Howdy, everyone!
Friday afternoon I went with David and Shane to the primary school playground, and while they played basketball, I ran. I knew it was going to be difficult because I can barely run in Texas where the altitude is basically 0, but it was harder than I thought. I probably ran a total of about ½ a mile (I walked in between some of my laps, though), but I feel like it was a good start. Anyways, Friday evening we went to this traveling dog show thing that we had heard about. I was expecting it to be kind of lame, but it was worse than lame, honestly. The crowd was mostly children, and the few adults besides us were there only because of their kids. The people had various acts (most of which did not include dogs, by the way, which was disappointing), and although I could not understand all of the skits, I understood enough to know that the material wasn’t exactly appropriate for children, and one act even had a girl just dancing around in basically a bra and super short skirt. Even the acts with the dogs were pretty lame, and you could see that the people verbally and physically abuse them. The only redeeming factor of us going to the show was the fact that we were surrounded by kids who just adored us, and we got to play with them a bit.
Saturday I spent most of the day just reading and preparing for that night’s English class. However, we discovered that the people who put on the dog show the night before were staying at our hostel, along with their dogs, which was interesting. It was so sad, though, because up close the dogs looked even more pathetic and starved. I watched as the humans bought beer and cigarettes with the money they earned the night before, while the dogs scratched around in the dirt and dug in the trash for food. It was angering and saddening to say the least, both because the people were lost and because the dogs were starving and abused. However, all I did was watch and judge and do nothing to help either, so am I any better, really? No. Nobody is righteous and nobody is justified, which makes the message of the Cross so amazing and so perfect, that God would still want a relationship with us enough to send His Son to make up for our imperfections. I pray that that message would be my driving force and would motivate me to do everything to make Him known. That night we had our English class, and quite a few people showed up. It was once again a blast, and we’re hoping to use that to get to know and reach more people. I must also add that Kelly, who thus far has not like any of our American food snacks, tried the Slim Jim beef jerky and cheese combo, and liked it….a lot. Needless to say, we were shocked and delighted.
On Sunday, Father’s Day, I got up at 7 am to do laundry. Bad idea. The water is cold enough during the heat of the day, but at 7 am it turns your hands into icicles. By the time I finished, my fingers could barely work the clips to attach my clothes to the line to dry. That’s the last time I do that, I hope. Anyways, Kelly, David and I had planned to go get breakfast and coffee at Deciderio’s restaurant and then call our dads to tell them happy Father’s Day, but the restaurant was closed due to the fact that Deciderio, a dad, was taking el Día del Padre off. We were disappointed, but we just decided to go on to the telefonica and call. So I got to talk to my dad briefly because the line was funky, and I talked to my mom and my sister for a bit, too, which was great, but it made me miss home even more. By the way, Mom, I’m totally down with your idea to have a huge family dinner (plus David) when I get back. Anyways, when we got back from the telefonica, we had church in the boys’ room, aka, First Baptist Yuly (the name of our hostel). The boys even got “dressed up” for church by cutting out paper ties and taping them to their necks with duck tape : ). We listened to and sang along to worship songs on our iPods and then listened to a sermon by Tim Keller, our church “guest speaker,” that David had on his iPod. Between my iPod and David’s, we have enough sermons to have church every Sunday until we leave, so we’re going to make that a regular thing. It was really awesome because it was a time for the 4 of us to just be fed by the Word together and to worship together. Right as we finished church, though, we heard some people arguing and a baby crying outside. Kelly and I went back to our room, and we saw a girl whose husband is in the dog show crying and another one of the girls trying to comfort her. So, we went out and started playing with her 1-year-old baby girl, and we introduced ourselves. We gave her some Kleenex to wipe her eyes and her baby’s nose, and she told us her name is Ruth and her daughter’s name is Nazaret. Let me just say Nazaret had some major energy. Most of the time, I was just holding her hands and walking around with her in the courtyard while she explored and played in the dirt. It was tiring but so wonderful because we got to talk with Ruth and another girl named Deysy, who was also in the act, and they’re 19 and 20 years old, so we could relate pretty well. We found out that Ruth and her husband had been arguing and that he had kicked her head, so I went and got my med kit (thanks, Mom) and put some Neosporin on her cut and gave her some pain reliever. It was an awesome time to just talk to them and get to know them. When we went to lunch, Kelly had the idea to bring Ruth some lunch back because when we left we saw the rest of the people in one of the rooms eating while Ruth was outside taking care of Nazaret. We didn’t get to talk to them much after that because Nazaret was napping, but we did get to say goodbye to them the next morning when they left, and Kelly gave Ruth a copy of the New Testament in Spanish. Around 3 in the afternoon we walked down to the plaza to play some volleyball. It was really fun, but after about the 5th game or so, I wanted to cry every time the ball hit my forearms. They kept wanting to play, though, so we played about 8 games, and my reward was a smattering of busted red blood vessels up and down my forearms. It was fun, but we played way too long, and David actually twisted his ankle but kept playing on it. When we looked at it later that night it was swollen and bruised, so he just elevated and iced it as best he could in a place where there is no ice.
Monday morning we got up to go to a woman named Norma’s chacra, which is basically like a terrace on the side of a mountain where people crow crops (they’re everywhere here and I have pictures that can show them better). She had invited us to come with her a while ago, so yesterday we went. Unfortunately, David was not able to go due to the fact that his ankle was still swollen quite a bit, so it was just Norma, her lamb named Pepe, Kelly, Shane, and me. Anyways, we had a very interesting descent down a mountain, and I can only describe it as perilously awesome. Surprisingly, I wasn’t scared at all, and I really feel that God completely filled me with this spirit of adventure yesterday because I was so excited and ready try everything the whole time. So, about 40 minutes after we started our descent, we finally made it to the chacra with our knees and thighs a little shaky. We rested a bit, and then helped Norma herd some cows into a field so that we could pick choclo (a type of corn). We picked choclo for a while, and then sat down to shuck it. Every time we started making a dent in the huge pile, though, this woman, who I assume works for Norma, would bring another huge sack of choclo and pour it on top. We shucked for several hours, and I actually kind of enjoyed it, except when I shucked one that was partially rotten and sticky and buggy….that was kind of gross. Norma was wonderful, though, because she kept arranging these sacks to make shade for us and she had bought a 3 liter of Coke for us to drink. It was a lot hotter down in the valley where the chacra was, so we were very glad for the shade and the Coke. Around 2, Norma’s mother came down (which amazes me because she’s like 70 or something and goes down to the chacra every day) and brought lunch. Do y’all remember that cow stomach that I mentioned the other day that was not my preference? Well, that’s what we had. Once again, I will say that God definitely filled me with an adventurous spirit because I actually liked it. It was in a different sauce with potatoes and rice, and I made sure that every bite had plenty of potatoes and rice with it so that I wouldn’t notice the texture too much. I ate everything on my plate, which was a mistake because then they gave me more. Also, we had boiled choclo (mota) that we had just picked and shucked, and let me just say, it was the most amazing corn I’ve ever had. The kernels are a lot bigger than the corn we’re used to, and it’s so sweet and juicy! Kelly was sitting next to me on the ground while we ate, and once when she bit into one it squirted both me and Shane, who was on the other side of me! I could eat that all day, and we had fresh cheese with it, which was a strangely delicious combination. I had all the choclo, cheese, and stomach that I could stomach, and then we went to milk cows. We watched while Norma and a few other people milked the cows, and then they let us try it. It was really fun and more difficult than I expected, but I did it and milk actually came out. And then we drank it, which was even weirder. It tasted good, sweeter than what we’re used to, but it was really warm, which was weird. Even though I liked the taste, it was hard to swallow because it was so warm, so Shane drank the rest of both mine and Kelly’s cups. Altogether, it was a very neat experience to milk a cow and then drink what you milked (and thankfully, my stomach handled it very well). And then we went back to shuck the rest of the choclo, which took forever. When we finally finished around 5:15, we packed everything up and started our ascent. Once again, I will say that God filled me up because I knew I could not climb that mountain on my own. So, while we were going up, I was constantly praying and repeating Philippians 4:13 to myself (but in Spanish, which was even cooler). God fulfilled my requests even more than I expected, which He has a way of doing, I’ve noticed. Instead of just making it up the mountain, I had tons of energy (despite our long and tiring day) and I was excited to actually climb a mountain. We videotaped some of the things we did while we were on the chacra, so hopefully I can show y’all when I get back. Anyways, we got back to Cabana right at dark and went to collapse on our beds. All I wanted to do was wash my hands and my face because they were so dirty from shucking and milking and walking up and down dusty mountain paths. I really hope we get to go again so that David will have a chance to go and because I had a blast. The whole day was an awesome opportunity to just get to know Norma better, and we actually had amazing conversations about what we believe and about God. We’re hoping to further that relationship with her and her family and continue to share Christ’s love with them. When we got back to the hostel, we recounted our adventures to David. Then we were surprised by a visit from Wilder and Daniel, who had heard that David hurt his ankle and had come to see how he was and to bring him a cream to alleviate his pain. It was so thoughtful and awesome of them to do that, so we were excited because we could see that we were growing in our relationships with them.
