Okay, I’m going to try to wrap up the last couple of weeks of my time in Peru, but since there’s a lot of stuff that went on, I’m only going to touch on the highlights. Sorry it's so long.
With only about a week left in Cabana, we set out to make the absolute most of it we could and fill it up with people time and sharing the Gospel. So, the Friday before we left, I cooked again with Jackie, and after we ate, we again talked to her about how important it is to have a relationship with Christ. She kind of just listened again and didn’t really respond, so all we can do is keep praying for her now. After we left, we went to Irene’s store (the telephone place) and shared the Gospel and the reason we came to Cabana with her, Anthony, and her other son Luis Angel. Irene and Anthony were very responsive and asked some awesome questions, which really encouraged us. That night we hung out with Wílder, Elva, Daniel, and the other Anthony, and we got to talk to them again about Christ. We asked them some tough questions to make them really think about things, and we’re continuing to pray for them as well. So, all-in-all, we got to share Christ 3 times on Friday, a new record : ).
Saturday night we went over to Zócima’s place and talked with her for a long time. We discussed her doubts and questions, and we continued to emphasize the relationship aspect of Christianity. After over 2 hours of talking with her, she said she wanted to pray to accept Christ, and we were super pumped! First, though, we asked her a few questions to make sure that she really understood and wasn’t just saying this to please us, and then we prayed with her. It was so incredible because after so long here in Cabana, we finally got to see some fruit.
Sunday morning we got up early because we went to go help Zócima decorate for a wedding. We blew up at least a hundred balloons, which tended to pop very loudly. So that was fun. We decorated for several hours, and then around noon or so, Shane and I went to the hostel to see if the church team had arrived yet, and awesomely enough, they got there about 5 minutes after we did. So, we helped them unload and get rooms, and then we all went back to finish decorating. Oh yeah, the really strange part about this day was that it rained all day long, which was horribly cold and miserable. Anyways, after we finished decorating, we ate lunch and went back to the hostel. We couldn’t really do much that day because since it was raining, most people stayed in their houses, and a lot of people were at the wedding and reception most of the day. So, we just hung out in the hostel and talked with Kevin and the team, which consisted of Shane’s parents and another translator. David and Kelly shared the Gospel with a group of boys that David had played with a lot, and it was so cool because they all raised their hands to accept Christ. Even if some of them only did it because everyone else did, they still heard the Gospel, and hopefully when they get older they’ll remember that and truly understand it.
Thankfully it stopped raining around mid-morning on Monday, so we got to play volleyball and go to Aucará for the last English class and Bible study. Shane’s dad, who is a counselor, stayed in Cabana with the other translator, Juvenal, and counseled Elva and Wílder, who if you remember had been having relationship problems. The rest of us plus young Anthony (Irene’s son) went to Aucará, but unfortunately we had to have a very short class/Bible study in this little room in the municipal building with only about 10 people because they didn’t have the key to the auditorium. I taught a few phrases for about 15 minutes, and then David and Kelly shared a Bible story, and then Shane and Kelly summarized the Gospel message. There were two women who expressed interest in the Gospel, so Shane and Kelly talked with them afterwards, and they accepted Christ! Probably the most exciting thing for me, though, happened while we were waiting for Shane and Kelly to finish talking with the two women. David and Kevin had been trying to talk to Anthony (their Spanish is limited), and so they called me over to help them out. When I asked Anthony what he had said, he replied, “I am a Catholic, but now I see that Jesus is the only way to God.” I was just stunned because he was completely serious (which is rare; he’s pretty goofy) and he had just come out and said it basically without any prompting or leading. It was awesome because we had spent a lot of time with him and had shared with him several times before, but that night it just clicked for him. So, with my limited Spanish, David and I talked with him to make sure he understood, and then we prayed with him, and he too accepted Christ! That was probably the best moment of this whole summer for me because I could tell he really meant it, and I was so excited because we had spent so much time with him and gotten to know him pretty well, and to get to see him accept Christ was the best thing ever.
Tuesday July 28th was Peru’s Independence Day, so we went to the parade in the plaza, and we actually were invited to march in the parade too! We were really excited because we felt that is showed that we were truly part of the community and that they people accepted and respected us. We all wore red and white, the colors of the flag, and joined in to sing the national anthem. After the festival, which thankfully was pretty short, we went to lunch, and then Kevin and Juvenal shared the Gospel with Deciderio, and he also accepted Christ! So, the last week we were in Cabana, 5 people and the group of boys all became Christians, which was awesome but at the same time hard because we had to leave and couldn’t continue encouraging them or discipling them. But we have to just trust the God will continue to work and grow in them. That afternoon, we went with Wilder, Elva, Roy, and Anthony (older one) to Sondondo, which is about a 20 minute ride away. I am so glad we decided to go there before we left. It’s down at the bottom of the valley next to the river, and you can’t even get to it by truck. You have to park next to the awesome suspension bridge, and just walk over. The four of them lead us around the town, and the whole time we could tell that they were heading to a specific place, but we just followed without asking them where we were going. Finally, we arrived to where they were taking us: a huge, beautiful, rushing waterfall. It was stunning. We took tons of pictures, and then Kevin decided he would get in, so he took his shoes off, waded through the pool at the bottom, and actually got in the waterfall. I was debating about whether I should do it or not because I knew it would be absolutely freezing, and I made up my mind that I could not pass up the opportunity. So I did it. I was right: it was freezing, but totally worth it. Kevin and I high-fived as awesome Texans, but the boys were still skeptical about getting in. Finally, we convinced them to do it, so we were all shivering but exhilarated for the ride home. It was the perfect way to end our time there.
Wednesday we got up dreading having to say good bye to so many friends. We slowly finished packing up our things and loading them into the van, and then began the long, sad process of saying good bye. We were given lots of fruit and cheese, took lots of pictures, and as we loaded up to leave, we were surrounded by a huge group of kids. Thankfully I managed to keep from crying until we were driving off, but what made it worse was that the kids ran alongside the van, waving and shouting as we left. As we got farther and farther away, I just couldn’t believe that I was looking my last (at least for a while) on the beautiful valley that had been my home for 2 months, and I prayed that I would return someday. We drove to Puquio and stopped at the house of Jhoannes in the hopes of getting to see that wonderful little boy before we left. Unfortunately, he was on vacation with his grandmother in another town, but we talked with his mother and got to talk to him on the phone, too. Then we left and drove to Nasca, where we stayed the night.
We got up the next morning to finish our journey to Lima, and we stopped a little outside of Nasca to climb this tower so that we could see 2 of the 13 Nasca lines. They were pretty cool, but I hope to come back and fly over them someday. We got to Lima and ate at Chili’s, which was weird, and then headed to the camp for end of summer debrief.
We were at the camp from Thursday evening through Sunday morning, and we all had individual and team interviews as well as team testimonials with all the other teams. It was nice to see all the other groups and hear their stories, but I wish I could have spent that extra time in Cabana instead. I hung out with David, Shane, Shane’s parents, and Kelly the rest of the day on Sunday (Kevin had left on Friday), and then Kelly and I tearfully said good bye to the boys at the airport. That was a really tough good bye, but I know I will see them again soon. I stayed the night at Kelly’s parents’ house, and it was really cool to meet her family. They are so nice and hospitable.
Monday I met up with Kelly Lockhart, another student missionary, and we checked into a hotel to begin our vacation time. I’ll be really quick about my time in Lima. We shopped, bought a lot of gifts and souvenirs, and went to downtown Lima and saw the original Plaza de Armas as well as toured a monastery with catacombs (which were cool but creepy). Kelly translator and I went to the beach, I got attacked by a wave, we talked a lot, went to this cool district of Lima where I got a few more gifts and a hair weave thing, and met up with some more missionaries to have dinner. The last day (Thursday) that Kelly Lockhart and I spent in Lima, we got up, checked out of our hotel, went to the grocery store to get some Peruvian food, and then hung out at the hotel for a while. We were going to go paragliding and we were really pumped about it, but unfortunately there wasn’t enough wind to do it, so we just chilled at the hotel, and Kelly translator and I talked for a while. Kelly translator was going to have to work and couldn’t go with us to the airport, so I walked her to the street where she would take a taxi. That was probably the hardest good bye ever, and we just stood there on the sidewalk, crying, hugging, and praying, and then she left and I walked back to the hotel. Kelly Lockhart, another missionary named Paul, and I took a taxi to the airport, went through security, walked around in the shops for a while, and then got on the plane at like 11:30 pm. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to sleep, so I just watched some movies and then watched the flight map as we slowly got closer to Houston. Finally we landed, I got through security, and I flew into the open arms of David (boyfriend), who had come to pick me up.
Since I’ve been home, I’ve had a wonderful time with my family, friends, and David, but I really miss Cabana and Kelly and David and Shane. Please pray for all of our adjustments to life back in the U.S. and that we would be faithful in prayer for the people of Peru and Cabana. Please pray also that we would continue our ministry wherever we are, and that we would just live out the love of Christ in our everyday lives. Thank you all for staying with me throughout all this, and thank you so much for your prayers!
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Last Week in Cabana :(
Monday we decided would be our rest and recuperation day from the crazy exhaustion prompted by the Chacco. We slept in, which for me meant getting up at 9 am, and it was wonderful because I got nearly 11 hours of much needed sleep! Then I went to the internet and tried to put the Chacco into words, which you can decide whether I succeeded or not. After lunch, we were heading back to the hostel when we saw a big truck full of bricks and cement being unloaded at a store nearby. We stopped to admire the sight of a man sitting on top of the truck and tossing two bricks at a time to a man standing on top of the roof of the store, and then we were asked if David and Shane could help out. Them, being always ready to do anything manly, readily agreed and set themselves up, one on top of the roof, and one in the truck handing bricks to the man tossing them. We quickly realized that this was going to take a long time, so Kelly went to talk to some people down the street and I went in the store to help the lady unload and arrange the various products that had arrived. They guys were great, working hard the whole time through all the nasty dust and brick residue flying around, and we were rewarded with some fresh cheese, some tangerines, and the promise of some mote (the delicious boiled corn we had at the chacra many weeks ago) if we came back in an hour. So, it wasn’t quite the r and r we had expected, but it was good nonetheless. We came back to the store a while later and got the mote, which we took to the park and ate with the hard-earned cheese. Then we played some volleyball, which was really fun because it was only a few adults and a lot of kids, so it was way more relaxed than usual. We had talked with Wílder a little earlier in the day about whether we could talk with Elva later on, and when we talked to them again they agreed that around 7 we could come by and talk. So, after volleyball, we waited for them to get off work and then went with them to their house. Originally, we had intended it to be Kelly and I talking alone with Elva, but then Wílder came, so we decided to get the boys, too. We were really nervous about how everything was going to play out, but we had prayed earlier, so all we could do was trust and hope for the best. We started out just saying how much we wanted to get to know Elva like we had gotten to know Wílder and how we regretted if we had upset her in any way. Then she explained that it wasn’t us she was upset with, but that she felt that Wílder always put her and their son aside to hang out with his friends and that she felt that he didn’t think they were very important. It was kind of awkward because it felt that we were caught in the middle of their problems, but Elva assured us that she didn’t resent us for anything and that all her frustration and hurt feelings were due to Wílder’s behavior. We tried to be as sensitive as possible, and Shane offered his dad’s counsel for them when they come on Sunday. [Kevin and a church team, which consists of Shane’s mom and dad, are coming on Sunday, and Shane’s dad is a counselor.] They said they would like to talk to someone and get some advice, and we asked if we could get together all of us to hang out sometime. So, we scheduled some hangout time for the next evening. By the way, it was pretty tense the whole time we were talking with them, but I just have to mention this one part that provided some much needed comic relief: while we were talking and Elva was kind of tearing up, Kent, their 2-year-old son who was also sitting there with us, just farted and everyone started cracking up. It was hilarious! So that was Monday.
Tuesday we got up early to go to our friend Anthony’s chacra with him and his little brother Luis. It took us about an hour’s descent into the valley, and we went all the way to the bottom right next to the river. We had expected to do some work like weeding or shucking corn or something, but Anthony told us that we were just there to have fun, which was fine with us. We immediately set up a fire to start boiling the potatoes and corn we had brought with us. Anthony started wading across the river because there was supposedly a hot spring on the other side, and the boys went exploring down the river where there were a bunch of big rocks. Unfortunately, someone had to keep the fire going so that we could eat, and that someone was me. I sat there for nearly 2 hours adding wood and blowing on the fire to keep it going, even though I would have liked to do some exploring. It was kind of frustrating because no one wanted to even take turns so that I could cool off a bit or have some fun, but in the end the potatoes were yummy and we were all satisfied. After lunch, Anthony, Luis, and Kelly decided to walk to Sondondo, which is a town about a half hour’s walk from the chacra, while Shane, David, and I stayed to try swimming across the freezing cold river to find the hot spring. I waded in to a little above my knees, but I just couldn’t go any further. The water was so cold it was painful, and there was no getting accustomed to it or anything, so I stumbled back to shore with numb feet and tons of mosquitoes flying around my unprotected legs. Then I got the video camera out to tape the guys as they went all in and swam across the river to end up not finding the hot spring while I laid on a warm rock and dried off. Then I decided to take a nap in the shade while we waited for the others to come back, and it was very nice, except for the stupid mosquitoes. [Not what you’re thinking of, either; they look like little yellowish gnats, but when they bite you they leave a raised up bump with a tiny red dot of blood in the middle.] Anyways, when Anthony and Luis got back, they told us that Kelly was going to stay in Sondondo and get a ride back, so we rested for a bit more and then started our ascent back to Cabana. It was really tough because we took many crazy paths and only parts of the actual road, but we finally made it a little over an hour later, and we all collapsed in our beds. I took a shower, which was the first time I had showered twice in three days, but it was worth it. Then we went to Wílder and Elva’s house and helped them clean up from Kent’s birthday party on Sunday. And another friend named Roy came over, and we ate some bread and drank coffee, and then we played cards, which was so fun! It was great hanging out with the whole family, and I really feel that it helped relax the tense situation.
