Monday

A chronology of our day...

One of the newspaper vendors we see on the commute to Pachacutec. (Just so you know, John doesn't yet know how to spell Pachecutec properly. I'm trying to teach him, but he's stubborn, like me! )

These mini busses are the main form of public transportation. They're often jam packed -- and often look like they're in poor repair.

Our group started the day by visiting a local orphanage. This place is funded privately by a church in Lima and by some sponsors in Switzerland.We started with a tour, and were introduced to the children

Once you start taking pictures the kids love seeing their image on the back of the camera. Sometimes it's hard to get away from them.

We were able to help feed lunch to the younger kids and did some crafts with the older group.

Back at the church, construction started on two fronts. One group bringing a pile of concrete mix up the hill bag-by-bag so we can pour a new floor...

Starting on the roof. Kevin's able to help out; and for the first time in his life he's not all thumbs.

(Don't worry, Kevin approves of this form of humour.)

After lunch we played games out front, waiting for the children to arrive.

Ines does a great job leading the kids in some Spanish songs.

The drama team portrayed the healing of the paralytic.
Here's Chris Hosmar being lowered through the roof.

Afterwards, more crafts and sports, then goodbye.

Over to Ron...

It’s Monday night. Some of the group are sleeping, while others of the group are going out for a brief night walk to the beach. It’s been another long day, but a good one. John has put some great pictures up this time. He just couldn’t seem to stop, there are so many.

Just so you know, I had nothing to do with the Kevin comment, but Kevin was ok with it. : ) We are having a lot of fun as a team now. The jokes and fun banter back and forth are nice to see. I confess, I do dish it out, and I do receive it back, but I don’t mind. It’s all good, and we are all having fun together.

Let me begin by thanking all those who took the time to send us a comment. VERY much appreciated. It was nice to hear from you Emily, and Alisa, and others. Especially from you my dear wife.

Keep the comments coming, especially if you haven’t yet done so. Reg, Marg is still waiting to hear from you. She’s getting concerned now. : )

So, to add to what John has already told you. The day began at 7:00 am for us. We didn’t awake to a hot sun in our room this time. It was a cloudy sky. In fact, God graced us with a mostly cloudy day, which was nice because the sun certainly takes its toll on you if you are not used to the climate.

We had another wonderful breakfast this morning. We started with a fruit cup with grapes, and mango's, and other items in a nice sweet sauce. We then had ham with rice wrapped inside of it, and the wonderful bread and jam. Then it was time to rehearse our drama’s, get our craft supplies packed, as well as our tools, open with prayer, and then it was onto the bus.

I was informed by Carmen that Leah, her daughter, had a fever of 102 F. After some deliberating, Carmen decided it best to let Leah stay behind with her for the day, so we sadly said farewell to two of our team. I am thankful that so far we have not been as sick as we were the last time we were here. We pray that continues.

Once again we spent 1.5 hours on the bus. It was busier today, and there was a lot more exhaust fumes in the air it seemed. It burns your throat at times, and I wonder about the health issues that some taxi drivers and others who spend much time near the roads must have breathing in all these fumes. They certainly don’t have “Drive Clean” here, that’s for sure.

We arrived at the church and we split up into different groups. My group went to visit an orphanage about 15 minutes higher up the sand mountain. As we drove, there were some great views of the valley below, even if it was mostly sandy. We arrived at the orphanage and were not greeted with a welcome I was expecting. The people there weren’t aware we were coming, so it took a few phone calls and about 10 minutes before we entered the building. The building was a two story and clean place, with the sound of children busy inside. We entered into a long corridor. On either side there were pictures from Switzerland, which puzzled us at first. Louis, our translator, told us about this orphanage. It is a private orphanage with about 20 children. 5 of them are actual orphans there, and the rest are children of single mothers who pay 1 solas (about 3.00 Canadian) a day to have their children there while they go off to school or work.

This orphanage receives no gov’t funding at all. Hence the pictures from Switzerland. Private donations come from there, as well as from people in Peru. All who work in the orphanage are Christians and it shows. This is not just a job for them, but a ministry calling. It shows in the eyes of the children as well. They are happy, healthy, and live a life filled with love and structure.

We spent some time there as a group feeding the younger children soup for lunch, and the older children did a craft. It was neat to see the women lead the children through saying a prayer for their food. I watched as Kellina, Holly, and Cindy fed the young children. They sure were hungry. Bethany, Ashlyn, Colin and Jeremy helped the kids do the craft. They did very well, and the kids liked the crowns.

We came away from this place with mixed emotions. First we were very happy to see such a light in the many dark things we see here in Pachecutec. This orphanage is a place of refuge for children that need it desperately. They are loved and cared for. They receive three meals a day, love from some wonderful women who genuinely care for them, and they have structure and discipline as well. They will also get schooling as they grow up, and it will be provided for them from the donations that help run this orphanage. It was encouraging to see this hopeful place in the midst of so much despair in life here at times.

