Peru Summer 05

Hellos and Headaches...

2005-08-07T16:14:00.000-07:00

Well It has been very crazy the last few days here back in the states. First off: It is so hot! I know people are sick of hearing me say it but the heat is the biggest thing I am getting used to. Everyone says its cooler here than it has been so im glad i didnt fly back in the middle of July. Its really not that bad ...its just different when it isnt below freezing every night. Other than that it has been great to be back in America...Norte that is. I have been trying to get a lot of things done and get all my stuff sorted before school starts. I went home and saw the fam and ate some amazing food. I came back to birmingham last night and will stay here for a while and try to get organized. I had a little setback this morning after church. I was leaving church and was stopped at a stop light. I was the first car in the row and my friend Jessica was coming up behind me. It has just started raining and the roads were slick. She wasnt able to stop and she crashed right into the back of me. I saw it coming but there was no where to go. I ended up breaking the back glass out of my truck with the back of my head! I have a little headache and my neck is just a little stiff but other than that I dont have any ill effects. No one was hurt and that is the important thing...it is just one of those things that happens i guess. I wouldnt mind that my bumber was a little bunged up but I had to go and put my head through the window...and it rains almost everyday now! Oh well...i will have a really ghetto ride for a few days. Well I will post with more updates and exciting events as they arise...until then leave me a comment and let me know how everyone is doing.
Oh new pictures are on the side bar...including my truck pics.

New Pictures and New People

2005-07-18T14:13:00.000-07:00

**Ok I just read Ginny´s blog and she put in so much that I forgot about. Its a good read so for the full story click on her link on the right!**
Ok well before i forget..there is a new pics link on the sidebar. The Lithia Springs team is here from Georgia now and we are already working like crazy. Everyone is great and all have been so nice to us this first day. Everyone in the group is adjusting differently...please pray for everyones health and overall spirit because they have such a short time here and non of them want to be out with sickness. The altitude is so hard to adjust to and it effects people differently: a few of the team members have been sick to their stomachs, all of them have headaches at night, and of course everyone tires really easily. But..But ..they are all troopers and have been amazing. We were able to show the Jesus Video for Kids today at the lampa school. The principal was not very receptive at first because he thought we were bringing in American propaganda and wanted to push other issues other than the Bible. Once we told him we just wanted to show a film about Jesus and we were only there to talk about the Bible and nothing else he was fine. We got a lecture in his office about how he was Communist and how the US was oil/money hungry and that we had no reason to be in Iraq. I was like, I can´t argue politics in English much less Spanish so I just stood there and tried to make sense of what I heard (I missed part of it because i was playing soccer outside with literally 45 kids so when I came back in I just sorta nodded my head a time or two and acted like i knew what was going on!) So we were finally able to show the video to over 125 kids in this little bitty classroom..they were very attentive and we all just pray that they understood who Jesus is a little better. The technology was a little advaced for this area so we had to really put our heads to make it work...I had to stay at the front and hold the plug in the socket because the massive converter kept wanting to fall out of the wall. It all worked out. The rest of the team went through the town and talked with tons of people. They shared the Gospel and then annouced that we would be showing another video for adults tonight in the square. We hope that there will be a good turnout and that word will get around town. We will be showing the videos all week and will be having a time of discussion afterwards. The people here are very curious so we hope that they will have many questions for us about what they have seen. We have a ton of stuff to do over the next few weeks so I know that it will fly by. We only have about 8 days left on the field and about 13 days left in the country. We all have mixed emotions. I am not looking forward to all the goodbyes but I do look forward to all the hellos back home. I miss everyone so much and cant wait to here how the summer has been for those back in the states. We are going to have a end of the summer dinner in a couple of days with the Martinez family and the research team. Rick, Kelly, Elijah, Olivia, and Gabriella have been such a blessing to us and we cant thank them enough! (You guys were so great to open your home to us and make us feel so at home..when we were so far from home!) We then have to say goodbye to all the guys from Lithia Springs, our little family at the hostal(Mendez and the Senoras), and then we will have to part from all the other missionaries after debreifing! Before all that though we have tons of work to do and we are all excited. It is definitly different having more gingos around! The only drawback so far is that we are all riding in combis(vans) to the villages and I dont get to bike. I miss it already...there is something so peaceful about riding in the middle of the mountains every morning. Hopefully I will get to go for one last ride before the summer is over!

Research team- It was great to hang out with you guys one last time...I hope your last few days of travel will be exciting but safe. Have fun for a few days just relaxing and we will see you guys in Lima. (Jen good luck with all your passport stuff!)

BCM Hosts- Lets not make any major dicisions until I get back! I would prefer to stay in the same room and I would like to room with Matthew but like I said we can work on all the details out at Al´s!

2005-07-10T12:06:00.000-07:00

Ok so it has been a while but I have been having some bad luck with my blog. I had a long one typed out the other day but I lost it, so I guess that brilliant piece of literature will never be read. Sad I know. I feel like I have so much to tell but I guess I am drawing a blank...so I guess today will have to do. Well it has been a good day so far. It started as usual. We all had our morning routine...mine consisting of a cup of coffee, bread, fresh fruit, and of course very little talking. (I am slowly becoming a morning person. I get up early but im still not very talkative for about 30 min. If you give me half an hour to myself then I´m always grand.) We went to church at the evangelical church that ministers to the campo. It was interesting and today the service was a few hours shorter than the other church we go to. (We go to one on one sunday and the other on the next. Next week Lithia Springs will be here and we will all go to Maranatha.) Somewhere in the middle of the service there was a lot of Quechua so i sorta tuned out and was reading my Bible. Then I started paying more attention because there was a ton of talking back and forth between the speaker and a few ladies in the audience. The preacher was speaking on tithing and had evidently had to nail down the details of giving. After some detailed math equations and what not were written on the front board there was more discussion. They got everything worked out in the end and things carried on as usual. We finished the service and one of the ladies gave us two blocks of cheese! I dont know how we are going to eat all the cheese but we will figure something out. We gave one of them to the Señoras at the hostal but still have a massive block for ourselves. We ate a big meal and then went out into the market. We were half shopping half working. We passed out a ton of bible studies and tracks and also got a few things that we needed. There are a ton of people in the market on sunday so we were able to meet a ton of Lampians. Wade practiced his street preaching and was able to talk to quite a few groups. We are resting this afternoon and will have a Bible study tonight with Señor Mendez.
We have been having some rewarding days and we are excited about the potential these communities have! It is so tough sometimes being the first group to visit an area and invest time in the people. Lithia springs and our group have only been here for such a short time so we are definitly just breaking ground. We are really excited about the two groups that are coming soon. The first group comes in just one week and we cant wait to see you guys and your fresh faces.
To whom it may concern in the groups: There are a few things that i would recommend you bring. Im sure Kevin has talked with all of you but I figured it wouldn´t hurt to mention things twice. 1) The hostal owner will have a lot of blankets but I would really recommend packing a sleeping bag. (I know they may take up a little room in your equipaje but they do such a good job of keeping the heat in when you sleep.) 2.) I would bring more hand sanitizer for your team. We will be shaking tons of hands and they are not always that clean...ok they are never that clean. 3) Sunscreen and a hat would help as well. If i think of more then i will post. 4.) Oh and Tom, you NEED to send some more of your daughters choc. chip cookies!!