Wednesday I got up and cooked with Jackie, which as always was awesome. I just love spending time with her, and each time we hang out she opens up a bit more. I shared with her the impact that Christ has had in my life, and I had hoped that she would be a little more interested than she actually was. She mainly just said that it was nice, and that’s about it, but I’m going to keep talking with her and loving her and just hope that God will open her up. The meal was once again delicious, and we all hung out talking a bit before we left. Wednesday evening we walked to Aucará for the second English class and Bible study, and there was some crazy wind that was making it really cold and not fun to be outside. We got there and waited about an hour, and then a couple of people told us that because of the weather no one wanted to leave their house. So we rescheduled for Saturday, asked people to spread the word, and got a ride in a huge truck back to Cabana. I was pretty tired from getting up early to cook and then walking to Aucará, so I went to bed early. Right before I went to bed, though, I realized that my head lamp was missing, so I searched through my back pack and my room, but I couldn’t find it. I finally gave up and accepted the fact that I probably lost it in the truck, but I’m still pretty bummed about it because it was so handy and helpful. Anyways, that’s not important.
Prayer requests:
- Pray for all the summer mission teams as we all prepare to leave the homes we’ve had this summer
- Pray for the church team as they fly tomorrow to Peru and then make the long, nauseating drive to Cabana on Saturday and Sunday
- Pray that we would make the most of our time left here
- Pray for Elva and Wílder’s relationship and our friendship with them
- Pray for Jackie, that she would take to heart what we share with her and that God would water the seeds planted in her
- Pray for all the people of Cabana, that they would come to know Christ
- Pray that we would know how to handle leaving all this behind and trusting that God will use what has happened this summer to continue revealing Himself in this village
- Pray that we would all focus on God and not on leaving, going home, or anything else that might hinder Him working through us
Thank you for your love, prayers, and comments :).
Tuesday we got up early to go to our friend Anthony’s chacra with him and his little brother Luis. It took us about an hour’s descent into the valley, and we went all the way to the bottom right next to the river. We had expected to do some work like weeding or shucking corn or something, but Anthony told us that we were just there to have fun, which was fine with us. We immediately set up a fire to start boiling the potatoes and corn we had brought with us. Anthony started wading across the river because there was supposedly a hot spring on the other side, and the boys went exploring down the river where there were a bunch of big rocks. Unfortunately, someone had to keep the fire going so that we could eat, and that someone was me. I sat there for nearly 2 hours adding wood and blowing on the fire to keep it going, even though I would have liked to do some exploring. It was kind of frustrating because no one wanted to even take turns so that I could cool off a bit or have some fun, but in the end the potatoes were yummy and we were all satisfied. After lunch, Anthony, Luis, and Kelly decided to walk to Sondondo, which is a town about a half hour’s walk from the chacra, while Shane, David, and I stayed to try swimming across the freezing cold river to find the hot spring. I waded in to a little above my knees, but I just couldn’t go any further. The water was so cold it was painful, and there was no getting accustomed to it or anything, so I stumbled back to shore with numb feet and tons of mosquitoes flying around my unprotected legs. Then I got the video camera out to tape the guys as they went all in and swam across the river to end up not finding the hot spring while I laid on a warm rock and dried off. Then I decided to take a nap in the shade while we waited for the others to come back, and it was very nice, except for the stupid mosquitoes. [Not what you’re thinking of, either; they look like little yellowish gnats, but when they bite you they leave a raised up bump with a tiny red dot of blood in the middle.] Anyways, when Anthony and Luis got back, they told us that Kelly was going to stay in Sondondo and get a ride back, so we rested for a bit more and then started our ascent back to Cabana. It was really tough because we took many crazy paths and only parts of the actual road, but we finally made it a little over an hour later, and we all collapsed in our beds. I took a shower, which was the first time I had showered twice in three days, but it was worth it. Then we went to Wílder and Elva’s house and helped them clean up from Kent’s birthday party on Sunday. And another friend named Roy came over, and we ate some bread and drank coffee, and then we played cards, which was so fun! It was great hanging out with the whole family, and I really feel that it helped relax the tense situation.
Wednesday I got up and cooked with Jackie, which as always was awesome. I just love spending time with her, and each time we hang out she opens up a bit more. I shared with her the impact that Christ has had in my life, and I had hoped that she would be a little more interested than she actually was. She mainly just said that it was nice, and that’s about it, but I’m going to keep talking with her and loving her and just hope that God will open her up. The meal was once again delicious, and we all hung out talking a bit before we left. Wednesday evening we walked to Aucará for the second English class and Bible study, and there was some crazy wind that was making it really cold and not fun to be outside. We got there and waited about an hour, and then a couple of people told us that because of the weather no one wanted to leave their house. So we rescheduled for Saturday, asked people to spread the word, and got a ride in a huge truck back to Cabana. I was pretty tired from getting up early to cook and then walking to Aucará, so I went to bed early. Right before I went to bed, though, I realized that my head lamp was missing, so I searched through my back pack and my room, but I couldn’t find it. I finally gave up and accepted the fact that I probably lost it in the truck, but I’m still pretty bummed about it because it was so handy and helpful. Anyways, that’s not important.
Prayer requests:
- Pray for all the summer mission teams as we all prepare to leave the homes we’ve had this summer
- Pray for the church team as they fly tomorrow to Peru and then make the long, nauseating drive to Cabana on Saturday and Sunday
- Pray that we would make the most of our time left here
- Pray for Elva and Wílder’s relationship and our friendship with them
- Pray for Jackie, that she would take to heart what we share with her and that God would water the seeds planted in her
- Pray for all the people of Cabana, that they would come to know Christ
- Pray that we would know how to handle leaving all this behind and trusting that God will use what has happened this summer to continue revealing Himself in this village
- Pray that we would all focus on God and not on leaving, going home, or anything else that might hinder Him working through us
Thank you for your love, prayers, and comments :).
Holy, moly!
Okay, I’m going to make y’all wait for the super awesome part because I like to go in chronological order and because Saturday was pretty interesting, too.I suppose I should start with 12:30 am on Saturday because that’s where the problems began. We were all soundly asleep in our beds when we heard a soft, “Kelly, Kim!” coming from outside our doors. Kelly and I groggily sat up and asked who it was, and it was Wílder and Daniel. Kelly got up and woke up the boys while I tried to decide if I was dreaming or not. It turns out that Wílder and Daniel had been drinking and had come to talk to us about some problems they were having. So, Shane and Kelly talked to them for I don’t know how long because Wílder and Daniel didn’t want all of us out there talking in the middle of the night. While they talked, I prayed for God to use this time, and then I went back to sleep. In the morning when I woke up, Kelly explained to me what they talked about and what the problems were, and she told me that Wílder and his wife had had an argument about all the time he spends with the four of us and how she was jealous of that time. [And I want to clarify before I go on that Elva, his wife, is really nice and we really like her a lot; but she works in another city and so we haven’t been able to spend much time with her. I don’t want you to draw any bad conclusions about her from this.] Anyways, we all felt pretty crappy about the whole situation because we felt that our friendship with Wílder had been put in jeopardy. So we prayed about it and we now just need to talk to both of them about it. Anyways, Saturday I also got to cook with Jackie again, which was fantastic! I had been in kind of a funk in the morning because of a prolonged lack of sleep from the week and the night before and because of the whole precarious situation with Wílder and Elva. I just wanted to go home and stop having problems (yeah, right), and I didn’t really want to function or be around people. But, hanging out with Jackie really helped me remember why I’m here, and God just changed my attitude to be more positive. Also, the meal we cooked was freaking delicious, and we got to share the Gospel with her as we hung out after we ate. She kind of just nodded and agreed and didn’t really seem to get it, but I’m looking forward to hanging out with her more and hopefully getting to share more of Christ’s love with her and how it has changed me personally. She also had these really warm legging things that would keep us warm on Sunday, which soon I will describe, and David and I bought some. However, David later found out that they were girl pants and they certainly would not fit him….it was really hilarious. Afterwards we played a little volleyball, which was fun because there weren’t that many people, so Shane, a girl named Merli, and I were on one team playing against a team of 5. We still beat them, oh, yeah. In the evening we went over to this girl named Zócima’s hostel because she had invited us to come chat about what we believe and stuff. It was awesome because she was really eager to just hear what we had to say, so we shared the Gospel with her and talked through some of her questions and then prayed with her. We left her a couple of passages to read and we’re going to meet up with her again this week. So, all-in-all, a not so good day turned out to be a day of hanging out with friends and sharing the Gospel….twice.
Okay, here it goes….my attempt to put into words one of the coolest days of my life. We woke up at 1:30 Sunday morning to head to the plaza to leave at 2 am for a three hour ride up into the highest altitude I’ve ever been at….to herd wild vicuña with practically the whole village of Cabana. [Vicuña are basically the wild, very distant cousins of the domesticated alpaca.] We stood around in the plaza with the rest of the people for about half an hour, and we finally got on a truck around 2:30 am. [And these are not like pickup trucks or anything; they’re like cargo trucks (not 18-wheelers) with high walls surrounding the back]. We were all nice and comfortable with our heavy blankets and several layers, and we arranged ourselves on the floor leaning up against the wall, all cozy and comfortable. However, some people in charge told us we had to get down because they needed the truck for something else, so we got off and went in search of another truck with some space for us…we sort of found one. I can’t really say that it had space for us, but we got on anyways. It was, without a doubt, the most miserable, uncomfortable ride of my life. I shall try to describe it. Kelly and I were squished up next to each other at the back of the truck up against the doors, which I feared might somehow swing open while twisting and turning on the mountain roads and dump us out. I was straddling Shane, basically (I know it sounds awkward, but it was the only, only way), who was leaning up against me, and David was leaning up against him. So, I had Shane’s weight, plus David’s, plus the fact that we were going up hill most of the time meaning that everything was tilted and all the pressure was on the back of the truck. Yeah, it was rather difficult to breathe/move. Not to mention that we were completely packed in all around us with other people, so limbs tended to go numb rather quickly. I didn’t sleep at all, and I alternated between wondering if my tail bone was broken or whether it was still there at all from the numbness. I felt a little nauseous, but thanks be to God that I did not throw up because that would have made it all that much worse. The only positive thing was that I was not cold because of the blankets we had brought and the body heat that surrounded me. Anyways, it was terrible and I was wondering the whole time if it would be worth it….it was. We finally arrived at 6 am, and it was freezing. We were in these plains where the vicuña live, and we were so high that we could see just tips of mountains in the distance and the clouds barely hovering above them; we were above 4,000 meters, so more than 13,000 feet. Everyone just stood around as we waited for another truck to arrive and for breakfast, and I watched the sun rise above the mountains and shine on the plains. It warmed us up enough to where we could put our blankets up, but it was still mighty cold [I was wearing 3 layers on bottom and 6 layers on top]. We ate a breakfast of yummy sopa de carne (beef soup) and these really hard biscuit things that you soak in warm sugary water. Around 10 or so we all loaded back onto the trucks to travel across to the other side of the plain to begin the Chacco (pronounced cha-ho; that’s the name of the vicuña herding thing). When we got to the other side, they unloaded these things that looked like flag football belts, only longer ribbons and attached to long ropes. We all grabbed a couple and started walking to where we would start the Chacco, and it was really funny to see everyone walking around with these things because they kind of reminded me of Swamp Thing. Anyways, we got to where we were going to start, and then we just kind of sat around a while longer and waited while they untangled all the ribbon thingies and tied all the ropes together and organized everyone. By the way, the purpose of the ribbon thingies was to stretch out one big rope with ribbons on it all the way across the width of the plain so as not to let any vicuña escape and the ribbons were supposed to help scare them away from trying to escape. So, after everyone and everything was ready, we started stretching out the humongous rope ribbons across the plain. I’m really bad at estimating, but I’m going to say that it was at least 2 or 3 miles wide…that’s how many people were involved, and we were spaced out about every 20-30 feet. Luckily, we were in the middle, so we just kind of stayed where we were. Once everything was stretched out and ready, everyone started walking forward at a pretty fast pace over the plain. Thankfully, the way was flat, but there were lots of rocks that made it difficult to walk and made you turn your ankles a couple of times, but if there was like a stream or something in front of you, you could just drop where you were holding the rope and walk around it. We walked and walked, and with more and more frequency we saw vicuña running back and forth across the plain, looking for a way to escape. It was so cool to see them up close because they’re really beautiful animals and very graceful looking. As we got closer and closer to the corral, we all started moving in closer together, until finally we had dropped the rope and were all holding hands and herding over a hundred wild vicuña into the fences. It was pretty tiring, because we had walked for over an hour and a half at a brisk pace, and I think we covered about 4 miles or so. But it was awesome and exhilarating. The whole time I was thinking that I couldn’t believe I was doing this and how awesome it was. What made it even more amazing was that I had researched some about Peru before I came here and had learned about this huge community herding effort and had thought that it would be so cool if I could do that. But I never could have thought that I actually would get to participate. It was incredible. After all the vicuñas were in the corral, we sat down for a bit, but then there was a sort of parade and speech thing. They invited us gringos, as special guests, to stand up with the various represented organizations, while several community and regional officials made speeches. It was basically the same thing as the other festivals we’ve been to, only thankfully much shorter and the speeches were mainly about how great the vicuñas are and how we need to protect and support them better. There was one special dance presentation, and then everyone could just dance as they pleased. Around 2 pm we ate lunch, which was soup and this delicious plate of beef and rice and potatoes. After that we all went to watch as they sheared the vicuñas’ fur, which is the softest, warmest, finest, most expensive fiber (not wool, they really stressed that) in the world. As a souvenir, I picked up a little piece of fluff that was lying on the ground. The best part, though, was that I actually got to hold a baby vicuña! It was awesome. Watching them shear the vicuñas was kind of sad though because you could see how frightened they were, and they had to tie them down and stuff. But as soon as they were shaved and vaccinated against parasites, they let them go freely. Pretty soon after that, we loaded back onto the trucks, and this time the four of us got back on the original, less packed truck we had been on in the beginning. It was so much more comfortable. These clouds had been rolling in for about an hour or two before we left, and a little ways down the road it actually started snowing…not kidding. It was weird because even though it was cold, it wasn’t that cold for it to be snowing. And then it started hailing, which was so cool because they were these perfect little white balls falling in the bed of the truck, and we looked over the walls to see the ground covered in white. We covered ourselves with the blankets to protect us, but we still watched the whole thing. I was thinking that since we had been through snow and hail, now we just needed some rain. After it had died down, I noticed a teenage girl in the corner of the truck, crying. So I went over and asked her what was wrong, thinking she maybe was just scared, and she told me that she was supposed to have been dropped off a long time ago so that she could go to her grandmother’s house. So, we asked the driver to stop, and Kelly, the driver, some other men, Yasmin (the girl), and I tried to figure out what we could do. Yasmin was nearly hysterical because she just wanted to walk the hour or more road back to her grandmother’s house, through the hailstorm and the cold, and probably arrive after dark. We couldn’t let her do that, but she just refused to come back with us to Cabana and leave at 2 am the next morning to come back. Finally, we convinced her that it was the only solution, so she got back on, and we found out later that her father, who lives in Cabana, is not very nice and probably beats her. So then we understood why she didn’t want to come back, but we told her that she could stay with us in our hostel and that her father didn’t even have to know she was in town. She went to his house anyways, so that was pretty sad and kind of frustrating. Anyways, the ride back was just as bumpy and sway-ey as before, and the hail in the back of the truck had melted and made our blankets wet. Irony of ironies, about an hour away from Cabana it started to rain, so we covered ourselves as best we could, and just rode it out. That has to be the most bizarre day of weather I’ve ever experienced, but the ride back was still a hundred times better than the ride there. One, it was not 2 in the morning and two, we had ample space to move around and stretch. We got back around 6:30 in the evening, bought some fruit and stuff for dinner, and headed back to the hostel to eat and clean up. The one thing I hated the whole time we were up there doing the vicuña thing was that it was so freaking dusty and the wind just blew it around the whole time. The dust plus the exhaust from the truck made me feel so nasty, and I did something I hadn’t done the whole time I’ve been here: I took a shower at night. Usually I shower in the afternoon, when it’s warmest and there’s a greater chance of hot water, but I just couldn’t stand to go to bed the way I was. Thankfully, the water was warm, and it was a perfect way to end an awesome day. I was warm, dry, and completely clean, and I was so sleepy that I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow, and I slept beautifully until I woke up this morning. It was fantastic.
