"I need Ammo!"

"It's too late - to be stopped at the crossroads. Each life here - a possible way. But wait - and they all will be lost roads. Each road's getting shorter the longer I stay..."

David Wilcox, singer and songwriter






Have you ever heard of the story in the Scriptures where a guy ended up burying the money he was given?

As I understand it, money was given to some slaves by their master to go and "do business" for the purpose of making more than what they started with. All of the them put what they recieved to use (who knows doing what), and doubled the amount of money they had started with, except for one of them.

The story says this particular man decided to bury the money. In his response to the master it seemed as if he buried it for fear that he might loose it. For fear.

Have you ever seen the last battle scene of "Saving Private Ryan?" Remember the small band of three or four soldiers who are ordered to go and find private Ryan to order him home. The war had taken the life of all of his brothers and upper command did not want to see their mother loose the last remaining son.

What an amazing journey. A small band of brothers on a search for one soldier among thousands to bring him home in safety. What a beautiful portrayal of the bigger story we find ourselves in.

If you've seen the movie he refuses to leave his batallion for home and engages in the last battle of the movie. Wow...what dedication and courage by this young private.

But do you remember the one American soldier who was in charge of providing ammo to the rest of the soldiers during this last battle? The camera panes to him periodically as he is completely overcome with fear. He is skiddishly stumbling around the battleground with hundreds of rounds of ammo draped around his neck.

He is utterly petrified.

You find him huddling up against a wall frozen as his fellow brothers are desperately screaming out, "I need ammo!" And then he hears a wrestling battle between his fellow brother and a German. He slowly climbs the stairs with his gun drawn to help and then stops.

He stops?

He hunches over in the stairwell as his friend is stabbed to death. Then the German soldier comes down the steps and passes right by this scared American soldier who has his gun drawn and 50 pounds of firepower ready to terminate him.

Honestly, doesn't this scene make you want to strangle this guy? He is so scared by all that is going on around him that he is totally immobalized.

But if I'm honest I can also see part of myself in this young man, and that's the truth. Maybe their is a part of all of us that wants to huddle up in a stairwell and allow fear to petrify us while we are draped with the talents to deliver.

This American soldier reminds me a bit of the slave in the story of the Scriptures. Fear of losing his life prevented him from being engaged in the battle. As for the slave, he feared that he might loose the small amount that he was given, so he thought it would be best to bury it. In both stories their fear petrified them.

I sit here back in my room at 204 Mount Oak Place writing my last blog of this chapter of the journey. It feels different not writing the blog from a plush chair at a Starbucks Coffee though. It's been a challenging three weeks and I'm grateful to be back here at home. As I've strived to counter the fear, belief comes to mind. Small steps of courage to move out of the huddled position in the stairwell, ready to bury the treasures given to me.

There's another story that starts out something like..."if you have faith as small as a mustard seed..."

Come on...really, as small as a mustard seed? Well we can chat about that in the next chapter...





Feel free to comment on the blog...would love to hear your thoughts. Thanks for reading and being along for the journey.

Ohhhhhhh Mexico...it sounds so simple, I just gotta go...(James Taylor)

Its 11:55am mexico city time and i'm at hostel versalles 104 in zone 4. I left yesterday morning around 3:15am from Lima and got into mexico city in the early afternoon. Last night I went to an Argentenian steak house with a couple from zew zealand which was awesome. This morning has been more or less just recouping from jet lag and i plan on checking out some parks and other sites after i finish this blog.

Well it was quite a ride being in Lima for two weeks, learning how to operate on a buisness level in a foreign place...which mind you i'm new at both. Overall I feel quite encouraged by all that went on. I met with several potential clients and got a pretty good grasp of the work to be done, the competition, and the demand that is there.

I had the great pleasure of meeting a taxi driver that was on vacation for one month from his full time job as a bodyguard for a fishing company owner in Lima. I believe that it certainly wasn't by chance i met Alberto and I am very grateful to God for all he did for me. Without getting into detail, Alberto protected me from a potentially bad situation that I never saw coming.