Ups and Downs...and Fireworks.

2005-07-05T11:14:00.000-07:00

I slept like a rock last night after a shower and a great meal in Juliaca. We all piled in a combi and headed to town for a Cuatro de Julio celebration. We wanted hamburgers but we couldn’t find any place that was serving beef burgers…they were all chicken. So we decided on our favourite alternative: Pizza. We stuffed our faces and were able to enjoy some cable TV during our meal. We were in the back and the only ones in our section so we changed the channel until we found an English station with Spanish subtitles. Right as our food was coming out an episode of ER came on. I couldn’t take my eyes off the TV. I’m not even a big fan of ER but I guess I was really enjoying the chance to watch some English TV. We stayed in the restaurant for over an hour and then headed out to the market in search of firecrackers. We were not quite sure but we thought that firecracker was bomba. None of us had our dictionaries so we went with our hunch. Which led to us, three strange looking people, walking around asking ¨where can we find bombs, we want some for tonight?¨ Well we soon realized that bomba was not quite right (we knew it was bomb but we thought it was firecracker too). We finally gave up when people kept sending us to different stores and trying to sell us globos, which are balloons. We headed back to Lampa a little defeated but were determined to at least burn something. (Andy: I even tried to find some toilet bowl cleaner with a high content of Hcl Acid to make The Works bombs but then I realized they don’t really clean toilets much in these parts! So that failed as well.) Well we asked in Lampa and this lady at the libreria/liquor store had some tom thumbs. Which are the equivalent of black cats (little packs that explode on the ground but don’t go anywhere.) So we headed out to the bridge with our flashlights, our fireworks, and a really cheap lighter. After many attempts we were able to get them lit and had a little 4th celebration. We returned with much lighter hearts and were all glad that we were able find some ´bombs.´ It was amazing how watching exploding objects light up the night made us feel a little closer to home!
This morning we got off to a slow start but after we got going we made it to Moquegachi in good time. As I was climbing the only hill there my chain slipped off the sprocket. It didn’t break, it just came off. Wade and Ginny were in front of me and went on toward the school. We wanted to go ahead and get started so I stayed behind and they went on to get the Bible study going. While I was fixing my chain I started thinking about my place here and how the team was able to accomplish the task at hand without me at all. I was getting a little down as I finished working on my bike and started up the hill covered in grease. I got to the school and cleaned up just a little and went into the classroom where Ginny was reading the story of Jonah to the smaller kids. Some of the older kids were outside having their recess and were looking in the window and the door and distracting the other kids. (The older kids were going to hear the story next so I wanted to make sure that the little kids were able to hear everything.) So I went out and started playing with them and got most of them to not bother the little ones. Within the hour both groups of kids heard the Bible story and sang Bible songs. Then all the kids were able to have recess so we started up a game of soccer. I still wasn’t feeling that involved but my heart was really lifted when we got out there and divided up into teams. I couldn’t help but smile when every time my foot touched the ball the rest of my team screamed ¨Dah-veed Aqui! Aqui! ¨ (Here! Here!) I hadnt told them my name in almost two weeks and they had remembered it without any reminder. Them calling me by name made me feel like I was once again an important part of the team. I may just be a glorified PE teacher but I am more than happy to just show these kids love. Hopefully I have put a friendly face to Christianity and they will remember all three of us with a smile!
Oh and Ginny and Wade were right in the mix at the end too. Ginny played a ton of volleyball and basketball with the girls and Wade played soccer with us. It turned out to be a great day and we all rode away really uplifted from our visit. Not a bad Tuesday at all. All of your prayers are so appreciated and we know they will continue!

Let Freedom Ring Let the White Dove Sing

2005-07-04T10:53:00.000-07:00

Well its the Fourth of July...we are getting ready for all the parties and the alpaca BBQ´s! Ok all that is wishful thinking. Life goes on here and it is just another day for the Peruvians. We on the other hand all woke up this morning tasting watermellon and of course great BBQ! (I could really go for some classic Sam´s Smokehouse wings in Fayette!) We all wished that we could go swimming and spend a day on the river/lake. To make us feel more at home Wade and I performed an amazing rendition of Independence Day by Martina McBride and then Ginny and Wade sang a soulful and emotional version of America the Beautiful! These songs made our ride to Pucha Cuesta a little shorter. We had a great morning and were able to share more Bible stories with the children and the teachers. The kids were a little restless at first but once we got going they settled down. We sang our songs again and they all looked them up in their notebook and sang along. We have been telling stories starting with creation and the fall of man. Today we were able to share how God sent Jesus to fill the gap between man and God. It was really encouraging to see the teachers in the back listening very intently. The teachers have been great and always go behind us after we leave and make sure that the kids understood what was said. We started a memory verse competition today and told them if they can memorize verses by the time we come back next week then we will have some prizes for them. So they all wrote down John 3:16 in Spanish and in Quechua. Both teachers did as well so that was really encouraging to know that they are learning just as much as the little kids! We hope that the children are excited about learning the verses. If nothing else we have left them with the Word of God and that is a powerful tool. We pray that the children are going home and sharing with their families what they are learning. If the adults never come to a bible study or a meeting at least they are hearing the Good News from their children!
We are planning on going into Juliaca for a good dinner to celebrate the 4th! We wish we could get together with some fellow gringos but the research team is too far away and the Martinez´s are in Lima right now. So we will have to celebrate this one solo. Oh and today is also shower day which is always reason for celebration.