Whew! So there it is, in as much detail as I care to write, but when I see you I’ll add some more : ). Now, prayer requests:
- Pray for Yasmín, that everything would work out for her and that her father won’t abuse her
- Pray for the situation with Wílder and Elva, that we would be able to salvage those friendships and still have opportunities to share with them
- Pray for Jackie and Zócima, that they wouldn’t be able to get the message of the Gospel off their minds and that God would just open them to receive His grace
- Pray for our time left here, that we would make the most of it and hold nothing back
- Pray for more and more opportunities to love and share Christ’s love
It’s getting down to the end here, which is really hard and really strange to think about. I love and miss you all, and I thank y’all for praying for me and sticking with me throughout this whole time.
Okay, here it goes….my attempt to put into words one of the coolest days of my life. We woke up at 1:30 Sunday morning to head to the plaza to leave at 2 am for a three hour ride up into the highest altitude I’ve ever been at….to herd wild vicuña with practically the whole village of Cabana. [Vicuña are basically the wild, very distant cousins of the domesticated alpaca.] We stood around in the plaza with the rest of the people for about half an hour, and we finally got on a truck around 2:30 am. [And these are not like pickup trucks or anything; they’re like cargo trucks (not 18-wheelers) with high walls surrounding the back]. We were all nice and comfortable with our heavy blankets and several layers, and we arranged ourselves on the floor leaning up against the wall, all cozy and comfortable. However, some people in charge told us we had to get down because they needed the truck for something else, so we got off and went in search of another truck with some space for us…we sort of found one. I can’t really say that it had space for us, but we got on anyways. It was, without a doubt, the most miserable, uncomfortable ride of my life. I shall try to describe it. Kelly and I were squished up next to each other at the back of the truck up against the doors, which I feared might somehow swing open while twisting and turning on the mountain roads and dump us out. I was straddling Shane, basically (I know it sounds awkward, but it was the only, only way), who was leaning up against me, and David was leaning up against him. So, I had Shane’s weight, plus David’s, plus the fact that we were going up hill most of the time meaning that everything was tilted and all the pressure was on the back of the truck. Yeah, it was rather difficult to breathe/move. Not to mention that we were completely packed in all around us with other people, so limbs tended to go numb rather quickly. I didn’t sleep at all, and I alternated between wondering if my tail bone was broken or whether it was still there at all from the numbness. I felt a little nauseous, but thanks be to God that I did not throw up because that would have made it all that much worse. The only positive thing was that I was not cold because of the blankets we had brought and the body heat that surrounded me. Anyways, it was terrible and I was wondering the whole time if it would be worth it….it was. We finally arrived at 6 am, and it was freezing. We were in these plains where the vicuña live, and we were so high that we could see just tips of mountains in the distance and the clouds barely hovering above them; we were above 4,000 meters, so more than 13,000 feet. Everyone just stood around as we waited for another truck to arrive and for breakfast, and I watched the sun rise above the mountains and shine on the plains. It warmed us up enough to where we could put our blankets up, but it was still mighty cold [I was wearing 3 layers on bottom and 6 layers on top]. We ate a breakfast of yummy sopa de carne (beef soup) and these really hard biscuit things that you soak in warm sugary water. Around 10 or so we all loaded back onto the trucks to travel across to the other side of the plain to begin the Chacco (pronounced cha-ho; that’s the name of the vicuña herding thing). When we got to the other side, they unloaded these things that looked like flag football belts, only longer ribbons and attached to long ropes. We all grabbed a couple and started walking to where we would start the Chacco, and it was really funny to see everyone walking around with these things because they kind of reminded me of Swamp Thing. Anyways, we got to where we were going to start, and then we just kind of sat around a while longer and waited while they untangled all the ribbon thingies and tied all the ropes together and organized everyone. By the way, the purpose of the ribbon thingies was to stretch out one big rope with ribbons on it all the way across the width of the plain so as not to let any vicuña escape and the ribbons were supposed to help scare them away from trying to escape. So, after everyone and everything was ready, we started stretching out the humongous rope ribbons across the plain. I’m really bad at estimating, but I’m going to say that it was at least 2 or 3 miles wide…that’s how many people were involved, and we were spaced out about every 20-30 feet. Luckily, we were in the middle, so we just kind of stayed where we were. Once everything was stretched out and ready, everyone started walking forward at a pretty fast pace over the plain. Thankfully, the way was flat, but there were lots of rocks that made it difficult to walk and made you turn your ankles a couple of times, but if there was like a stream or something in front of you, you could just drop where you were holding the rope and walk around it. We walked and walked, and with more and more frequency we saw vicuña running back and forth across the plain, looking for a way to escape. It was so cool to see them up close because they’re really beautiful animals and very graceful looking. As we got closer and closer to the corral, we all started moving in closer together, until finally we had dropped the rope and were all holding hands and herding over a hundred wild vicuña into the fences. It was pretty tiring, because we had walked for over an hour and a half at a brisk pace, and I think we covered about 4 miles or so. But it was awesome and exhilarating. The whole time I was thinking that I couldn’t believe I was doing this and how awesome it was. What made it even more amazing was that I had researched some about Peru before I came here and had learned about this huge community herding effort and had thought that it would be so cool if I could do that. But I never could have thought that I actually would get to participate. It was incredible. After all the vicuñas were in the corral, we sat down for a bit, but then there was a sort of parade and speech thing. They invited us gringos, as special guests, to stand up with the various represented organizations, while several community and regional officials made speeches. It was basically the same thing as the other festivals we’ve been to, only thankfully much shorter and the speeches were mainly about how great the vicuñas are and how we need to protect and support them better. There was one special dance presentation, and then everyone could just dance as they pleased. Around 2 pm we ate lunch, which was soup and this delicious plate of beef and rice and potatoes. After that we all went to watch as they sheared the vicuñas’ fur, which is the softest, warmest, finest, most expensive fiber (not wool, they really stressed that) in the world. As a souvenir, I picked up a little piece of fluff that was lying on the ground. The best part, though, was that I actually got to hold a baby vicuña! It was awesome. Watching them shear the vicuñas was kind of sad though because you could see how frightened they were, and they had to tie them down and stuff. But as soon as they were shaved and vaccinated against parasites, they let them go freely. Pretty soon after that, we loaded back onto the trucks, and this time the four of us got back on the original, less packed truck we had been on in the beginning. It was so much more comfortable. These clouds had been rolling in for about an hour or two before we left, and a little ways down the road it actually started snowing…not kidding. It was weird because even though it was cold, it wasn’t that cold for it to be snowing. And then it started hailing, which was so cool because they were these perfect little white balls falling in the bed of the truck, and we looked over the walls to see the ground covered in white. We covered ourselves with the blankets to protect us, but we still watched the whole thing. I was thinking that since we had been through snow and hail, now we just needed some rain. After it had died down, I noticed a teenage girl in the corner of the truck, crying. So I went over and asked her what was wrong, thinking she maybe was just scared, and she told me that she was supposed to have been dropped off a long time ago so that she could go to her grandmother’s house. So, we asked the driver to stop, and Kelly, the driver, some other men, Yasmin (the girl), and I tried to figure out what we could do. Yasmin was nearly hysterical because she just wanted to walk the hour or more road back to her grandmother’s house, through the hailstorm and the cold, and probably arrive after dark. We couldn’t let her do that, but she just refused to come back with us to Cabana and leave at 2 am the next morning to come back. Finally, we convinced her that it was the only solution, so she got back on, and we found out later that her father, who lives in Cabana, is not very nice and probably beats her. So then we understood why she didn’t want to come back, but we told her that she could stay with us in our hostel and that her father didn’t even have to know she was in town. She went to his house anyways, so that was pretty sad and kind of frustrating. Anyways, the ride back was just as bumpy and sway-ey as before, and the hail in the back of the truck had melted and made our blankets wet. Irony of ironies, about an hour away from Cabana it started to rain, so we covered ourselves as best we could, and just rode it out. That has to be the most bizarre day of weather I’ve ever experienced, but the ride back was still a hundred times better than the ride there. One, it was not 2 in the morning and two, we had ample space to move around and stretch. We got back around 6:30 in the evening, bought some fruit and stuff for dinner, and headed back to the hostel to eat and clean up. The one thing I hated the whole time we were up there doing the vicuña thing was that it was so freaking dusty and the wind just blew it around the whole time. The dust plus the exhaust from the truck made me feel so nasty, and I did something I hadn’t done the whole time I’ve been here: I took a shower at night. Usually I shower in the afternoon, when it’s warmest and there’s a greater chance of hot water, but I just couldn’t stand to go to bed the way I was. Thankfully, the water was warm, and it was a perfect way to end an awesome day. I was warm, dry, and completely clean, and I was so sleepy that I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow, and I slept beautifully until I woke up this morning. It was fantastic.
Whew! So there it is, in as much detail as I care to write, but when I see you I’ll add some more : ). Now, prayer requests:
- Pray for Yasmín, that everything would work out for her and that her father won’t abuse her
- Pray for the situation with Wílder and Elva, that we would be able to salvage those friendships and still have opportunities to share with them
- Pray for Jackie and Zócima, that they wouldn’t be able to get the message of the Gospel off their minds and that God would just open them to receive His grace
- Pray for our time left here, that we would make the most of it and hold nothing back
- Pray for more and more opportunities to love and share Christ’s love
It’s getting down to the end here, which is really hard and really strange to think about. I love and miss you all, and I thank y’all for praying for me and sticking with me throughout this whole time.
Chau, amigas!
