Our first Thanksgiving in Peru

We have successfully had our first Thanksgiving dinner in Peru.  It was a much better attempt than we had in Costa Rica!!!  We remembered our Costa Rican "Barbie-sized oven" and were thankful this year that we have a normal sized oven.  We remembered the Costa Rica turkey that cost nearly $70, and we were thankful that we now live where turkey costs less than $25.  We remembered the pitiful attempt at cornbread last year (without cornmeal) and we were so thankful for the supporters that sent packages of cornbread mix in the mail to Peru.  We remembered the lack of orange sweet potatoes in Costa Rica (theirs are white) and we were so thankful for the fantastic sweet potato casserole that Liz and Sarah prepared this year.  I was so thankful, once again, for the time that my mother spent handwriting all of the family recipes in a special cookbook for me.  And these were just the thanks that I thought of during dinner!  There is so much more to be thankful for!

See the photos for our turkey "surprise"... when Billy was getting the turkey ready for the oven, he reached in the carcass to pull out the usual package of giblets/innards/neck.  Instead, he let out a holler when he pulled THIS out!  It really made the whole turkey experience a little too personal.  I don't much like looking into the eyes of what I'm about to shove into a 350 degree oven.

The magic of a projector

This will probably be a bit incoherent, but I don't have a lot of time...

We have been blessed with the ministry finances to purchase a projector for our computer.  In our opinion, it has already "paid for itself" in the response that it has gotten!  

We began working with the Quechua church in Chilca this week.  The pastor asked us to begin helping with their children's ministry - they have several things going on with children and they are pretty overwhelmed with kids!  On Wednesday nights, they have a children's worship service. On Sunday mornings, they have Sunday School from 10-12 and they have so many children that they cannot hold adult services in the same building (adults meet in the evening). This same church also administers the Compassion International children's program in this area, dealing with 200+ children on MWF for bible study, school tutoring, and feeding them lunch.  We will be helping out with the Compassion kids, too.

We started helping out during this past week.  On Wednesday night, we took the new projector to the children's worship and showed the first half of The Prince of Egypt (story of Moses).  Over 250 children showed up to see the movie, and many more children and adults walked in off the street to see what was going on.  We will show the second half this Wednesday and the church is wondering just how many will come this week!!!  They say that the 250 last week was a low number of children, since it was storming outside and everyone has to walk to get to church.

It was such a hit that the pastor asked us to preach this week (Thursday night service) and show the movie "La Esperanza" (The Hope) - an overview of the entire bible and it's application to our lives.  Then the Compassion International administrator asked if we would show it again on Saturday night to the Compassion families, since the majority of them are not Christians and the church wants to reach out to them.  

This morning, we attended the Sunday School class - 200 children packed the little sanctuary and approximately 20 volunteer adults led them in singing, lessons, a drama about sexual abuse, more singing, and serving snacks.  It was an amazing morning!  Again, we are told that the number was low today because there was a regional church "anniversary" program that took many of the families away this weekend to attend the program.  

This week proves to be very busy for us - we have a leadership training workshop set to begin in 15 minutes (AAAHHH!!!), we show the movie on Wednesday, we preach in Chilca Thursday, Billy preaches in another Chilca church Sunday, Thanksgiving (we are going to try to celebrate as well as possible), ... all of this on top of our normal schedule of teaching and leading bible studies.  Pray for stamina this week!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Amazing!

The title for this week's post is probably the word that I have used most often during the course of the week... AMAZING!  

• In an uncertain economy, when everyone seems to be cutting back and pinching pennies, our supporters did exactly the opposite and sent in MORE support funds than usual!  Amazing!
• And, of course, the USA elections were amazing.  I'm not about to debate politics here... Suffice to say that as a teacher who has spent the past 15 years in classrooms filled with underprivileged children and children of color & other races  who don't think that they will ever amount to anything because of their skin or their parent's place in life, I was so happy to see the USA turn this page in history.  Putting all of politics aside, this is a big step for the USA.  I hope that my former students are perking up and taking notice that they DO have opportunities and hope.  I sat and cried as I watched the final election counts roll in, mostly because I was thinking of a couple of my former students... Karina (probably the smartest child I ever had in my classes) told me one time that she really wanted to be a doctor, but "I'm hispanic and I'm a girl - it won't ever happen".  And Luis, who wanted to be a scientist, but "I'll probably just end up working on a farm, because that's all that us Mexicans can do."  
• During our morning quiet time, Billy was talking about how he really wanted to work with a certain pastor here in Peru, and how he really still felt called to work with children - especially street children and underprivileged kids.  And he was praying for that to happen someday.  That same afternoon, that EXACT pastor stopped by the house and asked Billy if we could come minister on Wednesday nights to a group of children at their church.  AND, as though that weren't amazing enough, he also asked us to help with their Compassion International kids during the week.  AMAZING!!!
• We took a hike with some of our bible study group and walked along the original Huanca trail (pre-Inca).  It made me think a lot about the paths that the people of the Bible walked - primitive, rocky paths on the sides of mountains.  The view was spectacular!  We were hiking along the ridge at the top of one mountain and looking out over the valleys on both sides.  And across the valley we could see Huatapallana and the snowcapped peaks of the Andes.  The sky was incredible, the fields were beautiful... it was amazing!  And I don't think I'll ever get tired of seeing real shepherds herding their sheep, or of donkeys carrying loads of harvest on their backs, or of Quechua women carrying giant bundles of fresh cut flowers on their backs.  AMAZING!

