Peru Christmas Part 1: The Measure of Beauty

All this week, we are sharing reflections & pictures from the team that just returned from Lima, Peru.  Their journey was part of an effort our community made to share gifts & hope with a community we’ve worked closely with for seven years.  After raising nearly $7000 between our group and others @ WBCC, we were able to buy Christmas gifts for kids in Lima, Pachacutec, and Iquitos.  We also bought two brand new moto-taxis as sources of income and employment for the church and those they reach-out to.  Finally, we completed funding several smaller infrastructure projects that weren’t yet finished at El Shaddai.

THE MEASURE OF BEAUTY                                Cassie Nason

A dozen smiling Peruvian faces greeted us in the airport terminal in Lima…at 1 a.m.   I was the only member of our group who had not been to Peru before, and therefore hadn’t experienced the midnight greeting from Pastor Elsa and her varied crew of neighborhood kids and family.  It was also these smiling faces that were my last memory of Lima after our three-day whirlwind tour.   And I think there is only one word for these people I met there.   Beautiful.

Before I was able to absorb the beauty of the people I met in Peru, it’s important to relay to you my first impressions.  First of all,

Peru Christmas ’09 $ Total & Plans

Gift Delivery in Pachacutec '07

An update on our fundraising totals…  As a young adult community, we raised over $2500! Well done everyone!!  Other groups & people in the church more than matched that amount, which is really incredible!  This is truly an effort that we’re all a part of…  Don’t forget, this Thursday seven of us head down to Lima (Pastor Evert, Craig & Cassie, Shaya, Katie Cooper, Kelly Shaw, & Chris Loar) to complete this project.  Our main goals will be 1.Purchasing gifts 2. Buying potentially 2 mototaxi’s as future sources of income for the church 3. Throwing christmas parties & giving out gifts & cards from our group in Lima & Pachacutec 4.Gifting funds to El Shaddai to finish off building work on the future drug rehab space.

We’re calling on everyone to join in committed prayer for this trip during the day on Thursday!  We’ll post details on everything we did starting next Monday and through that week!

Famous Vegas: Casino Night/Peru $ Raiser THIS THURSDAY!

Its a big night for the group this Thursday, November 19th, as we gather at the Kersting’s for a Casino & Game night as part of our Peru Christmas Project 2009 fundraising. This is the big finish!  Kick-off is 7PM @ 4630 W Evans Ave Denver, CO 80219 $15 buy in includes homemade italian dinner & game chips (non edible). One $5 buy back will be allowed. Texas Hold ‘Em, Blackjack, 3 Card Poker, Jenga, and more. There will be over $500 in non-cash prizes, a raffle and lot of other surprises….

DRESS CODE: Remember, it’s “Famous Vegas”, meaning you need to imagine yourself at an A-list celebrity party in the entertainment capital of the world.  You could be Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Brad Pitt, or Tiger Woods. Dream big & be sure to keep it classy…. papparazi may be on hand!

All proceeds past food costs go directly to our Peru Christmas Project (Gifts/Mototaxi/Construction) Want to know more? Go here:http://aforwarddesign.com/2009/10/15/peru-christmas project/ Don’t miss this night— bring a friend!!!

Peru Christmas Project

Chris breaks it down on our plans to bring the spirit of Christmas down to Lima, Peru early in December.  We fire off seven weeks of fundraising tomorrow night with FREE BURRITOS FOR PERU!!— a Chipotle Culinary event, Details here.  Meanwhile, remember we’re all planning to give $5/person/week.  But that won’t get us to our $2,000 goal.  Some can give more, and others outside of the group can get involved– Let’s do this together!  Want to know the whole project details?  Here’s Chris:

Peru Xmas 09 PromoFINAL

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Deep Songs & Free Burritos for Peru!

Sufjan in Action

Thursday night, we continue our series, SONGS THAT SPEAK DEEP.  This week, two very  different picks as Katie Cooper sings & shares JJ Heller’s Love Me and Shaya tackles the allusive Sufjan Stevens For the Widows in Paradise, For the Fatherless in Yipsilanti (yes, that really is the name!)  Don’t miss it!  We’ll wrap it up in time to head to our Peru Christmas 2009 Fundraiser Launch at Chipotle…

If you haven’t heard, invite your friends from 9-10PM tomorrow night to the Chipotle at Ken Caryl & C470.  It’s FREE BURRITOS FOR PERU CHRISTMAS ’09!! For any donation, we’ll buy anyone a burrito.  Remember, too, as a group, we’re challenging each of you to plan on at least $5 a week towards this project (we know some can do more, but we’re all committed to at least that!)  More details & promo on this to come.  While you wait, listen to tomorrow nights songs…

Pachacutec y Peru Update!

Our Work in Pachacutec This Summer

We just received some video from our brothers and sisters in Peru.  It looks like they recently dedicated the church in Pachacutec that we helped complete this summer.  It’s clear from these videos that Elsa shouldn’t be a cinematographer, but for those of you who know what was there before, you’ll be amazed at the (almost) finished product!  The best angle may be seen in the last minute or so of video one, where Elsa steps outside.  Remember, our Christmas in Peru fundraiser starts this week….  More details to come if you weren’t there last Thursday.  For now, thank God for His work in Lima!

Peru ’09 Details

If you’re interested in the details for our journey to Peru this summer— below is a quick video update.  The most important news: a one day date change, we’re now leaving a day later: JUNE 27th-JULY 9th.  $1400/person.  Lima, Arequipa, Colca Canyon.  Building, Dental Clinic, Kids in Lima, Sick Hotel in Arequipa, World’s Deepest Canyon, cheapest international trip of your life… It’s going to be outstanding.  $300 deposit due March 15th.

peru09info

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new year, new interview: mizz benedict

Our first interview of 2009 is with one of our favorite additions to the CG in ’08, Heather Benedict.  If you’ve never had a chance to hang out with her or hear her share about her faith–  you’re really missing out!  Our discussion covered the range of a typical AFD interview– from the silly to the spiritual.  Read on…

the eve of the day & south of the border

Merry Christmas everyone!  If you’ve been tracking the last few weeks, we’ve had posts centering around advent…  here we are a day away from Christmas.  This will be our final post for 2008.  We’ll be bringing in some new stuff in the new year and a lot of perspective from our own community.  We thought many of you would like this look at Christmas from south of the border (Mexico) featured at relevant- check it out here.   In similar news, we sent $500 of the over $900 we raised at our party down to El Shaddai in Lima, Peru yesterday!!!   Thanks everyone– the remainder of that cash will be covering the volunteer expenses at Safehouse.  A reminder if you check this today, there’s a service @ WBCC at 530PM which should be outstanding… See you all soon, and back here in 2009!   

Resurrect Me

We continue the weekend of videos with the 2nd CG video off this year’s collection- it’s a review of Cuzco and Machu Picchu put together by Craig.  Enjoy!

cuzco-mpeg-4-webcasting

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