So, Wednesday afternoon Molly, Catie, and I went exploring, and we found this awesome stair-like thing that we hiked down a ways. It was so incredible because there’s no telling how long it’s been there or who made it (probably the Incas), and if we had had enough time we would have taken it all the way down to the bottom of the valley. It was beautiful and really cool. That evening we went to Aucará for our first English class and Bible study. We took the exciting “short cut” again, only way faster and we arrived slightly out of breath but exhilarated. When we went to talk to someone to open the auditorium for us, they suggested that we go over to the radio station and announce ourselves and what we’re doing here. We were taken slightly off guard because we thought that they were going to announce the class and everything, but we went anyways. However, the radio guy, who we found out owned the radio, was rather upset that we just barged in and wanted to announce ourselves on his radio. Also, he was quite argumentative and dominating, and he wanted to have a 20 to 30 minute discussion about Christianity and also the differences between U.S. society and Peruvian society. We were already a little agitated that the Aucará authorities didn’t really do their job in announcing and also because we needed to start the class, so this man who seemed rather against us just frustrated us even more. However, we could see he was a very important and influential individual (his radio station is AM and is heard in big cities like Nazca, Ica, and Lima), so we didn’t want to refuse and make him mad. So, Kelly and Shane stayed and talked to him while David and I went with Catie and Molly to the auditorium to wait for people to show up. Kelly and Shane told us later that the man kept trying to make them slip up, but Shane was pretty excited because he felt that he, in his own words, “owned the interview” : ). After a few questions, he said, the man just gave up and actually let Shane and Kelly share the Gospel message on his station, which is awesome. And he let them announce the Aucará Bible study and English class. So anyways, we were really excited with the turnout for the class, and there were actually more people there than usually come to the class in Cabana. Shane shared the story of creation, and then I taught basic greetings, phrases, and good-byes, and it was really fun. The kids were attentive and interactive, and there were even several adults who came and seemed to enjoy themselves. I wish we would have started this like 7 weeks ago, but we’ll work with what we’ve got. Afterwards, thankfully we convinced the police to give us a ride in the truck for just 1 sol per person, so we didn’t have to walk back in the cold and dark.
Thursday morning I woke up early because I wanted to try to talk to Jackie to see if we could cook that day, so Kelly and I got up to find her and also to make sure we could have English class that evening. We talked to her, but she said that that day wouldn’t work but that we could cook Friday, but she came and hung out with us for a while and ate lunch with us, which was fun. In the afternoon we mainly rested and planned for the class, and Catie, Molly, and I hung out and talked a lot, which was fantastic. We had English class that evening, but only a few people (all kids) showed up. I taught anyways, and Catie also helped teach. She’s amazing with kids and an amazing teacher, plus her time in Chile has made her almost fluent in Spanish, so it was great that she taught. After the class, the 6 of us just hung out in our room and ate, and I had the most wonderful dinner. We bought 2 avocados and some bread and we already had cheese, mayo, and bologna, and we just made the yummiest sandwiches. They almost tasted like a normal sandwich I would make at home, but almost better. I really love the cheese here and the avocado was just perfect. Afterwards we just talked and laughed, and then Molly and Catie prayed over the 4 of us, and that was an awesome time. Those 2 girls are so incredible that I’m running out of adjectives to describe them, and I love them muchísimo.
This morning, Catie, Molly, and I got up at 5 am to hike up to the ridge to watch the sunrise. We sat there for a while because the sun takes longer to peek over the mountains, but it was amazing nonetheless. Sometimes we talked; sometimes we sat in silence. Little by little we heard the world awaken. First the roosters. Then the dogs. Then the trucks, and we saw little bitty people walking around on the roads. At first when it was still dark and silent I could just focus on the sunrise and on God’s awesomeness, but as things began to get noisy, I found myself getting distracted. My first reaction was to try to ignore it and concentrate, but then God just reminded me that those “distractions” are just part of Him, just as the sunrise is. I can’t go through life just completely zoned into God and ignoring everything else. He wants to use me, and I have to learn to seek Him and focus on Him throughout everything. I don’t know if that made any sense, but it makes sense to me. Anyways, the sunrise was a little cloudy, but magnificent nonetheless, and after about an hour and a half, we went back to the hostel. We waited a bit while Molly showered, and then we went and got breakfast at the restaurant, which was delicious. We had coffee, and I had a fried egg and cheese sandwich….yummy. Then we went back to the hostel, Catie showered, and I did laundry before Jackie came by. I went with her to buy the ingredients for today’s recipe, and then we went to start cooking. Once again, I had a great time, and Molly and Catie got to get in on the cooking lesson, too. The food was amazing, of course, and we were all incredibly stuffed afterwards. It was so worth it. So now I know how to cook 2 delicious Peruvian dishes, and I just hope I can find some of the spices and can adjust to cooking on an electric stove when I get back. We’re cooking another dish tomorrow : ). After we ate, Catie and Molly and I went back to the hostel to get all their things together, and then all 6 of us waited with them for the Combi that would take them to Puquio. We took pictures, hugged, and said good bye. I was a little sad because I really wish they could have stayed longer, but they are headed to Cusco, which is really exciting. That’s all for now, but tune in next time for the latest update….
Prayer requests:
- Pray for Molly and Catie as they travel about 18 hours to Cusco tonight and that God would just bless their time in Peru and make their last couple of weeks in South America sweet and wonderful
- Pray that we would all remain strong in the last few days we have here and would make the most of it
- Pray that we would focus on God before everything else
- Pray that He would guide us in all that we do
- Pray for open hearts and minds here in Cabana and also in Aucará
- Pray for all the other summer mission teams here in Peru
I love and miss you all! Please comment so I know you’re still hanging in there with me!
Thursday morning I woke up early because I wanted to try to talk to Jackie to see if we could cook that day, so Kelly and I got up to find her and also to make sure we could have English class that evening. We talked to her, but she said that that day wouldn’t work but that we could cook Friday, but she came and hung out with us for a while and ate lunch with us, which was fun. In the afternoon we mainly rested and planned for the class, and Catie, Molly, and I hung out and talked a lot, which was fantastic. We had English class that evening, but only a few people (all kids) showed up. I taught anyways, and Catie also helped teach. She’s amazing with kids and an amazing teacher, plus her time in Chile has made her almost fluent in Spanish, so it was great that she taught. After the class, the 6 of us just hung out in our room and ate, and I had the most wonderful dinner. We bought 2 avocados and some bread and we already had cheese, mayo, and bologna, and we just made the yummiest sandwiches. They almost tasted like a normal sandwich I would make at home, but almost better. I really love the cheese here and the avocado was just perfect. Afterwards we just talked and laughed, and then Molly and Catie prayed over the 4 of us, and that was an awesome time. Those 2 girls are so incredible that I’m running out of adjectives to describe them, and I love them muchísimo.
This morning, Catie, Molly, and I got up at 5 am to hike up to the ridge to watch the sunrise. We sat there for a while because the sun takes longer to peek over the mountains, but it was amazing nonetheless. Sometimes we talked; sometimes we sat in silence. Little by little we heard the world awaken. First the roosters. Then the dogs. Then the trucks, and we saw little bitty people walking around on the roads. At first when it was still dark and silent I could just focus on the sunrise and on God’s awesomeness, but as things began to get noisy, I found myself getting distracted. My first reaction was to try to ignore it and concentrate, but then God just reminded me that those “distractions” are just part of Him, just as the sunrise is. I can’t go through life just completely zoned into God and ignoring everything else. He wants to use me, and I have to learn to seek Him and focus on Him throughout everything. I don’t know if that made any sense, but it makes sense to me. Anyways, the sunrise was a little cloudy, but magnificent nonetheless, and after about an hour and a half, we went back to the hostel. We waited a bit while Molly showered, and then we went and got breakfast at the restaurant, which was delicious. We had coffee, and I had a fried egg and cheese sandwich….yummy. Then we went back to the hostel, Catie showered, and I did laundry before Jackie came by. I went with her to buy the ingredients for today’s recipe, and then we went to start cooking. Once again, I had a great time, and Molly and Catie got to get in on the cooking lesson, too. The food was amazing, of course, and we were all incredibly stuffed afterwards. It was so worth it. So now I know how to cook 2 delicious Peruvian dishes, and I just hope I can find some of the spices and can adjust to cooking on an electric stove when I get back. We’re cooking another dish tomorrow : ). After we ate, Catie and Molly and I went back to the hostel to get all their things together, and then all 6 of us waited with them for the Combi that would take them to Puquio. We took pictures, hugged, and said good bye. I was a little sad because I really wish they could have stayed longer, but they are headed to Cusco, which is really exciting. That’s all for now, but tune in next time for the latest update….
Prayer requests:
- Pray for Molly and Catie as they travel about 18 hours to Cusco tonight and that God would just bless their time in Peru and make their last couple of weeks in South America sweet and wonderful
- Pray that we would all remain strong in the last few days we have here and would make the most of it
- Pray that we would focus on God before everything else
- Pray that He would guide us in all that we do
- Pray for open hearts and minds here in Cabana and also in Aucará
- Pray for all the other summer mission teams here in Peru
I love and miss you all! Please comment so I know you’re still hanging in there with me!
An Explosion of Sorts
Okay, there has been way too much awesome in the past week to explain everything in detail, but I will do the best I can. The longer I wait to write my blog, more awesome things keep happening that are pushing the formerly awesome things to the back of my mind, but I will try to remember as much detail as possible.
Last Monday after I blogged, we played some volleyball in the afternoon and then Jackie came over in the evening. She had mentioned to us that she needed a large sum of money to acquire some official documents like her birth certificate, which is apparently a difficult process, and she had asked us if she could do our laundry or anything so that she could earn it. We talked about it as a team, and when she came over that night we gave her the money she needed and discussed ways for her to ‘earn’ it. We would have gladly given it to her without any payback, but she was insistent on it, so we arranged for her to give me and David cooking lessons and to help us advertise our English classes and Bible studies. We had set up a fund at the beginning of the summer that all of us contributed to so that if something came up and we felt that God was leading us to give, we could do it freely and as a team, so this was the perfect opportunity to do that.
Tuesday we got up early and hiked to Aucará, which was only about a thirty minute walk. We took this sweet awesome path instead of the road, and it was so fun. We had some interesting moments getting up and down a few things, but we arrived safely in Aucará. While we were just sitting in the plaza catching our breath and getting ready to go to the school, the assistant mayor and other town authorities came up to us and invited us to come into the municipal building to chat. So we did. We told them why we were here and how long we’d be staying in Cabana, and they immediately asked us to come to Aucará and minister there. It was so awesome because before we left that morning we had prayed for God to open doors in Aucará, and almost immediately we had this big fat door opened for us and the authorities welcomed us with open arms. We arranged for the Creative Ministry Team to come and perform on Monday and we also set up a weekly English class and Bible study on Wednesdays. Afterwards, we were super pumped about how amazing God was, and then we went to the secondary school. It was fun to see the surprise on the English teacher’s face who had invited us to come but didn’t expect us to. We took a tour of the school, which was really neat because they have all these greenhouses and agricultural projects, and they raise tons of guinea pigs, which is quite a delicacy here in Peru. Then we were told to come back in about an hour because that’s when his next English class was, so we decided to explore a bit and went out to the lake and then the boys tried to climb a gigantic rock. We didn’t have enough time for them to, though, so they came back after the class and conquered it. The class was fun because it was an actual classroom full of kids who actually wanted to learn another language (I contrast this with kids in the U.S.), and I taught them basic phrases and helped them with pronunciation. I really enjoyed it a lot. Afterwards we tried to find a restaurant that was open for lunch, but the only ones that were open were serving nasty food like cow intestine. So we went down to this pure spring that the Incas had built a tunnel and everything around, and we drank some of the clean water, which was really refreshing. Then we met this family who is from Aucará but lives in Lima, and we chatted with them a bit, and they invited us to come back on Thursday so that they could give us a guided tour of the ruins. We told them we would try, and then we took a Combi back to Cabana since we were pooped and didn’t feel like walking.
Wednesday we had our first cooking lesson with Jackie, and it was awesome!!!! She taught me to make Ají de Gallina (basically Pepper Chicken), and it was so delicious. We went and bought fresh ingredients and then she took us to her house and we cooked over a real fire, which was awesome. She and I got to talk a lot while we were cooking, and I’m so excited about getting to know her better and learning more delicious recipes. I can’t wait to cook for everyone when I get back! That was the main thing that happened on Wednesday, so I’ll move on to Thursday.
Thursday we got up early because we had to make an announcement at the secondary school about the Creative Ministry Team’s performance, and also we wanted to make it to Aucará to see the ruins with the family we had met. The boys went early and hiked down to tell them that we would be later than we had planned due to our appointment at the school, and then Kelly and I took a Combi down after we finished. We met up with the family, and the dad and the daughter gave us this amazing, personal tour of the Incan and pre-Incan ruins of Aucará. We hiked all over and saw the old Jesuit temple, and the dad, who had grown up in the village, led us through these hidden paths to see other ruins that you couldn’t just easily get to. We tried some more local fruit called hullo, which was so delicious that I ate like 6 of them. They took us to this old house which belongs to their family somewhere down the line and also to the lake. Throughout the whole tour, the dad was commenting on when this was built and when these people came, and it was really cool to hear all the interesting history. Finally, after walking around for about 4 hours, we were all tired and hungry, so we met up with the rest of the family and caught a ride back to Cabana. They came to our favorite restaurant to eat with us and we just hung out some more and invited them to the English class that night. However, the power in Cabana went out around 3 in the afternoon, and when it was time to have the English class, it was still out. We were a little concerned because people told us that the last time all the power went out, it was out for 5 days, and we were worried because the CMT was coming in 2 days and we had all this stuff planned. It came on around 7:30, though, but before then it was so weird to walk around in complete obscurity except for the little rings of light coming from our headlamps. It was pretty cool at the same time because you could see the stars perfectly. We didn’t have English class that night, but we rescheduled for Friday night.