However, we came to see that in some ways, these children, who have either only one parent, or none at all, seemed better off than those in Pachecutec we were ministering to and with in our VBS. These children often have their parents gone for days on end because they need to work away from there in order to afford the food and schooling supplies. We struggled with the fact that you might be better off as an orphan here, than with parents. Not to say that that is true in every case, but from what we have seen and experienced, it does ring true. That left us with mixed feelings.

As we left, I had Louis share a bit about his life with us. He’s one of our translators. He grew up in a poor family. Didn’t own a bicycle until he was 12, and didn’t have much food. Water was not plentiful either, nor was it running water from a tap. But one thing he did have - the love of his parents, especially his mother. That, he says, is what helped him to overcome the cycle of poverty in his family. His father did get a better job, but when he had to make important choices about staying away from gangs, drugs, women, etc, the love of his parents kept him from going down those roads. His father also gave him some advice. He told Louis to pursue a career before a marriage. And when married to only have 2 children. He has found that to be very good advice, and he now tries to help others by discipling them in the same ways that his parents did. In fact, he is doing that now for a man and women who have 5 kids now. It’s not easy he says, but he does what he can.

He says these things because here in Pachecutec there are many who make bad decisions. They get married way to early. They have 4 or 5 children, and they have no way to support them, so they must leave to do that. Some children are abused because the parents have had no good training in parenting, and the cycle just continues.

This causes pain and sorrow in the hearts of Louis, and his wife, and many others here in Peru. They hope that these cycles will one day be changed, so that the people of Peru may rise up with solid families and make good decisions in their lives. Louis is a mechanic, self employed, and he translates for Pepe’s organization when he can and he is an upstanding man of God. I appreciated him being willing to share a bit of his story with us as it related to our story in the orphanage and Pachecutec.

All good things for us to ponder as we return from Peru. All good things not to forget about when it comes to this country and this wonderful people.

We returned back to the church, and what a site did I see. My son holding a large cement bag, and Marg H with a shovel on one good foot scooping sand into the bag. (See the picture above). Then watching as Bea and Margaret, and Ruth, and many others lugged these heavy sand bags up the equally sandy hill to one of the classrooms to prepare it for a new concrete floor.

I saw Harold mixing concrete and others pouring that into a form for one of the pillars of the church. There was Brian and Ken and others who were working on the roof by hammering nails into wood that was VERY hard, yet somewhat wet, thankfully.

All had smiles on their faces when I met them, and all were doing the work with happy hearts. I was impressed, and very proud of all of them because it was not easy work. It was hot, it was hard slugging up that hill and it is VERY labor intensive. Thank you to all who continue to work with God at the centre of what you are doing.

We soon ate lunch, and it was good for those who worked hard to take the rest. During our lunch we heard from the other group that went into the homes of people around the neighborhood. Ken was able to pray with a family, which was new for him, yet rewarding too. Hannah got to see some cute puppies in the homes, and some cats too. That’s one animal you don’t see much of here. Cats. Not sure why, but just not many around. Dogs galore, but not cats.

After lunch we prepared for VBS again. This time we held the singing and drama time in the library under a shaded roof. Yesterday it was just too hot, and so I asked Pepe if we could stay under the shade. It was a better way to do things today. We began at about 1:30 pm by going out in front of the church and beginning with some games again with the kids. You need to understand that this is a main road with lots of taxis going by, so we had to stop our games often to avoid being hit. The kids came slowly. Most of them get off of school at 1:00 pm and then may eat a meal and change out of their school uniform and come to see us. By 2:00 pm we only had about 20 kids. We began around 2:30 pm and we had about 35 kids. By the time we were done the drama’s we had 59 kids. Interesting how it works.

Again, the singing time by Ines went well. She does such a good job leading the kids. They were getting rowdy, but she got them under control quickly. She has a gift, and you can tell she loves the children, and they love and respect her.

The drama’s were GREAT today. The first was about the paralyzed man being put down the roof so Jesus could heal him. Christopher happened to be the paralyzed man (he’s light to carry). I watched as the four friends picked him up and carried him to the roof and lowered him in (you’ll have to see the video to know how it worked, but the picture of John gives a pretty good idea). Christopher loved doing that today. It was neat to see him having such fun. Again, my hat goes off to the team as they continue to work hard at making what we do of such quality. They are doing a great job.

We then split the kids up into three groups and they enjoyed three very good crafts once again. Things went smoother today. For those who were done early, Christopher and Shawn, and even John, took up the challenge of playing soccer against some very young, but very good soccer players.

