DCS Peru Mission Trip 2020

••OUR FLIGHT WAS CANCELLED THIS MORNING•• Our group consists of 16 high schoolers (freshmen - juniors) and nine adult chaperones. 11 of our children are traveling without their parents. We currently have tickets booked and paid for with Interjet and have paid to change the flights twice. What we are seeing is the potential for flights on other airlines for around $1200 each to Miami, then we have to still get back to Oklahoma. Once back in the US, we have to figure out any type of quarantine plan we may be subjected to. 19 Mar - Our flight on Interjet was still scheduled and we were told by the airline and embassy that if the airline said the flight was scheduled then we should be at the airport in time to catch the flight. Tonight, Interjet contacted us and said our flight was cancelled. 16 Mar - Made a trip to the US embassy to make sure they are aware we are here and to find out what our next steps should be. Of all the people that were gathered outside the embassy, we were one of only about seven that were allowed in to work with someone directly. They were not able to do a whole lot as this was an unprecedented and information was changing by the minute. 15 Mar - Our day did not go as planned. The churches we were scheduled to work with closed. We were able to have our kids do their skits and worship on Facebook Live for all the people to see. We had great comments come back and request the skits be done in English. See the videos below: English https://www.facebook.com/pianopat/videos/10219558467504660/?d=n https://www.facebook.com/pianopat/videos/10219558359541961/?d=n https://www.facebook.com/pianopat/videos/10219558206298130/?d=n Spanish https://www.facebook.com/pianopat/videos/10219535559571976/?d=n https://www.facebook.com/pianopat/videos/10219535507170666/?d=n https://www.facebook.com/pianopat/videos/10219535364487099/?d=n https://www.facebook.com/pianopat/videos/10219535175722380/?d=n We received indication the Peruvian President, Viscarra, was planning to address the country and might restrict travel in the next couple of days. We contacted our travel team and changed our flights to the earliest available, Wednesday, 18 March. Viscarra addressed the nation and instituted a travel ban, effective 11:59 PM Monday night, 16 March. A little more than 24 hours notice. 14 Mar - Today was the most impactful to our team. We started the day going to the village of Mancha. This village did not have any water or electricity and is located on the side of a very dry and dirty mountain-side. We were able to play with the kids, pass out toys and balloons, hold a service, due skits and sing songs with them. Our kids were astonished and humbled how these kids could have nothing but still be overjoyed. 13 Mar - Tour day - We toured some sights in Lima today. We were able to go into Lima and see a Franciscan Monastery from the 1600s, along with some of municipal buildings. 12 March - We left out of Dallas in the early morning, flew through Mexico City and arrived in Lima. We were met by two sisters, whom Cathy lived with in the mid 1980s, who were our guides for our time here. The sisters brought us hamburgers and Inca Kola to eat on the bus on the way to see the city fountains in Central Lima. Changing the world by changing lives...Destiny Christian School seeks to impact the lives of our students by enabling and empowering them with the Word of God to be able to reach out to all nations. This 2019/2020 school year we planned a high school mission trip to Peru to work with kids and families in several schools and churches in the Lima area. Some of the villages do not have any running water or electricity.