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!!!