For the record and to whom it may concern:
1. I am not loosing weight. I don´t know how this started but i am not wasted away. I may have lost a few LB´s in the first week but I am eating three squares a day and doing just fine.
2. Anytime Wade or anyone else refers to me and others doing some mountain climbing I am only doing a little hiking up an incline/large hill. No equipment, ropes, etc. is needed nor is there any real danger involved. (so no worries Mom!)
3. Oh I posted some new pics so if you havent seen our new ones then check them out.

R and R...well sorta.

2005-07-01T12:10:00.000-07:00

Well I am just finishing up an amazing week/half week of R and R! I never know where to start but I guess that I will try to go back in the ole memory bank and recap the good times. Wade and Ginny and I packed up and met up with the Research team (Heather, Jen, and Chris) and the crew from Lima. (Mike, Ryan, and Amanda) We all stayed at a nice hotel in Juliaca and had our mid summer evaluations. We got in on Monday afternoon and were not going to start our meetings until Tuesday so we all just relaxed for a little while. Later the 6 of us students all just walked through the shops and markets. We had an amazing dinner at the Royal Hotel restaurant (one of the nicest places to stay in town). We all gorged ourselves on great food. No potatoes, no rice, and no alpaca! It was great to have American style food again. We had a great talk and everyone really enjoyed their dinner. We got back to the hotel and none of us were that tired so we decided to go back out. Within two blocks and 10 minutes we found ourselves in a Peruvian Karaoke Joint! There was hardly anyone in there so we found the book with all the songs and went crazy. We got every song that we remotely knew, Spanish or English, and we all belted them out. We sang hits such as: I will always love you, Estoy Aqui(Ginny and Jen), Bidi Bidi Boom Boom (Jen’s solo), Can you feel the love tonight(Everyone), Call me(The girls again), Born in the USA(Everyone of course), and a classic guy’s solo of Hero by Enrique Iglesies (sp?)! We also helped out some guys from Peru sing some classic English songs, our favorite was Angie by the Rolling stones. `On-geee´ is how the guy, who looked like Saddam Hussein, pronounced it. It was quite surreal. There were tons of people just coming in to watch the scene that was taking place. We butchered both Spanish and English songs. When we were all danced, sung, and laughed out we headed back to the hotel. Saddam really wanted to dance with Jen but we all said we had to leave room for Jesus on the dance floor. So he never really got his wish. We all crashed and got up the next morning and had our evaluations. I knew it was going to be a time of discussing our team and how everything was going but I was also blessed to have a really great talk with Mike. We ended up spending almost an hour talking about what was going on in my life and how being here was not just a separate unit but everything back home ties in as well. God is showing me so much here but not just things that are applicable on the mission field but things that I can take and use back home as well. (Mike thanks so much for the talk and we are all sorry that we didn’t get to say goodbye and thank you for everything in person!)
Well we all ate lunch and got back together for one small meeting that afternoon. We had another great talk and we were able to share what God is doing in the groups and individually. We finished off the last bites of Kathy’s amazing cookie cake she sent for Heather’s Birthday. (Kathy thanks SO much for the individual bags of cookies and also for the Bday cake!) We all got ready and went out to the market where Jen consumed two glasses of Jugo de Rana. She had a wager with a friend back home that entitled her to a large Chuckie Cheese pizza if she would drink the interesting concoction. Oh and rana is frog! Juice of the frog is the literal translation of the drink. She walked up to the booth and selected her live frog out of the aquarium and the lady at the store went to town. The frog is beheaded, skinned, and sorta gutted. It is then whacked several times with a massive machete and thrown into the blender. Papaya, frog, herbs, and some honey were all mixed together to get an amazing Fear Factor drink. The locals love it and it is said that it is great brain food. Jen was a beast and downed two big glasses of the stuff! She is looking forward to the day her friend takes her to CC. (That was Tuesday and she has had no ill effects and her memory may even be a little sharper these days.) Anyway we all just hung out on Tuesday night and got a good night sleep. We all got up at the crack of dawn and headed out to Puno. The two teams and Ryan and Amanda all pilled into a combi and got to Puno in search of a good deal on a Lake Titicaca tour. (Mike had already seen it and stayed back to get some work done.) We found one guy who wanted to take us but then we got a little weary of his ability to get us where we needed to go. We ended up having another lady come up while we were eating breakfast and they got into some sort of auction where they were bartering for our business. The guy finally said he couldn’t help us for so little and we went with the lady’s package. We found out that all the boats were leaving in like 10 min so we inhaled our breakfast and ran to the ladies office. We called Mike and made sure it was good for us to go and spend the night on an island in the middle of the lake. (Mike had to head back to Lima so we were going to not see him again.) Ryan and Amanda got a day package and were not able to go spend the night. Hopefully in the next two years they will get to do it because it was such a blast. (We really missed you guys and we all said we wished you could have spent the night with us on the islandL. Look at our pics…we wished you could have dressed up with us!) We ended up not even getting on the same boat as them so we had to say our goodbyes on the dock. We had a few minutes so I bartered with the vendors and bought some warm alpaca gloves. All of the booths and shops in the touristy area try to make you pay way more than what stuff is normally. It is still cheap so most people don’t know but we were like ¨no way, we have lived here for a month and this should only cost___.¨ We were all so shocked at how people were raising prices just because there were so many tourist. We all hated feeling like gringo tourist again. It took weeks to get used to the country and to know the prices and then we were suddenly part of a tour group. Anyway…I digressed so back to the dock. We got on this rickety boat that some grizzled old man was steering with his son or grandson by his side. He held onto a giant pole in the back of the boat that was attached to the rudder…the boat didn’t even have a wheel. He just squinted and looked strait ahead…I never saw his face change for hours. We got out to the floating island of Uros where we learned about how they do what they do out there. The island is over 20 meters thick and they lay down new reeds every week or so. The island just rots from the bottom and they keep adding to the top. There houses, boats, souvenirs, and even some of there food is all made of reeds. They are really good at what they do. We hung out with the locals and learned about the fish, tasted reed, and even bought a home made post card from ´Daniel.´ Mine is a crayon drawing where the sun is really angry and has sharp teeth. I assume Daniel is not a fan of the sun. We went to another floating island and saw the same lifestyle. There was a cool dog with a t shirt on that everyone played with. Jen picked it up and was holding it for a pic and the thing bit at her hand right when I snapped the picture…a true Kodak moment! We then set out for the next stop that was about three or four hours away. The boat poked along and we got to know quite a few travelers on the way. There were two friends from England (Angeline and Katy) that are in a few of our pictures and were kind enough to take a ton of pictures of us. We met two neighbors from West Palm Beach Florida (Bob and John) who were really nice as well. There was a family from Washington State, another English lady and a gentleman from Down Under. We finally got to the island and met our family we would be spending the night with. Each group had a family instead of a hotel or hostel. We split guys and girls and went our separate ways. We ended up staying about two houses from each other. There are about 5000 people on the island of Amanti so different families take turns housing gringos. Ours was a nice lady that only spoke Quechua and her daughter that spoke good Spanish. We had a late lunch and then all got ready to go to the top of the island. We were able to hike all the way up in time to see an amazing sunset over Lake Titicaca. We hiked back down and had supper and got ready for the dance! We dressed in like two seconds but found out later it took the girls a while to get there native dress on! Ginny, Heather, and Jen were quite a sight, they all had amazing getups! We hiked up this trail in the dark to the community center. ( The daughter was our guide and just took off without a light at all! We were all trying to keep up and saying Uno momento! over and over.) We got there and there was a band ready to get the party started. They played some cool songs and the local ladies started dancing with us. Then we got into a big circle and started some crazy tug of war dance where we spun around and around as a group. It was really cool to experience the local culture. We liked being tourist for a night! Later Jen and I were danced out and went outside and went up on the flat roof of the com. building. There is very little electricity on the island so it was almost pitch dark. The moon didn’t come out until almost morning so it was as if the stars were at arms reach. I have never seen so many stars in my life. They were everywhere. The Milky Way was as so visible and it looked like a cloudy blanket mixed in the stars. I saw so many shooting stars. The group had enough dancing and we all went back and we had a good nights sleep on some really hard beds. We got up and visited another island on the way back and stayed for a few hours. It was amazing as well. We had a great fish meal that we got for cheaper because we said it was way overpriced. Later we had to hike forever and then walked down about five hundred steps to the other side of the mountain. We got back on the boat and headed home to Puno. We got back late that afternoon and went to a really great touristy restaurant. We had burgers, pizza, and lemonade. Wade left us before we ate and headed back to Juliaca. He got a huge suite hotel room in the Royal that was absolutly rediculous. It was massive. We all didnt want to spend any money so we all headed back to town later and got a Hostal that cost 5 soles a night. About 25 times cheaper than the Royal. Chris decided he wanted to have a night in the lap of luxury as well so he cut out to the royal as well. We checked in and then all went to get some dessert. That will take another entire blog...to be cont-

