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| Wilfredo and I playing around at Costa Verde. |
Monday was a catch-up day for Katrina and I. Normal people
would have used the day to get ready for our departure, so, naturally, we
packed nothing, planned nothing and accomplished very little, other than
watching excessive amounts of the World Cup.
Tuesday we were normal people and got out of the house. We
started the day with a morning run on Costa Verde with Wilfredo. Costa Verde is
this nice area the borders the Pacific Ocean and runs from Callao all the way
to the more touristic area of Miraflores. After about 5K, we stripped off our
shoes and waded into the ocean, which was fantastic. I’d always wanted to run
near the beach and it was a great way to signify finally accomplishing my goal.
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| Ready to dip my feet in! |
After that, we headed back to Graciela’s house so Wilfredo
could cook ceviche for us one last time. Ceviche is Wilfredo’s specialty and
about as Lima as you get when you talk about Peruvian cuisine. As always, the
ceviche was fantastic and left me slightly depressed that I won’t be living
near the ocean again anytime soon.
Wednesday was our last visit with Virgilio, one of the
oldest members of the congregation in Filadelfia, and as always the night
involved coffee, sandwiches and hours of conversation about how the church
could make improvements. I don’t always get too into the “this is what we’re
doing wrong” conversations, but it is nice to see that there are congregation
members here who don’t want to just maintain the church—they want to improve
it.
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| Enjoy the Pacific Ocean after our run. |
Thursday we took Wilfredo on one more run—this time our
traditional loop around the airport, then came back just in time to watch the
USA v. Germany game. Katrina, like a responsible adult, spent most of the game
packing, cleaning and preparing things, and Wilfredo and I spent the entire game
absolutely glued to the television and yelling nonsensical and non-helpful
things at it, such as, “STOP PASSING IT BACKWARDS.” But—we advanced! I’ll take
it.
Thursday night we had some of the family over for one last
goodbye. Our flight leaves at 2 p.m. today, thus the majority of our host
family will be at work and can’t “despedirnos” at the airport—so we thought a
night-before party was necessary. We had soda and cake and our host family took
turns responding to three prompts for us:
1.
I suppose that…
2.
I’m grateful that…
3.
I hope that…
By far the hardest part of the night was the last person to answer
the prompts—Wilfredo—because he got a little choked up. We’ve spent more time
with Wilfredo than anyone in Peru and we’ve shared a mountain of experiences
together—from painting the church in Monte Sion, to driving to Huánuco, to simply
attending all the weekly church events. Over the last year Wilfredo has been an
essential part of our existence, and I like to believe we’ve been rather
important to him as well. That goodbye, in just a few minutes now, should be
the most challenging of them all.
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| Wilfredo's famous ceviche. |
And folks—that’s where we stand. Our bags our packed (and we
really hope they aren’t over the weight limit), we’ve cleared our things out of
all the rooms and now we’re just helplessly watching out time in Peru run out.
Again, it’s impossible to say what this year has meant to me—partially
because I’m still so close to it. I like to think this year is like a Monet
painting, in that when your close, it just looks like a bunch of nonsensical
blobs—but when you step away, you see something entirely beautiful. I don’t
think we’ll be able to really get the idea of how the painting looks until we
hang up our World Service Corps shirts for the last time.
Speaking of which—we have 33 days left as World Service
Corps volunteers. Here’s the breakdown of what’s to come:
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| Cancha, I will miss you. |
-1 week visiting congregations in Honduras
-1 week helping with the International Youth Forum (IYF)
in Honduras
-1 week helping with the International Youth Forum (IYF)
in Independence, MO
-1 week helping with SPECTACULAR
-A few days of debriefing with World Service Corps
And so begins our great migration north. I think it’s pretty
freaking awesome that I’ll be able to say I’ve been to South, Central and North
America in 2014. But more than checking another few countries to off my list, I
think it’s cool to say I’ve participated in congregations in each of those
places. Lived with host families. Made lasting connections.
And, with that folks—it’s time to pack the computer back up.
I’m hoping to post in Honduras, but if I can’t—I’ll see you back on the other
side.
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