Hope you see some of God's amazing work this week... it's there!  Just look for it!

No particular topic...

Okay - so I have no particular topic or theme this post, other than to say that our life in general is kind-of random and the only topic or theme that runs congruent to everything would be ministry and Jesus (obviously).  This week's randomness includes:

Sarah's birthday... Sarah turned 5 this week.  She had a party at her school, complete with a clown and a pinata, etc.  It was fun - very different from the USA - another cultural learning experience for all of us.  By the way, jello is a staple food for birthday parties, as are a knockoff of Cheetos... it just isn't a birthday party unless these two items are present (I was told this info NUMEROUS times).

Adult ESL... Laurie has added to her already full schedule by taking on a trio of 20-something girls who want to learn English.  They come every afternoon for an hour to practice and have conversations.  One of them has relatives in the USA and wants to speak well enough to go to New York (I wasn't aware that New Yorkers spoke English :) HA!)  

Open Garage Classroom... We have finally opened the garage as a classroom and we have activities and classes each afternoon from 3-5 for whoever appears and wants to read, talk, play games, etc.

Sarah's Dance classes... Sarah has started taking traditional dance 3 nights each week.  The National Champion for traditional dance lives across the street and her older sister is the dance teacher.  She comes to our home MWF for an hour each night to teach dance to Sarah.  Sarah is having a great time!  She wanted to take ballet, but ballet is unheard of here in the mountains. So this is the next best thing, and she is happy with whatever kind of dance she can take!

Jack Sparrow's owners... If you have been following the blog, you know that we "inherited" a parrot a few weeks ago.  Well, the owners finally appeared.  Actually, they are our neighbors, but the mother works in the jungle and isn't there often.  The son is the actual owner, but he is in college in Lima and the parrot can't travel over the mountains to Lima.  The grandparents live next door and they can't really take care of the parrot well and give it a lot of attention. So, long story short, they gave the parrot to Sarah to keep.  They decided that it was in better hands with us, since we hold it every day and talk to it, etc.  PS - Jack is a female and her name was Reina (Queen).  Now what should we call her???  She answers to Jack now, and Queen Jack doesn't quite sound right.  

Miles' Wisdom Teeth... Miles had his wisdom teeth taken out in College Station yesterday.  He seems to be doing well.  It was SO hard on Billy to not be able to be there with him.  We really miss our boys!  Can't wait to see them in December!!!

Ballots... We just received our official ballots for the presidential election - oh yippie!  I know it is our duty and our right, etc... but speaking for myself - I'm just not sure what the best option is this time and voting seems like more of a burden than a privilege to me right now.  The news and info we see out-of-country makes both sides seem like loons!  I have no idea what is truth and what is propaganda.  For me, it would have been easier if the mail had been delayed (like usual) and we didn't receive the ballots in time.  Leave it to the USPostal service and the Peruvian service to get it together just in time to get my ballot to me!!!  Oh happy day...

I don't know what else to say... see, I told you this would be a random post!!!  Oreo the Cat, Charlotte the dog, and Jack the Parrot are all watching me post this and probably wondering, "What on earth does she have to say that is so important?"  To which I reply, "Absolutely nothing!!!"  Watching paint dry is probably more interesting than reading some of my blogs, but I feel compelled and obligated to post because there are people out there who actually log how many days it has been since my last post and start to wonder about my safety and health if they don't hear from me.  

 

Back into the Classroom

It feels so awesome to be back in the classroom!!!  I really miss that part of my life and I am so happy to be back in that role again, even if it is pretty crazy and hectic!  Because of they way our visas are written, we cannot earn a salary/money while we are living in Peru, so all of our work has to be volunteer.  It is a ministry to the schools, as they don't have to pay a salary and they get a well-qualified teacher.  So happy to be teaching:

• On Mondays and Wednesdays, I am A SCIENCE TEACHER AGAIN!!!  Hallelujah!!!  I have 18 students in a multi-age classroom (2nd-5th graders all in the same room).  It is fantastic to again teach about vertebrates and invertebrates, animal classifications, life cycles, etc., even if it is in a different language.  I have to do as much studying as the kids do to prepare for my lessons because the vocabulary is all new to me!
• On Wednesday mornings, I teach English at Sarah's school.  I have 22 students, ages 3-6 years old.  Preschool/kindergarten teaching all over again!
• On Thursday afternoons, Billy and I have 2 kids who come to the house to learn English.  One is 13 years old and one is 8.  They asked if they could bring siblings or friends, so we'll see how many we have this week....
• Also on Thursday afternoons, we have Maria.  Maria is a widow/mother of 7 children who is "illiterate" (she cannot read or write, even her own name).  She has decided to try to learn, although she is convinced that she cannot.  So far, she can write her name!!!  She is very excited with this accomplishment and we see her spirit growing with empowerment! She is ready to learn to read and write her children's names now.

