Independence Day-Peruvian Style

I'm on my winter vacation for 2 weeks. It's wonderful. It's Monday morning and I'm actually free in the morning to get organized, update my blog among other things. Friday was the last day of school and the students had a show they put on for all of the parents. Independence Day is today so they put on the show before the vacation to learn and teach about the country. Two grades teamed up and did a mini-show on a region of Peru. There are three regions, the jungle, mountains, and coast. They did dances and the older grade of each group explained a little bit about each region. My second graders (red and white outfits) did the coast and they did a great job. They looked super cute. Five year olds were teamed up with them. You can see Ella, the Brubakers daughter, dancing in the middle.

First and fourth grades had the mountain region. This is the region I live in so it's very typical to see these outfits whenever there are parades. Third grade and the four year olds had the jungle. Carrie decided to have the four year olds dress up like jungle animals and do a really cute jungle song, then while the third graders danced (pretended to be native americans hunting and collecting food), the four year olds came back out and snuck around until some of the 'hunters' started carrying these little 4 year olds of the stage. Everybody loved it. It was really adorable.

So far Uncle Dan have checked out this beautiful building from Incan times that I always pass when I'm in the city but never took the time to go inside. Yesterday we were in one of the 7 wonders of the world all day- Machu Picchu. It was neat going a second time and still seeing some new things, and its always different going with a new person. We were stuck in the city until our train at 9:30 but we managed to entertain ourselves with restaurant hopping (dinner one place, dessert another) and checking out stores and the market. After a train ride from Machu Picchu to Ollantaytambo, a crazy taxi ride from Ollanta to Cusco and another from Cusco to my house, it was 1:30am and I was happy to be home.

My cute little bunnies, dogs, and annoying rooster.

I'm teaching first grade about animals and the words long, short, and then body parts. So one day we made either long ears and a short tail for a rabbit or short ears and a long tail for a dog. They has so much fun chasing each other around the room and I decided to get a pictures of all of them with the tails and ears. I thought I'd share the pictures cause it is too great to keep to myself.

I've had a bit more patience with my students lately. God has taught me that I really just have to work hard at it, having a calm voice and not letting myself get upset as easily as I have been. So, even though the kids had trouble listening today, I stayed pretty patient. I have a 2 week vacation starting on Friday so I hope to come up with some good lessons for the kids to learn respect for their teachers, their friends, and adults in general. If you have any ideas, let me know! Anyway, thank GOD, for real, God, for the patience I'm learning. This is a really good life lesson that I need to learn more of!

Also, we have one rooster left and so I took a picture before Marga kills it. It's big and still noisy, even though it doesn't have any friends to sing along with. Anyway, its pretty and cute when its not being noisy. Uncle Dan gets here Thursday morning, bright and early, so I'm excited for the adventures to begin!!

4 down, 3 to go

We've been killing our roosters, and my goodness, how I've been waiting for it. Those roosters are no longer these cute little chirping birds, but these cock-a-doodle-dooers and they do it everytime they're hungry or they hear a loud noise no matter what time of the day, night, or morning. We originally thought there were 3 hens but we misjudged by a lot. All of them are roosters. Tomorrow we're donating one of our roosters to the church, so we'll only have 2 left. I have learned to dislike my roosters so I haven't taken any pictures of them lately but it'd be good to show you our full grown roosters before they're all eaten.

Carrie's friend was visiting for a week and so we had motivation to do touristy things again. This time we went to the Sacred Valley which is a whole area of ruins. It's a whole day trip because you need to drive to all of the different locations and for some of them, hike as well. I only went to 2 places and left early with Bethany though. The pictures are from a place called Chinchero. The picture of the women sitting in the field, they are sorting potatoes (those dark piles) that are 'freeze-dried' potatoes. I don't actually understand how they're freeze-dried but I know that I don't enjoy eating them. Quick story... I was eating lunch with the UCF team back in May and I didn't have a cup so I just used my friend's cup who was finished with it and my friend, Bani who lives in Peru, said to me, "Wow, you're a real Peruvian recycling his cup. Oh wait, no, you're not a real Peruvian unless you like chuno" which is the freeze-dried potato. So, needless to say, I'm not the only one who doesn't like these potatoes.