I know that was a long one, but it doesn’t even begin to describe everything we felt and experienced, so I’m just going to have to tell y’all when I see y’all. Also, on a side note, Friday night I experienced a huge bout of homesickness and doubts about myself. I cried, prayed, and talked to my team about it, but I still felt pretty down. The next day, I opened up a letter from my friend Cristina, and her letter was so encouraging and she had written 2 Corinthians 12:9-10. I looked it up and read it, and I knew that God had just spoken through her letter and through that verse. This is what it says: “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” It was just what I needed because I had been feeling so weak and imperfect, and once again God reminded me to look not at my weaknesses but at His strengths. Then, Kelly told me that her dad told her the same verse on Sunday when she talked to him. And today I checked my email and read one from my friend Brooke, and she too had written that verse at the bottom of the message. How cool is that? I think God really wanted to get His message across.
So, here are some prayer requests:
- Pray that God would heal David’s ankle so that he’ll be back to normal and be able to do everything
- Pray that God would heal Kelly, who’s been sick with a cold for a while, and pray that no one else would get sick
- Pray that we would continue to build relationships with Norma, Wilder, Daniel, and all the people here
- Pray that I would not be homesick and that I would focus on God instead of myself
- Pray that we would be bold and would follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit in all that we do
- Pray that the conversations we have had with various people would just prompt them to keep searching and wondering about God so that we would be able to share with them even more
- Pray always for team unity
- Pray always for all the missionaries
- Pray that each of us would grow closer to God throughout our time here
I love y’all, and I’m praying for y’all, too! Please comment, and if you don’t have a Google account, please make one so that you can comment because I love reading hearing from y’all : ). Thanks, Gig’em, and God bless!
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Friday, June 19, 2009
Ups and Downs and Side to Sides
Monday night was so awesome! The four of us climbed this hill up to this ridge that we had been to before during the day, and from this ridge you can see for miles. We went up there to stargaze and pray and just be in wonder of God’s creation. I’ve never seen so many stars in one sky before, and I saw several shooting stars. It was amazing. But every time I see some majestic creation of God, be it mountains, ocean, stars, or sunset, I am reminded that those beautiful, breathtaking sights are not his greatest creation. We are. So I am convicted each time I stand in awe of these creations and remember the judgments I have passed on the creations he loves the most. It was a great time of just being silent before God and praying to him. The only bad thing was that it was really cold, and even though I had 7 layers of clothes on (yes, count them, 7), I still got tons of little bitty stickers all in my jacket and I fear I will never get them all out. But it was worth it, and I think we plan to go back pretty soon to build a fire, roast some weenies, and stargaze again. Oh yeah, at lunch on Monday I tried cow stomach, but then I quickly decided that I did not want to order it. It was really chewy and rubbery, and even the sauce that it was in tasted nasty. But I can now say that I have tasted cow stomach. We also bought some honey from a man who comes into Cabana periodically to sell it, and it has to be the sweetest honey I’ve ever tasted. We’ve been putting it on bread and in our tea, and it is wonderful! I experienced for the first time the pain of a freezing cold shower because our electricity and hot water went out. I really needed to shower, though, so I decided to brave it. It wasn’t terrible at first, but by the time I finished I had a brain freeze headache and couldn’t stop shivering. I got over it, but I realized that some teams don’t have hot water at all, so now I have a renewed appreciation for it. I guess I kind of went backwards through my day, but oh well.
Tuesday wasn’t very eventful during the day, we mainly just did laundry (oh yeah, David showered for the first time on Monday and then Shane showered for the first time on Tuesday), prepared for Bible study on Wednesday, and reminded people about it. That evening, however, we invited Wilder over to just play cards and stuff, and so around 7:30 he came with his friend Daniel to our hostel (we had played soccer with Daniel a while back). Wilder did a bunch of card tricks at first, which were pretty cool, and then we played blackjack and taught them Texas Hold’em. Then Wilder taught us all a new game called Nervioso, which was so incredibly fun! I won’t go into details here, but I’m definitely going to teach it to everyone when I get back home. They stayed till about 10, and it was an awesome time to just build relationships with them and have a fun. We’re really excited to keep building those relationships and just share Christ with them.
Most of Wednesday we just prepared some more for the Bible study, but we also did some more exploring of Cabana. We walked out to one of the lagunas, and then took an adventurous short cut back where we hiked up a very steep hill and looked out all around us. It was pretty cool. That evening we went to the store with the community PA system to ask them to announce our Saturday English class on Thursday morning. Afterwards, we went to the municipal building to ask someone to open the auditorium for us, and much to our surprise we were told that another organization was going to have a meeting at 7. We were slightly taken aback, but then they told us it would only take about 20 minutes, so we just decided to wait in the plaza and tell anyone who came for our Bible study that we were going to start late. So we waited. And we played with this huge group of kids, which was fun/exhausting. And we waited and played some more. Finally, at 8:30 we decided to give up, and we found out later that the meeting that was supposed to only last 20 minutes lasted until 10 pm. It was really frustrating not only because the Bible study we had prepared for and anticipated didn’t happen, but also because only 3 people showed up. When we went back to the hostel, we had team time, but hardly any of us even felt like saying a word because we were frozen from the cold, disappointed, frustrated, and discouraged. Finally, we just discussed and reevaluated what we’ve been doing, and we decided to focus more on building relationships and gaining trust. We resolved to not let this keep us down, and we just reminded ourselves that it’s about God and not about us.
So, Thursday morning David, Kelly, and I got up at 6:30 am to listen to our announcement, and then we went back to sleep for like 30 minutes before we went to breakfast. We saw Wilder there, so we ate with him and then tried the internet, but it wasn’t working so we went back to the hostel. After Shane woke up and we did our team time, we tried the internet again, and this time it worked. So we did that for a while, ate lunch, and then siesta-d while the boys went and worked out. Then we went out and talked to some of the people we want to get to know a lot better, and around 5:30 the pastor of the Assemblies of God church came to our hostel to talk to us about what we believe and stuff (we had set up the meeting beforehand). It went really well, and he was very encouraging and kind. A couple hours later, Wilder came over with Daniel and another friend named Anthony, and we all read John 14 together. We discussed what it meant to accept Christ, and we answered some of their questions about Christianity and what we believe. It was so awesome because even though we didn’t get to do our “official” Bible study on Wednesday, we got to have this more intimate, personal Bible study last night. I feel that God really answered our prayers and encouraged us last night. We hope to keep having and taking advantage of those opportunities to share Christ with those 3 as well as many more here in Cabana. After we had talked about God for about 2 hours and prayed with them, we did some more card tricks and then played Nervioso until 11 pm. It was so much fun because we were all crowded into Shane and David’s room but having a great time despite being a little cramped. After they left, the four of us were just still so excited and overjoyed about what had just happened that we stayed up laughing and talking for a while before going to bed.
