Yes, yes, the blog post is a day late—but to make up for it,
I’ll blog about our beach adventures yesterday. Deal? Deal.
Breakfast: Complete with blood sausage! |
So—last week can best be summarized in one word: MEADS. Again, MEADS
stands for Ministerial Education and Discipleship Studies is a fancy was of
saying we had temple school classes. And temple school classes is a fancy way to say we studied church theology,
scripture and general ministry techniques. MEADS is generally held in the Community of Christ
Temple in Missouri, however for a lot of people in South America, that just isn’t
an option: thus they bring the party to us.
And by “the party” I mean some interesting classes and
Carlos Mejia and Steve Hatch. This was my first time meeting Carlos. He hails
from Honduras, a country where the Community of Christ is thriving at the moment.
He’s also a member of the Council of Twelve Apostles (and if you’re not a
Community of Christ member, just know that means he’s kind of a big deal.) Steve
visited us in January and he’s the apostolic assistant for Central and South
America. The two of them, as well as Wilfredo, arrived in Peru on Wednesday,
fresh from giving their MEADS presentations in Colombia.
Gathered around for a prayer during Steve's class. |
The week was a nice mix of business and pleasure.
Wednesday we started things off with a casual meeting in Consuelo’s house to chat and preview the rest of the week.
Thursday we had our first official class in Marlene’s house, talking about Christian Ethics. Thursday was also the day Jimmy and Cristian from Huanuco arrived.
While the weekend didn’t leave a ton of time for banter, it was wonderful to
have a little piece of Huanuco in town.
Friday was when things really took off. We started the
morning with “breakfast” at a place famous for its chicarron (fried pork) called Don Luchos.
Breakfast entailed sweet potatoes, ham, blood sausage (yes, it’s made with
blood) and, of course, chicarron. It was fantastic, and a breakfast that made lunch completely obsolete. After that we headed to Monte
Sion for a church service to kick things off. Katrina and I tag teamed
presiding, Wilfredo preached and things rolled along fairly smoothly.
Can you believe it? Steve gave us HOMEWORK! |
Saturday was our first full day of classes. An hour later
than planned (in true Peruvian fashion) we climbed in a combi and trekked off
to Monte Sion. Carlos taught a class on “Cuidado Pastoral” (Pastoral Care) and
we had a surprising turnout from the Monte Sion congregation. People were
impressively engaged in the lesson—because, let’s face it, a five hour class on
anything can get a little dry after a while. We ended the night with another
quick service, a beautiful sermon by Steve and a fantastic dinner served up by
one of the Monte Sion members, Maria.
Sunday was our last day of MEADS. Once again, we climbed on
the combi an hour later than planned, and this time five of us had to get out
and walk so the combi could make it up the hill to Monte Sion (this hill is no
joke, people.) After that toasty walk, we jumped into Steve’s class,
which focused on the book of Mark. We compared different books of the bible and
different interpretations and it was my favorite class of the weekend. Once
again, we finished the affair with a church service, this one a little more
extensive, and with a sermon by Carlos.
Our last day of MEADS with the freshly painted church! |
Before we knew it, our time had run out and Wilfredo had to scamper
off to the airport so Carlos and Steve could catch their flight to Chile. They
have the pleasure of teaching their MEADS classes three weeks in a row.
To celebrate the successful weekend, the Filidelfia
congregation headed out to the movie theater immediately afterwards to see “Non-Stop.” (I have
to note here that the Spanish movie title literally translates to “Without
Layovers” which is a much less dynamic title.) Something I love about Peru
is that everyone here LOVES doing things with their family. Everyone begged and
pleaded for Graciela and Consuelo (the two mothers in the group) to come to the
movie with us, and eventually wrangled them into it (Consuelo promptly slept
through the entire movie.)
By the end of the day, everyone had wet ocean pants. |
And that brings us to yesterday. For Jimmy and Cristian’s
last day in Lima, Wilfredo took us all out to the beach to soak our feet.
Graciela and I promptly trekked a little too close to the surf and got soaked
from head to toe in seawater; however, it was a toasty day and we spent the rest
of the afternoon drying out in the sun, unsuccessfully trying to skip rocks and
watching surfers. Something about the quiet afternoon together was a simply
beautiful experience and it stands as one of my favorite days I’ve had thus far
in Peru.
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