The next day, we took a hike in Huacarpay, where my church is. I had never gone past a certain point on the road so I was in for a surprise when I learned there's a big beautiful lake as well as ruins. You can see it in the picture of my friend who 'got stuck' going through the entrance of the ruins. We walked to a different part later that was known as the 'door', a portal to the future I think. I could be making that up, but not entirely. It was cool because you could walk up the stairs they built into the big walls that make up the door. The stairs are spaced out and not that wide so going down was a bit of an adventure but we made it safely.

Some of you have asked me, How do they celebrate the 4th of July in Peru? I'm sure after you've gone to your 4th of July barbeques that you realized the decoration theme is the US flag and so we don't celebrate this holiday here, but I did make my students celebrate it yesterday with cake and cookies and we made US flag hats. I'm not really that creative, but the kids had fun. I had a barbeque with my EMM team today (since everyone had work yesterday) and it was exciting, all traditional food. It's interesting realizing how many traditions we have in the states but it seems so normal that you don't even realize it. How many of you had hamburgers, hot dogs, chips, potato salad, and an american flag cake at your 4th of July party? Anyway, it's a neat way to look at the way I've grown up when Peruvians ask what the 4th of July traditions are.


Praises: ~I'm able to make better friendships now that I'm becoming more fluent.


~I've been able to see more of Peru and my Uncle Dan is coming at the end of this month and we'll be able to see even more of the country.



Prayers:

~That God would teach me self-discipline because I'm still disorganized in all areas of my life.

~I'm taking Spanish classes again (in the evenings for 5 1/2 weeks) and I have 1 1/2 left. Please pray that I'd get the most out of it that's possible.

~That now that I have the ability to make better friendships, that God would give me the time and motivation to do that.

Special note: I'm losing touch with everybody from home! Email me. Let me know how you are. I really do care, I just lose track of time and before I know it, it's been a couple months since I've talked to you. And thank you to those who really did send stickers and other school supplies. They're being put to good use and the kids love it all. Also, thanks to those who continue to pray for me. This year has been pretty rough, even if I am enjoying myself, so I appreciate all the help I've been getting/can get. Blessings to you all and Happy 4th of July (a day late).

I can dance!

Don't worry, I'm still here. Just busy mingling with Peruvians and the such. A couple weeks ago was the Culto Unido (united church service) where I, along with Bethany and the youth from my church did a typical Peruvian dance. We had been practicing twice a weekend for a while until the week before the 'show' and then we practiced every night. It was really nice being able to actually make friends with these people rather than awkwardly try and make conversation after church. It was such a good experience culturally, and as I said, relationally. We plan on doing another typical dance at some point this 'winter' but I'm not sure if it will be the same dance or a new one.

The Culto Unido was great. All of the Peruvian Mennonite churches got together to put on acts, dances, or songs as well as Merv Charles giving the sermon. Merv works with EMM and came down for a jam packed 4 day trip to see how things were going with the church and with us missionary folk. You can see him, in the photo, giving the sermon as Pastor Ruben is translating into Quechua. Most of the church services are spoken in Quechua except for the largest church that is closest to the city of Cusco. If I haven't mentioned before, the pastor at my church preaches in Quechua and our friend Juana translates into Spanish for us (Bethany and I) although since Bethany's been studying Spanish for probably 10 years of her life, she's got it down pretty well and informally, has been learning quite a bit of Quechua in her free time. Besides the dancing, singing, acting, and preaching, the leadership of the Mennonite churches here in Peru changed. The president and treasurer had stepped down to start a new chapter in the history of the Peruvian Mennonite church and 4 pastors stepped up for the challenge. It was a big day and you can see in one of the pictures all of the people blessing/praying for the new leadership. In the other picture, the 2 men up front were the pastors receiving plaques to show our gratitude to all that they've done to help the church grow. The four men in the back are the new leaders of the Mennonite church.

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.

Oley Oley Oley Oley!

