Nearly 4″ of rain in the last two weeks.

Friday, I enjoyed seeing the movie The Martian with Jesse!

Great flick that had me cheering at several points, even though I’d read the book and knew what was going to happen!

I had a hard day before that with a tire that had a blow out and got shredded on the inside. I haven’t changed a tire in years.

Normally, I can pump it back up enough to drive and let the guys with the proper tools do it. Still, got it done!

New tire and mounting/balance was about $130.00

After taking Jesse home, I stopped by the Buford Highway Farmers Market to pick up a pumpkin for Ashley and Miles.

It was huge.

Saturday, I worked on catching up on admin duties, especially uploading the over 2,700 pictures I took in Peru and the blog/Facebook.

Later that day, I met up in Chamblee with Westside BC’s HOPE team. I had planned to hold the evangelism/basketball training event at Cumberland Court apartments, but with the drizzly weather I moved over to Azalea Place. That way we could have an inside location if we needed to.

Beautiful rainbow to start the evening!

We had 24 kids accept Christ! PTL!

Sunday morning, K and I went to church at Westside BC.

Pastor Ben talked on the spiritual gift of prophecy and speaking in tongues.

K and I enjoyed a restful afternoon afternoon.

I kept working on admin duties like cleaning the fish tank and putting in the notes from 13 days into my One Year Bible!

We had fun watching House of Cards.

Then I went for a 2.61 mile run. Beautiful weather. And gorgeous outside.

I saw these same flowers in the jungle.

I love verbena!

K is still riding her bike.

Admin duties now.

I don’t remember a brown mushroom before.

I like these designs.

Peru was an amazing trip! Truly one of the best of my life!

I traveled light. Only 24 lbs in a backpack.


I spent my first night in a hostel in Lima.

Early the next morning I flew from the capital of Lima to Iquitos, the heart of the Amazon! The Andes mountains were amazing. They looked like islands coming from the clouds.

The Amazon and its tributaries looked like an anaconda to me.

From Iquitos, I traveled over an hour to the little village of El Triunfo–the Triumph! The area reminded me of coastal Kenya near Mombasa. Hot and humid!

I hiked about 2 miles through the jungle to a camp run by a man named Percy Lozano.


Percy noted for natural healing with plants and singing songs of his ancestors called icaros. They were beautiful.

I was joined at the camp with a doctor from Chicago, a dentist from Oregon and a lady from Ireland.

I lived in a hut that was raised on poles about eight feet off the ground.



The hardest part about the jungle was the food. Or the lack thereof. We had a very strict diet with no salt, no sugar, no meat, no fruit. This was my meal for seven days: breakfast, lunch and dinner!

I was given oatmeal for two meals as a change up.

The camp was beautiful! I loved the plants, birds and mushrooms in particular!

I recognized many of the flowers. Interesting to think that this is the area that they came from!

I enjoyed my hikes in the jungle.

I didn’t dig ALL the animals. I had a rat that chewed on my stuff, including my soap. Bad luck.

The river came through the camp. He would pour flowers and aromatic plants on us here. Smelled amazing.

This is the Maloka, where we would gather to listen to them sing songs.

Percy liked me singing “Baba Oshe” in Yoruba. He’d say, “Hallelujah!”

I didn’t wear a shirt for a week. Too hot.

It was the Super Moon while I was in the Amazon.

After a week with nearly no food, I was ready to get back to civilization! Hiked out of the jungle and was picked up my my friend Robert in the “Blue Bullet.” Top speed 40 mph. I think. His speedometer and seat belts didn’t work.

I couldn’t get over how much the area reminded me of coastal Kenya.

I stayed in Iquitos overnight and left for Lima and Cusco early the next morning. Beautiful sunset that evening.


It was great to have electricity and running water again!

The airport in Lima was just a little too Americanized for me.

We flew over the Andes mountains on the way to Cusco, 11,340 feet!


There’s just something about snow capped mountains!

Cusco at night was amazing. They were celebrating the birthday of St. San Francisco. Even had fireworks! And parades! My house was at the top of the hill. I walked down and took a taxi back up. The altitude was intense.

I stayed with an Irish woman and her cousin in Cusco.

I had the loft apartment.


Watch your head! Bonk.
I’ve never taken a trip where I had to prepare for the hottest and coldest weather at the same time.

The view from my house.

Cusco was even more beautiful during the day! It was amazing being there during a celebration.

I visited the market of San Pedro. I loved the cacti they had there. Made me miss my garden.







The market reminded me of Nairobi.

I spent most of my afternoon hiking through the ruins around Cusco. These walls were hundreds of years old and earthquake proof.


The Spaniards built a Cathedral over the ruins of Qoricancha.

Went above Cusco (over 12,000 ft!) to Sacsayhuaman. The walls were amazing. Some of the stones weighed several tons.





