Random! by Heather

So, the past few days have just been kind of random with unexpected things happening. First, Sunday we met a French couple, Thomas and Jane, who are backpacking across Peru and Bolivia. We had dinner with them and heard all kinds of crazy stories about their adventures walking through the countryside.
Yesterday morning we saw Thomas and Jane off as they headed toward the border to Bolivia. We prayed for them and I gave them some Hot Hands hand and body warmers to hopefully help on the nights they sleep in a tent in a field during the next 2 months in the dead of winter.
In the afternoon we had told the kids we would play with them at 3pm. They knocked on our door all day one day so we decided to tell them we will play at 3pm every day so they are not always knocking and asking. Usually a few kids come and they all just want to play on Jeremy´s longboard that he brought. But yesterday we all went out to play and we ended up with probably 12-15 kids and we put up the ¨patineta¨ and played a game with them instead. At first we played ¨Duck, Duck, Goose¨ because we didn´t know the Spanish words for them. Then we changed it to ¨Pollo, Pollo, Pavo¨ (Chicken, Chicken, Turkey). We had a great time and the kids really enjoyed it. There were also a lot of adults sitting around watching and laughing at the fun we were having with the kids. Hopefully playing with the kids will help us build relationships with some of the adults so we can begin storying with them.
So far we have talked to at least 3 people who said they would like to hear stories. Currently we are all still working trying to memorize our stories. Pray that we will be able to memorize them quickly! It is hard memorizing in a different language, but it is helpful to know we have people to share them with when we are ready.
Today we went to visit the medical clinic here in Conima to give them some hats and blankets Willow Park sent for them to give to newborn babies. We also were hoping to set up a time for Sara and Kelsey to help out in the clinic since they are medical and nursing students respectively. Once we settled all that they asked if we wanted to go somewhere with them in the ambulance for the whole morning. Since it was 9:30/10am already and we didn´t have anywhere we had to be this morning, we agreed. So, all 6 of us piled in the back of the tiny bus ambulance and took off out of Conima with the doctor and 2 nurses. About 15 minutes later we stopped at what turned out to be another clinic in a nearby town. The doctor told us we could look around while he and the nurses met with the staff there. So we looked around the small clinic and read all the posters with messages about Yellow Fever, Pnuemonia, HIV, and Malaria. They had a pretty long meeting and finished up around 11am. So, we thought we would have plenty of time to get back to Conima and have lunch and get on with our day. Then they told us we were going to ¨un otro puesto.¨ So we piled back in the small ambulance. 3 of us sitting on the stretcher, and headed further out of town. We pulled over in another town and had to hike up a hill to another clinic because the ambulance couldn´t make it up the hill with all of us in it. There was another long meeting with the doctors and nurses. So, we sat outside with a man who had come to the clinic and was complaining of vision loss and pain but had been told to wait. We gave him some water and sat with him. While there we also met a boy named Louis and a girl named Veronica, I believe. Veronica was 11 and she said Louis was 2, but he seemed more like a 4 year old. Louis was quite entertaining. After a really long time, the doctor and nurses came out of that meeting and said we were going on to Tilali before going back to Conima. So, we hiked down the other side of the hill and waited by the road for the ambulance to come down. Then we drove close to the Bolivia border to Tilali where there was a larger, nicer clinic. Luckily this meeting was shorter because we were getting hungry. Finally we headed back about 1:30pm. Overall it was a good trip. It showed us the nearby towns, the medical clinics and we got to talk to that man and Veronia and Louis, it just wasn´t what we were expecting for the morning! After getting back to Conima we ate a lunch of leftovers and macaroni. This afternoon we have been taking showers, catching up on blogs and cleaning up after lunch. Emily and I are about to start making dinner.
I think we are all starting to settle in as a group to being here. Time is starting to go by a little faster - the first week took forever! Little things can start to wear on us, like almost always being cold, focusing so hard on speaking in Spanish, having no shower pressure, missing home, etc. but overall we are learning to deal with it and can keep a good attitude. We have been able to develop a loose routine of morning worship, lunch, playing with kids, dinner and a group meeting each day. The sun goes down so early here we have been getting plenty of sleep. Last night was one of the earliest nights with most of us going to bed around 8:30 or 9pm.
For the next few days our focus is going to be on memorizing our stories and continuing to build relationships with people. Pray we can do that and all stay energized and healthy. Health has been an issue for different members of our group all week. Emily threw up in the street and Sara´s tongue turned black, so things are always interesting healthwise. Just pray we can continue doing our work and don´t get sidelined by health concerns. (Emily and Sara are both fine now)
My story as of today:
En el comienzo de todo, Dios creó el cielo y la tierra. La tierra no tenía entonces ninguna forma. Todo era un mar profundo cubierto de oscuridad y el espíritu de Dios se movía sobre el agua.
Entonces Dios dijo, ¨Que haya luz!¨ y hubo luz. Al vez Dios que la luz era buena, la separó de la oscuridad y la llamó ¨dia¨ y a la oscuridad la llamó ¨noche.¨ De este modo se completó el primer dia.
Despues Dios dijo, ¨Que haya una bovéda que separe las aguas para que estas queden separamos.¨

Look for another blog in a few days!