We loved seeing all the pictures of the corny dog activities. Now that it is “in the books” there is no more stalking Facebook from Peru to see who posted pictures! Although we weren’t there it was fun to follow along. Imagine the laughter when we saw these pics:

We will have a final dollar total for you in about 2 weeks…so until then check out some of the other pictures you may not have seen on The Angel House facebook page……

We will miss you Big Tex……

We couldn’t post all the pictures…..we apologize but you can go to Facebook and check out all of them on The Angel House Peru page. Don’t forget to “LIKE” it so you can keep up with all the fun and craziness that goes on.

Everyone made a commitment of their time, money and energy. We honor that. The action behind the words of, “How can I help” will resound for years to come and be heard by people the volunteers will most likely never meet. Now that is selfless. That is benevolence. That is the group that represented Trinity’s Angels at Fletcher’s corny dog stand at the State Fair of Texas.  And we couldn’t be more PROUD of all of them.

Looking forward to doing it all again next year! Wait….was that too soon to mention it???!!!

In His Mighty Grip drooling for a corny dog,

Stephanie

http://www.TrinitysAngels.org

http://www.TheAngelHousePeru.com

A few months ago we sent out a challenge that is the basis of our Make the Change campaign we are now heavily promoting. One person took that challenge and decided to help out and “make the change.” They constantly emptied out their pockets of loose coins and put it in a jar to be donated to Trinity’s Angels. Over the course of many weeks, the money was deposited and we gladly accepted it!  Right!!!

Day before yesterday we were at the land where The Angel House Peru will be built. We were clearing brush when a man approached us and started talking about electricity. An electric company association had strung power lines in the “barrio” in which we are located providing us easier access to electricity. First, let me tell you that this process is not like you are thinking. Literally these lines are lightweight electric cable strung between makeshift poles. The poles that guide the lines are built of all various lengths and from different pieces of wood. It is crazy. But it is how we roll here and it works.

Anyway – the man told us the cost to access the line and the monthly fee. Check this out…the monthly fee is for UNLIMITED usage! Gotta love that. When he left, we started talking about bringing the electric line into the property when we return here in January. Almost immediately … we thought about the donations that this particular person had been sending in all because they were willing to offload their change into their Angel House jar.

Those donations that were contributed will pay for the electric line to be brought onto the land ! Light will be brought into a “darkened” area. All because one person didn’t negatively think that their change wouldn’t matter, instead they took the challenge, unloaded their HEAVY change and donated it!

And now – you don’t even have to send it in – we will come pick it up from you the first week of December (if you live in the Dallas area!).

We wanted to tell you this story to ENCOURAGE you. You can make a change and a difference.  Your change DOES matter because it ALL adds up.

In His Mighty Grip counting on making the change,

Stephanie

Trinitys Angels website