Craziness...

This week can best be described as "craziness".  It has been a week of learning, that's for sure!

• For starters, let me just assure people that if strange things show up on the right hand side of this blogsite (in the videos/slideshows/photos bar) WE DIDN'T PUT THEM THERE!  If it isn't a video of us and our ministry, it isn't from us.  I don't know what is going crazy over there on the far right, but this morning 4 videos of VW commercials appeared???  Every once in awhile, a random video from YouTube appears.  Who knows???  
• Quote of the month (maybe of the YEAR) from Alejandra, one of the ladies in the discipleship program and a leader in discipleship groups in Huancayo -- "It is easier to work with demon-possessed non-believers than it is to work with church people!"  More on this in the newsletter this month...
• We had a 2 hour conversation with Liz yesterday about the concept of friendship here in Peru.  She has family in the USA, so she has seen and heard about the USA friendship model and she was telling us about the differences between "there" and "here".  So it seems that there AREN'T friendships here... at least not like we know them.  Our USA model of friendship doesn't exist here.  Basically, the conversation started out with us saying that we are missing our friends from home and the types of things we used to do together... cookout on the weekends, hang out at each other's homes, play cards or board games, etc.  After a little of our pining away for friends, she explained that we needed to know that those types of friendships don't exist here - basically, we are hoping and praying for something that probably will never happen because Peruvians don't have that as a part of their culture.  It's a lot deeper than that... we are writing and researching and really digging into this topic now, because it effects how they view the gospel.  It was an awesome discussion, but also brought up so many underlying factors about culture.  We'll let you know more as we dig deeper into this area.
• My math class is in full-swing.  VERY different than the USA model of math!  They are loving the way that I teach math and we are having a lot of fun together.  I don't quite understand the time schedule and the logic behind how things are run, but I'm not questioning it either... just adjusting and learning a new thought process.  By the way, the majority of kids in "summer school" are not there for remediation - they are there by choice because they want to stay on top of things and be ready for the next year!  Wow!  What a concept!  Even in the little kid's classes!

Speaking of school, got to run and catch a combi so I won't be late to class.  It costs me about 25 cents to catch a combi (minivan public transportation) and ride about 3-4 miles up the road to the school, then another 25 cents to get back home.  Ciao!!!

Back to Random bulletpoint posts...

Nothing dramatic to say or talk about, but I know it has been awhile since I posted... therefore, we are back to bulletpoints...

• We are happy to be back from Costa Rica.  We had to attend a regional training for latin america missionaries for a week.  Don't get me wrong - Costa Rica has some beautiful places and isn't exactly "roughing it", but we were in meetings most of the time and WE JUST LEFT COSTA RICA after living there for 10 months, so it wasn't so exciting for us.  We did enjoy having time with the other missionaries and with Judy and Ginger and the other Texas girls who came to support the MKs.  But it is sure good to be home in Peru...
• While we were gone, the Chilca church voted out their pastor and have started closing the doors to "outsiders" (anyone who wasn't born in the church, basically).  They are trying to get rid of the Compassion Kids program and are kicking out all of the leadership.  They don't like the Disciple programs because they don't like the education of the people and how it causes them to question the current teachings (education is empowerment and causes the leadership to lose control).  So we are sad to lose this church and the relationship we had there... maybe in time, they will ease up and we can get back in...
• Yesterday, we took Maria's kids and got them enrolled and paid for in school.  While we were there, the director (Javier) was eager to talk - he had been looking for me while we were in Costa Rica.  He needed a teacher for summer school math (go figure) and I just happened to show up yesterday.  Long story short, I start teaching summer school math tomorrow to 2nd-3rd graders.  So now I'm on a mad hunt for materials and lessons in Spanish... I'm not new to teaching math, just new to math vocabulary in Spanish!
• Today is Miles' 18th birthday!  Happy Birthday, Miles.
• Ryan starts back to school today - Texas A&M Kingsville.  Two challenges this semester - Chemistry 2 and Genetics.  Good Luck, Ryan... hit the ground running!
• Glad to be back in Peru... did I already say that?  Missed the food here - good fruits and vegetables at every meal, very little fat/oil, awesome flavors!  AND the ground doesn't decide to heave and break apart like it did in Costa Rica!  We experienced a 6.1 earthquake in San Jose, Costa Rica on our last day... so lucky it wasn't the day before when we were directly at the epicenter on a trip to the Varablanca area (La Paz Waterfalls).  The La Paz area is in bad shape.  Not something I really want to experience again.  Did I mention that Huancayo is awesome!?
• Looking for an online class in Public Heath and Nutrition in Developing Countries... anybody have any ideas???

Okay, enough of an update?  Sorry not too exciting, but that's life right now... just plugging along.