That’s about it so far, but please keep praying for us!
- Pray for open hearts and minds in Wilder, Daniel, and Anthony and that God will continue to give us boldness and opportunity to share with them
- Pray that we would not get easily discouraged but would just completely rely on God’s provision and plan
- Pray that we would be able to focus on what we’re here for and be intentional in the way we live
- Pray that many people would come to English class tomorrow and that we would use it as a way to get to know more people
- Pray for guidance for us as we decide what to do about Bible studies
- Pray for humility, love, and compassion in all that we say and do
- Pray for team unity
- Pray that I won’t miss home and people so much
Thanks again for your prayers and comments. I love y’all!
Tuesday wasn’t very eventful during the day, we mainly just did laundry (oh yeah, David showered for the first time on Monday and then Shane showered for the first time on Tuesday), prepared for Bible study on Wednesday, and reminded people about it. That evening, however, we invited Wilder over to just play cards and stuff, and so around 7:30 he came with his friend Daniel to our hostel (we had played soccer with Daniel a while back). Wilder did a bunch of card tricks at first, which were pretty cool, and then we played blackjack and taught them Texas Hold’em. Then Wilder taught us all a new game called Nervioso, which was so incredibly fun! I won’t go into details here, but I’m definitely going to teach it to everyone when I get back home. They stayed till about 10, and it was an awesome time to just build relationships with them and have a fun. We’re really excited to keep building those relationships and just share Christ with them.
Most of Wednesday we just prepared some more for the Bible study, but we also did some more exploring of Cabana. We walked out to one of the lagunas, and then took an adventurous short cut back where we hiked up a very steep hill and looked out all around us. It was pretty cool. That evening we went to the store with the community PA system to ask them to announce our Saturday English class on Thursday morning. Afterwards, we went to the municipal building to ask someone to open the auditorium for us, and much to our surprise we were told that another organization was going to have a meeting at 7. We were slightly taken aback, but then they told us it would only take about 20 minutes, so we just decided to wait in the plaza and tell anyone who came for our Bible study that we were going to start late. So we waited. And we played with this huge group of kids, which was fun/exhausting. And we waited and played some more. Finally, at 8:30 we decided to give up, and we found out later that the meeting that was supposed to only last 20 minutes lasted until 10 pm. It was really frustrating not only because the Bible study we had prepared for and anticipated didn’t happen, but also because only 3 people showed up. When we went back to the hostel, we had team time, but hardly any of us even felt like saying a word because we were frozen from the cold, disappointed, frustrated, and discouraged. Finally, we just discussed and reevaluated what we’ve been doing, and we decided to focus more on building relationships and gaining trust. We resolved to not let this keep us down, and we just reminded ourselves that it’s about God and not about us.
So, Thursday morning David, Kelly, and I got up at 6:30 am to listen to our announcement, and then we went back to sleep for like 30 minutes before we went to breakfast. We saw Wilder there, so we ate with him and then tried the internet, but it wasn’t working so we went back to the hostel. After Shane woke up and we did our team time, we tried the internet again, and this time it worked. So we did that for a while, ate lunch, and then siesta-d while the boys went and worked out. Then we went out and talked to some of the people we want to get to know a lot better, and around 5:30 the pastor of the Assemblies of God church came to our hostel to talk to us about what we believe and stuff (we had set up the meeting beforehand). It went really well, and he was very encouraging and kind. A couple hours later, Wilder came over with Daniel and another friend named Anthony, and we all read John 14 together. We discussed what it meant to accept Christ, and we answered some of their questions about Christianity and what we believe. It was so awesome because even though we didn’t get to do our “official” Bible study on Wednesday, we got to have this more intimate, personal Bible study last night. I feel that God really answered our prayers and encouraged us last night. We hope to keep having and taking advantage of those opportunities to share Christ with those 3 as well as many more here in Cabana. After we had talked about God for about 2 hours and prayed with them, we did some more card tricks and then played Nervioso until 11 pm. It was so much fun because we were all crowded into Shane and David’s room but having a great time despite being a little cramped. After they left, the four of us were just still so excited and overjoyed about what had just happened that we stayed up laughing and talking for a while before going to bed.
That’s about it so far, but please keep praying for us!
- Pray for open hearts and minds in Wilder, Daniel, and Anthony and that God will continue to give us boldness and opportunity to share with them
- Pray that we would not get easily discouraged but would just completely rely on God’s provision and plan
- Pray that we would be able to focus on what we’re here for and be intentional in the way we live
- Pray that many people would come to English class tomorrow and that we would use it as a way to get to know more people
- Pray for guidance for us as we decide what to do about Bible studies
- Pray for humility, love, and compassion in all that we say and do
- Pray for team unity
- Pray that I won’t miss home and people so much
Thanks again for your prayers and comments. I love y’all!
Monday, June 15, 2009
Ups and Downs
¡Buenos días!
Last Friday, I updated my blog of course, but afterward we walked around and told people about Saturday’s English class and Wednesday’s Bible study. We got a lot of positive responses, but many people weren’t in town on Friday for some reason. Anyways, nothing too exciting happened until Friday evening. We were waiting for Wilder to get off work so that we could see if he wanted to meet up sometime soon to talk some more, and he invited us to his house right then and there. Once we got there, he had to go pick up his little son from the woman who was keeping him, so he gave us a ‘task’ to do while he was gone. He wanted us to feed his pet, Rino, and I bet you can’t guess what kind of animal he was……….the cutest little baby deer!!!! He didn’t look like the deer you find in
Saturday we slept in, which was nice even though I didn’t sleep past 9:15. We spent most of the day preparing for English class, Bible study, and we made a big calendar to write everything down on. Later that afternoon, we decided to go check out the auditorium, where we were going to have the class, and found it was locked, along with the municipal building where the people who have the keys are. We were kind of concerned because we had class in only a couple of hours, so we started asking around and walking around to see if we could find anyone. We were told that the mayor was out of town but would return in an hour or so, and some men told us to look for a man named Richard who had the keys to the auditorium. So we set off in the direction they told us, and we didn’t find Richard, but we did run into Carmen and her husband. She asked us if sometime soon we could come to her house and pray for her son and her family, so we set up a time for Sunday morning at 7. Anyways, thankfully someone opened the auditorium for us, and we got there at 6:30 to start setting up because class was supposed to start at 7. The first person showed up at 7:15, and by 7:45 we had 2 adults and a few kids. We decided to go ahead and start, but people kept showing up until about 8:30, so this was our first real taste of Peruvian time. It actually wasn’t frustrating, but we did expect more people than just 15. The original plan was for me to speak in English and for Kelly to translate, at least for the first class until I was comfortable, but Kelly was busy helping some of the kids write down the stuff I wrote on the board, so I just did it all in Spanish. Surprisingly, it wasn’t too bad. I made mistakes, of course, but I didn’t really feel nervous while I was teaching. Before we started, though, I was really nervous, but I feel that God just gave me peace while I was teaching. I had a great time teaching, explaining, and staying afterward to help those who came in late. I kind of feel that teaching might be where God is leading me, and I’m pretty excited about it. We did, however, decide to start telling people 6:30 instead of 7 : ).
