Peru 2010 - Thursday

It's Thursday evening, 10:30 pm. Another good day in Pachacutec was had by all...well almost all. Two of our group were left behind behind today due to illness. Kyle and Zack didn't fair well. Zack yesterday afternoon, and Kyle began throwing up about 3 am. I was just dozing off to sleep after uploading the blog when Kyle raced to the bathroom and threw up. He had some pretty good heart burn too.

I ended up having to get Brenda out of her room. At first I forgot to bring my room listing with me so when I went into the building I really didn't know which room to go into. So, I trecked back to my room to get that listing. I scared Mina to death because I had to wake her first to find out which bunk bed of the 11 was Brenda. Turns out I only had to yell from my window to hers as she was on the second floor by the window.

Well, Brenda tended to Kyle for a bit and he went back to bed. However, every hour on the hour after that he continued to throw up. I felt bad for him, but he was a trooper. He stayed home today and slept for about 6 hours. He's feeling much better now Carl and Edith, so not to worry. Zack is doing better too.

Jackie wasn't feeling well either, but she had a visit scheduled today as well, so she was able to sleep in and feels better now. Patti stayed back for the day. Thank you for that.

Breakfast was done as usual. A routine has set in. Thanks for the blog comments. You should know that I WAS planning on reading them to the group tonight, but my computer hard drive crashed this afternoon for some reason. Thankfully I have the pictures saved on another external hard drive. God is good. I'm using Pepe's computer right now to type this to you. Not sure if I will get internet connection this evening, so you may get this post Friday at noon. We'll see. I did get your comments off the internet and will be reading them to the group on Friday evening.

We arrived in Pachacutec at 10 am and got right to work. The same schedule and places as Tuesday, with different groups doing different things. It was hot again today, but everyone worked really hard. They should be proud of themselves.

I spent the morning talking with the Youth Pastor, Neftali, for about ½ an hour, with Erin translating. It was a wonderful time of helping this Youth Pastor with many questions as he is just starting out in ministry. I was thankful to be able to share my experience with this man and to have him in turn share his life with me.

I then spent about 1.5 hours talking with Pastor Sergio and trying to find out more information about his hopes and dreams for the church. A very good time of sharing and gaining mutual understanding about areas we could partner together in.

The afternoon went well as usual. Lots of songs again and drama and crafts. Today we had 150 kids. WOW. A lot of kids. We pushed things back a bit because we needed to leave a bit earlier. I had a surprise planned for the group tonight. They have worked so hard, it was time for some fun. So, after we got home, we didn't shower, but ate supper right away. That's when I found out my computer crashed. I was saddened, but thankfully there are other computers to be used.

After supper the group gathered clean, dry cloths and we set out for the fountain park in which we could play in some fountains. We first watched a fountain light show, and then we looked at some fountains in different shapes that are lit up. Then it was on to some fountains that we could walk in and get wet in. It was a lot of fun, and refreshing after the long day. Most of us went into the water and had great fun trying to get each other wet. A great time of letting off steam and more group bonding.

On our way home from the fountain park, after boarding the busses, we discovered that one of the busses wouldn't start because the battery was dead. No CAA around here, so several of us piled off the bus and pushed it down the street to start it (it was a standard). More memories.

Oh, and we met Jackie in the fountain park. She was out with her friends and we just bumped into them. How neat is that. We are now back in the Hostel and the groups are doing video blogs as I'm typing this entry. Thanks Gerry for doing them so I can get things done.

I wanted to comment on our bus ride home today. Several of us adults were talking about how this trip has been a blessing to Cornwall church, not only for each other, but also for those in the church. There is a sense of excitement and passion for this trip, and the hope is that Cornwall church will continue in that. Annette and I commented on the fact that this being the 3 rd time, some of that excitement and passion seems to have wained, not for those who have gone, but for our church in general. We identified a variety of reasons but also noted that we have to work harder at sharing the wonderful ministry opportunities that occur on a trip like this. We know this element of our church community is vital for a healthy church, but we also know that many different things compete for exposure in our church and maybe we need to set our priorities so we can better minister in more effective ways. I do think that this ministry is important, and those who have gone to Peru would agree with that, but the challenge again is to try to get you who have not gone to see that importance. As I sat and listened to Sergio today I was once again touched by his sincerety, love for God, and understanding that Calvin is working out what any sort of relationship would look like. Sergio just wants to see the relationship continue, and so do I, but we both hope that both our churches will also see that this relationship is a God thing and good for both of our churches. Only time, and God, will tell.