Tambomachay was a temple dedicated to water.



The water always flowed at the same rate irregardless of rain or drought.

Pukapukara was located in a beautiful spot.



Q’uenko was an underground temple. They mummified the royalty here.

Man, did I get sunburned that day! Started out cold. Then hot. With no decent hat.

Another fabulous sunset!

It was great to get back to real food.

Say what?

Monday morning, I left Cusco to travel down the Sacred Valley to Ollantaytambo.


The drive through the mountains was spectacular.

Gotta love llamas.

Signs of Incan ruins were everywhere.

I stayed at the Full Moon Lodge at Ollantaytambo.



My host was cool.

My friend Adrian (who looked like the pirate Jack Sparrow) took me on a five mile hike around the valley up into the mountains.

Amazing.








We stopped to visit with an Quechan family at the top of the mountain.




When Elvis left the building, he went to Peru.

Adrian was a fun host.


He took me to some overlooked ruins.

An early night’s sleep ready to get up the next morning to ride the train to Machu Picchu!


The train ride reminded me of Nepal.



Machu Picchu is actually thousands of feet lower than Cusco. The call it the “eyebrow of the jungle.” The train goes through a lot more trees than around the Sacred Valley.

I caught a bus in the town of Machu Picchu to take me on a 30 minute drive up to the ruins.

One of the Wonders of the World! Macchu Picchu!






This is the head of the Condor!

I got the stamp in my passport.
Rode the train back to Ollantaytambo. Got home around 9pm. Crashed. Super tired. Up again at 5:30am to pack and then check out the ruins that the town is named for. Fantastic.



After visiting the Ollantaytambo ruins, I met up with my taxi driver to take me back to Cusco. Beautiful trip.

We went the alternate route through Pisac, another major archaeological site.

We stopped at an animal sanctuary on our way back to Cusco. I liked the pumas and condors the best.

This statue, called the “White Christ” overlooks Cusco.

Caught my flight into Lima and had a great time with a friend of mine Luis Zevallos who is a fan of my podcast Verbal Surgery. Made my long layover at the airport go a lot faster!

After a 1:30am flight, I arrived in the ATL around 9am! GREAT to see my girls!

A fantastic “bucket list” trip! THANKS for your prayers and support.

I spent most of today with the last minute travel details for my trip to Peru.

Went through my packing. Weighs about 24 lbs. Everything seems to fit.

This afternoon I went to the mission to work with the kids.

I got a calling card to call Peru. Contacted my host in Cusco. She was the only one that hadn’t confirmed my stay.

I heard from my hosts that I’ve arranged taxis from the airport to my hotels. This trip has been the most thoroughly researched and prepared of any I’ve ever taken. There may be details I haven’t thought of, but the vast majority should be taken care of.

I received my boarding pass for my Delta flight Thursday afternoon from Lima as well as my boarding pass for Friday morning for my flight from Lima to Iquitos.

I will be leaving Atlanta around 6pm Thursday night, getting to Lima around midnight. I’ll be in the Amazon for a week, then the Andes in Cusco/Machu Pichu for a week. I’ll be back on October 8th around 6am.

I appreciate your prayers for my safety in travels and that I’ll have a productive trip! I look forward to working on my Spanish fluency as well as enjoying the archaeological and natural wonders!

I enjoyed a fun evening with Jesse and Kathy!

Admin duties now.

Monday morning, Ashley and I went on safari to Birmingham, AL!

Our good friend Ben Birdsong from Meadowbrook Baptist Church helped organize a group of Youth Directors, seminary students and a choir director to come to a lunch to hear Ashley and I promote coming to Atlanta!

We always have fun!

Ashley did her usual fabulous job of creating a slide show for the presentation and goody bags for each of the participants.

We also gave one lucky winner and Ben a $50 gift card for Amazon. The BBQ and the gift resulted in 17 people coming to hear us do our thing.

We traveled nearly 400 miles yesterday. I’m glad it was cheap gas!

Got in late, but still enjoyed supper with Kathy and Jesse.

J’s car battery was acting up, so I went by Azalea after dropping Ashley off to go get his car started. It’s at our mechanics now. Hopefully, it’ll be done today.

It was great to see Miles last night!

Tuesday morning I worked on producing my newsletter.

About half way through the job, the uninterrupted power supply interrupted me with an incessant beeping. That indicates that the battery is dead. Sadly, I just bought the device about three months ago.

I had to go Walmart to get a new one. I’m sure Amazon will take care of me somehow, although it’s hard to mail those back–it has lithium ion batteries and those can’t be shipped by air.

Also printed up the labels. Had to go back by Walmart and Office Depot to pick up more supplies.

Mailed the dvds I burned to the teams from this weekend.

And to the Post Office for, you guessed it, stamps!