Time was pressing, so I put on my N.A. hat and pushed us all to get things completed by 4:00 pm. The group needed the rest and time to relax back at the hostel. We ended up leaving at about 4:10 pm. I grabbed a short snooze on the way back, and Pepe did his usual long nap on the bus. He needs the rest though, as he works into the wee hours of the morning planning for several other groups that will be coming, as well as a wedding for he and Erin, who will be married next week here. He’s making all the preparations here in Peru for them both… you can just imagine how that is going : )

On the way home I found out that Shawn was attacked by a branch of a tree as we drove by it. Smacked him right in the face. He’s also been loosing body parts as of late. He felt the top of his ear itching, then scratched it, and a junk of skin/ear ended up in his hand. Mostly due to sunburn. I referred him to Carmen who patched him up good.

We arrived back home and some showered, while others couldn’t because we had to eat. Another wonderful meal. Pork chops this time with a cold rice dish. A chicken appetizer to start with….

Oh, that reminds me. One of the commentators had a question for us. Apparently I’ve forgotten to mention if we eat any fruit while here in Peru. The answer to that question is yes. Each morning for breakfast we have had a fruit cup to start off our meal. Either grapes, and mango’s and bananas, etc. So yes, we are getting fruit in our diet as well. Wilma receive a huge mango from one of the residence of Patchecutec. We will be eating that tomorrow morning I think. So it seems that some people here do get fruit in their diet. It's not always a good diet, but some families do. This gift may have been an expensive one for this woman, which makes it all that much more special.

I got to sit with the teenage girls this time. Cindy, Kellina, Holly, Ashlyn, and Bethany. Carmen was there too. We had a great time talking and bugging each other. I love watching the facial expressions of Ashlyn as I make comments that, at times, make no sense whatsoever. Holly and Ashlyn like to gang up on Bethany too. Bethany was making the comment that once they are out of this hostel, and done the week with us, they will be on their own when it comes to food and transportation and speaking the language. Holly piped up that she was really looking forward to having Bethany struggle with that. Everyone but Bethany found that amusing. : )

After dinner we did our video diary again with the team. Lots of good stuff comes out during those times.

Brian and Nick went with Pepe to the hardware store to get the toilet seats and a couple of others things, and then the rest of the group went for a cool evening walk in the park.

So, all in all, another good day.

Some things I have taken note of during the day:

1. I forgot to mention that the other morning Marg was putting her contacts in and realized that there were identical contact lens holders in the room. Ines just then asked Marg if she had contacts. It turns out they both do, and they have identical cases. Guess which contacts Marg ended up putting in her eyes….Yep, Ines’. The funny thing was that Marg didn’t notice at first.
2. Watching Wilma having such a wonderful time here. She’s so enjoying improving her Spanish, and her smile and positive nature are infectious for all around her. She can come on a mission trip with me anytime because she gives life to the group.
3. Watching all on the team work so hard today in all the things they did. Their gifts are being used and it makes less work for me : ),
4. Watching the couples of the group interacting with each other. Such tender affection shown to each other. I think the word passion fruit came up tonight and somehow Bea ended up blushing quite a bit. You’ll have to ask her what Harold blurted out to give her that wonderful color in her face.
5. Hearing from Kellina that in the second time coming here she’s learning more about the country of Peru as a whole and the issues that go on here, and she appreciates that a great deal.
6. Getting comments from those that went the last time, and hearing how they still remember their time here, and how it has affected them still today.
7. Watching Leah, and Hannah, and Rosalynn having such fun together in their own grade 7 way. They do get skittish at times. Oh, the same can be said for Ashlyn, Bethany and Holly.
8. Seeing the group gelling more each day. Neat to see the different ages coming together.
9. Watching Ines, and Louis, and Isias and Pepe work so hard for us and for their children of Peru.
10. Listening during the video times of all the hi’s and lo’s in our lives. So much to process for some, and all of it causing us to grow. I am excited about this, because once we return, the real work begins. They’ll find out more about that when we get back.
11. Seeing how God is at work here. I was privileged to be asked to pray for a girl today who has much pain in her legs. The people here know the power of God in their lives and are not afraid to ask others to pray with them to ask God for the strength they need.
    
12. A comment made during our video time in the evening about how people generally feel blessed by God, but there are differences. We in N.A. equate our blessings with our material needs, and we have many blessings in that way. Here, people feel blessed because God is with them despite what they don't have. They need God to get them through the many tough times in their lives. We could learn something from that perspective.
    

So, time to say goodbye and try to find an internet connection so I can send this off to you. I hope you have all pretty much dug out from all that snow. I know I’ll be digging out a bit more from my driveway when I get home.

Thanks for taking the time to read these words. I trust they again helped you get a glimpse of our day here in Peru. Blessings to you all.