2005-06-18T11:59:00.000-07:00

Let’s see…where do I want to start the rambling and long story telling? I hope by now most of you know that is how I talk/type/think/etc. so I guess you are getting used to it! So bear with me. Well this last week has been a great week for us as far as getting more involved with the surrounding communities. (Wade is more diligent with blogging and with details so if you are dying for more then his blog link is on the side.) For my blog I will tell what I am thinking right now which may or may not be a good thing. I just ate lunch so I have to say…I miss American food! I have only been away from home less than a month and will be back in the States soon so I can’t complain but we all dream of various restaurants and quality foods. We can not complain at all really…we have plenty to eat and it is dirt cheap but I guess we miss a little variety. We are slowly accepting that we will have soup, rice, and potatoes every meal. On to more important things! Well God is really blessing our trips out to the villages and He always goes before us in our travels. On Wednesday we went out to Moquegachi Central to meet the president of the community. (We initially had not planned on going but the former president of Pucha Cuesta insisted that we visit his friends there.) We ended up not being able to meet the president but we were invited into the school to teach English and a Bible story! The professoras were here very nice and said they would love for us to teach the kids. So that’s what we did. I did a lot of writing on the board and let Wade and Ginny do the heavy lifting. We went over numbers, ¨hello my name is____¨, and then we and the kids sang our national anthems. (Wade put a little soul in his.) We then told the story of Zacheus (sp) and how he went to all odds just to catch a glimpse of Jesus. They liked the stories and then we sang some Bible songs in Spanish. And then some major bonding time happened when they said it was there break time. Out came the soccer ball and volleyball. Well Ginny played volleyball with the chicas and Wade and I ran around with the chicos playing some soccer! This was a great time to praise the kids when they were playing great and then also reach out to the shy kids that didn’t get the ball much. I love this time…I know that teaching the Bible is the reason we are here but I know that the activity time helps us get to know the kids and strengthen the friendships. They are always less shy and more responsive after we just spend time with them. I have to admit that most of this time was spent thinking ¨man these kids are good.¨ Their quick feet never fail to amaze me. Well as we were about to leave the teacher told us that there was going to be a community meeting on Saturday and we should stop by. We were not sure what to expect but we went today and God opened a huge door for us. Three white people just rode into their village and asked if we could attend their meeting! None of the teachers were there or anyone we has seen the day before but they didn’t seem to mind. Then invited us in and we talked to them about who we were and what we were doing. They said they were interested in having a Bible study and they agreed that they we could come on Saturdays. So now we are building relationships with the children and with their parents! We are really praying that this village will continue to be receptive to us and to the Gospel. On the way back we just stopped off to rest and what not and ended up stopping right in front of an Evangelical church. They were having a meeting and a ¨craft time¨ and so we just said hey to a few of the men outside. Before we knew it we were inside this little bitty building with about 20 or 30 others and they were asking us to speak. Well wade got up and started preaching in Castellano (Spanish) and some guy then translated to Quechua. It was really cool to watch. We were invited back for tomorrow’s service so we will be going there tomorrow. We don’t always understand much of the services that we go to around here because they speak in Quechua much of the time but we are hoping that our presence means a lot.
Hmm…let’s see what else. We are biking like crazy…just yesterday we rode out to Tusini Grande which is a little over 18 Kilometers round trip and then today our trip was about 12 Kilometers total. A Kilometer is roughly 5/8 of a mile so if my math is correct we are biking like 70 miles a day so pray for us. No really, it about 11 and a half miles to and from the farthest village give or take some rounding. Our team is so tough. No one ever complains and we are often biking in the middle of the day at 12,500 ft! No easy task. I couldn’t have asked for a tougher team…mentally, physically, and spiritually. I really love riding and enjoy the time to just reflect on myself and the day and of course enjoy the view. We should all be in amazing shape by the time the summer is over. Ok maybe I’m dreaming…I will still be a skinny little white kid with a bad farmers tan. (We almost always wear long sleeves even during the day and I often pull them up a little. This has lead to some sort of hybrid farmers tan that starts at my fingertips and ends half way up my forearm. Its an odd site.) Anyway... I miss you all and love hearing from you!