Friday we had planned on cooking again with Jackie, but when we went to her house she told us that her grandfather had died and that she had to be at the house all day cooking and preparing stuff. She invited us to come too, which we felt was an incredible honor and a sign that we were close friends. So we went for about 45 minutes, and it was a slightly uncomfortable experience. More than half of the family and friends there were completely drunk and made us very uncomfortable with their behavior and comments, and there was a lot of Catholic rituals and superstitious animism that we didn’t understand. But, we were glad to be there to support Jackie and show respect to her family, and I wrote out 2 Corinthians 1:3-5 for her because it’s my favorite passage about God’s mercy and comfort. Friday evening we had our make-up English class, which was kind of a disappointment because I only had 3 students due to the fact that there was a meeting about the swine flu going on simultaneously. But, I taught nonetheless.
Saturday we slept in and did stuff that we had been needing to get done around the hostel, and we didn’t have anything planned because we were awaiting the arrival of the CMT and didn’t know exactly when they would get in. They arrived around 4:30, tired, dusty, and travel-worn, and we showed them to their rooms so that they could unload and rest a bit. Then we went to dinner, and it was interesting walking around because a huge group of gringos sure does attract a lot of attention. That night, our team wrote out the church ‘bulletins’ for church the next morning and then went to bed.
Sunday morning we all got up and had church, and all 11 of us squished into David and Shane’s room because it was our ‘sanctuary’ with the cross and everything. The CMT was excited about having church because they hadn’t been to church or been fed by a sermon in a long time, and we were excited to have live worship again. We sang, took Communion, and listened to the last Tim Keller sermon of the series. Then we all went to lunch and then started to prepare for the performance that evening. Arturo, the awesome Peruvian translator for the CMT, showed Kelly and me a skit on his laptop that they had been wanting to do but couldn’t because they didn’t have enough Spanish speakers. So, we decided to do it, and I was a little nervous because I would be up on stage in front of a bunch of people, speaking in my second language. As we were rehearsing in the auditorium, in walked Catie and Molly with their backpacks and everything. I flipped out. I was up on stage, and I screamed and practically flew down the steps and flung myself into their arms. It was just too much happy, and I couldn’t keep myself from crying. It was a wonderful, wonderful moment. After we all calmed down, I took them to the hostel and they put their stuff in my room because we didn’t think there were any open rooms due to the CMT and this huge group of men that had arrived on Saturday. And guess what my amazing, angelic friends brought me!!! Dark chocolate and peanut butter M&M’s!!!!! They couldn’t have brought a better gift. Anyways, later we all went to the auditorium for the CMT performance. A surprisingly large crowd showed up, the largest the CMT had ever had, and the performance was great. We sang songs, acted out skits, and at the end they acted out the Creation to Christ story while Arturo narrated. It was really awesome because every single act had a Biblical message to it, and after each one someone would come up and explain how it applied to us. Unfortunately, right at the end of the performance, Molly, who had been feeling pretty weak and tired since they arrived, got sick. So, she and Catie went back to the hostel while I got something to go from the restaurant for us to share. Even though we didn’t get to hang out with everyone at dinner, it was fantastic to just sit and chill with mis amigas and talk and try to comfort Molly in her nausea and sickness. That night, the 3 of us all slept in my bed, which was interesting, to say the least. I hardly slept at all, mainly due to the fact that I too got sick for a bit, probably because of the massive amounts of peanut butter M&M’s I had consumed in my excitement.
When we got up Monday morning, Molly was feeling much better and I was still a little iffy in the stomach. We tried to get on the internet, but it was closed, so we went back to the hostel and I showed them the video of our day at the chacra, and we just chatted and hugged a lot : ). Then we went to lunch, and afterwards went exploring. I showed them basically all of Cabana in a couple of hours, and then we went back and did some stuff until we left for Aucará for the CMT performance there. We set things up and waited for people to get there, and once again we had an incredible turnout. The performance was awesome again, and we stuck around and talked to people afterwards. We announced about the English class and Bible study we were going to have on Wednesday, and then we piled into a truck and rode back to Cabana. The restaurant was closed by the time we got back, so we just all ate snacks and stuff and hung out for a bit. Thankfully we found an open room in the hostel for Molly and Catie, and so we went to bed pretty early because we were rather tired from the lack of sleep the night before and the excitement of the day.
Tuesday morning, Catie, Molly, and I got up pretty early and got some coffee and breakfast down in the restaurant. It was so crazy because it actually rained in the morning. It had sort of kind of misted once, but this was pretty legit rain, and it was so cold and windy. I blamed Catie and Molly for bringing nasty Chilean weather with them, but thankfully it didn’t rain long. We tried once again to get on the internet, but it was closed because the secretary was gone, so we went back to the hostel to try to figure out what we wanted to do. We hung out there for a bit, and then we decided to hike up to our ridge where we stargazed and had our 4th of July celebration, and we just sat there, gazing on the beauty and wonderful creation before us. We sat in silence; we talked; we cried; we hugged; and we just thanked God for each other and for who He is. I cannot even begin to express how much I love these two amazing girls and how thankful I am that God has blessed me with them. I had really been needing some familiarity and some wisdom and comfort in person, and they have and continue to help me so much. After lunch, my team and the CMT went to the primary school to tell kids to come back in about an hour to see them perform on the playground, but not a whole lot of kids showed up. So, we just played with them, and the four of my team went to start setting up the surprise we had planned for the CMT. We planned to have a campfire and hotdogs and just hanging out that night, so we went to see if we could find somewhere to buy wood and we went to buy the food. I think we bought nearly every hotdog in Cabana to have enough for all of us plus our Cabana friends we invited. Around 4 in the afternoon, we all went to the secondary school for a performance there, but then the principal told us that the government had canceled all the schools in Peru due to the swine flu, so there weren’t a whole lot of students there to perform for. So, we ended up just playing some more; some of us played volleyball, some basketball, and some soccer, and around 5 we decided to do a couple of songs and skits for those who were there, and it was a fun time. Afterwards, we told the CMT about our surprise and told them to wear warm clothes and get some snacks and drinks, but that we would provide the rest. Everyone left around 7 to go get firewood and then head up to the ridge, but Molly, Catie, and I had to finish packing stuff up to take up there, so we stayed behind a bit. Then the 3 of us headed up the hill, and we got there before everyone else because I guess they were still getting everything. It was fun, though, because we just sang Disney songs and danced around and looked at what stars we could see through the cloudy night. When the others arrived, the boys started on the fire and we got everything set up and the hotdogs a-cooking. It was so much fun because we just sat around the warm fire, eating hotdogs and telling stories, and then some of us went back to the hostel to get Hayes’ (one of the CMT-ers) guitar so that we could sing songs. By the time we got back, though, most of them were heading back to the hostel to pack and get some sleep before their 6 am bus the next morning. There were 7 of us left, and it was such a fun time. Hayes played and sang, and we sang along to the songs we knew. Catie, Molly, and I laughed and talked and sang and cuddled next to the fire together, and it was a glorious time. We could see a few stars and I actually saw a couple shooting stars, but we definitely decided to come back on another night when it’s clearer. We lost track of time out there as we just enjoyed everyone’s fellowship and friendship, and when we finally headed back it was already past midnight. But it was so worth it and was probably one of my favorite times since I’ve been here.
This morning, we all got up early to see the CMT off, and it was really sad to say goodbye because we had all had such a good time and had enjoyed performing with them and doing everything, but they had to head off to the next village. Tonight we have our first English class and Bible study in Aucará, and hopefully I’ll be able to blog again on Friday or something.
As for now, here are some prayer requests:
- Once again, that we would be focused on God’s will here in Cabana and not on the short time here
- That we would make the most of our time here
- That Catie and Molly would have a safe trip to Cusco on Friday and that they would have an awesome time in Peru and a safe journey back to Chile in a couple of weeks
- That I would daily cling to God’s grace and love for me, and that I would focus solely on who He is in me and not on my own shortcomings and weaknesses
- That God would continue to teach and change me and mold me to who He made me to be- That God would continue to open people’s hearts and minds to Him, and that He would embolden us to share His love
I love y’all and I miss y’all so much! Thank you for your prayers and comments; they mean so incredibly much to me!
P.S. I think Molly and Catie have written some Facebook notes about their time here, so if you want more details and everything about what we’re doing, check their profiles.
Last Monday after I blogged, we played some volleyball in the afternoon and then Jackie came over in the evening. She had mentioned to us that she needed a large sum of money to acquire some official documents like her birth certificate, which is apparently a difficult process, and she had asked us if she could do our laundry or anything so that she could earn it. We talked about it as a team, and when she came over that night we gave her the money she needed and discussed ways for her to ‘earn’ it. We would have gladly given it to her without any payback, but she was insistent on it, so we arranged for her to give me and David cooking lessons and to help us advertise our English classes and Bible studies. We had set up a fund at the beginning of the summer that all of us contributed to so that if something came up and we felt that God was leading us to give, we could do it freely and as a team, so this was the perfect opportunity to do that.
Tuesday we got up early and hiked to Aucará, which was only about a thirty minute walk. We took this sweet awesome path instead of the road, and it was so fun. We had some interesting moments getting up and down a few things, but we arrived safely in Aucará. While we were just sitting in the plaza catching our breath and getting ready to go to the school, the assistant mayor and other town authorities came up to us and invited us to come into the municipal building to chat. So we did. We told them why we were here and how long we’d be staying in Cabana, and they immediately asked us to come to Aucará and minister there. It was so awesome because before we left that morning we had prayed for God to open doors in Aucará, and almost immediately we had this big fat door opened for us and the authorities welcomed us with open arms. We arranged for the Creative Ministry Team to come and perform on Monday and we also set up a weekly English class and Bible study on Wednesdays. Afterwards, we were super pumped about how amazing God was, and then we went to the secondary school. It was fun to see the surprise on the English teacher’s face who had invited us to come but didn’t expect us to. We took a tour of the school, which was really neat because they have all these greenhouses and agricultural projects, and they raise tons of guinea pigs, which is quite a delicacy here in Peru. Then we were told to come back in about an hour because that’s when his next English class was, so we decided to explore a bit and went out to the lake and then the boys tried to climb a gigantic rock. We didn’t have enough time for them to, though, so they came back after the class and conquered it. The class was fun because it was an actual classroom full of kids who actually wanted to learn another language (I contrast this with kids in the U.S.), and I taught them basic phrases and helped them with pronunciation. I really enjoyed it a lot. Afterwards we tried to find a restaurant that was open for lunch, but the only ones that were open were serving nasty food like cow intestine. So we went down to this pure spring that the Incas had built a tunnel and everything around, and we drank some of the clean water, which was really refreshing. Then we met this family who is from Aucará but lives in Lima, and we chatted with them a bit, and they invited us to come back on Thursday so that they could give us a guided tour of the ruins. We told them we would try, and then we took a Combi back to Cabana since we were pooped and didn’t feel like walking.
Wednesday we had our first cooking lesson with Jackie, and it was awesome!!!! She taught me to make Ají de Gallina (basically Pepper Chicken), and it was so delicious. We went and bought fresh ingredients and then she took us to her house and we cooked over a real fire, which was awesome. She and I got to talk a lot while we were cooking, and I’m so excited about getting to know her better and learning more delicious recipes. I can’t wait to cook for everyone when I get back! That was the main thing that happened on Wednesday, so I’ll move on to Thursday.
Thursday we got up early because we had to make an announcement at the secondary school about the Creative Ministry Team’s performance, and also we wanted to make it to Aucará to see the ruins with the family we had met. The boys went early and hiked down to tell them that we would be later than we had planned due to our appointment at the school, and then Kelly and I took a Combi down after we finished. We met up with the family, and the dad and the daughter gave us this amazing, personal tour of the Incan and pre-Incan ruins of Aucará. We hiked all over and saw the old Jesuit temple, and the dad, who had grown up in the village, led us through these hidden paths to see other ruins that you couldn’t just easily get to. We tried some more local fruit called hullo, which was so delicious that I ate like 6 of them. They took us to this old house which belongs to their family somewhere down the line and also to the lake. Throughout the whole tour, the dad was commenting on when this was built and when these people came, and it was really cool to hear all the interesting history. Finally, after walking around for about 4 hours, we were all tired and hungry, so we met up with the rest of the family and caught a ride back to Cabana. They came to our favorite restaurant to eat with us and we just hung out some more and invited them to the English class that night. However, the power in Cabana went out around 3 in the afternoon, and when it was time to have the English class, it was still out. We were a little concerned because people told us that the last time all the power went out, it was out for 5 days, and we were worried because the CMT was coming in 2 days and we had all this stuff planned. It came on around 7:30, though, but before then it was so weird to walk around in complete obscurity except for the little rings of light coming from our headlamps. It was pretty cool at the same time because you could see the stars perfectly. We didn’t have English class that night, but we rescheduled for Friday night.