We got up early Sunday morning to wait for Carmen to come by to take us to her house. She said 7 am on the dot, but she didn’t actually come until 7:45, after Shane had decided to go back to bed. But we didn’t mind one bit, so we followed her to her house and met her family and prayed with them. To thank us, they gave us some cheese, and we told them that we would keep praying for them and that we would pray with them any time they wanted. And yes, Mom, I ate the cheese, which was pretty good. It was really salty, though, so I had to eat some bread with it. And no, I didn’t get sick at all. I still really miss cheddar and feta cheese. Anyways, we went back to the hostel and some went back to sleep, but I just read and journaled and stuff. In the afternoon, we headed to the plaza because we planned on playing volleyball with some people. However, we found several organizations creating these designs on the square, and when we asked them about it they said that it was to celebrate the Catholic holiday of
To answer Catie and Molly’s questions, everyone here is indigenous and we hear Quechua every day. I’ve actually learned a couple of phrases, and I hope to learn a lot more because pretty much everyone here speaks it, but most speak Spanish, too. As for indigenous activism, there’s not a whole lot except for a promotion of literacy and aid for the poor. I’m actually nowhere near the Amazon or the rainforest (that’s more northern
Prayer requests:
- Pray that God will continue to work in Wilder’s heart, along with all the people of this village, and that He will open more “doors, windows, cabinets, or dressers”
- Pray that God will prepare Shane to lead Wednesday’s Bible study and that people will show up and truly want to learn
- Pray that we would not get discouraged by the difficulties we encounter here
- Always pray for team unity; see Romans 15:5-6
- Pray that I will be able to focus on why I am here and that this is about God and not about me (I’ve been really missing everyone, and it’s kind of distracting)
I know I say this all the time, but thank y’all so much for your prayers and your comments!!!! I’m praying for y’all, too. I love y’all!
Friday, June 12, 2009
Colegios, Combis, and Conversations
Tuesday was slightly uneventful, at least during the day, but later on we went to see the principal of the secondary school. We had asked a week or so ago if we could teach English classes to his students, so we went back Tuesday to find out his answer. Unfortunately, he said that since we are not certified teachers and the ministry of education is coming to review his school soon, we cannot teach in his school. However, we told him that he can tell his students about our adult English class since they are old enough to be able to pay attention and behave themselves in a large group. It was a blessing for us still because we don’t want to over-commit ourselves by having several different English classes to coordinate. So, we are thankful that God shut that door. Tuesday evening we talked some more with Wilder, the banker, who came up to us and just started asking us questions about the differences between what we believe and what Catholics believe. It was awesome because we have felt for a while that Wilder is a wide open door from God, but it’s difficult at the same time because the priest of the Catholic church is his cousin that he grew up with. Anyways, we hope to do some one-on-one discipleship with Wilder and just keep talking with him. After that, we went to this meeting that the mayor had invited us to. It was a meeting for a women’s organization called Crecer Juntos (Grow Together), which provides support and funding for the poorest people in the region. Our purpose in going was to ask the women what the best time for the community would be for English classes and Bible studies. We weren’t allowed to mention the Bible studies because the president of the organization was Catholic and didn’t want us to say anything about them, but we still introduced ourselves as missionaries and that our primary purpose here is to share the Bible and God’s love with the community. While we were waiting to go introduce ourselves, there was this absolutely adorable little boy (I think he might have been 1 year old or less) who I played peek-a-boo with (thanks, Mom). His mom was walking around with him, and whenever he saw me, he would point at me and tug his mom to bring him to me. It was wonderful! Anyways, we decided that Saturday is the best time for English classes, so our first one is tomorrow, and I’m really excited about it. I have a feeling that the room is going to be completely full, which will be awesome because we’re still going to pray before we start and announce the Bible studies for Wednesdays.
Wow, that was a lot for Tuesday when not much happened….so now for Wednesday, when not much happened again. We were supposed to have another meeting with the primary school principal and teachers about having an English class there, so we got up to the school at 2:20 because are meeting was at 2:30. When we got there, though, the school was completely locked up, so we thought we would wait just in case they were eating lunch. We waited until about 3:50 and realized that no one was going to show up because even though Peru time is later than US time, the principal and teachers are usually very punctual. We decided instead to just explore another side of Cabana that we hadn’t seen much of, and it was actually really awesome. We followed a little stream along the road, and came upon a family washing their laundry in it. We stopped to talk to them, and I actually spoke most of the time instead of Kelly, our translator, so that was pretty cool to practice my Spanish and talk to some new people. We told them about our English classes and our Bible studies, and they seemed interested, but it’s hard to tell what’s interest and what’s just politeness. That’s pretty much all we did Wednesday, but it was fun and adventurous :).
Oh yeah, I haven’t mentioned anything about the food we’ve been eating, I don’t think. Let me just say, it has been marvelous, and we really love Deciderio the owner of the restaurant we’ve been going to. I have a new love that isn’t quite as strong as my love for dark chocolate, but I’m pretty addicted to it nonetheless. It’s called Sublime, and it’s milk chocolate with peanuts in it. I was eating it nearly every day, but today marks my 3rd day clean (hahaha—Spanish jajaja). Also, they have this soft drink (gaseosa) called Inca Cola that is might tasty, but I’m also getting used to the taste of regular Coca Cola since they don’t have Dr. Pepper, Root Beer, or Pepsi here (sorry, David). Catie and Molly, do they have Sublime and Inca Cola in Chile? The more adventurous and interesting things I’ve tried include fried liver and onions (not as bad as expected) and tuna, which you Texans might recognize as prickly pear. Yep, I ate the fruit (tuna) from a prickly pear (tuna), and it was pretty good but with way too many seeds. (Mom, tell G and G that I ate some prickly pear!) David actually ate a whole one, which took him an hour because he was spitting out seeds for so long. We found out later you’re supposed to eat the seeds because tuna is good for your stomach if it’s upset. But, we now know we can survive in the wilderness here if we get lost (not that we will, Mom) because there is tuna everywhere! At times, minus the huge mountains, the landscape reminds me of the Texas Hill Country/Central Texas.
Anyways, yesterday (Thursday) we went back to Andamarca because when we were there briefly last week, Andrew and his school invited us back this week to celebrate the school’s anniversary with them. We had our first experience with the Combi, which is basically a 12 passenger van type thing that they cram 30 people into. I lucked out and got the front middle seat (with a seatbelt, Mom) so I had plenty of room. Also, on the 30 minute or so drive, I had a great conversation with Edwin, who was sitting next to me in the passenger seat. We talked about God and I encouraged him to keep seeking Him; we talked about politics; we talked about economics; and we talked some more about God. It was pretty cool. When we arrived in Andamarca, we weren’t quite sure what to do because we got there at 11:30 and the festivities at the school wouldn’t start until 2. We decided to prayer walk through the streets and talk to whomever we met, and we ended up meeting a man named Atilio. He invited us into where he works, which is like a hostel, and we talked to him and shared the Gospel with him. He told us we should come to Bible studies in Andamarca, too, which would be awesome, but we have to figure out if that will work. Then we just prayed with him and gave him the New Testament in Spanish. It was pretty cool. We ate lunch after that, and then went to the school to hang out until people got there. It was awesome to see the look on Andrew’s face when he saw us because you could see that he was so happy/excited that we had come back. We had some awesome conversations with him about God and how he wants to learn how to share God’s Word with others (one of the church team members gave him a bilingual Bible last week). We just kept encouraging him to share the Gospel, and we shared our own testimonies with him and told him that sharing your testimony is a great way to witness to people. We watched some volleyball games between Andamarca’s school and two other schools from a few hours away, and they were pretty good. It was weird, though, to see some of the teachers and the principals in the corner drinking beer and getting super drunk while their students played sports. They came around again to us and offered us chicha (beer), which we again refused, but then we saw some of the students actually drinking some. It was just a major difference we saw between our two cultures, and we just have to deal with it and try to understand. We left a little early, and Andrew walked us back to the Combi station and waited with us until it came. I got to play volleyball with 3 little girls who were bumping a ball back and forth in the street, and it was so fun! And it kept me warm because it gets cold really soon after the sun goes down here. Anyways, the drive back in the dark was so cool because there were so many stars it was ridiculous! When we got back, we just ate snacks and had team time, and then Kelly and I went to bed at like 9:30 because we were exhausted. By the way, an elephant lives above us, so I’ve definitely been making use of my ear plugs.
