Popcorn, Pants, Pasta, and Pastries for Peru!

Mark 10:27: Jesus looked at them and said, "with man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God."

Phillipians 4:19: And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.


"Popcorn for Peru"
Pausing with the Popcorn for the Picture
L-R: Mandy, Angela, Sara, Allie



 

Planning for our Peru trip has moved right along since our last blog post.  Since then, we have confirmed our travel arrangements and began raising support to make this trip possible.  We have held 4 fundraising events with the help of fellow SRU DPT students and faculty.  

"Popcorn for Peru": We sold popcorn during another fundraising event held in the PT building on campus.


 

"Pants for Peru": As part of the PT program, we are required to dress in professional attire for lecture classes.  Occasionally, we hold jeans days where you can wear jeans for the day for $1.  To help raise funding for Peru, we were able to sell up to 5 jeans day tickets per student and faculty.  Not only did many buy tickets and support our team, but they also got to enjoy a few casual dress down days!



"Pasta for Peru": Both DPT classes (first year students and second year students) pulled together to hold a spa
ghetti dinner for the SRU community.  The students sold the tickets and served the spaghetti to the hungry customers.  The food was donated by different companies in the area, such as AVI fresh and Panera Bread.  All of the deserts were donated from the students.  It was a great success and everyone had a great time with a full belly. 

"Pastries for Peru": We had many left over deserts after the spaghetti dinner.  A few of us from the team held an impromptu bake sale at the library on campus the next day.  Many students were glad to pick up a few sweets on the way to their next class and support our trip to Peru.

With these 4 fundraising events, we were able to raise $200 for each of us to add to our funding support.  In addition, many of us have recieved support from families and friends not here in the SRU community.  It has been a big blessing to see such a large outpouring of support from our friends and families.  God is so good!

In addition, we have begun recieving donations of supplies to take with us to Peru to distribute to the residents of Arequipa.  Thank you to all of you who have worked hard to acquire these items and donate them to our trip. 

We have slightly over 3 months until we fly out to Peru and there are still ways you can support our team.  First, please continue to pray for us as we prepare for this trip and while we are on this trip.  We desire to see God's will accomplished through this trip by using us to show His love through physical therapy service.  Secondly, while God has begun supplying our funding, we are still in need of financial support.  See the post below for details if you would like to prayerfully consider supporting us through Medical Ministry International.  Finally, if you have items such as those listed on the post below, please contact us so that we can get them to Peru to distribute to those in need.  

Names and Faces, 2013

2013 team: (left to right) Mandy, Sara, Angela, Brittany, Allie, Heidi

Just some of the equipment used in PT and needed for donations (see previous post)

 

Crazy excited to serve those in Peru

Gearing Up!

Hello Blog World!!  Back again and with a new group of volunteers! We thought it would be a neat tradition to continue the SRUinPeru blog for this years trip to Peru.  Thus, this will continue to be our primary means of communication throughout our trip, August 10-24th, 2013. This year, we have a group of 6 Physical Therapy students from Slippery Rock University's DPT program who feel called to serve God by serving the under-privileged in the surrounding communities of southern Peru. We will be doing this through Medical Ministry International (MMI), which is an organization that specializes in providing spiritual and physical healthcare to those in need around the world. We will work alongside a team of licensed PT’s as we set up PT clinics for the surrounding under-privileged villages. During this time we will be evaluating, treating, and also fitting patients with much needed orthotics, assistive devices, exercises and/or education to help increase their function and independence in their communities. 
 

As we both prepare and participate in this trip, we primarily covet your prayers for the people we will be serving, for our safety on the trip, and that God would use us to make a lasting difference both physically & spiritually in the lives of those we meet in Peru. Secondly, if you would like to support our trip financially, we would greatly appreciate it. It will cost around $3,300 per person including the project fees and airfare. If you would like to join the team and what we are doing in this way, you can make a tax-deductible gift via a check payable to 'Medical Ministry International' and send it to MMI along with this slip to:

 

Medical Ministry International

400 N. Allen Drive #204

Allen, TX 75013

You can also donate online by clicking here. Please make sure that in Step 3, you chose the "My gift is in Honor of" option, and specify the name of who you want to support in the blank. For step-by-step directions with pictures on how to make your donation online, click here.