The day after i met Alberto, he and I spend one day doing sale calls to equipment rental companies and mining companies all over Lima. It was a really great time to spend with him and get to know Lima. He was a bodyguard and taxi...there really isn't a better combo when you're moving around lima.

Unfortunately I didn't have the time to visit anywhere outside Lima, but there will be a next time for places like Machu Pichu.

I feel pretty worn out honestly after these last two weeks but I'm hoping to get a second wind for this last week. I am realizing that three weeks is a long time to be away. The trade show at centro banamex starts tomorrow and I think it will be a better showing for heavy equipment than the one in Lima.

I will write in a couple days and hopefully have some cool pics of Mexico City.

Here are some pics from Lima to check out:

Below is jose who is the guard at the hostel i stayed

at in lima. Just to give you an idea, jose works 12 hours

and gets paid 22 soles, which is just over 7 US dollars.

beach view a couple blocks

from hostel

Below: Shaun, Australia, and Joey, Germany

They stayed at same hostel in Lima

Alberto and I at the lima airport at 3:30am.

Jorge, the other gatewatcher at the Lima hostel

I couldn't be sitting in a more american place than where I'm at right now...Starbucks coffee.

Lattes being whipped to the tune of norah jones in the background, bustling peruvian chatter, and even a bonus...free wireless internet.

Its nice to be here you know. I've already had my zuchini quiche along with a tall americano filled half way. But its a little different at the starbuck on benavides avenue in Lima...a security greets you at the door. After i had sat down for a while i noticed the guard fidgeting with a woman's computer as she went to the bathroom!

I'm thinkin..."should i say something," maybe i just starting yelling in the middle of starbucks "que estás haciendo!!!"

Then i saw the woman calmly approach her seat and the guard still had his hands on her computer. Obviously she wasn't disturbed.

So what in the world was this guy doing?

Sure enough a couple minutes later this inconsiderate noisy security guard had his hands on another computer right behind me. I couldn't believe it!! Then i noticed what he was doing...he was locking and unlocking locks that he puts on all the computers!

I asked this lady behind if it was necessary to actually have your computered lock via a cable in the wall. Sternly she says to me, " Aqui en este starbucks, roban!"

Lets just say the next thing i was doing was locking my computer to the wall with the help of the now very kind and respectful security guard.

So if some robber comes in here he might be able to take me but my computer ain't goin anywhere! Once again, welcome to Lima!

Attached are some pics to enjoy.

proof that a guy gave me his first class seat from panama to lima. boy was I happy....I think i started hurdling seats back up to the front.

un amigo alberto at the trade

show

cristian rocci who is a friend of a friend.

Trade show pic.

a view from my room last night

thoughts along the way

Its about 9:43pm Lima time and i just got back. Today i went to the trade show and saw some people i have met over the last couple of days, and then to a havana coffee shop to make some obsure cold sales calls which were semi successful.

I will say its been hard to be here alone for an extended period. I am so used to having friends around and it has not been easy to believe the truth. Tomorrow i will meet in the morning with a friend of a friend named christian rocci from lima, then off to the trade show again and should have some meetings in the afternoon.

Starting a business like this is not easy, being down here not knowing where to start. Its hard just to keep throwing yourself out there and wondering if the door is gonna swing open or not.

Especially when its being done in a whole other culture, country, custom, and language...I mean talk about feeling out of your comfort zone. I think I'm taking the "welcome to life outside what you're used to" seminar with 9 million people in Lima giving the class.

Its risky. I guess these are the times when people decide they may think about doing something else. Well those feelings certainly have creeped into my world at times... I start thinking, "well maybe this door isn't open."

But on the other hand sometimes you have to push it open...right? I mean, ask and it will be given to you. Maybe the asking part is crucial.

Though I don't want to do this without the ultimate door opener. Forget about it, if he's not in it then what's the point. So i guess i have to ask, knock, push, and trust. I guess i can do much more than that, right?

So i leave it at that til the next blog. Thanks for walking along for the journey. there's more to come.