Speaking of weather, it is getting colder and colder here, and I must confess I wish I were in Texas swimming and playing outside. I love it here, but I do miss home and family and friends, and I wish I could have summer with y’all, too. And I really wish I could go to the Rangers/Astros game with all my family! Not fair. I miss y’all very much, and I love all y’all very much. I love all your comments, and I want y’all to try to compete with my mom for the most comments!!!!
Prayer requests:
- Pray for Edwin, that God would give him a longing to seek God and accept His Love
- Pray for continued team unity and patience with each other
- Pray that I won’t be too homesick and that I will be able to focus on God
- Pray that we would all be flexible with what God has planned for us
- Pray that our English class tomorrow would go smoothly and be a great way to meet people and tell them about Bible studies
- Pray that we would continue to talk to Wilder, and that God would move in his heart
- Keep praying for all the people we’ve already mentioned and all the missionaries
- Pray that we would trust God as we prepare for our Bible studies and everything
P.S.
To Kevin, Gig’em Aggies! Whoop! Also, be prepared for a ton of emails from my mom.
To Mom, thanks for the update, and please tell everyone I love them and tell Michael and Jill congrats for me. I love you so much and I miss you and Dad a lot!
To David, thank you for being one of the biggest encouragements in my life! Thank you so much for those verses. I love you and miss you more than you know.
To Molly and Catie, thank y’all for being awesome and such incredible friends. I’m praying for y’all, too, and it would be so awesome if we could meet up while we’re all in SA.
Wow, that was a lot for Tuesday when not much happened….so now for Wednesday, when not much happened again. We were supposed to have another meeting with the primary school principal and teachers about having an English class there, so we got up to the school at 2:20 because are meeting was at 2:30. When we got there, though, the school was completely locked up, so we thought we would wait just in case they were eating lunch. We waited until about 3:50 and realized that no one was going to show up because even though Peru time is later than US time, the principal and teachers are usually very punctual. We decided instead to just explore another side of Cabana that we hadn’t seen much of, and it was actually really awesome. We followed a little stream along the road, and came upon a family washing their laundry in it. We stopped to talk to them, and I actually spoke most of the time instead of Kelly, our translator, so that was pretty cool to practice my Spanish and talk to some new people. We told them about our English classes and our Bible studies, and they seemed interested, but it’s hard to tell what’s interest and what’s just politeness. That’s pretty much all we did Wednesday, but it was fun and adventurous :).
Oh yeah, I haven’t mentioned anything about the food we’ve been eating, I don’t think. Let me just say, it has been marvelous, and we really love Deciderio the owner of the restaurant we’ve been going to. I have a new love that isn’t quite as strong as my love for dark chocolate, but I’m pretty addicted to it nonetheless. It’s called Sublime, and it’s milk chocolate with peanuts in it. I was eating it nearly every day, but today marks my 3rd day clean (hahaha—Spanish jajaja). Also, they have this soft drink (gaseosa) called Inca Cola that is might tasty, but I’m also getting used to the taste of regular Coca Cola since they don’t have Dr. Pepper, Root Beer, or Pepsi here (sorry, David). Catie and Molly, do they have Sublime and Inca Cola in Chile? The more adventurous and interesting things I’ve tried include fried liver and onions (not as bad as expected) and tuna, which you Texans might recognize as prickly pear. Yep, I ate the fruit (tuna) from a prickly pear (tuna), and it was pretty good but with way too many seeds. (Mom, tell G and G that I ate some prickly pear!) David actually ate a whole one, which took him an hour because he was spitting out seeds for so long. We found out later you’re supposed to eat the seeds because tuna is good for your stomach if it’s upset. But, we now know we can survive in the wilderness here if we get lost (not that we will, Mom) because there is tuna everywhere! At times, minus the huge mountains, the landscape reminds me of the Texas Hill Country/Central Texas.
Anyways, yesterday (Thursday) we went back to Andamarca because when we were there briefly last week, Andrew and his school invited us back this week to celebrate the school’s anniversary with them. We had our first experience with the Combi, which is basically a 12 passenger van type thing that they cram 30 people into. I lucked out and got the front middle seat (with a seatbelt, Mom) so I had plenty of room. Also, on the 30 minute or so drive, I had a great conversation with Edwin, who was sitting next to me in the passenger seat. We talked about God and I encouraged him to keep seeking Him; we talked about politics; we talked about economics; and we talked some more about God. It was pretty cool. When we arrived in Andamarca, we weren’t quite sure what to do because we got there at 11:30 and the festivities at the school wouldn’t start until 2. We decided to prayer walk through the streets and talk to whomever we met, and we ended up meeting a man named Atilio. He invited us into where he works, which is like a hostel, and we talked to him and shared the Gospel with him. He told us we should come to Bible studies in Andamarca, too, which would be awesome, but we have to figure out if that will work. Then we just prayed with him and gave him the New Testament in Spanish. It was pretty cool. We ate lunch after that, and then went to the school to hang out until people got there. It was awesome to see the look on Andrew’s face when he saw us because you could see that he was so happy/excited that we had come back. We had some awesome conversations with him about God and how he wants to learn how to share God’s Word with others (one of the church team members gave him a bilingual Bible last week). We just kept encouraging him to share the Gospel, and we shared our own testimonies with him and told him that sharing your testimony is a great way to witness to people. We watched some volleyball games between Andamarca’s school and two other schools from a few hours away, and they were pretty good. It was weird, though, to see some of the teachers and the principals in the corner drinking beer and getting super drunk while their students played sports. They came around again to us and offered us chicha (beer), which we again refused, but then we saw some of the students actually drinking some. It was just a major difference we saw between our two cultures, and we just have to deal with it and try to understand. We left a little early, and Andrew walked us back to the Combi station and waited with us until it came. I got to play volleyball with 3 little girls who were bumping a ball back and forth in the street, and it was so fun! And it kept me warm because it gets cold really soon after the sun goes down here. Anyways, the drive back in the dark was so cool because there were so many stars it was ridiculous! When we got back, we just ate snacks and had team time, and then Kelly and I went to bed at like 9:30 because we were exhausted. By the way, an elephant lives above us, so I’ve definitely been making use of my ear plugs.
Speaking of weather, it is getting colder and colder here, and I must confess I wish I were in Texas swimming and playing outside. I love it here, but I do miss home and family and friends, and I wish I could have summer with y’all, too. And I really wish I could go to the Rangers/Astros game with all my family! Not fair. I miss y’all very much, and I love all y’all very much. I love all your comments, and I want y’all to try to compete with my mom for the most comments!!!!