Friday we had planned on cooking again with Jackie, but when we went to her house she told us that her grandfather had died and that she had to be at the house all day cooking and preparing stuff. She invited us to come too, which we felt was an incredible honor and a sign that we were close friends. So we went for about 45 minutes, and it was a slightly uncomfortable experience. More than half of the family and friends there were completely drunk and made us very uncomfortable with their behavior and comments, and there was a lot of Catholic rituals and superstitious animism that we didn’t understand. But, we were glad to be there to support Jackie and show respect to her family, and I wrote out 2 Corinthians 1:3-5 for her because it’s my favorite passage about God’s mercy and comfort. Friday evening we had our make-up English class, which was kind of a disappointment because I only had 3 students due to the fact that there was a meeting about the swine flu going on simultaneously. But, I taught nonetheless.
Saturday we slept in and did stuff that we had been needing to get done around the hostel, and we didn’t have anything planned because we were awaiting the arrival of the CMT and didn’t know exactly when they would get in. They arrived around 4:30, tired, dusty, and travel-worn, and we showed them to their rooms so that they could unload and rest a bit. Then we went to dinner, and it was interesting walking around because a huge group of gringos sure does attract a lot of attention. That night, our team wrote out the church ‘bulletins’ for church the next morning and then went to bed.
Sunday morning we all got up and had church, and all 11 of us squished into David and Shane’s room because it was our ‘sanctuary’ with the cross and everything. The CMT was excited about having church because they hadn’t been to church or been fed by a sermon in a long time, and we were excited to have live worship again. We sang, took Communion, and listened to the last Tim Keller sermon of the series. Then we all went to lunch and then started to prepare for the performance that evening. Arturo, the awesome Peruvian translator for the CMT, showed Kelly and me a skit on his laptop that they had been wanting to do but couldn’t because they didn’t have enough Spanish speakers. So, we decided to do it, and I was a little nervous because I would be up on stage in front of a bunch of people, speaking in my second language. As we were rehearsing in the auditorium, in walked Catie and Molly with their backpacks and everything. I flipped out. I was up on stage, and I screamed and practically flew down the steps and flung myself into their arms. It was just too much happy, and I couldn’t keep myself from crying. It was a wonderful, wonderful moment. After we all calmed down, I took them to the hostel and they put their stuff in my room because we didn’t think there were any open rooms due to the CMT and this huge group of men that had arrived on Saturday. And guess what my amazing, angelic friends brought me!!! Dark chocolate and peanut butter M&M’s!!!!! They couldn’t have brought a better gift. Anyways, later we all went to the auditorium for the CMT performance. A surprisingly large crowd showed up, the largest the CMT had ever had, and the performance was great. We sang songs, acted out skits, and at the end they acted out the Creation to Christ story while Arturo narrated. It was really awesome because every single act had a Biblical message to it, and after each one someone would come up and explain how it applied to us. Unfortunately, right at the end of the performance, Molly, who had been feeling pretty weak and tired since they arrived, got sick. So, she and Catie went back to the hostel while I got something to go from the restaurant for us to share. Even though we didn’t get to hang out with everyone at dinner, it was fantastic to just sit and chill with mis amigas and talk and try to comfort Molly in her nausea and sickness. That night, the 3 of us all slept in my bed, which was interesting, to say the least. I hardly slept at all, mainly due to the fact that I too got sick for a bit, probably because of the massive amounts of peanut butter M&M’s I had consumed in my excitement.
When we got up Monday morning, Molly was feeling much better and I was still a little iffy in the stomach. We tried to get on the internet, but it was closed, so we went back to the hostel and I showed them the video of our day at the chacra, and we just chatted and hugged a lot : ). Then we went to lunch, and afterwards went exploring. I showed them basically all of Cabana in a couple of hours, and then we went back and did some stuff until we left for Aucará for the CMT performance there. We set things up and waited for people to get there, and once again we had an incredible turnout. The performance was awesome again, and we stuck around and talked to people afterwards. We announced about the English class and Bible study we were going to have on Wednesday, and then we piled into a truck and rode back to Cabana. The restaurant was closed by the time we got back, so we just all ate snacks and stuff and hung out for a bit. Thankfully we found an open room in the hostel for Molly and Catie, and so we went to bed pretty early because we were rather tired from the lack of sleep the night before and the excitement of the day.
Tuesday morning, Catie, Molly, and I got up pretty early and got some coffee and breakfast down in the restaurant. It was so crazy because it actually rained in the morning. It had sort of kind of misted once, but this was pretty legit rain, and it was so cold and windy. I blamed Catie and Molly for bringing nasty Chilean weather with them, but thankfully it didn’t rain long. We tried once again to get on the internet, but it was closed because the secretary was gone, so we went back to the hostel to try to figure out what we wanted to do. We hung out there for a bit, and then we decided to hike up to our ridge where we stargazed and had our 4th of July celebration, and we just sat there, gazing on the beauty and wonderful creation before us. We sat in silence; we talked; we cried; we hugged; and we just thanked God for each other and for who He is. I cannot even begin to express how much I love these two amazing girls and how thankful I am that God has blessed me with them. I had really been needing some familiarity and some wisdom and comfort in person, and they have and continue to help me so much. After lunch, my team and the CMT went to the primary school to tell kids to come back in about an hour to see them perform on the playground, but not a whole lot of kids showed up. So, we just played with them, and the four of my team went to start setting up the surprise we had planned for the CMT. We planned to have a campfire and hotdogs and just hanging out that night, so we went to see if we could find somewhere to buy wood and we went to buy the food. I think we bought nearly every hotdog in Cabana to have enough for all of us plus our Cabana friends we invited. Around 4 in the afternoon, we all went to the secondary school for a performance there, but then the principal told us that the government had canceled all the schools in Peru due to the swine flu, so there weren’t a whole lot of students there to perform for. So, we ended up just playing some more; some of us played volleyball, some basketball, and some soccer, and around 5 we decided to do a couple of songs and skits for those who were there, and it was a fun time. Afterwards, we told the CMT about our surprise and told them to wear warm clothes and get some snacks and drinks, but that we would provide the rest. Everyone left around 7 to go get firewood and then head up to the ridge, but Molly, Catie, and I had to finish packing stuff up to take up there, so we stayed behind a bit. Then the 3 of us headed up the hill, and we got there before everyone else because I guess they were still getting everything. It was fun, though, because we just sang Disney songs and danced around and looked at what stars we could see through the cloudy night. When the others arrived, the boys started on the fire and we got everything set up and the hotdogs a-cooking. It was so much fun because we just sat around the warm fire, eating hotdogs and telling stories, and then some of us went back to the hostel to get Hayes’ (one of the CMT-ers) guitar so that we could sing songs. By the time we got back, though, most of them were heading back to the hostel to pack and get some sleep before their 6 am bus the next morning. There were 7 of us left, and it was such a fun time. Hayes played and sang, and we sang along to the songs we knew. Catie, Molly, and I laughed and talked and sang and cuddled next to the fire together, and it was a glorious time. We could see a few stars and I actually saw a couple shooting stars, but we definitely decided to come back on another night when it’s clearer. We lost track of time out there as we just enjoyed everyone’s fellowship and friendship, and when we finally headed back it was already past midnight. But it was so worth it and was probably one of my favorite times since I’ve been here.
This morning, we all got up early to see the CMT off, and it was really sad to say goodbye because we had all had such a good time and had enjoyed performing with them and doing everything, but they had to head off to the next village. Tonight we have our first English class and Bible study in Aucará, and hopefully I’ll be able to blog again on Friday or something.
As for now, here are some prayer requests:
- Once again, that we would be focused on God’s will here in Cabana and not on the short time here
- That we would make the most of our time here
- That Catie and Molly would have a safe trip to Cusco on Friday and that they would have an awesome time in Peru and a safe journey back to Chile in a couple of weeks
- That I would daily cling to God’s grace and love for me, and that I would focus solely on who He is in me and not on my own shortcomings and weaknesses
- That God would continue to teach and change me and mold me to who He made me to be- That God would continue to open people’s hearts and minds to Him, and that He would embolden us to share His love
I love y’all and I miss y’all so much! Thank you for your prayers and comments; they mean so incredibly much to me!
P.S. I think Molly and Catie have written some Facebook notes about their time here, so if you want more details and everything about what we’re doing, check their profiles.
Best 4th of July Ever
Saturday we slept in, which was great because we were really tired. I did some laundry, and we kind of just did stuff around the hostel until we went to lunch. In the restaurant, Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame was playing in Spanish, so we watched it and it was fun to see a Disney movie again, even though that one is definitely not my favourite. Anyways, in the afternoon we went to play basketball with Wilder and Daniel and then watched a bunch of men play soccer for a bit. Then we commenced our preparations for our Fourth of July par-tay! The guys went up to the ridge where we stargaze and stuff to prepare for the campfire and to see if we needed to buy firewood, and Kelly and I went to buy some snacks and search for firewood to buy. Thankfully, we had our trusty walkie talkies with us so that Kelly could translate for David and Shane, and finally we convinced someone to let us buy some firewood. Our friend Jhoannes accompanied us to the ridge and ate hot dogs around the fire with us, and the hot dogs were surprisingly good. Not the best, but better than we expected, and we were so pumped that we had ketchup to eat them with (it’s hard to find ketchup here, and it’s a strange, sweet taste). The guys did a great job with the fire, and for once I wasn’t all that cold. Throughout our time of just talking and roasting hot dogs, Kelly kept on getting up and going to the edge of the ridge under the pretext of “going to the bathroom”, but we all knew she was up to something. A couple of days before, Wilder had asked her help in planning a surprise for us for the Fourth, and we suspected her frequent trips to the “bathroom” were part of that. Finally, around 8 pm, she called us over to the edge, and we looked down across the valley on one of the coolest things ever: a huge, flaming USA. It was incredible, and we freaked out both because it was an awesome sight to see this bright beacon of our country on its Independence Day and because Wilder and Daniel had shown such amazing kindness and friendliness to us through this. We couldn’t believe that they would go through so much trouble just to make our far-away-from-home celebration extra special. After they had lit the fires, which turned out to be huge evaporated milk cans stuffed with charcoal and kerosene, Wilder, Elva (his wife), Ken (his 1-year-old son), Daniel, and another guy named Roy, came up the ridge and sat around the fire with us. We roasted some hot dogs for them, and they played the guitar and sang songs. Then we sang the Star-Spangled Banner for them, and Kelly sang along with us with the lyrics I wrote out for her. We told her that for that day she was an estadounidense (basically, United States-ian). It was an amazing time, and aside from being away from my family and friends, it was by far the best Fourth of July I’ve ever had and one I will not soon forget. The four of us stayed a while after everyone else left, and we just savored the amazingness of the moment and how awesome it was to be in Peru, up on a ridge that overlooks everything, around a warm campfire, celebrating the birthday of the USA. We stayed until the fire had almost died, and then we headed back to the hostel to collapse into bed since it was kind of late (it was only 10:30, but that’s late for us).
Sunday morning we had church again, and this time the guys went all out. They made little programs for us with the order of the service and the lyrics to the worship songs we were going to sing, and they had assigned each of us parts in the service. David opened us in prayer, I read the Lord’s Supper passage, Shane prayed over the Communion, and Kelly closed the service in prayer. Plus, they had hung a huge cross on the wall by using 2 huge sticks of firewood leftover from our celebration the night before, and they rigged them together with 2 socks and some rope. It was pretty special, and the sermon from Tim Keller on David’s iPod was really good. Then we went out to lunch, and in the afternoon played some volleyball with the people. We had talked to our friend Jackie earlier and made plans for her to come over in the evening, but unfortunately she didn’t make it. So we just hung out and played cards. The boys taught me their version of Rummy, which is way different but pretty fun, and we just had a good time laughing and talking.
After an amazingly fun weekend, we got some sad news this morning. Our friend Jhoannes, who accepted Christ last week, had to leave Cabana and go four hours away to Puquio today to live with his grandmother. We had been told last week that he would stay in Cabana for the rest of this month, but this morning he came by to say goodbye. We got to pray with him for a little bit, but then he had to rush away to catch the Combi that would take him. It was so sad because we had been looking forward to sharing some Bible stories with him and maybe even baptizing him, and we had hoped to help him grow closer to God before he left. Plus, we didn’t really get to say goodbye because he had to hurry away. Kelly and David talked to his mom after he left, and she said that he was crying because he didn’t get to say a good goodbye and because he was traveling alone for part of the way (he’s only 8 years old). Needless to say, it was a sad, shocking morning, and we’re all a feeling pretty down right now.
So, prayer requests:
-Pray for Jhoannes, that he arrives safely in Puquio and that he would look to Christ for strength and comfort. Pray also that he would encounter people who would encourage him and help him grow in his faith and that God would just grow fruit from the seed that has been planted in him.
-Pray for Kelly’s aunt, who has just had a baby and is not doing very well
-Pray for our friendships with Wilder, Daniel, and all the others
-Pray for guidance for us and an urgency to complete the work that God has entrusted to us
-Pray that we would stay strong and be focused on the now and not on the later
Thanks again for all your prayers and comments! I love and miss y’all!
P.S. Happy birthday, David!!!!!!!