We are now passing the night time with some board games and of course the classic deck of cards. We bought Monopolio which is the popular Spanish version of the American real estate game Monopoly! We have only played once but it was a blast and hopefully will play again soon. Chess is another favourite. (Not Chest as Wade always pronounces it!) I always respond by saying,¨ No Wade I don’t want to play chest with you!¨

There is so much more but it all escapes me. Ok here are some random facts that may or may not interest you. I went 8 days without showering. We consider the good restaurant in town the one that tells the dogs that come in the front door off the street to leave. (some just ignore them) I have not seen rain since the states ( people tell me thats all you are getting back in the Ham.) You can not find peanut butter or Dr. Pepper anywhere down here. (I am told there is some PB in lima but it is rediculously expensive.) No bathroom has toilet paper of any kind...there is not a square to spare. (Matt Hall will understand my Seinfield reference.) Everyone just carries it with them in their bag or purse. Many toilets dont have tanks on the back. There is a huge bucket beside the toilet and you get a pail and dip out water and then pour it in the bowl. It is effecient and seems to work for everyone. Ok im done. More crazy facts later.

2005-06-14T13:15:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! I guess its due time for another long blog. I will try to fill in more of what has happened these days. First off… the moral is good. I can’t always speak for the team but for now I think that things are doing well. We all miss the comforts of home and toilets that flush with a handle but we also are excited that for each day we are here! We spent the weekend in Huancanè with Rick and Kelly Martinez and their three beautiful kids (Elijah, Olivia, and Gabriella). They are permanent IMB missionaries in southern Peru and work with Aymara people (very similar to the Quechea people in and around Lampa.) Rick had met us at the airport in Juliaca the first day and had invited to come over if we ever had time and wanted to speak English with fellow Americans. We had a great week last week and were all ready for a day or two away from the villages so we packed our bags and headed out. They were so great to welcome us in their home and put up with us for a few days. They have three amazing kids that were always entertaining. We ate American food, watched some MOVIES, and just fellowshipped with the Martinez’s. It was a much needed few days to get motivated and to feel refreshed. While we were there we were able to go to one of the villages that they are working with. Sunday is the area’s big market day and the people’s livelihood so the village has church on Saturday. They meet in a little community building and had about 12-15 people come. (This is amazing because the community has less than 40 people in it I believe.) We were all blessed to see the fruits of Christians working in the area. We all sang songs in Amayra, which was very interesting to our team. (Some of them are kinda catchy and get in your head.) One of the men that became a Christian and Rick is training up to be a leader spoke out of 1 Peter. Rick added some here and there and put emphasis on what certain scriptures were saying but it won’t be long before they have a self sustaining service. It was cool to see these people excited about Christ. One really old guy who could barely hear or see for that matter was so cool. He just cracked me up! The people would come and tell Rick that they could hear him singing loudly to God in the fields as he worked. He was just happy which in turn made me happy. After church we all went outside and had dinner on the ground. We brought the bread and they brought the chuña and habas. Ok…well this is where things get a little interesting. I need a new paragraph to describe the culinary ways of the mountain people.
There is not much to be said about habas except they are comparable to a big lima bean with an outer covering. We just took off the ´shell´ and popped them in our mouth. Ok no big deal…other than I have NO idea how they were cooked or prepared. The fun starts now…chuñas are tiny balls of potatoes. Sounds tasty and are actually not that bad at all. The catch is that they are freeze dried potatoes and that process is a little different south of the equator! The ladies take chunks of potatoes and place them on the floor and leave them over night I believe. Im not sure if they are mashed or what, but they are left to freeze on the cold floor overnight. Well in the morning the ladies take their bare feet and roll the potatoes around into small balls and mash out the remaining water and ice. The balls are really hard and icy and Rick says that the ladies often cut their feet doing this! I just try not to think too much about this little fact. This process removes the water and allows the chuña to be stored for about 10 years! Well then they are taken and boiled to bring the moisture back and eaten plain or placed in the soups. Yes I am afraid it’s true… I have eaten like a million of these things since I have been here! They put them in everything so it’s hard not to…plus they are not too bad! Ok, that was my gross, embrace the culture, do as the locals do, etc. story for now.
We all went to Puno for the day and had a great time. We saw a ton of Gringos because Puno is a big tourist area…that is something we don’t see everyday. We just walked around some and then ate at a touristy restaurant that had American food. I ate a huge cheeseburger that didn’t taste exactly like home but it was great none the less. We didn’t get a chance to do much around town but we are all hoping that sometime this summer we can go back and visit Lake Titicaca and the beautiful islands it holds. We drove back and spent the night again with the crew. It is funny how after about one day with practically strangers we all felt like we had family away from home! I guess being this far away from home helps speed the process along.
Wade and I went into the market on Sunday with Rick and just mingled with the local people. We passed our various tracks and Rick ended up speaking to quite a few people in different groups. Wade even tried his hand at street preaching. We chatted with so many different kinds of people. Down on one end there were ladies selling llama fetuses that are used in offerings to who knows what. It is some type of witchcraft activity that was a bit disturbing… to see this being sold like fruit or grain.
Ginny was not feeling well at all and wasn’t up for a combi ride back home so we stayed one more night. We had one more American breakfast thanks to Kelly (by the way is an amazing cook!) and headed back to Juliaca. We ate great one last time before heading back to Lampa. We were all glad for the trip but it was great to get back to Lampa too. We all were ready to just get out of the back of the taxi I think! Oh I almost forgot. On the way to Juliaca and to Huancane we were one of 19 grown passengers in the van. These are smaller …much smaller than American 15 passenger vans! On one there were 20 if you count a little baby. It is an art that the Peruvians have mastered. I don’t know how it works but it just does.
Ok let me see…Oh I will try from time to time to put new pics on the site. When I do I will try to put up a new folder or write a line saying to look for amazing new shots. We are visiting the Lampa School this week, going out to the villages again, and having numerous Bible studies with Senor Mendez and his friends. We are refreshed and ready to get back at it. It won’t be long before the other teams are here from Lithia Springs and we are all excited to see the new faces. Thank you all for everything.

