Highlights

So, what does a normal week look like for Franci and I? Well, here are some highlights from the week of April 25th through May 1st. Its a week late because I was in the middle of writing this blog last Monday night when my computer went black. My brothers, Garren, Micah and Trevor are all pretty computer savvy, so I had all of them look at it on Tuesday. They all told me it was not something they could fix. So, Wednesday morning I called Pastor Herman and he came over to our house, picked me up on his motorcycle and took me to a computer shop where he knows the guys. I waited about 40 minutes while a guy named Roddy took apart my computer and put it together again. I don't know what he did, but it works now! Praise God! And they only charged me S/. 10, about $3.60. Woohoo!

So, here's what our week looked like....

Lunes (Monday).....This is our day off and I call it my "bed day". I sleep in and stay in bed talking to friends and family online and watch movies. That's exactly what I did this day. I did however have to leave the house to get my rabies shot number five and run a few errands. But, it was still a good and restful day.

Martes (Tuesday).....After another rabies shot at the hospital, we went to visit Petronila, Guillermo and Elvis. I practiced some English with Elvis and Petronila brought Franci and I each a piece of cake left over from her birthday party the day before. After English with Elvis, Petronila and Guillermo sat down for their weekly lesson. We have been meeting with Petronila and Guillermo for 11 weeks now and they have never missed a lesson!

After Petronila and Guillermo, we walked a few blocks to Carmen and Godofredo's tienda. We cooked quinoa and lamb soup and made a fruit salad. We sat down as a family, Carmen, Godofredo, and their children and enjoyed a meal together. This is our weekly routine. Franci and I even have our "own" seats at the table. After lunch, Carmen brought us to her friend Mari's house. Mari had been talking to Carmen earlier in the day about her problems with her husband and his drinking. We visited with Mari and her two older children while her toddler wandered around unaware. With many tears and broken hearts, Mari, her daugther and son all made a decision to follow Christ and give up the problems with their husband/father to Him.

After a successful yet emotionally difficult visit with Mari, Franci and I rushed home to bundle up and grab the Jesus film equipment. Trevor, Micah, Franci and I piled into a taxi and returned to Yanamayo. We set up the screen and equipment and ran an extension cord across the street from Carmen's tienda for electricity. Many of the kids from our kids class in Yanamayo along with a few adults sat in the middle of the concrete soccer court watching the two hour movie in in the cold. We meet some new people in the area so it was a success.

Cold and tired, we finally packed up and went home for some rest.

Our girlies from Yanamayo, attacking me with hugs and helping Franci set up the screen.

Trevor and Micah helping with the electrical stuff, something Franci and I are not good at.

Kiddos sitting on rocks watching the movie and others watching from the soccer court.

Franci and I with Carmen and the boys with Carmen's son and his friend.

Miercoles (Wednesday)..... I called my Daddy in the morning to chat and then, of course, I had to start the day out with rabies shot number seven, the final of a series of seven days in a row. My stomach was blotchy, red and itchy. I was gratful to be done with these daily shots! Franci and I left the hospital and ate lunch nearby. Then we went to visit Lucia in her tienda in the plaza but she wasn't there. So we went up to Alto Huascar and tried knocking on the doors of a few contacts, Tomas, Manuel, and Rosio. But, none of them were home. Frustrated, we read a Psalm together, prayed and then called it a short day and went home.

Jueves (Thursday)..... Franci and I left the house and went to Yanamayo. We played with the kids in the Wawa Wasi daycare and got to start with the first discipleship lesson with Richard, Ana's son (Ana is the one who runs the Wawa Wasi out of her home). We were unable to meet with Ana which was dissapointing because she has had meetings and things to do for the past few weeks. But, we were able to chat with her while playing with the kids.

After Ana's house, we went to see Ines. We walked into her tienda and her daughter greeted us and called for her mom. Ines came out and told us she was busy sorting potatoes that she harvested the day before. She told us she didn't have time to sit down and chat or go through the lesson. I told her we could help sort the potatoes and she was very suprised. So, a bit reluctantly, she invited us back further into her house where we found mounds of potatoes on the concrete floor. First she gave us a plate of cooked potatoes to eat with a dipping sauce made of special dirt. It was interesting and good with a dirt-like texture. Then, she taught us how to sort. Potatoes with worm holes in one pile, big good potatoes in another, small good potatoes elsewhere, and the tiny good ones in a pile to make chuno. Looking for worm holes gave us a chance to sit and chat. It was a great time with Ines and I feel like this time was well spent building her confidence with us not as missionaries but as friends. We washed off our hands and left the house with a bag full of potatoes as a thanks for our "help".

Viernes (Friday)..... We tried to go to a Wawa Wasi in Alto Huascar to play with the kids, but Josephina, the director, told us the kids were eating lunch. Unfortunatley, we didn't have time to wait and instead we went down to Huascar. We had an appointment to met up with Chad and Pastor Herman to take a look at a room we were thinking about renting for our "church" in Huascar. The room is actually a room in Yanet's house, a lady we are discipling. We took a look around and discussed logistics.