Sunday morning we had church again, and this time the guys went all out. They made little programs for us with the order of the service and the lyrics to the worship songs we were going to sing, and they had assigned each of us parts in the service. David opened us in prayer, I read the Lord’s Supper passage, Shane prayed over the Communion, and Kelly closed the service in prayer. Plus, they had hung a huge cross on the wall by using 2 huge sticks of firewood leftover from our celebration the night before, and they rigged them together with 2 socks and some rope. It was pretty special, and the sermon from Tim Keller on David’s iPod was really good. Then we went out to lunch, and in the afternoon played some volleyball with the people. We had talked to our friend Jackie earlier and made plans for her to come over in the evening, but unfortunately she didn’t make it. So we just hung out and played cards. The boys taught me their version of Rummy, which is way different but pretty fun, and we just had a good time laughing and talking.
After an amazingly fun weekend, we got some sad news this morning. Our friend Jhoannes, who accepted Christ last week, had to leave Cabana and go four hours away to Puquio today to live with his grandmother. We had been told last week that he would stay in Cabana for the rest of this month, but this morning he came by to say goodbye. We got to pray with him for a little bit, but then he had to rush away to catch the Combi that would take him. It was so sad because we had been looking forward to sharing some Bible stories with him and maybe even baptizing him, and we had hoped to help him grow closer to God before he left. Plus, we didn’t really get to say goodbye because he had to hurry away. Kelly and David talked to his mom after he left, and she said that he was crying because he didn’t get to say a good goodbye and because he was traveling alone for part of the way (he’s only 8 years old). Needless to say, it was a sad, shocking morning, and we’re all a feeling pretty down right now.
So, prayer requests:
-Pray for Jhoannes, that he arrives safely in Puquio and that he would look to Christ for strength and comfort. Pray also that he would encounter people who would encourage him and help him grow in his faith and that God would just grow fruit from the seed that has been planted in him.
-Pray for Kelly’s aunt, who has just had a baby and is not doing very well
-Pray for our friendships with Wilder, Daniel, and all the others
-Pray for guidance for us and an urgency to complete the work that God has entrusted to us
-Pray that we would stay strong and be focused on the now and not on the later
Thanks again for all your prayers and comments! I love and miss y’all!
P.S. Happy birthday, David!!!!!!!
There and Back Again
I've been posting notes on Facebook because Blogger stopped working about halfway through, but now I'm re-posting everything here since I'm home and it works.
Okay, I have a lot of days to cover, so it’s not going to be as detailed as usual. Last Wednesday was el Día del Campesino (Farmer’s Day), so we went and watched more parades and dances. It was very similar to Flag Day with all the parades and dances, but it was even longer. It was pretty fun because a little girl named Angela sat in my lap nearly the whole time, which was awesome because I got to play with her and she kept me warm while we were in the cool shade. The dances this time were a little different because most of the dancers were adults, and it was kind of weird watching them run around. To me, it wasn’t really dancing, but I suppose that’s just a cultural difference, plus it’s way more fun to watch the children dance. One of the dances, however, was disturbing because we were told that it was a dance for the devil, and it was a child this time who danced it. That was really saddening, and I just wish the people here would see past their traditions and realize what they’re doing. But once again I cannot judge. All in all, the festival was pretty entertaining, and I got to try tamales, which are not like the tamales you’re thinking of, rather, they tasted like very moist cornbread. It was delicious. Thursday I spent most of the day preparing for English class that evening, which was fun. I taught about how to tell time and reviewed numbers again, and we had some new people show up, which was awesome. The majority of the class is children, and we’re considering splitting up and having two classes, one for kids and one for adults, because they just learn in completely different ways. However, I did get to use the stickers that I had brought, which was fun because we told the kids that if they volunteered to demonstrate or if they behaved throughout the whole class, then they would each get a sticker. It worked for the most part, but I think maybe next week we’ll split them up. After the class that night, we went to reserve our tickets for the Combi that we needed to take at 2 am on Friday to go to Nazca. However, we were told that it was completely full already, so we were basically out of luck and had no way to get to Nazca. We decided to get up at 1 am and get to the plaza where the Combis leave at 1:30 just in case we could persuade them to let us on.
As we were getting ready to leave the hostel, Kelly and I accidentally set our room on fire. We had turned on the little heater that we had because it was freezing when we woke up, and the extension cord we have usually gets really hot when we use it. But typically it’s not a problem. This time, however, the cord was sandwiched between the cardboard under Kelly’s mattress and the mattress itself. So, somehow when the cord was getting super hot, it sparked and caught the cardboard on fire. Kelly was in the bathroom at the time, but I heard it sputtering and thought that the cord was just shorting out, so I quickly turned the heater off. However, then I saw this orange glow against the wall, so I ripped the sheets of Kelly’s bed and beat the mattress on top of the flames until it was out. What a way to begin a very early morning and a long day of traveling. After about 10 minutes, though, I was able to laugh about it, and I was thankful that it was nothing more than what it was. Our poor extension cord, however, burned in half. Anyways, we got to the plaza about 1:40 and saw the Combis just parked on one side, and it looked like we were the only ones there. So we huddled together for warmth and just waited. Soon, however, we realized that we were not alone. We saw something moving in one of the Combis, and I screamed as I saw this blob of blankets come alive. I calmed down when we realized that it was just the Combi drivers who we assumed had spent the night in the vans. I think my nerves were just a little frayed from the fire earlier : ). Anyways, somehow we convinced them to let us squish into the Combi, so we had quite an uncomfortable, 4 hour, bumpy, windy ride through the mountains to Puquio, which is like halfway to Nazca. We arrived in Puquio around 6:30 and found a station wagon taxi that would take the four of us to Nazca. We made it to Nazca a little after 10, and thankfully it was much warmer there. The taxi driver dropped us off at our hotel, but we couldn’t check in until 2:30. It was awesome, though, to see all the other student missionaries who had already arrived. [I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned this already, but the reason we went to Nazca was because it was our midsummer ‘break’ when all the student mission teams came together to share what God had been doing in each of our villages and to just relax in a nice hotel for a while.] We dropped our stuff off in the big pile of backpacks (btw, the four of us managed to fit all of our clothes and stuff in one small bag), and then went with another group to go get some pizza. We were so ready for some American food, but when the pizza arrived, it wasn’t the cheesy, saucy pizza with pepperonis we had hoped for. It was this fancy gourmet pizza, which was good, but did not satisfy our pizza yearning. Afterwards we decided to go get some ice cream, which I was so incredibly excited about. And this ice cream was fantastic and satisfied all my expectations, so it made up for the disappointing pizza experience. We still had some time left before we could check in, so we walked around a bit and ran into our family group from camp at the beginning of the summer. They are all really awesome, and we were so excited to see them again! When we finally got our room assignments, we discovered that, unlike we had expected, Kelly and I were not rooming together, nor were Shane and David. Instead, they had divided everyone up intentionally in order to give us some time apart from our group, which I suppose is a good idea if the team is sick of each other, but we weren’t. So our brilliant plan to pack only one bag failed, but it wasn’t too bad. Unfortunately, I had never met my roommate and we were going to be sharing a full bed together, which sounded a little strange to me, I must admit. The first thing I did when I got in the room was to take a long, hot shower. It was heavenly. Anyways, we went to get dinner that night, and this time we were searching for hamburgers and hotdogs. These, too, were failures. I didn’t try the hamburgers, but Shane and David told me they were disappointing, but I did have a hot dog, or so it was called. We went to bed early that night, and got up the next morning for breakfast at the hotel and then the first worship/team share session time with all the student missionaries.
There were three sessions on Saturday and three on Sunday, and it was really encouraging to hear about the other teams’ successes and struggles, because we had been feeling kind of discouraged at our seemingly slow progress. We had a lot of free time to just walk around and be tourists, and that day for lunch we finally had a satisfying American food meal. This restaurant had been recommended to us by others, and we went and got cheese burgers and fries, which were pretty good. It definitely satisfied our quest for hamburgers, so that night we went to find some good pizza, and were somewhat successful in that. All in all, though, the “American” food in Nazca was rather disappointing, and by the time we left I was ready for some good rice and potatoes and meat from our favorite restaurant in Cabana. I did get to do a little souvenir shopping, but I was ready to get back to the village because I had this tourist mentality that was really annoying me, and I just felt absorbed with eating and shopping. Saturday and Sunday were fun times though because we hung out with our family group and other friends and just chilled. Also, we had individual interviews with REAPSouth staff and just talked about our struggles and what had been going on with everything. It was good to talk to someone about everything and to receive encouragement and advice. We also had team interviews and got some good advice there, too.
Monday we left Nazca around 11 in another station wagon taxi and arrived in Puquio about 2:30. Unfortunately, we were told that the Combis leaving for Cabana at 4 and 6 were full, so once again we just kind of had to wing it. We tried to get a decently priced taxi ride, but all the drivers gave us outrageous estimates, and we suspect that it was because we’re gringos. We waited, though, because one of the Combi agencies said they would confirm with the other passengers just in case there would be no-shows, and by the grace and providence of God there were exactly 4 seats open. So we bought our tickets and left for Cabana at 6:30. Once again, the ride was pretty rough. I have never gotten car sick, but I was the closest I’ve ever been by the time we rolled up to our hostel at 10:30 that night. We were all so exhausted that we just when straight to bed.
We slept in a bit Tuesday and spent most of it getting all of our stuff sorted through (I bought some groceries in Nazca to replenish my dwindling snack supply) and getting ready for the second half of our stay. In the afternoon we went to the primary school to watch the secondary school teams play some volleyball against a neighboring village, but we didn’t see much of it before they finished. Still, though, we played with some children, so that was fun. It was pretty cool yesterday because a lot of people asked where we went and how our trip was, so it shows that they realized we were gone, which is good. That’s pretty much all we did that day, and that night we got together as a team and talked about what Nazca and our time there meant for us and also about what we want to accomplish and do this week. We are in the process of planning activities for the Creative Ministry Team because they are coming to Cabana the 11th of July, and we’re really pumped and excited about their visit!
Wednesday morning we went to the internet to blog, and I wrote most of this, but for some reason Blogspot would not post it. It was infinitely frustrating, but I emailed it to myself and now I’m updating with what has happened since then, so it’s all good. We also talked to the mayor about the Creative Ministry Team performing in the auditorium, and he was all for that. That evening David and Kelly went to talk to this boy named Jhoannes, who absolutely adores David, about Christ, and they used the Wordless Book (with colors that each represent something). When they came back, they told us how Jhoannes had just completely understood everything and how he had prayed to receive Christ! It was awesome! They helped him make a bracelet with colored beads that corresponded to the ones in the Wordless Book, and they told him to share the story with everyone. It was amazing to see the joy in David and Kelly when they came back, and we all agreed that even if no one else accepts Christ this summer, this whole trip would be worth it just because of Jhoannes. Afterwards, Wilder and Daniel came over, and we talked for a while about Jhoannes and also about what having a relationship with God is all about. They were a little bit uncomfortable talking about that, but we could all tell that they were seriously thinking about it and just needed more time. We played cards with them and made some plans to teach them basketball. Also, we invited them to partake in our Fourth of July celebration tomorrow, and we plan to have a fire and cook hotdogs and shoot off some firecrackers, which are the only “fireworks” you can really find here.
Thursday morning we got up to walk Jhoannes to school, and some other children walked with us, so Jhoannes showed them his bracelet and explained what each bead represents. It was awesome because he is such a new Christian and is already sharing the Gospel with his friends. Then we went to the secondary school to talk to the principal about the Creative Ministry Team coming and performing in the classrooms. Unfortunately, he said it was against the rules, but that in the afternoon when school is out they can come and perform in the courtyard. Later that day, David and Shane went to play basketball again, and I went with them to run. It was a little easier this time, but I didn’t run for long before I was ready to stop. I’m working my way up, though : ). We were supposed to have English class last night, but there is this big conference on taking care of and protecting the vicuñas like wild alpacas) that’s been going on, so they were still meeting in the auditorium. It was a little frustrating because I had prepared a lesson and we had planned to share a Bible story, but we got to play with some kids again, so that was fun. I felt bad, though, because a couple from Aucará (a village really close by) had come all the way to Cabana just for the English class, and we didn’t end up having it. It turns out, though, that the man is the English teacher at the secondary school, and he invited us to come and teach a class next week, so we’re planning on going on Tuesday. Since we couldn’t have class, we decided to go drink some hot tea and got to draw pictures with a couple of boys. Well, David and Shane drew pictures while Kelly and I watched….but still, it was fun : ).
This morning (Friday), we got up to try the internet again, but the vicuña conference was still going on and had taken over the municipal building. So, Kelly and I decided to check out the conference and see what it was all about, and Shane and David went back to do some laundry. Then we went to the primary school to see when we could meet with the principal to talk about the Creative Ministry Team coming, and we set up a meeting for next Wednesday. After lunch, the boys went to work out and I read some more out of La Casa de los Espíritus. We were visited by a couple of girls who always come by and talk to us, so that was fun because they were really excited about the walkie talkies and kept playing with them. I think I got the order of the last 2 events mixed up, but I don’t feel like fixing it. We have a pretty busy weekend, what with our basketball plans and awesome Independence Day celebration on Saturday and church at FBC Yuly and volleyball on Sunday.That’s about it so far, but I’ll keep y’all posted!!!
