La Esperanza

Today was a great Sabbath! We went to a church today named ¨La Esperanza¨ or ¨The Hope¨. This weekend was a weekend to bring your friends to church, so we brought our neighbor Marta with us. Then, after church she joined us for lunch and Cecilia made Lomo Saltado veggie style! It was so good! This afternoon, Steph and I went to JA at 4pm, the spanish version of AY, and played bible games and enjoyed a good message about the earth not being our permanent home and we have something much better waiting for us. I wish we had been able to go to this church the whole time we have been here. It would have been such a great church family to be a part of and I think we would have gotten to know the community much better. All of them are such great people, and we´ve never left without an invitation for lunch or and invitation to come back for JA. I hope this summer I can start a JA type thing in my church. Some of the games they play include dividing into men verse women and seeing which team knows the most verses by memory, another is where you put a bible on one person´s head and they have to turn the pages to a specified verse with the help of someone standing behind them who can only tell them where to go, but not actually touch the pages. They play a variety of games that involve every age group in the church and it´s an awesome time to fellowship. They close the afternoon service with a short message and then the end of Sabbath is here. Tonight we also played social games. Two of the churches in our area got together tonight to play volleyball and some dancing games and an On the River/On the Bank type of game. For the dancing game the ladies ran around in the center of the circle and then at a certain point during the game you tried to find a partner and then did a little jig and then it was the boys turn to run. It was really funny because half the time Rachel, Steph, and I were without partners because we didn´t understand what we were suppose to be doing. lol. It was a lot of fun hanging out with everyone. I wish I had more time to get to know this church better.
I´m so excited to come home and try it in my church! Hopefully, people decide it´s worth a loss of a nap. lol

Haystacks and Beer

Well, it’s only 37 days until I begin my Journey home and leave Peru for probably longer than I want to. I’ve been asking myself what I’m going to do with that time. What haven’t I done all year that I should have done? In some ways, I feel as though I have failed, that I didn’t come what I came to do. I didn’t meet enough people, or really impact anybody. But then, I look at myself and the woman that I’ve become. I see what Peru and her people have made of me since I arrived in August. I am still very young, but this year I have also gained experiences that sometimes take people years to learn. God has taken me on a beautiful journey this year, even during the times that I doubted his ability. I have seen women give birth (a miracle by itself, How the Heck do you Survive that!), I put my own dog to sleep, I have sisters for the first time, I became sure of my salvation, I helped build a shower and a house, I learned the secrets to being a good Peruvian woman (mainly the cooking, It’s true!), I’ve been severely disappointed in someone that I put all of my hopes into, surprised at people, and I’ve fallen in love with Peru. There are probably many more things that have shaped me this year, but I know that I’m definitely not the same as I was in August. Praise God for that! I read a verse today, that made me so excited and so hopeful! It’s not a verse that you would normally expect someone to find hope in, but I will try to explain with my limited vocabulary. “dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything”. (2 Corinthians 6:9-10) It’s so amazing! If I give all of my ways to God and let Him direct me, I can go through Hell and still come out smiling and laughing.
I guess now I should explain my chosen title for this blog. I’ve been craving haystacks like crazy this week!!! And turkey bacon. Odd combo, I know, but currently that’s the foods I really wish I could have here. We managed to make Chili the other day, and it actually tasted like Chili and not just a sad attempt at an imitation. Lol. Someone sent us some chili mix powders and we supplied the rest of the seasonings. It was probably one of the best meals I’ve had here as of yet. 
This week we were supposed to be in Tingo Maria, but our plans got re-adjusted for us. After our big, long, extremely exhausting medical/research campaign week we received permission to take a little vacation and we decided that we wanted to explore Tingo Maria. Being here at Km 8, we usually only here the rumors of what is going on with our fellow missionaries and Peruvian friends at Km 38. A few days before our trip, we began to hear things that didn’t bode well for our plans. We heard that on the pay day for the Peruvian workers, everyone went out to celebrate at a local restaurant in Campo Verde, and someone ordered a beer and they were drinking. It wasn’t one of the missionaries, but it was still a person that is a part of our family. This goes against the policy of AMOR Projects, and rightly so, and since everyone was out together, they were representing AMOR Projects as a team. Anyway, all of this leads down to how it affected our trip to Tingo Maria. Stephanie, Rachel, and I came down on the Saturday night before we were supposed to leave early on Sunday morning. We had a meeting that night, and it resulted in us being punished as a team, as a family, and we weren’t able to go on our road trip. I have no problem with the results, we are a team and more importantly, a family, and we do rise and fall together. It’s amazing how when selfish, thoughtless act can ruin it for everyone. So, as a result, the three of us have been sitting here at Km 8, not really doing a whole lot. The doctor a that we work with is gone this week, and will be in Lima this Sunday for the elections and we had already informed out patients that we wouldn’t be here this week, so only a handful of people have shown up this week for medical care. Next week we start clinic again and in 5 weeks I will be home! I can’t wait!!