Katrina and I set out last week trying to reestablish our
routine in Callao; however, last week just wasn’t a regular week.
For starters, there is jack hammering going on at the house.
This is not an exaggeration. Workers are ripping out the floor in the bathroom
downstairs and making preparations to add a new pipe and water tank at the
house. The water on our level hasn’t been working since before Christmas, and
while I’m happy to see the issue finally getting fixed, the 8 a.m. jack
hammering has been less than pleasant.
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| The beautiful cathedral in Lima. |
Another new element is that it’s summer vacation in Peru.
Did I mention it’s hot here? It’s hot here. I woke up covered in sweat this
morning. Anyway, with the free time, a lot of people have used the opportunity
to travel. Sandra’s mother and little brother, Billy, are staying upstairs, and
we get to share our meals with them. Billy is nine years old and pretty much
the cutest kid I’ve ever seen. Although most kids use summer vacation to let
their minds melt into mush, Billy intends to use his to learn English, so I
gave him a few lessons last week, which was fun.
Wednesday was when our week really started moving when we
picked up a few people from the airport—Katrina and I’s boss, World Service
Corps Program Coordinator Emily Penrose-McLaughlin, and Steve Hatch, the
Assistant to the Apostle for Central and South America Mission Field. Emily was
here to do a site visit and to check in with Katrina and I for our midterm
review. Steve was here on a regularly planned visit. They got in late at night,
so we hit the hay shortly after their arrival (me in my glorious bunk bed with
an exceptional mattress that managed to be both thin and lumpy.)
Thursday was a day full of meetings; meetings about our
World Service Corps experience, meetings with Wilfredo and Graciela about their
experience in this process, and more. Honestly, it was a good way to start out
our next six months in Peru because it reminded us of how far we’d come; for
example, when I first got to Peru, I showed up in the airport alone, without so
much as a phone number or address for where I was going. Don’t get me wrong—I
still have moments here where I feel like that horrified girl in the airport,
but they generally fade quickly and are slightly less dramatic.
Friday was our chance to show Emily a little bit of Central
Lima. We headed to Plaza Mayor, and we got to take a tour of Basilica Catedral
de Lima (aka the Lima Cathedral.) I understand that, especially if you’re
touring around Europe, you slowly begin to feel like all of the old churches
are the same, but coming from the Midwest, we just don’t have a lot of really
old buildings like this, and I still enjoy poking in and out of an old church
now and then. It’s always especially impressive to me in Lima, because you know
that building has survived some decent sized earthquakes over the years.
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| The whole group in Filidelfia. |
Friday night was my first time teaching since our arrival in
Peru, and I lead our adult bible study class in a lesson about worry and
anxiety. While worry is pretty much a part of everyone’s everyday life, it’s
always been a particularly large part of mine. Whether its social situations,
driving or just leading a meeting, my anxiety can be completely
overwhelming—for example, there are times when I’m driving I get so overwhelmed
I honestly forget which pedal is which. Therefore, naturally, anxiety was a
topic I was “anxious” to further explore. The class went well overall, with
each person sharing their concerns: computer problems right before a big
presentation, a sick child, work troubles; everyone had their own thing to
bring to the table. After some trust falls and bible scriptures, we wrapped the
day up by writing our problems on a paper and offering them up to God.
Saturday was a full day in Monte Sion. We spent most of the
day in workshops about all kinds of things: the ins and outs of World Service
Corps, how to teach young adults, how to teach children, etc. The day ended
with a special service, where Emily preached and Katrina translated.
Sunday was a new day full of workshops, this time in
Filidelfia. Steve taught a few lessons about basic beliefs of the church and
Katrina and I shared some of our personal experiences as World Service Corps
reps.
We took a lunch break midway through the day where I finally
got to try Chufa, or Peruvian Chinese food for the first time. Peru has a
notable part of the population that originally hailed from China—apparently, a
big part of the end of slavery here was bringing in Chinese workers from abroad
to fill in the work gap (which seems counterproductive, but whatever.) The
influence from China remains and I feel like you can find a ‘Chifa’ on about
every street corner here. While the food was, of course, similar to Chinese
food in the United States, there were a few differences—notably, that Peruvians
really seemed to love the extra sweet styles of Chinese food. My side of the
table of the table spent the majority of the meal lusting after something that
was covered in pineapple and something similar to sweet and sour sauce
(although I think it was JUST sweet, not sour.)
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| With Steve & Emily on their last night in Peru. |
We rounded out our day with another service and this time
around we got to hear Steve preach in Spanish. It’s always so odd to have
visitors here because we switch between English and Spanish with each other so
regularly. I thought people only did that in The Lord of the Rings, but
apparently that happens in real life too.
Emily and Steve are probably arriving back in Kansas City
about right now, and Katrina and I are trying round two of establishing our
routine in Peru. I don’t have much on my schedule this week, so I’m trying to
devote a little time to the joyous activity of filling out job applications and
beefing up my resume—that is, unless someone wants to offer me a job right now?
No takers? Okay—then I should probably get to work. Until next time!
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