So ends another day here. Only one more left. People are realizing that so much has happened to them in such a short time and processing it all will take some time. It has been neat to see some of our “harder” kids soften somewhat, mostly because of the children in Gamaliel church. So much that cannot be shared in a blog, but will hopefully come out in the months to come. I end this evening in the hope that you will receive this blog tonight and with thanksgiving in my heart for all that has happened in such a short time. God is good, all the time.....all the time, God is good.

This is a quilt we gave to the church on our first trip. It has now been framed and only comes out on special occasions.

On our way in the bus we came across this accident. We don´t see many of the. In fact this is the first one we´ve seen all week. It always amazes me that we don´t see more of the. Apparently this mishap happened because the truck was trying to avoid a small 3 wheeled taxi. Unfortunately the bus fell on top of the taxi and people were sent to the hospital.

Chris playing with a child at the orphanage. I haven´t seen much of my son this time around. He´s keeping to himself and I´m not making a point of bugging him or pointing him out. I do get the occasional ¨I love you dad ¨ from him for no reason. That is nice to hear.

Jeannine enjoying feeding the children at the orpanage. I´m not sure who this guy is (sorry about that, but I´m not great with names), but he´s enjoying himself. The progress being made on two classrooms that will help expand the Christian School program.

Ben has been enjoying himself a great deal this week. The kids love him. He likes to play tag with them and they like his smile.

Oh, hey, that´s me! Sitting around again getting all that video for later on.

The two Hannah´s ganging up on me AGAIN! Thanks for the ABC gum BTW Hannah B.

Here we are at the fountain park. It was refreshing and fun.

On of the many beautiful fountains.

After the fountains it was quite cold. Chris and I were both getting chills.

Before we left for home, just one SMALL detail. Getting our bus started. Apparently the bus driver was watching TV while waiting for us and drained the battery. Hey, everyone really enjoyed the excitement of pushing the bus, except for Gerry. He was standing right in front of the exhaust pipe. As the bus roared into action, he received about 2000 cigarette smokes in one wiff of a big cloud of black smoke.

It is now Friday morning. I was not able to find internet access with Pepe´s computer, nor compress any pictures, so I decided to wait until getting to Pachacutec to post this blog. I hope to try to post one tonight, but if I can´t, it will be sometime tomorrow as we are travelling around. Saturday´s events will be blogged as well, but that won´t come until Sunday when Chris and I are at Erin and Pepe´s home. One final reflective blog entry will come once Chris and I return home, so don´t stop reading the blog until that comes (oh, and you don´t have to stop reading it ever as I think there is come GREAT stuff on it, but that´s just MY opinion......).

We will not be spending the morning with the church, due to many logistical reasons, so we will become tourists for the day. So, just keep checking the blog to see if a new post has come or not. Thanks.

I got a solid 4 hours sleep last night. It felt good, but not enough yet. I´ll be taking a short nap after this posting is done. We all awoke feeling better today. Kyle is back to his old self, Zack is still in recovery mode and was not able to come with us. Ellie stayed with him. Not an easy decision, and many of the Oakville leaders were upset (maybe even with me) for making the executive decision to have him stay home, but we are looking out for his health right now, as he will need his strength for travelling tomorrow. Zach´s parent need not worry. He is in GREAT hands and is doing ok, just needing a bit more R & R to get his strength up. He will eventually be able to see the video of the day.

We had to address an issue this morning at breakfast regarding respect. Some in our group have taken to yelling hello´s out of the bus, and that was ok for a time, but has escallated to the point that some of felt this was being disrespectful. We address this concern from that angle. We are guests in this country and we don´t want to give the impression that all GRINGO´s are a certain way just from a shout from a bus. All of this is great times for learning and growing, and puts into practice those things we have been talking about when it comes to Respect and justice issues.

We are now all working and it is another HOT day. I hope everyone paces themselve today or they are going to pay for it tonight.

Speaking of tonight, we will close our evening out by sharing some wonderful comments between each other and also drinking some great Inca Cola and some wine and Peruvian beer for the adults. I´ll tell you all about how things went today, later.

Saying goodbye won´t be easy today. It will be raining in Pachacutec once again as we leave.......

Until the next blog time