The Huancañe Family- Thank you so much for putting up with us. We all had a blast and love your family! Tell the kids we said hey and we hope to see all of you on our R and R weekend!

Tom- I’m not sure about the computer deal. You might want to email Rick at elijahmyson(at)aol.com (I cant make the at symbol for some reason)
and ask him about some of the legalities. There are some new rules with customs and electronics in peru to ensure that there is fair trade or something. I wasn’t sure what all it involves but it gets complicated shipping electronics. It may be more of a hassle than its worth. Another thing is that packages take forever so it might be four weeks to get here. So you may want to send it with the group in July. We are not hurting for it so don’t go to too much trouble or money. Just email Rick and see what he thinks.

Anyone on Lithia Springs team that is coming-Because packages are so crazy do you think that my mom or family could send one of you a small package to your American address and then you tuck it in your suitcase? It won’t be much …just some letters and maybe some peanut butter! It was just a thought because the mail is crazy unpredictable. If your bags are tight then I understand completely.

Laura (sis)- Im not sure about mail or how long it takes. They said you could try to send whatever but give at least four weeks. It might not be that easy to do. I will write you soon and let you know something. Don’t send anything yet. (I posted the address not knowing how crazy the mail was.)

The Lampa team finally has pictues

2005-06-13T00:04:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone...i just wanted to let everyone know that on the border you can click the link Pictures. If that doesnt work then go to photobucket.com and search liftingupmyeyes all one word. There are two albums with quite a few picks to see. Hope it gives you an idea of what is going on here. Oh kevin, tom, and Lith. Springs you can pull these pics off the web if you wantnthem or want to show some people at chuch what is going on here. I spent forever trying to figure out the pics so im tired...i will write soon on how our days are going. Once again ...thanks for everything..i love you all!

Anyone can post now ...I think

2005-06-09T13:21:00.000-07:00

Ok i fixed my blog so anyone can post a comment without having an account. So you dont have to go to any trouble..just drop a line here and there. Thanks for all your comments so far...I love them all. Oh and if you want to get to know my team their blogs are http://wadeonmission.blogspot.com and http://ginnyroundtheworld.blogspot.com So you can see what i dont always put and get to know us as a team. Hmm..what else...oh Mom you can send me packages at Rick´s house (I may email with some suggestions soon!). Ricardo Martinez Apartado 332 Juliaca, Peru . Make sure you address it just like that and maybe at the bottom corner or the side write David Sewell. That way the post office doesnt get confused. I dont know how long it will take but it shouldnt be to bad. Anyway...I will write soon but I have to go shower while the sun is still out!

What´s for dinner?

2005-06-08T08:31:00.000-07:00

Well its been a while since i posted and I appolagize...for in between info you can check up on my partners blog, he has much more patience with the computers and waiting for a free computer to use.(There is not much to do in the town so the kids love the internet..its crazy..they dont even have a post office but everyone of the kids has a hotmail inbox.) oh yeah....wades blog is http://wadeonmission.blogspot.com . He has a wonderful girlfriend back home so he usually checks his mail daily and posts..so between the two post i hope you can get a feel for what is going on and how God is working.

