Weekend Trip with Juana

I went on a short weekend trip to the country with my friend Juana. She went to give a short talk on personal hygiene, things such as how many times to wash your hair or body every week, how many times to brush your teeth a day, etc. I went along for the ride just to get to know the country. It was about an 8 hour busride and we probably passed more or less 8 villages the whole time. It was a beatiful little town in the middle of nowhere. The municipal building actually played music, native to the town, on a loudspeaker loud enough so everyone in the town and the outskirts could enjoy it. I could never imagine that in the States. We arrived in the town, Colquemarca, late Friday night and went straight to bed at the pastor's house. In the morning we had breakfast with their family but I was really confused at first because in the same house, there were numerous rooms and a woman across the hall came in and seemed to know Juana well so I figured it was the pastor's wife, only to find out she was the owner of the house and down the hall was the pastor's family. We explored the country for a while, checking out a bull ring that's used once a year for the town's anniversary. That same weekend they have cockfights too. Again, I can't imagine that in the States. We came back to do the teaching on personal hygiene and then everyone set out sacks of habba beans, corn, and freeze dried potatoes. We just took handfulls and sat around the piles eating it all. After filling myself up, I found out that was just snack. Real lunch was to be eaten with the family. Luckily our bus came early and we weren't able to eat the lunch.

On the busride home, something interesting happened. Juana offered me this fruit that I had never had before and it actually made my mouth a little itchy so I was allergic to it. I told Juana and she made me stop eating it in case my throat were to close up so we stuck it in this bag, after I had taken at least 5 bites. But then a few minutes later, the bus stopped so we could all have dinner. Juana didn't trust the restaurant so we ate the snacks we brought, but sat on the bus. Juana noticed the person next to us was still on the bus too, a woman of probably 70 years. And then, Juana gave her my half eaten piece of fruit. Without hesitation, the woman ate it. I know Peruvians are perfectly fine with sharing food that's half eaten, but with strangers? I was just shocked. I would think Juana was insulting the lady, giving her a half eaten fruit, but the woman didn't seem ashamed or insulted at all, just hungry. So, that was a bit of a shock, especially because before we ate our lunch I prayed for those that don't have food, not noticing the woman next to us.

In the picture of me holding a rock, some of the rocks there were made of a different mineral that was especially light, so I was able to pick it up, but honestly, it was still heavy, just less heavy.

Catching up

When I last updated, I only ended with pictures from the end of September. Here I'll finally start putting October pictures in, even though its now November.

I went on a hike with my bible study group, plus a couple of other good friends. The hike was the mountain that's behind my house, or I guess I really do live on the mountain, at the very foot of it, because that would be why I have such a hill to get to my house. We took a bus that dropped us off in the middle of nowhere to get us to the other side of the mountain where it's a bit higher up, a shorter hike up than it would be on the side where I live. There's not too much to tell about the trip except that it was awesome with a really great view of Peru, seeing little villages scattered all throughout. Going down was so fun because we brought cardboard with us and we were able to sled down the tall grass fairly easily, minus random rocks that shredded our boxes apart. At the end of our trail on the top, we stopped at the cross, then we slid down the rest of the way until the tree line began and we walked through some thin woods. In the very last picture you'll see the mountain from the viewpoint at the bottom. The reason I took the picture is because the lines all the way on the left (there are 3 sets of lines) are from us when we were sledding down the hill and pushing all of the long grass down. We made our mark without even realizing it so it was fun to see it and be surprised.

That next week we had a regional strike and some of us from the hike and a few extra people took a long bikeride out to one of the villages where one of the main churches is. We stopped there for a few hours and ate at the pastor's fishfarm where some of us in the group caught the fish with nets and picked out the ones we were going to eat. We watched them beat the fish dead on the head with the back of the knife and then scrape all the scales off before they got to the real dirty work. It was delicious. Unfortunately, it rained the whole time we were there and part of the time home. I also didn't bring my camera so I'm sorry you can't see some great pictures from the trip.

Praises:
~My parents and I had a great and SAFE time while they visited for a week.
~I continue to experience new things here, just learning and appreciating all that there is.
~God is trying to work in my life.

Prayers:
~That I would do all that God is asking me to do for Him.
~God will continue to help me adjust to the culture and strengthen my relationships with my students and friends.

Where did the time go??