 

In addition, there are certain items that we would like to take with us that are needed in the area. If you have any of these that you would like to donate, please let someone on the team know or be on the lookout for donation boxes in the PT building:

• Canes
• Wheelchairs in good condition (especially quickie types)
• Theraband
• Vitamins (adult multi, calcium, children's gummy or flintstone type)
• Baby wipes
• School supplies/Toys (crayons, coloring books, stickers, bubbles, beanie babies, matchbox cars, interactive toys, etc.)
• Children's sneakers and socks in good condition
• Pediatric walkers
• Therapy balls

Thank you for joining us on our trip! 

Las Fotos

Hey guys, for those following our blog and not on facebook, here are links to some pictures from our trip.  If the below links don't work, you can copy & paste the URL's underneath.  There are 4 albums at the bottom of this post. Enjoy :-)

Trip to Lima & Nasca

     (https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100333418348982.2341269.23112184&type=3&l=d8f096e31f)

 Physical Therapy Clinics in Arequipa & Juliaca

 (https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100333472725012.2341275.23112184&type=3&l=0c77a78fec)

 Colca Canyon & The Orphanage

(https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100333593967042.2341287.23112184&type=3&l=44d204602)

Trip to Sacred Valley, Machu Picchu, & Cusco

(https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100333654206322.2341301.23112184&type=3&l=e6fe758f9)

One Last Jump!

We've all landed safe'n'sound in DC....

But now we're up'n'at'em again as we disperse across the country this weekend to our various clinical rotation sites!!  Thanks for following & God Bless!

Top 25 Peruvianisms

We decided to compile a Top 25 List of things we’ve all learned during our time here in Peru.  Enjoy :-)

Crossing a 4 lane highway by force

25. A beeping car horn = a warning that a car is coming and not stopping.  This is how people got through intersections.

24. Painted lines on the street mean nothing…they’ll make 5 lanes of traffic on a 2 lane street

23. Do not kill a vacuῆa…or you’ll end up in jail for 3 years

22. Shepherds do not appreciate it when you chase their herd of Alpaca/Llamas…but if you should find yourself doing such a thing, just pay 2 soles :-)

21. Showers are inconsistent…hot water is a privilege

20. Power outages can happen while you are in the shower.  Also, many showers are electric so it is possible to get a lil zap if you touch the shower head.

19. Blame anything & everything on the altitude.

18. When it is your birthday, you take a bite out of the cake instead of blowing out the candles

17. Signaling a patient to come to you with just your index finger is suggestive…don’t do it.  Instead use your whole hand to motion.

16. We can’t survive without Sam.

Mastering the Market

15. We’ve mastered bargaining with sales ladies.

14. There is not a lot of meat on a guinea pig.

13. Chachacoma is gross…don’t eat it.  It is a leaf commonly eaten to treat diarrhea or upset stomach but we are convinced it gives you one.

12. When Becca is motion sick, know the difference between Dramamine and Imodium when trying to help her…ahem Nate Blakeley ;-)

11. Missy DOES know the difference between 180° & 360° (ahem…Sam)

10. Mosquito bites…American bug spray doesn’t work on Peruvian bugs

9. Don’t take pictures of traditionally dressed locals or they will charge you a sol…unless you are Becca and can snap a picture without looking through the lens.

