Saturday, July 4, 2009

Happy Independence Day!  It's hard to imagine there are fireworks going off back home about now.  At breakfast our IncaLink interns loaded up some Bruce Spingsteen "Born in the USA" videos for us, even though some of them are Canadian.  Then it was off to the worksite for the morning, where we poured more footers for the orphanage dining hall.  It is hard work and slow going, but we are 3/4 of the way through that phase now.   Others spread sand/dirt around for the soccer field that will be next to the building.  I am so proud of all for working so hard and without complaint... it seemed like every time I turned around Caleb was there hefting another seriously heavy bucket of dirt/rocks to feed the cement mixer.  Maybe it was because he worked so hard there that he split his pants later in the day.  His Spanish now includes "pantalones no importante."

Back to the church where we were served lunch in their awesome rooftop meeting room, then we we began our journey toward the garbage dump (this will probably be our only visit there).  We stopped along the way for a good-natured competition at the local fruit market.  Stalls and stalls of bananas, oranges, mandarins, apples, star fruit, and some I couldn't identify.  Pam talked a number of the guys into trying some overgrown seedpod thing that they claim was good.  Anyway, our interns split us into groups of 5, gave us 10 soles, and told us to barter and see who could get the most fruit for the money in 15 minutes, without them helping translate.  It was a bit of a challenge, but the vendors were pretty patient with us, and it was worth it to see Bev trying to barter in Franish (her French keeps creeping in).  We did come up with a ton of fruit, and it was a lot more fun than them just buying it for us.

We took the fruit to the dump, to begin our ministry there by handing it out and sharing greetings as best we could with those there.  You will have to wait for the team's return for a full description of the conditions, but the sheer size of the dump was pretty astounding, and then there were a number of shacks and tents erected here and there, right on the garbage.  Small fires burned here and there and herds of pigs rooted through the trash alongside people.  Everyone was filthy.  There were probably 200-300 people dispersed around the property, maybe 1/3 of them children.  They accepted our gift of fruit readily but also warily.  After that we got up a game of soccer, played on a sandier part of the dump (still strewn with litter).  That was the first glimpse of happiness I saw.  Some men and some children played, although others said, "No, not until after work."  When it was time to go, we gave out donations from some of the items we brought with us.  A crowd gathered quickly for this, but our intern made sure everyone got one item before anyone got two.  It felt great to give some clean clothes or functional shoes to the kids and their parents--we wished we had brought more.  Once again I was so proud of everyone; though the stench was mighty and the people were flithy, our group went right up to them and greeted them with a smile as though this was all perfectly normal for us... they held hands with the girls, and clapped boys on the back or tousled their hair, even as they wondered what might be IN their hair.  As we left, we took about 3,000 flies with us on the bus.

And because we were running late, we went straight to dinner.  Did I mention that the lovely rooftop meeting room has large sinks outside it?  Blessed Camay!  I have to remark here that Zeke says this is the best food he's ever had.  He goes raiding other tables after finishing his plate to get portions other people can't finish.  So moms, the food IS good.  In fact, I think the guys are off on a churro-hunting expedition right now.

Well, we were once again greatly rejoiced to see the showers at the guest house.  But only briefly because we were off to a youth service at a local church plant.  Their music was very high energy, even though they only had recordings they played over speakers accompanied by two guys up front with microphones.  Probably about 25-30 Peruvian youth came, and we greeted them coming and going with the traditional cheek kiss.  We sang some songs to the canned music, shared an English song, and Nathan had his testimony translated.  Then we all came to the front and they changed the lighting and we really jammed.  Our favorite was the last song, which both groups knew:  Trading My Sorrows.  I think we will all remember that experience when we sing it from now on.

Well, Caleb has returned from the hunt with no churro, but says he ate a cow heart.  Hmmm.  So we are all being very adventurous and stretching ourselves!  Tomorrow we will spend the earlier part of the day at the beach, then in the evening we will join some local C&MA church members doing some door-to-door evangelism (us mostly serving as a unique exhibit for the church folks to use to open conversations with unchurched people), then attending the main service of the church plant.  Thanks again for your prayers.  All are still healthy, save Jesse sprained an ankle playing soccer, and Jeremy banged his knee when an embankment at the worksite caved in a bit.  But both report they are much better now.  Keep praying though!!  We will think of you tomorrow as we bask on the beach (ah, Sabbath--what a wonderful idea!).