Then after chatting with Yanet, we went back up the hill to Alto Huascar and rounded the kids up for our weekly Bible and English class. But, the kids were a bit restless this day so after the Bible lesson on Cain and Abel, instead of practicing English, we played some volleyball. Still without a location, we sit on the grass by the sheep and pigs to teach the lessons and have the kids color. Its a beautiful view but chilly and windy.

Leidy putting the Bible verse in order. But with the wind we had to use rocks to keep the papers down.

Me trying to play volleyball with the girls. Everyone loves to watch the gringa attempt. And me with a few of our girls. Yenny on the left, Reina covering her face, Leidy in the pink sweater and Yanet on the far right.

Sabado (Saturday)..... We started off by waiting for our contact and friend Karina to show up to the park for our weekly class. She didn't show up so we headed over to Carmen's tienda to chat for a while and then were greeted by running kids with arms wide open for hugs. We took all the kids over to a concrete area in the school yard because the president of the Vaso de Leche local didn't leave the key with her son. So, we sat the kids down and Franci gave the Bible lesson first and then I gave a quick English lesson on names of fruits and vegtables. The kids colored thier coloring sheets for the week on the concrete and then all the older girls had to try on my necklace because they were enamored with it.

We finished up with the kids and said hello to some more friends around Yanamayo as we passed through. We even stopped by to say goodbye to Carmen and ended up chatting with some guys drinking. Because we would not partake with them, they were kind (or drunk) enough to buy us each some juice. We got their names and one of them, Hugo, lives in Huascar and said we can visit him next week. We said our goodbyes and headed toward the other end of Yanamayo by the cementary.

We wanted to find the house of the couple we met on Tuesday night at the Jesus film presentation. We were told to go over by the cementary and ask our friend Carmen (a different Carmen) how to get to their house. So we went to Carmen's flower kiosk and she wasn't there. But, the couple had told us it was the last house on the street. So, we started walking up the hill and I asked an older lady to help us. She told us it was even further up. As it was getting dark and there were many drunks, we were not comfortable with going up further to a more desolate and secluded area. So, unfortunatley we gave up and decided we would have to try to find the house another day before it gets dark.

We hopped on a combi by the cementary and got off in Huascar to meet with Isabel. We knocked on her door and she answered. She told us she was busy with paperwork for work that had to be turned in that evening. I thought for sure it would be something we couldn't help with since it was paperwork. But, I asked anyway to see if we could help and she said yes. She invited us in and we dictated names and numbers to her and filled out a few forms. After everything was ready we had a few minutes to talk about the lesson before she had to leave and turn in her paperwork. By the time we were done it was 8pm and we headed home to eat some dinner and get some rest.

The kiddos listening to Franci give the Bible lesson and one little chiquita coloring.

Our precious and fun kiddos from our weekly kids class in Yanamayo.

Domingo (Sunday)..... Every Sunday we start the day in Huascar with an English class. I teach 2-3 teenage boys some English and usually try to tie in a little bit of the Bible. More than anything with them we are buidling a relationship. The two boys that generally come are Cesar and Jorge. Jorge has a lot of confidence in Franci and I an always tells us about his 'flaca' (girlfriend) and things going on at school. Cesar is a typical immature teenage boy who's jealous of Jorge because he doesn't have a flaca.

Then we went up to Alto Huascar and talked to a lady named Lourdes a little bit. Then we had some time to spare so we went to check out a festival called Alasitas. At the Alasitas you can buy anything in miniature form. The background of the Alasitas is that you buy in miniature form what you want and then you take the mini item to a priest to bless it. Then, it is believe by some that you will have that item in actual size this year. But its not just miniatures being sold. There's pottery, woodwork, food items from Northern Peru, pastries from Bolivia and more. So we walked around, bought a few things and then ate lunch.

Fake money is sold in Dollars, Euros and Soles.

After our little break from work, we went to see Yanet for our weekly discipleship lesson but she wasn't home. We tried calling her and waited quite a while because she's almost always home. But, without success, we left her house and went to Alto Huascar once more. We went to Manuel and Rosio's house and yet again, nobody was home. So, we saw our friend Josephina feeding her pig and stopped to chat with her. Josephina runs the Wawa Wasi in Yanamayo and we see her weekly but she has never expressed interest in learning about the Bible. I felt it was time to bring up the Bible again so I asked her if she would be interested in starting lessons like her neighbors are doing and she agreeded to start the Sunday after mother's day. yay! With little time before church starts, we ran home, changed our clothes and went to the Sunday church service to finish up our week.

So, now you know what a typical week might look like for Franci and myself! Jealous? Potato sorting, volleyball, climbing hills, discipling, making new friends, playing with kids, teaching English, praying with new believers, and eating dirt. You should be!