I went to a futbol game last week. Baseball and football (american) are unheard of in this country. Basically, if you want to be a sports fanatic, you're choices are limited. Imagine if you didn't have basketball, football, or baseball to get excited over. You only had soccer. You're energy level would be so much higher going to the only sports game there is with every one of your friends who all obviously are fans about the same sport as you. Now you can imagine what it was like to go to this Cienciano (team name) soccer game. I went with all of the teachers that I work with, along with Hannah and Jeremiah Shultz and Jeremiah's friend who's actually our neighbor. Their family is from western Canada, working with Wycliff. We sat behind a really huge group of fans who wouldn't stop jumping, wouldn't stop singing, and wouldn't stop playing their instruments. Their drums had the Cienciano logo on it, but no, they were no official Cienciano band. On the other side of the field there's a huge fan club called Red Fury that is always there playing music, jumping, throwing confetti and lighting red flares at every game. Needless to say, I think I watched maybe 10 minutes total of the game and the rest of the time, just took in all the excitement, and of course, did 'the wave'.

Last Saturday morning, I went and bought a guitar. It only cost $100 and it was handmade. I started taking classical guitar lessons about a month ago. I'm enjoying it so far and it's teaching me self-discipline, having to practice everyday. On my way to the Kreider's afterwards, I decided to run there along side of the main road but without sidewalks, I ran on the dirt. This dirt is like any dirt you find when you go on a hike. It has lots of pointy rocks sticking out. Can you guess what happened next? I tripped, skinned my knee, and sprained my ankle. I just sat there in the dirt, trying to pretend for the cars passing by that I enjoyed sitting in the dirt, listening to my Ipod. Crazy gringos... When the pain subsided, I tried running again but to my dismay, the pain started up again. I ended up taking a taxi to the Kreider's and as the day went on, there was more swelling and pain. Thank the Lord because by Tuesday my ankle was almost totally better, no limping. But no sprained ankle would prevent me from going to a baptism the next day, Sunday. The Brubakers took us in their car to this remote field where we had our church service. Afterward, we walked along the rocky creek until we found a deep enough spot for people to be baptized. In Peru, they're not too worried about working on things ahead of time to find and set up this spot but of course, no one cared or complained and soon enough they had found a spot, taken the rocks from under the water, and made a dam so that the area was deeper and the water would be blocked by the rocks and the blue tarp. Seven people were baptized that day. I didn't know any of them, but in the picture, you can see the pastor and my friend Illari in the water baptizing.

When there are baptisms, people bring their dogs so I was able to meet Marga's new puppy. Her other puppy, Nacho, died in a 'freak accident' that includes poison that was meant for a different dog who had a contagious sore and needed to be put down. This new dog's name is Escrappy, just like Scooby-Doo's little cousin, minus the 'e' of course. I jokingly asked Marga if her family was willing to share the puppy with me since I couldn't buy one or pet all the ones in the street. She actually told her kids and they said that they would be glad to share Escrappy with me so I needed to come up with its second name since everyone here has a second name. In the states, we have a second name as well, but we call it a middle name and rarely use it. Here, it's very common to write out all 4 of your names (first, second, dad's last name, mom's last name). Well, I decided to add a 'Doo' in there, so I now half-own a puppy named Escrappy-Doo. He's in the picture with Kiersten, one of the Kreiders.

This past week we celebrated birthdays. Bethany's birthday was on Wednesday and she turned 25. Carrie, who's full of random fun facts has a friend from somewhere in Europe who said on your 25th birthday, if you're single, you need to wear a really crazy hat. So, Carrie made a nice balloon hat. Then on Friday, we had our team birthday party. Six people have birthdays in April so we had quite a bit of food, cake, ice cream and toppings to go along. In the picture, most of the Kreider's are missing and so am I.

Praises:

~I've been feeling closer to God lately.

~My Spanish continues to improve.

~Our chickens are almost full grown and we still have all 7 seven.

Prayers:

~That I would continue to learn self-discipline because that's always been one of my weak points and I feel that is what God is really trying to teach me at this point.

~That God would help direct me to know if I should be helping at an orphanage nearby.

~That my Spanish would improve. It's still difficult to hold a real conversation, therefore I haven't been trying that often lately.

Thanks so much for all the prayers and support. I can definitely feel and see God at work in my life. It seems it's a bit too sutle at this point to really share anything but I know that God is faithful and if He's sent me here, He has great plans for me.