Thanks for the Applause

Buenos tardes de Peru!

We’re on the other side of another busy weekend at church.

Friday night, Wilfredo led a bible study about the importance of sharing community. We visited the scripture in Matthew that says, “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” In a year devoted to building community, it was nice to have an hour just to  appreciate the warmth of community.

Saturday was our busiest day of the week. We spent the morning preparing, then were off to Monte Sion around 4 p.m. I’d like to pause here to tell you about the gloriousness that is the car ride to Monte Sion. First, the ride is about 40 minutes long. Second, about 2/3 of the car ride is through construction, which means bumpy roads, detours and slow driving. Third, we pass some delightful smells, including refineries and a very fishy smelling marina area. And finally, there’s the issue of space. Wilfredo drives an older, delightfully small car that has quite limited space in the backseat. The problem? Sometimes we have as many as seven people in the car—which means three crammed in the front, and four crammed in the back. Usually, we’re lucky enough to just have five people in the car, but last Saturday we had the pleasure of having six—which means, by the time you get to Monte Sion, your butt is asleep and you spill out of the car when someone opens a door.
I’d also like to take time to note something else about Monte Sion. Usually, the second we arrive, kids start running up to the church. It’s a wonderful sight to see, kids so excited for you to open the doors, but it also means you don’t get time to walk off the cramp you have from the tiny car, or to gather your thoughts before class.



Katrina preaching about Faith last Sunday.

Getting back to the story, Saturday Katrina took the ‘ninos jovenes’ and I took the ‘ninos grandes’ for class. This time around, we were both on our own teaching. Teaching the kids here is still the most challenging thing for me: 1. Because I don’t have any one to help me translate what I can’t say and 2. Because behavior management is even more challenging when I don’t know how to say things like, “Keep your hands to yourself” or “No talking while I’m talking.” Note to self: Learn to say these things. 

Anyway, though this is my third time making a lesson plan for one of these classes, I still haven’t perfected the art. Upon jumping into a lesson it becomes evident that I can’t manage this lesson this with the language barrier or with my environment. Example: I usually get a separate classroom for my students, but this time we unexpectedly shared a space with the smaller kids and didn’t have a table.. The smaller kids were learning a song and rather loud. Another note—my kids were 30 minutes late to class. Small details like this can radically change a class, which means you have to think on your feet—in Spanish. My class was far from perfect, but it’s another one done and I learned a little more from teaching it.

After class, we went on our first home visit. Katrina, Karen and I visited a woman’s home in our congregation that is currently under construction. Her children stayed in the temporary residence while we chatted outside in the frame of her new home. Though I got lost in the conversation fairly quickly—from what I could pick up the visit went well. And even through the language barrier I was able to learn a little more about a member of our congregation.

After the home visits was the Saturday night service in Monte Sion. Pretty much the same minute that the service concluded the power went out in all of Monte Sion and we had to clean up by flashlight and head home. Luckily, the power came back on shortly after we left and we had streetlights to guide us home.

Yesterday was Katrina’s big day preaching in Filidelfia and she did a wonderful job. This was the first time one of us has preached in Filidelfia and the first time one of us has had to give the traditional, 20 minute sermon. Something I love about the congregations here is that they often clap after a sermon—which, really, is something I wouldn’t mind brining back to the States. Let’s face it—no matter how many times you’ve given a sermon, preaching is stressful. It requires a lot of thought and there’s always going to be a fear in the back of your mind that someone in the audience will hate it. The least we can do for that person is give them a little bit of applause afterwards for their effort—even if the sermon put you to sleep.

Anyway, this is, once again growing too long, so I’ll wrap it up. We’ve officially been in Peru for over a month now, this weekend is Children’s Day (more info to come) and the weekend after that we’re trekking to the congregation in Huanaco, about five hours away—we’ve got some exciting stuff in our future!