It is great to be teaching again!

You never know what might fall out of the sky...

You never know what just might fall out of the sky and land in your backyard!  Meet the newest member of our family.  This is "Jack Sparrow" (named for the pirate in Pirates of the Caribbean).  He appeared in our backyard Saturday.  We have no idea how he came to us... his wings are clipped, so he can't fly.  Our backyard is surrounded by 14 foot concrete walls, with 5 more feet of netting above that.  So unless Jack is a former NBA player and has a heck of a jump, we aren't sure how he arrived here.  Nevertheless, here he is.  He isn't in the greatest of shape - he is underweight, he has an injured wing and a cut on his foot, and he is molting (so he looks pretty pitiful).  We feel like he was possibly an abused pet - he seems to have issues with men - whenever Billy approaches him, he lets out a terrible yell or he makes a sound that can best be described as a growl.  He loves Sarah!!!  He almost purrs and coos when she is around (if a bird can purr).  He isn't very fond of his cage that we bought him.  He would rather be out of it, standing on top of it or sitting in the kitchen window.  When he is out of his cage, he "talks" to whoever is in the room.  We need to find out what else he might eat besides bananas... so far, he isn't interested in anything but bananas.  Maybe that's why he is so skinny - no one could gain weight eating nothing but bananas!!!  If anyone knows anything about Blue Meeley Amazon Parrots, give us a clue!!!  

Home from the Jungle

 Billy is home from his week in the jungle.  He went to Puerto Bermudez to teach a group of 12 how to lead bible study and discipleship groups.  This group wants to start study groups in the jungle.  The theory of multiplication is working wonders here in Peru!!!  Our team disciples people, then they go out and start their own groups, who go out and start their own groups, etc.  As far as we can tell, our groups are now in their third or fourth "generation" of multiplication.  It's hard to know, because once we disciple them and they are standing on their own two feet, we have no idea what their impact is in the world - their isn't a way to track their growth.  It's an amazing work!

The jungle held many new and exciting and "interesting" experiences for Billy.  It took 2 days of driving to get into the place where these disciples were training.  The first day was mostly on paved road, but the second day was completely dirt/rock/holes/boulders.  

In the jungle, it is not uncommon to have a scarlet macaw spend the morning yelling at you while you are trying to lead a meeting.  Nor is it uncommon for bats to fly in and circle your head while you are having a prayer service - and we're not talking little tiny Mexican freetail bats... these are giant jungle bats!  There is a village "pet" named Lucha... she is a tapir who walks the streets and enters any open store that catches her fancy for a treat - she likes bananas.  It is interesting to buy a soft drink while standing next to a tapir at the counter!

Food was "different".  Lots of yucca and rice!  One day they ate sopa de platanos (green banana soup) with fish parts.  Another day was a fish broth soup, in which Billy received the fish head.  The type of fish they were serving that day was what we know as a sucker fish - you know the sucker mouth fish that clean the sides of aquariums?  Well they come from the jungle and they are huge and they suck/filter the mud at the bottom of the river.  So Billy received the head, which was a complement to him because it is "the good part" they told him.  He picked off what little meat there was on the head and called it a day, but was informed that he left all of the good stuff - the sucker lips and the eyes are the most important part.  Not wanting to offend anyone, he did the gracious missionary thing and ate "the good parts", much to the delight of the others at the table.  "How to win friends and Influence people, by Billy Drum!"  In doing this feat, he made fast friends of several people, who then convinced the cook to make him a special type of tamale for lunch (yes, the fish head soup was breakfast).  The tamale was in the shape of a giant hershey's kiss, wrapped in a banana leaf.  It was filled with chicken, rice, corn, and a hard boiled egg.  He said it was delicious!!!  All in all, he says that the food wasn't terrible and he didn't die or bring home any internal parasites, so all is well.  Plus, he made great friends over the dinner table.  

This bug landed on the table one night and Billy grabbed it to check it out, much to the horror of all of the other people at the table.  "It will kill you!  It's venomous!"  But Billy knew better... it is really a relative of our Texas cicada.  It mimics several other things - from the side, it mimics a lizard or baby crocodile; when it flies, it looks like a butterfly; and when it lands and opens it's wings really big, it looks like an owl's face.  In reality, it doesn't even have a true mouth - it has a proboscis that sucks the juice out of plants, like a butterfly's tongue.  He and I have both had a great time teaching others the truth about this "deadly insect".

Billy can't wait to return, and he can't wait to take us with him.  He now has new friends.  One friend wants the whole family to come and he will meet us with his boat and take us to his house (3 hours upriver deeper into the jungle) to spend several days with his family.  I'm sure we will do it - maybe next year after the rainy season passes.