Ok i think that i failed to mention what the people that we are working with are like. The area, like most of Peru, was predominantly Incan and invaded by the Spainiards. They were forced to accept the Spanish ways including Catholsism. But the Catholic Church is different here than in the states. They were killed if they didnt convert from the Incan traditions. I cant speak for all of Peru but for Lampa and the surrounding villages this conversion has been a permanent change and everyone is ¨Catholic¨ by birth and tradition. They are Catholic by tradition but still have a lot of Incan background and heritate. The religion was forced on them and they accepted the belief system/traditions but most never really understood Christianity or the relationship that God wants to have with them. In the villages they do not have church but the priest comes once a year to see them. Because there are so many villages it is impossible for the church/priest to come to them weekly. Most have no type of worship or bible studies through out the year. There is a great need for God´s word to spread throughout the villages and the small towns.
Right now we are doing a lot of ´plowing´I guess you could say. It is going great thought and I love getting to know the area and especially the people. The people in the villages just dont have much of anything but they are all so nice and so welcoming. We visited Tusini Grande the other day and were just wanting to say hey and see when we could come and visit the school. We ended up staying for about two hours because we had trouble with Wade´s bike. Some local men worked on his bike while Ginny and Wade were invited in to tell Bible stories to the older school kids.(My place was not telling stories in spanish...the creation story would have taken a few crazy turns if i was in charge.) Instead, I found myself outside in the school yard surrounded with about 12 dirty little Peruvian kids...all just staring up at me. I talked to them for a minute and they laughed at my spanglish and most just stared and never answered my questions of: how old are you and what is your name? But within a min i was in the middle of a fast paced soccer game with most of them against me. When they saw the white man´s skill at soccer they were not laughing anymore! Maybe it helped that i was about 5 feet taller than all off them.. But they tought me a lot and I had a great time. I was using the ¨language of the heart¨ as Wade called it...thats all i could do and it worked for the occasion. (It still is frustrating not being able to communicate well...I understand quite a bit and its not too bad but i am often the quite one. Which is awesome in a way...i have always been somewhat outgoing and now God is showing me that listening and being observant can teach me so much about others. I am becoming a better listener. I am reminded of the verse Nana always told us when we were little...Be still and know that I am God. ) The altitude is so high that I had to take breaks often and this led to english/spanish/Qetchua lessions. They did a great job with counting and they tought me Qetchua (another remote language in the mountains) words for all my clothes. All the kids were so great and I can´t wait to go back next week.
We have about four villages that we are going to be working with on a reg basis. We are going through the early stages now of developing relionships and are doing things like I stated above. We each have a mountian bike and we ride to the villages like everyone else does here.(There are bikes everywhere...everyone has one.) We are teaching bible stories and basic english to the kids. We have been welcomed at every village and aside from some basic setbacks we are doing great. Poor Wade´s bike has broken every day we have went riding....resulting in us usually walking back to town side by side. It has made for long walks but also for a bonding of the group. Nothing brings people closer than when you just want to be home and there is still a mile and a half to go...so you talk and pass the time. We got smart the other day and hooked our two belts together with a caribeaner and tied my canvas belt to my bike. Wade held the other end on his handle bars and i pulled him on the straits and it made the ride much faster. We got quite a few laughs from the locals but we are used to that by now. We are the only gringos in town so we get stares and giggles all the time. But we are getting acustom to being different.
The biggest breakthrough right now is that we are having nightly Bible studies/questions with our hostal owner Señor Meñdez. He has so many great questions that are hard to answer even in english and he has great insite to the scripture. We are studying John and have been going really slowly and he askes questions every few verses. He is such a great man and it is exciting to see him excited about the Bible. He has no problem asking us questions or letting us know what he thinks about certian things. We have been able to just get to know him and talk about politics of peru, english and how hard it is to learn, and how wade´s bike is always breaking. The whole staff of three is great and they go out of there way to help us.
Hmm....let see oh I am so tired of potatoes but it looks like they are going to be here for the duration. They come with every meal I eat. I cant explain it...i just think they sit in the back of the kitchen and say what can i make with potatoes. Every single meal that what! But it is not too bad. At least I have a hot plate in front of me.
Oh...I bought a guitar in Juliaca the other day. I couln´t wait the whole summer so I shopped around and for around 52 dollars i got an accoustic guitar (made in peru) , picks, spare string, and a good shoft shell carrying case! It is a classical style with three nylon strings/Three steel strings but it is all i could find...all the steel strings had pickups and were pricy. It has been such a great investment for the team. Wade plays an mean six string as well and we play all the time. Ginny sings too so we all sit around and play chord progressions and go around the table and sing verses about the day and of course potatoes. ¨How peru is different than america¨ comes up often and has many many verses! Wade and I battle each other with tunes such as ¨Tu madre¨ (Yo mamma!) and other great classics that we have written to pass the night away. When it gets dark nothing happens in Lampa so it seems to creep by. But we are usally creative on how to make the most of time.
Ok i will write more soon...I will try to send some picks soon but I havent been able to get on a computer with usb port in a while...soon. Hope all is well back in the states and what not...I love you all.

I don`t even know where to start....

2005-05-31T11:45:00.000-07:00

Ok first off spanish keyboards are crazy. Every time i try to use shift i get this<<<< so i dont think i will be capitalizing much.

Ok i dont really know where to start... first off i miss everyone. I want an Al´s burger so bad i can taste it. I am eating really well though (Nana I promise...i eat like crazy. I dont know what im eating half the time but i am eating.) The other day i was eating lunch, thats what you say usually...you sit down and say you want almuerzo (lunch) and they bring you what they have for lunch....anyway i was like this is good what is it? The guy said it was alpaca which is like a llama´s little brother. It tastes like deer sorta. They love meat and starch here. Rice, potatoes, sweet potatoes(or something like them), and sometimes even macorroni. Meat...i dont even know...some chicken and then other assorted meats. But its great. Ok so I am on a primitive sortof internet but its not too bad. soon i am going to try to place pics on my myspace page and let you see my crib. I have my own room in a hostel which is much nicer than other missionaries in southern peru. I have running water and even a warm shower. Well the water is warm but it is so cold in the shade that the shower room is so cold. it is just a cement stall with a door. I have had two showers since leaving the states and thats fine by me. The last one i took was a mixture of heaven and hell. I was glad to get clean but my knees were knocking. We have to shower in the noon day. The weather i so beautiful here. We are so close to the ecuator that the sky seems so close. At night there is not a cloud in the sky and the stars are almost at arms reach. Ok i am going to be very random like usual so just be patient. (the altitude is really an adjustment as well...i find it harder to concentrate these first few days...that ontop of my already ADD tendencies and it gets crazy.)
Well we are here with a group from Lithia springs Baptist Church in Georgia. There are two men kevin and tom that have helped us settle in and get an understanding of the area and local villages. We will be teaching bible stories, conversational english, and presenting the gosple in story form. Oh yeah and sports..something i can actually do without screwing up spanish. I have already presented the hacky sac to the kids and they were not that impressed but frizbee may stand a chance. They like soccer of course so i am working on my moves. I will be scoring touchdowns and getting inteceptions in no time (maile). We have a calender of events that we are trying to set in place and then other days where we will just have to play it by ear as to where we will be able to visit and where we will be teaching. They are actually leaving today for a while and heading back to the states. There will be another group in later on this month and then some in July. We will be by ourselves from time to time. We have a permanent missionary in the next town over that we will be visiting from time to time and they are our safe house if we get sick. They want us to come over often and talk in English with them and there kids. We will need a break he said so we will go over and watch a movie or play cards from time to time. I think that i have said from time to time about five times now. Uhmmm...let see. I drink like 2 liters a water during the day and then half a liter in the evening. I have never peed so much in my life. (As a matter of fact I have to go now.) I go to bed at about 9 every night. I am up at around 8 on my own. I wish i had my red book and i would let you know more about what i have been doing....i journal every night and have keep a tab of all my events so i will try to go back and post highlights from time to time. Rock climbing and seeing the local catholic church was the highlights so far...Well i think that i will master this slow internet and post more often. Thanks for your prayers and thanks for your emails and posts. Please send me some info on how things are going and what not...you dont know how much they boost moral! Dave