Cleaned the fish tank and sorted out my bird feeders this afternoon.


Trying to get everything together as best as possible for the two weeks I’m gone to Peru.

Normally, Jesse and my friend Anthony Jacquin do a recording on Tuesdays, but it didn’t work out today.

Worked on the newsletters with the kids at the mission and helped them with their homework.

Gas went under $2.00 at my QT.

We saw this on the back of truck on the way back to the ATL.

The clouds were phenomenal.

I wonder what rides on these?

I planned on going to church this morning. K went to Sunday School then came home so I stayed home with her.

Worked on social media.

Finished editing and uploading the video I shot yesterday. Also burned DVDs for both churches.

Ate lunch and went to Walmart to get some baby diapers for the party.

Enjoyed playing Far Cry 4.

Went to the Baby Shower!

Women come up with some pretty gross games.

Ashley and her friends did a wonderful job of hosting the party.

Admin duties now.

I thought the colors of the clouds were fantastic.

Ashley and I had fun briefing our teams from Briarcliff Baptist Church and a choir from Pennsylvania this morning.

We took them on safari to the Buford Highway Farmers Market.

The PA choir sang at the market. They did a fabulous job!

Our team from Briarcliff BC then went to Audubon at Briarcliff apartments.

The team did a great job. Fantastic time, especially for our first time there!

We finally packed up around 5pm. The kids loved the team!

Home now to work on admin duties.

Kathy and I will probably continue watching House of Cards!

This morning I enjoyed recording a new podcast!

It’s one of my fun things.

This is a really interesting edition on the similarities between men and animals! Listen to “Manimal!”

Just click on the title and GROOVE!

Last week, Ashley told me that a brake light was out in my car.

I got it repaired today!

K and I have enjoyed binge watching House of Cards on Netflix. Wish I could say it made me feel better about our government!

Spent time this afternoon contacting all my lodging and transportation situations in Peru. Everything looks good! Still have to hear from one more person.

The crows are enjoying my picture!

This is their version of “dinner and a show.”

Back to House of Cards with K. I think there’s over 24 to watch. Oh, my.

Admin duties now.

I had a great morning! I always love recording!

This is an especially interesting episode because I work almost entirely from the first person perspective. I think it’s one of my best efforts! Check out “I AM!”

Just click on the title and GROOVE!

Enjoyed working with the children at the mission!

I fancy myself a math guy. Ever heard of these words before?

I cleaned the mission before I left.

Had fun watching House of Cards with K this evening.

Admin duties now.

Worked on confirming all my details for my Peru trip starting a week from today! WOW! Emailed all my lodging (Lima, El Triunfo–near the Amazon, Iquito, Cusco and Ollantaytambo. I also checked on getting my tickets for the train to Machu Pichu and with my travel agent to make sure that my in country airline tickets are good to go when I get there. I reserved most of these things in July!

I thought these geese were funny walking down the street.

I’ve added a picture to my feeding station. I’ve read that crows can recognize faces. I’m doing a test to see how they react to the picture and to me once I’ve fed them regularly.

Crows are the smartest birds by far. Their brain/body mass ratio is closest to monkeys.

Why would this lady have her top down and still wear that huge hat?

Tuesday night I had problems with my photo servers. Wasn’t able to blog or upload pictures. Working ok today.

Ashley and I worked on our big promotion in Birmingham, AL next week. We talked with our friend Ben Birdsong who is a Youth Director in the area who helped us contact his friends. Amen!

Worked at the mission. Lots of homework. Ashley and Mr. Tony came to help.

Wednesday, was a relaxed day for me. Did some banking. Worked on admin duties.

Helped the kids with their homework. Had two families with home schoolers who came to help. That was great!

Back home now working on admin duties.

We may watch some of the Presidential debates. We also been enjoying House of Cards which is a TV show produced by Netflix.

I liked this new succulent. It’s from Madagascar!

Somebody has a sweet tooth!

Got gas this morning! Love these prices!

Chill in the air. Started wearing shoes again.

Enjoyed recording a new podcast! Woot!

This episode will help you win in life! Get into the “IN Zone!”

Just click on the title and GROOVE!

Uploaded to Facebook.

Worked on putting the labels on the DVDs for our promo packets.

I got in contact with my friend Ben Birdsong in Birmingham, AL. Ashley and I will go up there next Monday and host a group of Youth Directors and Directors of Missions. We’re having BBQ, so I hope people will show up!

Did the shopping at Walmart.

Started my final pack for my trip to Peru next week. I’ve been working on this for nearly three months. It’s hard to take very little.

I’m putting it in a backpack for my trip into the Amazon jungle.

Figured a rolling suitcase might not be that great.

Enjoyed working with the kids at the mission.

Ate supper with Kathy and Jesse. Always good!

Hungry?

Say what?!

Always nice to be appreciated.