The Secret to Weightloss

I don't know if I should say life has been going pretty slow or it's been really busy. Is it possible to have both at one time? I guess it's because things have become more routine with a few extra things in there sometimes. One of the extra things was Mother's Day. Dia de la Madre is a huge deal here considering most kids live with their mothers but not too many live with their fathers. I'm sure there are other reasons too, but all I know is that everyone makes a big fuss out of Mother's Day. Every year the school puts on a show for the mothers. The picture to the right is of 2 of my second graders who are cousins. Each
grade sings a song or puts on a short play for the mothers at the end of the day and then they give their moms presents they've made and we have dessert. This was the Friday before Mother's Day. On Saturday, the missionary women had a Mother's Day luncheon where the kids danced, played an instrument, or put on a small act after lunch. That's this picture on the right. Some of the girls are in a purple dress because they had previously danced to a worship song. Here the girls are singing a song Hannah and Ron made up to the tune of "I Just Wanna Be a Sheep" and it was about loving their moms.

On the actual day of Mother's Day, there was a cuy festival. Have I explain what cuy is yet? It's very simple. Guinea pig... baked. It's actually tasty but I don't enjoy looking at it unless someone has pulled the meat off, ready for me to eat. The mennonite churches joined the town of Tipon as everyone enjoyed cuy. Cuy's a delicasy here so it's a bit more expensive. I had previously eaten potatoes and cake with my church after the service so between being full and not having much money, I went for the lamb. I have had cuy before so it's ok. I didn't miss my opportunity.

This past Wednesday, the Millersville team arrived. They go to the same church that I used to go to when I lived on campus and that's how I found out about this place, from the assistant pastor, Jon, who had previously been here on a mission trip. Since they've arrived, Jon has kept them busy every minute of the day. I've been tagging along, evangelizing in a town square, helping at a retirement home, doing a couple hour vacation bible school in the campo (see photo), and eating lots of meals. For now they're on a 3 day trip in some village 2 hours away but they'll stay in Cusco for another week yet. The team decided to be nice and share something rare with me, some may even call it the secret to weightloss. It's called a virus. I was up ALL Saturday night sick so Sunday I just rested and didn't get out of bed to start my day until a half hour before the team came over for a nice little get-together. Two guys on the team had what I had but they're fine now so I know it's just a 24 hour thing. Ron still told me to stay home from school today so I could rest which was a great idea because I was dizzy and had a headache all day due to being dehydrated. One good thing about experiencing these things is you learn many new words that don't normally come up in conversation.

Praises:

~We're gonna start eating our roosters in 2 weeks!! (honestly, when I put the chickens in the prayer or praise list, it's not that huge of a deal that they really need prayer, but it exciting for our house or a little worrisome like when they were younger. Its just a bit random to put these one sentence facts in the long paragraphs.)

~I'm feeling better and I was able to rest today.

~I'm able to experience things with the UCF (Millersville) team here that I don't normally get to and it's been really great.

Prayers:

~That the UCF team would continue to be able to reach to people and that God would be preparing people's hearts for their encounters with the team as well as stir their hearts for the people they've already met.

~That'd I'd get more organized!

~That I'd continue to grow closer to God in my time here (7 more months left!)

Labor Day in May

So the first of May is considered Labor Day here. Mostly everyone has off of work and they party all day... sounds familiar. The team (of missionaries) decided to go to Pisac for the day. Pisac is a city with Incan ruins, a club/resort, and an artesian market. We left our house at 9am after already having adventures before we set foot out the door. I had been baking bagels in the kitchen when Bethany realized the hot water wasn't working. This is normal. We just go get another gas tank, the same kind you use for a barbque, and attached it to the tube upstairs above our bathroom. When Bethany tried to get the shower warm, it wouldn't, so Carrie kindly goes upstairs to fix the gas tank, only in the process, pulled a tube that had lots of dirty water in it. This water preceded to seep through the cracks of the wooden floor onto Bethany's head and all over the bathroom below. It didn't just trickle. It sounded like the shower had turned on. She screams, I think it's because she's so excited the hot water works but I realize that scream is no happy scream, nor is it a scared one. It's a scream of complete surprise. Well, anyway, it was quite funny and Carrie and I were laughing about that and the fact that the wax paper had baked right onto the bagels later that morning. As I'm trying to scrape it all off, I notice that the burner for the kettle has lit my wax paper on fire. Don't worry, it didn't get bad before I blew it out. But what a morning we had.

So as I was saying, we left around 9am in the Brubaker's SUV with the other half of the team in the Kreider's. The trip was only an hour long and then Bethany, Carrie, and I went straight for the market. It's neat to go around to markets and see what different kinds of things they make or sell. It's usually pretty close to the same though. We picnicked for lunch. It was really nice the whole team together for the first time since I arrived in Cusco. It was a mini vacation. We spent the day at the club swimming, playing games and for the men, playing sports. After everyone was rounded up again we took our first team picture and then the Kreiders left with Bethany and the rest of us went on a short hike to the sun and moon temples that the Incans had made.

It was pretty hot earlier in the day but by the time we left the resort it was very windy and chilly. Going on the hike was my exercise for the day. You would not believe ruins here. I have not been to one ruin yet where I didn't have to walk up a big hill. That's ok because being up high makes for good pictures.

After the ruins we went to a German cafe for dinner. Some of us made a puzzle and the other half of the group played Mexican dominoes. Carrie and I rushed out after dinner and caught a taxi home along with these 6 Europeans and some random person in the front seat. Somehow Carrie managed to fall asleep laying on my lap in the backseat with 4 people. She must be used to living in Peru where 4 people in the backseat is expected.