Prayer requests:
- Pray for Edwin, that God would give him a longing to seek God and accept His Love
- Pray for continued team unity and patience with each other
- Pray that I won’t be too homesick and that I will be able to focus on God
- Pray that we would all be flexible with what God has planned for us
- Pray that our English class tomorrow would go smoothly and be a great way to meet people and tell them about Bible studies
- Pray that we would continue to talk to Wilder, and that God would move in his heart
- Keep praying for all the people we’ve already mentioned and all the missionaries
- Pray that we would trust God as we prepare for our Bible studies and everything
P.S.
To Kevin, Gig’em Aggies! Whoop! Also, be prepared for a ton of emails from my mom.
To Mom, thanks for the update, and please tell everyone I love them and tell Michael and Jill congrats for me. I love you so much and I miss you and Dad a lot!
To David, thank you for being one of the biggest encouragements in my life! Thank you so much for those verses. I love you and miss you more than you know.
To Molly and Catie, thank y’all for being awesome and such incredible friends. I’m praying for y’all, too, and it would be so awesome if we could meet up while we’re all in SA.
Monday, June 8, 2009
First Week Continued
¡Buenas tardes!
So Wednesday we all traveled to some of the surrounding villages just to get a picture of what they look like and how big they are. Let me just say that the drive there was absolutely beautiful. We didn’t really do much in those villages, but when we came back to Cabana, we just decided to walk around and meet people, which was awesome because we actually had conversations instead of just greeting them and saying Buenos whatever.
Thursday was rather frustrating because most of the plans we had did not turn out to work. It seemed that most of the day was spent wandering around and trying to find people that just didn’t seem findable. But, God definitely taught us patience through this, and he unified us at least in our frustration. I forgot to say, Thursday morning I led the devotional for the group and just read Psalm 37:3-7, which is the verse at the top of my blog and has been a source of constant comfort to me throughout this whole process. We actually decided to make Psalm 37:3-9 our team theme verse because it’s so fitting for what we’re doing.
Friday we got up at 6 am to go announce ourselves on the radio because a woman had invited us to do so a couple of days before. Unfortunately, we were under the impression that we were going to be using the town PA system, but it actually turned out to be a Christian radio station. Still, we introduced ourselves and stated why we are here. However, the radio commentator and another woman went outside to talk with us right after our announcement. It turns out that the radio commentator is the pastor of a Pentecostal church in Cabana, and we weren’t quite sure who the woman was. Anyways, they basically drilled us on why we were here and they seemed very suspicious and unreceptive. They kept on asking us to just join up with them, but we got the sense that they only offered that in order to control us. It was a very long, uncomfortable situation, but finally it ended and we went back to the hostel to talk to Kevin (the church team Missions Pastor). He helped us calm down and realize that this won’t negatively affect our ministry here. Unfortunately, he and the others from the church team left on Friday, and we were alone for the first time. The realization of our responsibility was quite overwhelming at first, but then we got together as a team, prayed, and planned out our next few steps. Right away, though, God sent me a challenge. I was sitting out in the courtyard just journaling and reading, and a man who is also staying in the hostel just started talking to me. As soon as I told him that we were missionaries, he began asking me questions. I knew he was trying to make me stumble, and I sensed some sort of resentment he had towards God. I tried to answer his questions as best as I could, but I’ve never felt so limited in my Spanish ability. However, I think somehow I defended Christianity enough that he decided to change the subject to learning English and stuff like that. I really feel that God has opened that door and that we will have more opportunities to witness to him even if it’s just through the way we live. His name is Walter, and he will be staying at the hostel for the next month. Anyways, later that afternoon we went to find a woman Shane had met earlier, but we didn’t find her. We did, however, chase a herd of llamas through the streets in order to take pictures of them. Needless to say, I’ve never felt more like a gringa tourist in my life, but I have to admit it was kind of fun.
Saturday I had my first experience in hand-washing my clothes, which wasn’t bad except for the fact that the water was so cold. Later, we talked to the banker, Wilder, and a woman we had met, Maria, about what days and times would work for them for Bible studies. They still seemed open and interested in the Bible studies, so that was encouraging. Then we were just walking around on the outskirts of town and we came upon Nelida, another woman we had met before, standing in a fenced off field with some men and cows. She motioned for us to come over, so we did, and we discovered that they were celebrating the Day of the Animals that day. During this celebration, farmers put new tags in their cow’s ears and brand them, because supposedly this day is the birthday of all cows. It was neat to see some of their culture, but it was sad at the same time for the cows because it looked really painful (sorry, Mom). I mean, they weren’t using an ear-piercing gun; no, they were using a big nail looking thing with ribbons attached to it. But the saddest part was seeing the animism entrenched in these people’s beliefs. {Animism is the belief in spirits that inhabit the land and affect the lives of humans.} For example, for this particular celebration the people believed that the more coca leaves they ate, the more food the cows would have that year and the more wine they drank, the more water the cows would have. After we had had enough of watching them herd the cows and tag them, we went to look for some string to hang in our room for our laundry. We went into this one tienda and started talking with the owner, who turned out to be the pastor of the Assemblies of God church we had been looking for on Thursday. His response to us was totally different than the response of the Pentecostal radio people we had talked to on Friday. He was excited we were here and happy to meet more brothers and sisters in Christ, and he actually invited us to preach in his church sometime. It was so encouraging talking to him, and we could definitely see God’s hand in that because we could have gone to any other tienda.
Sunday was a day of celebration. It was the Peruvian Flag Day, and so we went up to the plaza and watched the parades and dances put on by the schools. It was really interesting, but was way too long because it lasted 4 hours. Also, we were offered alcohol several times, which we were warned in training that this would happen, and a couple of times we thought we might have offended some people by refusing. That’s been a huge cultural difference that hopefully people will be able to understand and accept. All in all, though, the festival was a great way to interact with the people, especially the kids, and we actually felt like a part of the community. Afterwards, we were invited to play soccer with Wilder and some other guys. It was really fun, but it was definitely the most we had exerted ourselves since we’ve been here, and it was difficult to breathe in the high altitude. Then, we went and played volleyball, which is really popular here, and that was also very fun. While we were just hanging out in the plaza, some kids taught me how to throw a trompo (a spinning top). They wind it up with a string, throw it, and pull back really quick to make it spin on the ground. Then, while it’s still on the ground spinning, they reach down and make it spin in their hand. It’s really neat to watch, and I kind of got the hang of it.
Okay, I’m finally up to today. Please tell me if I’m too detailed about all this stuff and if it’s boring because I can try to be more brief about things. Today we met with the actually mayor, who has been out of town for a week or so, and he was very receptive to us and offered us all the help he could give. We now have permission to use the auditorium for our English classes and Bible studies, which is awesome! Now we can actually start planning for them. After we met with him, he said he would take us to the schools to talk to the principal if we would wait a few minutes while he met with some people. While we were waiting out in the plaza, these two women, Carmen and Rosa, came up to us and introduced themselves. When we told them we were evangelical missionaries, Carmen started asking us questions about what we believe because she is Catholic. We had an absolutely awesome conversation with the two of them, and actually got to share the Gospel with them. We explained to them how we cannot work for salvation and that accepting Jesus’ sacrifice for our sins is the only Way to be saved, which is very different from what the Catholic Church teaches. We read them specific verses from the Bible to show that we weren’t just making this up, and they seemed eager to know more and interested in our Bible studies. It was so amazing to see how God worked even while we were waiting for something else. After that, the mayor led us to the primary school to talk to the principal and a few classes about offering English classes, and then we went to the secondary school to see if the principal had made a decision about letting us teach. Let me just say this about the mayor, he is a go-getter, that’s for sure. He was so enthusiastic about what we are here to do, and he led us all over doing stuff. We were so exhausted that we have spent the rest of the day catching up on laundry, sleep, and, of course, internet. Well, y’all are finally caught up!