8. Chris Brown officially made friends with every stray dog he saw…he even brought one into a restaurant

7. Make sure you go to the right airport when trying to venture to Peru

6. Don’t let Courtney go shopping alone…she’ll buy it ALL!

Alpaca Steak

5. Chicha is disgusting.  It is a purple corn syrup drink common here in Peru.

4. Do not throw your toilet paper in the toilet, it goes in the waste basket.

3. When ziplining in Peru, waivers are not necessary & beanies count as helmets.

2. Alpaca is yummy :)

1. Serving the under-privileged in Peru is a very rewarding experience!!

And P.S.-If you are ever wondering, the #1 words to teach Peruvians are “crop dusting” & “badonk-a-donk”

Peruvian Chocolate & Colombian Dungeons

Having a blast at ChocoMuseo with our chocolate chef!

Verse of the Day: "His life is the light that shines through the darkness and the darkness can never extinguish it" -John 1:5

Somehow the last day of our time here in Peru has come all too quickly.  Today was another relaxing day in Cusco as we got ready to begin our journey back to the states this afternoon.  Our final stop was an exciting one tho as we headed over to Cusco’s ChocoMuseo, a little chocolate museum and factory where we all got to make our own chocolate!  They started by showing us how the entire process worked and the different steps it takes to get from the cocoa bean to the liquid pure dark chocolate.  We even got to try peeling a roasted cocoa bean and eat the insides at their purest form (a tad bitter…needs some sugar for sure).  We then picked out our molds and chose from many different additives and fillings to make our chocolates our own.  They ranged from milk powder for making it into milk chocolate to oreos to nuts to coffee beans to mint to sprinkles and the list goes on.  We were excited by all our options and had a blast trying to perfect pouring just the right amount of chocolatey goodness into the molds while still leaving room for other goodies and somehow not making a mess.  Afterwards we got to try cocoa tea which was fantastic! Virtually no calories and tastes just like hot chocolate! 

Just for fun, here are a few fun facts and myths we learned while here:

Fun Facts about Cocoa Beans:

Making our own chocolate!

1. When used via cocoa butter, it is used in suppositories
2. They have an anti-depressant effect
3. They are an aphrodisiac
4. They can actually prevent tooth decay (it's the sugar they add to the chocolate we eat that can then cause tooth decay)
5. Cocoa Tea has 0 calories and tastes just like hot chocolate
6. According to a study done, men who eat chocolate live a year longer due to the antioxidants keeping the arteries elastic.  (Dr H-J, feel free to EBP that one if you’d like ;-)

Common myth-busters about chocolate:

1. It does NOT cause acne
2. It does NOT contain caffeine

Peruvian McDonald's in prep for our return to the USA

In our lil "columbian dungeon"

On our way to the airport we stopped at McDonald’s as a bit of pre-USA prep.  It was pretty much the same as in the U.S. except you would order a McPollo instead of a McChicken and they had these sweet Twix McFlurries (are these even in the states anywhere or have we just been gone too long?).  Upon arriving to the tiny Cusco airport we all learned a tad of patience as our airline was having difficulty processing all its passengers in a timely fashion.  We didn’t end up arriving to our gate until 10 minutes before we were supposed to take off, but as all things always work out there was no need to rush…the plane wasn’t even there yet, haha.  We made it safely to a 4 hour layover in Lima and then on to an 8 hour layover in Colombia.  Life without adventures wouldn’t be much fun.  As such, upon arriving to Colombia at 2am we were not allowed to go to our connecting gate to sleep and instead were ushered downstairs to this little empty room where they shut us all in with others already sleeping on the floor.  It was pretty much more like a dungeon than anything else, haha.  We later found out they were fumigating the airport so that's why we were "locked away"…what spectacular timing we have.  If we had to use the bathroom they would quickly usher us out and then be knocking on the stall door within 30 seconds saying “rapido, rapido” while holding their noses from the fumigation.  Next stop is the USA!  We are excited to be reunited with friends, family, and spouses (in Nate & Mary’s case)!

We have all been so blessed to have this opportunity to serve the people here in Peru and have been each touched in different ways.  Thanks to all our followers and supporters for your faithful prayers and encouragement that made this trip possible!  Through your prayerful support you were just as much a part of all God did down here as those physically serving here!

 

Becca