Prayer requests:
-Pray that we would put into practice what we heard and received in Nazca and that we would not get discouraged
-Pray that we would make the absolute most of the little time we have left here and that we would go all out for God’s will here
-Pray that God would open the hearts and minds of the people of Cabana to hear and accept God’s Word
-Pray for Wilder and Daniel, that they would not be able to shake the Gospel from their minds
-Pray for Jhoannes, that even though he is young he would just grow in his faith and have a passion to share it
-Pray for the other student mission teams, that they would be effective and just faithful to God’s guidance
-Pray for all the missionaries around the world
-Pray that I would continue to decrease so that Christ would increase
Thank y’all for your prayers and your comments! I love y’all and miss y’all!Peace out.
P.S. Mom, I meant to tell you this a long time ago, but one day we were eating in our favorite restaurant, and I ate about half a plate of black-eyed peas….and loved them! Aren’t you proud of me??Also, I have now tried cow intestine (gross), several local fruits (good), and boiled quail eggs (surprisingly tasty), in addition to the other strange foods I’ve eaten.
P.S.S. I really hope someone gets my title’s allusion.
P.S.S.S. Holy freaking moly I'm pumped that Catie and Molly are coming!!!!! An inbox message to y'all is forthcoming.
Okay, I have a lot of days to cover, so it’s not going to be as detailed as usual. Last Wednesday was el Día del Campesino (Farmer’s Day), so we went and watched more parades and dances. It was very similar to Flag Day with all the parades and dances, but it was even longer. It was pretty fun because a little girl named Angela sat in my lap nearly the whole time, which was awesome because I got to play with her and she kept me warm while we were in the cool shade. The dances this time were a little different because most of the dancers were adults, and it was kind of weird watching them run around. To me, it wasn’t really dancing, but I suppose that’s just a cultural difference, plus it’s way more fun to watch the children dance. One of the dances, however, was disturbing because we were told that it was a dance for the devil, and it was a child this time who danced it. That was really saddening, and I just wish the people here would see past their traditions and realize what they’re doing. But once again I cannot judge. All in all, the festival was pretty entertaining, and I got to try tamales, which are not like the tamales you’re thinking of, rather, they tasted like very moist cornbread. It was delicious. Thursday I spent most of the day preparing for English class that evening, which was fun. I taught about how to tell time and reviewed numbers again, and we had some new people show up, which was awesome. The majority of the class is children, and we’re considering splitting up and having two classes, one for kids and one for adults, because they just learn in completely different ways. However, I did get to use the stickers that I had brought, which was fun because we told the kids that if they volunteered to demonstrate or if they behaved throughout the whole class, then they would each get a sticker. It worked for the most part, but I think maybe next week we’ll split them up. After the class that night, we went to reserve our tickets for the Combi that we needed to take at 2 am on Friday to go to Nazca. However, we were told that it was completely full already, so we were basically out of luck and had no way to get to Nazca. We decided to get up at 1 am and get to the plaza where the Combis leave at 1:30 just in case we could persuade them to let us on.
As we were getting ready to leave the hostel, Kelly and I accidentally set our room on fire. We had turned on the little heater that we had because it was freezing when we woke up, and the extension cord we have usually gets really hot when we use it. But typically it’s not a problem. This time, however, the cord was sandwiched between the cardboard under Kelly’s mattress and the mattress itself. So, somehow when the cord was getting super hot, it sparked and caught the cardboard on fire. Kelly was in the bathroom at the time, but I heard it sputtering and thought that the cord was just shorting out, so I quickly turned the heater off. However, then I saw this orange glow against the wall, so I ripped the sheets of Kelly’s bed and beat the mattress on top of the flames until it was out. What a way to begin a very early morning and a long day of traveling. After about 10 minutes, though, I was able to laugh about it, and I was thankful that it was nothing more than what it was. Our poor extension cord, however, burned in half. Anyways, we got to the plaza about 1:40 and saw the Combis just parked on one side, and it looked like we were the only ones there. So we huddled together for warmth and just waited. Soon, however, we realized that we were not alone. We saw something moving in one of the Combis, and I screamed as I saw this blob of blankets come alive. I calmed down when we realized that it was just the Combi drivers who we assumed had spent the night in the vans. I think my nerves were just a little frayed from the fire earlier : ). Anyways, somehow we convinced them to let us squish into the Combi, so we had quite an uncomfortable, 4 hour, bumpy, windy ride through the mountains to Puquio, which is like halfway to Nazca. We arrived in Puquio around 6:30 and found a station wagon taxi that would take the four of us to Nazca. We made it to Nazca a little after 10, and thankfully it was much warmer there. The taxi driver dropped us off at our hotel, but we couldn’t check in until 2:30. It was awesome, though, to see all the other student missionaries who had already arrived. [I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned this already, but the reason we went to Nazca was because it was our midsummer ‘break’ when all the student mission teams came together to share what God had been doing in each of our villages and to just relax in a nice hotel for a while.] We dropped our stuff off in the big pile of backpacks (btw, the four of us managed to fit all of our clothes and stuff in one small bag), and then went with another group to go get some pizza. We were so ready for some American food, but when the pizza arrived, it wasn’t the cheesy, saucy pizza with pepperonis we had hoped for. It was this fancy gourmet pizza, which was good, but did not satisfy our pizza yearning. Afterwards we decided to go get some ice cream, which I was so incredibly excited about. And this ice cream was fantastic and satisfied all my expectations, so it made up for the disappointing pizza experience. We still had some time left before we could check in, so we walked around a bit and ran into our family group from camp at the beginning of the summer. They are all really awesome, and we were so excited to see them again! When we finally got our room assignments, we discovered that, unlike we had expected, Kelly and I were not rooming together, nor were Shane and David. Instead, they had divided everyone up intentionally in order to give us some time apart from our group, which I suppose is a good idea if the team is sick of each other, but we weren’t. So our brilliant plan to pack only one bag failed, but it wasn’t too bad. Unfortunately, I had never met my roommate and we were going to be sharing a full bed together, which sounded a little strange to me, I must admit. The first thing I did when I got in the room was to take a long, hot shower. It was heavenly. Anyways, we went to get dinner that night, and this time we were searching for hamburgers and hotdogs. These, too, were failures. I didn’t try the hamburgers, but Shane and David told me they were disappointing, but I did have a hot dog, or so it was called. We went to bed early that night, and got up the next morning for breakfast at the hotel and then the first worship/team share session time with all the student missionaries.
There were three sessions on Saturday and three on Sunday, and it was really encouraging to hear about the other teams’ successes and struggles, because we had been feeling kind of discouraged at our seemingly slow progress. We had a lot of free time to just walk around and be tourists, and that day for lunch we finally had a satisfying American food meal. This restaurant had been recommended to us by others, and we went and got cheese burgers and fries, which were pretty good. It definitely satisfied our quest for hamburgers, so that night we went to find some good pizza, and were somewhat successful in that. All in all, though, the “American” food in Nazca was rather disappointing, and by the time we left I was ready for some good rice and potatoes and meat from our favorite restaurant in Cabana. I did get to do a little souvenir shopping, but I was ready to get back to the village because I had this tourist mentality that was really annoying me, and I just felt absorbed with eating and shopping. Saturday and Sunday were fun times though because we hung out with our family group and other friends and just chilled. Also, we had individual interviews with REAPSouth staff and just talked about our struggles and what had been going on with everything. It was good to talk to someone about everything and to receive encouragement and advice. We also had team interviews and got some good advice there, too.
Monday we left Nazca around 11 in another station wagon taxi and arrived in Puquio about 2:30. Unfortunately, we were told that the Combis leaving for Cabana at 4 and 6 were full, so once again we just kind of had to wing it. We tried to get a decently priced taxi ride, but all the drivers gave us outrageous estimates, and we suspect that it was because we’re gringos. We waited, though, because one of the Combi agencies said they would confirm with the other passengers just in case there would be no-shows, and by the grace and providence of God there were exactly 4 seats open. So we bought our tickets and left for Cabana at 6:30. Once again, the ride was pretty rough. I have never gotten car sick, but I was the closest I’ve ever been by the time we rolled up to our hostel at 10:30 that night. We were all so exhausted that we just when straight to bed.
We slept in a bit Tuesday and spent most of it getting all of our stuff sorted through (I bought some groceries in Nazca to replenish my dwindling snack supply) and getting ready for the second half of our stay. In the afternoon we went to the primary school to watch the secondary school teams play some volleyball against a neighboring village, but we didn’t see much of it before they finished. Still, though, we played with some children, so that was fun. It was pretty cool yesterday because a lot of people asked where we went and how our trip was, so it shows that they realized we were gone, which is good. That’s pretty much all we did that day, and that night we got together as a team and talked about what Nazca and our time there meant for us and also about what we want to accomplish and do this week. We are in the process of planning activities for the Creative Ministry Team because they are coming to Cabana the 11th of July, and we’re really pumped and excited about their visit!
Wednesday morning we went to the internet to blog, and I wrote most of this, but for some reason Blogspot would not post it. It was infinitely frustrating, but I emailed it to myself and now I’m updating with what has happened since then, so it’s all good. We also talked to the mayor about the Creative Ministry Team performing in the auditorium, and he was all for that. That evening David and Kelly went to talk to this boy named Jhoannes, who absolutely adores David, about Christ, and they used the Wordless Book (with colors that each represent something). When they came back, they told us how Jhoannes had just completely understood everything and how he had prayed to receive Christ! It was awesome! They helped him make a bracelet with colored beads that corresponded to the ones in the Wordless Book, and they told him to share the story with everyone. It was amazing to see the joy in David and Kelly when they came back, and we all agreed that even if no one else accepts Christ this summer, this whole trip would be worth it just because of Jhoannes. Afterwards, Wilder and Daniel came over, and we talked for a while about Jhoannes and also about what having a relationship with God is all about. They were a little bit uncomfortable talking about that, but we could all tell that they were seriously thinking about it and just needed more time. We played cards with them and made some plans to teach them basketball. Also, we invited them to partake in our Fourth of July celebration tomorrow, and we plan to have a fire and cook hotdogs and shoot off some firecrackers, which are the only “fireworks” you can really find here.
Thursday morning we got up to walk Jhoannes to school, and some other children walked with us, so Jhoannes showed them his bracelet and explained what each bead represents. It was awesome because he is such a new Christian and is already sharing the Gospel with his friends. Then we went to the secondary school to talk to the principal about the Creative Ministry Team coming and performing in the classrooms. Unfortunately, he said it was against the rules, but that in the afternoon when school is out they can come and perform in the courtyard. Later that day, David and Shane went to play basketball again, and I went with them to run. It was a little easier this time, but I didn’t run for long before I was ready to stop. I’m working my way up, though : ). We were supposed to have English class last night, but there is this big conference on taking care of and protecting the vicuñas like wild alpacas) that’s been going on, so they were still meeting in the auditorium. It was a little frustrating because I had prepared a lesson and we had planned to share a Bible story, but we got to play with some kids again, so that was fun. I felt bad, though, because a couple from Aucará (a village really close by) had come all the way to Cabana just for the English class, and we didn’t end up having it. It turns out, though, that the man is the English teacher at the secondary school, and he invited us to come and teach a class next week, so we’re planning on going on Tuesday. Since we couldn’t have class, we decided to go drink some hot tea and got to draw pictures with a couple of boys. Well, David and Shane drew pictures while Kelly and I watched….but still, it was fun : ).
This morning (Friday), we got up to try the internet again, but the vicuña conference was still going on and had taken over the municipal building. So, Kelly and I decided to check out the conference and see what it was all about, and Shane and David went back to do some laundry. Then we went to the primary school to see when we could meet with the principal to talk about the Creative Ministry Team coming, and we set up a meeting for next Wednesday. After lunch, the boys went to work out and I read some more out of La Casa de los Espíritus. We were visited by a couple of girls who always come by and talk to us, so that was fun because they were really excited about the walkie talkies and kept playing with them. I think I got the order of the last 2 events mixed up, but I don’t feel like fixing it. We have a pretty busy weekend, what with our basketball plans and awesome Independence Day celebration on Saturday and church at FBC Yuly and volleyball on Sunday.That’s about it so far, but I’ll keep y’all posted!!!
Prayer requests:
-Pray that we would put into practice what we heard and received in Nazca and that we would not get discouraged
-Pray that we would make the absolute most of the little time we have left here and that we would go all out for God’s will here
-Pray that God would open the hearts and minds of the people of Cabana to hear and accept God’s Word
-Pray for Wilder and Daniel, that they would not be able to shake the Gospel from their minds
-Pray for Jhoannes, that even though he is young he would just grow in his faith and have a passion to share it
-Pray for the other student mission teams, that they would be effective and just faithful to God’s guidance
-Pray for all the missionaries around the world
-Pray that I would continue to decrease so that Christ would increase
Thank y’all for your prayers and your comments! I love y’all and miss y’all!Peace out.
P.S. Mom, I meant to tell you this a long time ago, but one day we were eating in our favorite restaurant, and I ate about half a plate of black-eyed peas….and loved them! Aren’t you proud of me??Also, I have now tried cow intestine (gross), several local fruits (good), and boiled quail eggs (surprisingly tasty), in addition to the other strange foods I’ve eaten.
P.S.S. I really hope someone gets my title’s allusion.
P.S.S.S. Holy freaking moly I'm pumped that Catie and Molly are coming!!!!! An inbox message to y'all is forthcoming.
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