I apologize. I didn't realize it's been more than a month since I've updated. I've been so busy all the time and with my computer being unusuable with a virus for more than a week, updating has slipped my mind. We had an event called Mi Compromiso con Dios-an event to realize how important it is to stay pure until you're married (because in every culture and more so accepted here, it's a problem) and then we signed a paper and got a ring. It was a great event and it seemed a few people were really changed by it. You can see in the pictures Carrie and our friend Wendy and then in another picture my friend Lisi with her father, my pastor. In the picture with Wendy and I'm showing off my awesome ring and she's showing the book she got because it was her second year and you don't get two rings. The group picture is all the youth from Huacarpay where I go on Sunday mornings. There are three main churches and Bethany and I belong to the one in Huacarpay.

On Thursdays I hang out at my friends' Zaida and Yerson's house to help with their twins.

I hiked in Huacarpay with my three friends, Lisi, Karen, and Meche. Everything's still so dry here since the rainy season is just starting, but it was still beautiful. We hiked up a small mountain and entered a cave. I was a bit scared because Lisi and I had spotted a paw print that looked to have been from a puma. There are puma's around. A few here in the mountainous area and many more in the jungles but I haven't seen any yet. So in entering this Incan cave that's a minute walk from the pawprint, I was scared a puma would be relaxing in the cool dark cave rather than the extremely sunny, warm, and dry outside. It was pretty neat inside. We didn't go too far because of lack of time and the girls got scared but it was still cool. Obviously since you haven't heard of any crazy accidents or maulings, there was no puma. You can see in pictures as we were returning that a wildfire started up in the mountains. In this country when there's a wildfire on the mountains, you just pray for rain because there are no roads for firetrucks to take. No one really lives at the tops of the mountains but some of their farms are up there, which is what can start the fire, trying to burn the land to get richer soil but one hard breeze and the whole mountain's ablaze. The mountain was on fire until that next night. God brought the first big rainstorm of the season. What a blessing, even if I did walk home in pouring rain for a half hour at night.

Feliz Dia a mi!

So this past week, we had 2 different strikes. One happened Monday and no one had expected it but we woke up in the morning with no transportation so no means of getting to work. Monday was Labor Day for all of you Americans so my team decided to throw together a barbeque like we did for the 4th of July. This time, there weren't many stores open or time to plan anything exquisite but it all came together and was delicious and everyone had a good time eating and playing games. Wednesday we knew a strike was coming because it was national and had been planned a week in advance. I went for a hike with my friend Uri and his cell group and we cooked potatoes under dirt without water and they were actually yummy and very soft. We also had some beef. You would not believe how all out out we went. Knowing there was no transportation and that we'd be traveling up hill the entire time to get to the field, I don't know why they were so ok with bringing so many heavy things. It was exhausting getting there but we had a lot of fun once we could sit down and relax. The first pictures are cooking the potatoes. First you make a cave of rocks and stick a lot of timber inside to heat up until its really hot. Then when everything is piping hot, you take away the rocks, stick potatoes in and cover it all up with a bunch of dirt. When its all cooked, you just peel the dirty skin off and eat whats inside. The last picture is from when the guys took my camera and took a bunch of pictures of them doing bike tricks.

To go backwards one day, Tuesday was my birthday. Transportation was fine so I went off to school where my kids were ANGELS. I mean it. Angels. They've never listened so well and been so quiet the entire 6 months that I've taught them. I don't know why but it was a blessing from God. When I went home at 2, my friend Lisi met me there and we hung out for an hour until Eric, her brother, showed up, eventually Wendy and Uri, and finally, Meche. My 5 friends joined me for lunch with Marga and my 2 roommates and I and we enjoyed lasagna, yes, the American, or actually Italian lasagna. After lunch, we took a break from eating where we experimented with Coca-Cola and mentos. When put together, they explode like a volcano. Unfortunately, I only have pictures of the spectators and not of the actual event because I was videoing. We then had cake and hung out, just talking. Eventually we put a movie in and other people started joining us, Hannah, Destiny, and Oriana. We had ice cream. More people came. Teachers. Ron, Nancy, Marisol, Leo, Damaris. My friends that stayed for lunch all left except Wendy because she's a teacher. We had ANOTHER birthday cake that Wendy and Uri had bought me along with more ice cream and singing. We hung out, I opened my presents from my roommates and the teachers, a couple more teachers showed up, along with another friend, and slowly people started fading, getting tired, and eventually left. Knowing we had a strike the next day, no one was too worried about leaving early, so the last person finally left at 11pm and I was already in bed. It was really an awesome birthday and I was so blessed by everyone who celebrated with me (including all of you who sent birthday messages, cards, and packages. Thanks!!!).