Here are some prayer requests:
- Pray that God would soften Walter’s heart and open his mind to see God’s love
- Pray that we would have complete unity within our team and that we would maintain our focus on God
- Pray for safety for us
- Pray that God will continue opening doors in this community and in people’s hearts
- Pray for God to continue pursuing Carmen and Rosa so that they might realize and accept his love and truth
- Pray for guidance for us as we decide our next steps
- Pray for all the summer missionaries, both here in Peru and elsewhere
Thank y’all so incredibly much for commenting on my blog! I can’t tell y’all how much joy it gives me to read your comments!!! Also, I want to encourage y’all to be missionaries wherever y’all are because every Christian is a missionary. Be bold, be humble, be loving. I love y’all so much, and I’m so thankful for all your prayers!!!
So Wednesday we all traveled to some of the surrounding villages just to get a picture of what they look like and how big they are. Let me just say that the drive there was absolutely beautiful. We didn’t really do much in those villages, but when we came back to Cabana, we just decided to walk around and meet people, which was awesome because we actually had conversations instead of just greeting them and saying Buenos whatever.
Thursday was rather frustrating because most of the plans we had did not turn out to work. It seemed that most of the day was spent wandering around and trying to find people that just didn’t seem findable. But, God definitely taught us patience through this, and he unified us at least in our frustration. I forgot to say, Thursday morning I led the devotional for the group and just read Psalm 37:3-7, which is the verse at the top of my blog and has been a source of constant comfort to me throughout this whole process. We actually decided to make Psalm 37:3-9 our team theme verse because it’s so fitting for what we’re doing.
Friday we got up at 6 am to go announce ourselves on the radio because a woman had invited us to do so a couple of days before. Unfortunately, we were under the impression that we were going to be using the town PA system, but it actually turned out to be a Christian radio station. Still, we introduced ourselves and stated why we are here. However, the radio commentator and another woman went outside to talk with us right after our announcement. It turns out that the radio commentator is the pastor of a Pentecostal church in Cabana, and we weren’t quite sure who the woman was. Anyways, they basically drilled us on why we were here and they seemed very suspicious and unreceptive. They kept on asking us to just join up with them, but we got the sense that they only offered that in order to control us. It was a very long, uncomfortable situation, but finally it ended and we went back to the hostel to talk to Kevin (the church team Missions Pastor). He helped us calm down and realize that this won’t negatively affect our ministry here. Unfortunately, he and the others from the church team left on Friday, and we were alone for the first time. The realization of our responsibility was quite overwhelming at first, but then we got together as a team, prayed, and planned out our next few steps. Right away, though, God sent me a challenge. I was sitting out in the courtyard just journaling and reading, and a man who is also staying in the hostel just started talking to me. As soon as I told him that we were missionaries, he began asking me questions. I knew he was trying to make me stumble, and I sensed some sort of resentment he had towards God. I tried to answer his questions as best as I could, but I’ve never felt so limited in my Spanish ability. However, I think somehow I defended Christianity enough that he decided to change the subject to learning English and stuff like that. I really feel that God has opened that door and that we will have more opportunities to witness to him even if it’s just through the way we live. His name is Walter, and he will be staying at the hostel for the next month. Anyways, later that afternoon we went to find a woman Shane had met earlier, but we didn’t find her. We did, however, chase a herd of llamas through the streets in order to take pictures of them. Needless to say, I’ve never felt more like a gringa tourist in my life, but I have to admit it was kind of fun.
Saturday I had my first experience in hand-washing my clothes, which wasn’t bad except for the fact that the water was so cold. Later, we talked to the banker, Wilder, and a woman we had met, Maria, about what days and times would work for them for Bible studies. They still seemed open and interested in the Bible studies, so that was encouraging. Then we were just walking around on the outskirts of town and we came upon Nelida, another woman we had met before, standing in a fenced off field with some men and cows. She motioned for us to come over, so we did, and we discovered that they were celebrating the Day of the Animals that day. During this celebration, farmers put new tags in their cow’s ears and brand them, because supposedly this day is the birthday of all cows. It was neat to see some of their culture, but it was sad at the same time for the cows because it looked really painful (sorry, Mom). I mean, they weren’t using an ear-piercing gun; no, they were using a big nail looking thing with ribbons attached to it. But the saddest part was seeing the animism entrenched in these people’s beliefs. {Animism is the belief in spirits that inhabit the land and affect the lives of humans.} For example, for this particular celebration the people believed that the more coca leaves they ate, the more food the cows would have that year and the more wine they drank, the more water the cows would have. After we had had enough of watching them herd the cows and tag them, we went to look for some string to hang in our room for our laundry. We went into this one tienda and started talking with the owner, who turned out to be the pastor of the Assemblies of God church we had been looking for on Thursday. His response to us was totally different than the response of the Pentecostal radio people we had talked to on Friday. He was excited we were here and happy to meet more brothers and sisters in Christ, and he actually invited us to preach in his church sometime. It was so encouraging talking to him, and we could definitely see God’s hand in that because we could have gone to any other tienda.
Sunday was a day of celebration. It was the Peruvian Flag Day, and so we went up to the plaza and watched the parades and dances put on by the schools. It was really interesting, but was way too long because it lasted 4 hours. Also, we were offered alcohol several times, which we were warned in training that this would happen, and a couple of times we thought we might have offended some people by refusing. That’s been a huge cultural difference that hopefully people will be able to understand and accept. All in all, though, the festival was a great way to interact with the people, especially the kids, and we actually felt like a part of the community. Afterwards, we were invited to play soccer with Wilder and some other guys. It was really fun, but it was definitely the most we had exerted ourselves since we’ve been here, and it was difficult to breathe in the high altitude. Then, we went and played volleyball, which is really popular here, and that was also very fun. While we were just hanging out in the plaza, some kids taught me how to throw a trompo (a spinning top). They wind it up with a string, throw it, and pull back really quick to make it spin on the ground. Then, while it’s still on the ground spinning, they reach down and make it spin in their hand. It’s really neat to watch, and I kind of got the hang of it.
Okay, I’m finally up to today. Please tell me if I’m too detailed about all this stuff and if it’s boring because I can try to be more brief about things. Today we met with the actually mayor, who has been out of town for a week or so, and he was very receptive to us and offered us all the help he could give. We now have permission to use the auditorium for our English classes and Bible studies, which is awesome! Now we can actually start planning for them. After we met with him, he said he would take us to the schools to talk to the principal if we would wait a few minutes while he met with some people. While we were waiting out in the plaza, these two women, Carmen and Rosa, came up to us and introduced themselves. When we told them we were evangelical missionaries, Carmen started asking us questions about what we believe because she is Catholic. We had an absolutely awesome conversation with the two of them, and actually got to share the Gospel with them. We explained to them how we cannot work for salvation and that accepting Jesus’ sacrifice for our sins is the only Way to be saved, which is very different from what the Catholic Church teaches. We read them specific verses from the Bible to show that we weren’t just making this up, and they seemed eager to know more and interested in our Bible studies. It was so amazing to see how God worked even while we were waiting for something else. After that, the mayor led us to the primary school to talk to the principal and a few classes about offering English classes, and then we went to the secondary school to see if the principal had made a decision about letting us teach. Let me just say this about the mayor, he is a go-getter, that’s for sure. He was so enthusiastic about what we are here to do, and he led us all over doing stuff. We were so exhausted that we have spent the rest of the day catching up on laundry, sleep, and, of course, internet. Well, y’all are finally caught up!