Mat- Thanks so much for the email...block off like most of the first of Aug. we are having a mini summer before school. Im serious chick fil a, shoney´s , yard work, the works...ok so who is the guy in BOB that alwasy brushes his teeth¿ Picanti maybe¿ Well that is me...i may be in the sticks but i brush like crazy. Oh i sent an email pick..you will have to wait to see the beard another day!

Kate and company-The book is amazing! Everyone on the plane was impressed with the detail and time put into it. The letters are so amazing...i wanted to open them all but i have refrained. I open one ever other day at random. (Sarah shores i love the drawings and the ecouragement!)
Kathy thanks so much for putting it all together and thinking of me and knowing how it would help me out. You are amazing!

Laura-Peru is just like your pictures! It is so beautiful! You would love it here in lampa...the city is not exactly pretty at first glance but it is when you really look. The beauty is in the people. The local catholic church has some of the most expensive/beautiful paintings of Christ and his works. They look like if you touched them they would crumble. The artist was from this area and wanted them here. It sems odd that they are here but fitting that this town can have something so amazing. I cant thank you enough for the book... I write in it everyday. I took your advice from your letter and I am soaking up everything. I write down everything...what i see, eat, everything. It helps me remember what has happened and how amazing God is! Thanks again.

Mom-i will try to answer some more of your questions soon. I love you all and send this on to anyone that doenst know the address...oh let me know if my box of letters and phone doesnt show.

So I didn't quite make it out of the country...

2005-05-25T17:31:00.000-07:00

Well it is about 7:30 PM Central and I am not even out of the US yet. Things went really well this morning and the Matt's were great to drop me off at the airport. They stayed around until I had to go through the gate and prepare to board. That is where things started getting crazy. I met up with my travel companion, Ginny Humber from Jacksonville State and we just chatted for a little while. Our boarding call went out so we got on the plane with no problem. It was a little jet with two seats an isle then a single seat. Well we were unaware of the fact that while we were standing in line to board, a guy had decided to try to carry on some massively heavy bag. The lady at the boarding desk recommended he check it but he said he would "give it a try". Well he shoves it in the cargo bin and then forces the lid shut. When Ginny and I finally got on the plane the cargo hold right above our seat was sagging and one side was sticking out. This turned out to be the work of the aformentioned genius. So the flight attendant was doing the proper checks and noticed it and said it had to be fixed. Well the owner of the bag tries to get it out and it wont even open now. Then the flight attendant tries, then the pilot, and then finally some huge guy that tossed luggage gave it a go. All this is happening right in front/above our seat. So they are getting no where...All the while the clock is ticking. Oh I almost forgot...right in the middle of this a guy in the very first seat by the exit was tanked out of his mind. He was nervous about flying so he had prepared for his flight by getting really really drunk. Then they make an annoucement that they are not only working on the luggage compartment but also some seal on the plane. This was and the added pressure of sitting by an exit must have been too much for the guy and he just spews all over the floor, himself, and the exit. So he gets escorted off and they sorta clean it up. Then they get some maintanece man to come out and take the thing apart. It is already almost an hour into the delay and they decide that then need the passengers near the broken bin to get off the plane. So Ginny and I got off and just sat in the middle of the walkway that leads to the plane. Finally the guy come out with pieces of the compartment and they were able to get going. I was just glad that the plane was in the deep south and no one got hostile. All I kept thinking about was that guy who stuck his hand out over the wall and snagged that ball at the Cubs game almost two years ago. They ended up loosing the game and then the series. I'm sure that he was a decent guy but at that instant he knew everyone wanted him to pay. Same with this guy...all eyes were on him. But it was nothing major. Half the plane missed connecting flights but most got rescheduled within 2 hours. However, flights to Lima only go out once a day! So anyway...I am now sitting in Houston in a Clarion Hotel (thanks to Manteen and his amazing shuttleing abilities) waiting for the FOUR o'clock plane tomorrow. I have my own free room and they even cover my meals so I will enjoy Houston, the fourth largest city in the US, while I have the chance. Hopefully the next time I post I will actually be in South America. Well thanks for everything and I hope that you will continue praying for me as I go through the summer. God is awesome! I think I am going to get a good nights sleep and I will post again soon.

P.S.- Matt thanks for driving me to TEH airport. Mat your gift was perfect...right before takeoff I got out the book about Peru and saw the massive bulk in the back! The gum was just what i need to pop my ears during takeoff.

Lindsay- Thanks again for everything I owe you money and I will get creative about how I will get it to you.

Laura- Your awesome and you are in all our prayers.

Keep praying for Jon, He is doing so much better but he has a long road ahead.

This is a test.....

2005-05-17T20:32:00.000-07:00

Ok so I am a few days from leaving and I'm setting up my blog for the summer. I am just seeing how this is going to work. First off, I am really relieved that this thing has spell check because if you know me at all then you know I can't spell. I have no idea how many times I will be able to get online so you will just have to check back in from time to time. I will try to post when I will be returning to "town" (where internet is available) so you can check in. Well obviously I don't have much to report so I will make this one short. Thanks for everything and thanks for your prayers.