Here are some prayer requests:
- Pray that God would soften Walter’s heart and open his mind to see God’s love
- Pray that we would have complete unity within our team and that we would maintain our focus on God
- Pray for safety for us
- Pray that God will continue opening doors in this community and in people’s hearts
- Pray for God to continue pursuing Carmen and Rosa so that they might realize and accept his love and truth
- Pray for guidance for us as we decide our next steps
- Pray for all the summer missionaries, both here in Peru and elsewhere
Thank y’all so incredibly much for commenting on my blog! I can’t tell y’all how much joy it gives me to read your comments!!! Also, I want to encourage y’all to be missionaries wherever y’all are because every Christian is a missionary. Be bold, be humble, be loving. I love y’all so much, and I’m so thankful for all your prayers!!!
Friday, June 5, 2009
First Week on the Field
¡Buenos Días!
I’ll give a quick recap of our travels and then go into the details of this past week. We left Lima for southern Lucanas on Sunday at 4 a.m., which was a good decision because we avoided the insane driving of los limeños. About half of the trip was spent driving through the desert, but once we hit the Andes, it was gorgeous. The desert had its own beauty, but the Andes were just breathtaking. Pretty much every day I look at the mountains that surround me and have to remind myself that this is real. Knowing that I worship the God who formed these majestic mountains gives me confidence, and I am constantly standing in awe of our awesome Creator. Anyways….back to the viaje. We drove, and drove, and drove, and drove, and much of our driving was on crazy narrow roads around the mountains (sorry, Mom….you would have enjoyed it, Dad). I would have been a little frightened but for the absolute beauty of the views. By the grace of God we made it 25 miles with the gas light on in the van (and this is going up and down steep mountain passages) until we finally made it to a town where there was a gas pump. We were so thankful because that indeed was a miracle. After we filled up, though, we began driving on even crazier roads, and unfortunately that’s when the motion sickness began. Most of us just felt dizzy and a little nauseous from the altitude, but one of our group members from the church got really sick. It had just gotten dark and we were just outside of Andamarca, which is a village that the church has adopted, when we saw two small children walking on the side of the road, so we decided to pick them up and take them to Andamarca. They were so cute and taught us some Quechua, which was awesome because I’m a language geek . We decided to stay the night in Andamarca because most of us weren’t feeling too hot, so we got rooms at this rather nice hostel (we had our own bathrooms in our rooms and sort of hot water!). The next day we planned on leaving to go to Cabana, but God had other plans….
That morning while some of the group were standing out in front of the hostel, a man walked up and introduced himself, in English by the way, that his name was Andrew and that we was a Christian. How amazing is that?! Then, he proceeded to say that he was the English teacher at the secondary school and that he wanted us to come in like 30 minutes and share the Gospel with his class. So, of course, we went. He introduced us to the principal and the other teachers, and then we went outside to the playground, where ALL the students from the entire school were lined up in their classes just waiting for us to speak. Shane volunteered to tell the Creation to Christ story, and he did an awesome job! We were all just so amazed at how quickly God was working. We were going to leave that afternoon, but then David got sick and so we didn’t leave until Tuesday morning, which is when I got sick. But it didn’t last long, and we only had to travel about 30 minutes to Cabana. When we got there we went to the hostel that the church team had stayed in during their previous visits, and we all got settled into our rooms, or rather for the 4 of us summer missionaries, our homes for the next 2 months. Kelly and I got such a sweet setup! We have the only room with its own bathroom AND shower….but the best part is that there’s a toilet seat!!!!!! We could be sleeping on cardboard, and I would be content because we have a toilet seat. This is a big deal because most of the toilets that I’ve seen for some reason do not have toilet seats, so my thighs have been pretty sore lately. Anyways…
We ate lunch at a restaurant just down the street from our hostel, and we’ve been eating there every day for lunch and dinner because the food is so good and none of us has gotten sick from it (except Abel, our translator, who ate the cheese after we warned him not to). That night we split up into two groups and prayer walked throughout the town. As my group was walking by and praying for the school, we saw a man standing outside of it who Kevin recognized as the principal. He invited us into his office, and we asked him if we could possibly come and teach Bible studies and English classes to his students. We’re going back next week to see what he and his teachers decided, so hopefully that will be an open door for us. That’s all I have time for right now, but I’ll come back soon and finish the rest of the week’s update.
I’ll give a quick recap of our travels and then go into the details of this past week. We left Lima for southern Lucanas on Sunday at 4 a.m., which was a good decision because we avoided the insane driving of los limeños. About half of the trip was spent driving through the desert, but once we hit the Andes, it was gorgeous. The desert had its own beauty, but the Andes were just breathtaking. Pretty much every day I look at the mountains that surround me and have to remind myself that this is real. Knowing that I worship the God who formed these majestic mountains gives me confidence, and I am constantly standing in awe of our awesome Creator. Anyways….back to the viaje. We drove, and drove, and drove, and drove, and much of our driving was on crazy narrow roads around the mountains (sorry, Mom….you would have enjoyed it, Dad). I would have been a little frightened but for the absolute beauty of the views. By the grace of God we made it 25 miles with the gas light on in the van (and this is going up and down steep mountain passages) until we finally made it to a town where there was a gas pump. We were so thankful because that indeed was a miracle. After we filled up, though, we began driving on even crazier roads, and unfortunately that’s when the motion sickness began. Most of us just felt dizzy and a little nauseous from the altitude, but one of our group members from the church got really sick. It had just gotten dark and we were just outside of Andamarca, which is a village that the church has adopted, when we saw two small children walking on the side of the road, so we decided to pick them up and take them to Andamarca. They were so cute and taught us some Quechua, which was awesome because I’m a language geek . We decided to stay the night in Andamarca because most of us weren’t feeling too hot, so we got rooms at this rather nice hostel (we had our own bathrooms in our rooms and sort of hot water!). The next day we planned on leaving to go to Cabana, but God had other plans….
That morning while some of the group were standing out in front of the hostel, a man walked up and introduced himself, in English by the way, that his name was Andrew and that we was a Christian. How amazing is that?! Then, he proceeded to say that he was the English teacher at the secondary school and that he wanted us to come in like 30 minutes and share the Gospel with his class. So, of course, we went. He introduced us to the principal and the other teachers, and then we went outside to the playground, where ALL the students from the entire school were lined up in their classes just waiting for us to speak. Shane volunteered to tell the Creation to Christ story, and he did an awesome job! We were all just so amazed at how quickly God was working. We were going to leave that afternoon, but then David got sick and so we didn’t leave until Tuesday morning, which is when I got sick. But it didn’t last long, and we only had to travel about 30 minutes to Cabana. When we got there we went to the hostel that the church team had stayed in during their previous visits, and we all got settled into our rooms, or rather for the 4 of us summer missionaries, our homes for the next 2 months. Kelly and I got such a sweet setup! We have the only room with its own bathroom AND shower….but the best part is that there’s a toilet seat!!!!!! We could be sleeping on cardboard, and I would be content because we have a toilet seat. This is a big deal because most of the toilets that I’ve seen for some reason do not have toilet seats, so my thighs have been pretty sore lately. Anyways…
We ate lunch at a restaurant just down the street from our hostel, and we’ve been eating there every day for lunch and dinner because the food is so good and none of us has gotten sick from it (except Abel, our translator, who ate the cheese after we warned him not to). That night we split up into two groups and prayer walked throughout the town. As my group was walking by and praying for the school, we saw a man standing outside of it who Kevin recognized as the principal. He invited us into his office, and we asked him if we could possibly come and teach Bible studies and English classes to his students. We’re going back next week to see what he and his teachers decided, so hopefully that will be an open door for us. That’s all I have time for right now, but I’ll come back soon and finish the rest of the week’s update.
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