Huancane, The Beginnings - James S.

Yes, I know all of my Blog titles are cheesy =D

Well, I was late to worship after all, but it all worked out. I was just going on Peruvian time is all. Here, relationships mean much more than time, so it's common for people to be late to meetings or or events even when a designated time has been set. The REAPSouth staff prayed over all of the teams, and then we were off!

Before and while we were at the airport, we met Patty's mom who is such a sweet and nice lady, but she doesn't understand much English, so it was very difficult for Ellen and me to talk to her by ourselves when Patty wasn't there. Ellen tried Ceviche at the airport for lunch, which is a dish of raw fish that is "cooked" by an acidic sauce and has some spice of some kind. But, it was a little too spicy for Ellen and a little too fishy tasting for my taste. I'd eat it again though. I had...McDonald's of course! I wanted to get my last "American" meal out of the way befor we got to the villages.

By the way, the Peruvian planes, at least the TACA flight we were on, are SO much nicer than US planes. Tons of leg room and overhead room, comfortable chairs, etc etc...just saying. We arrived safely in Juliaca and got to Pastor Ruben's house in Huancane in one piece. We are slowly acclamating to the environment. Ellen has felt a little sick, but only the first night. I, thank the Lord and praise be to Him, have not felt sick at all. But poor Patty has been sick the whole time since we got here. She just has a congested nose and sore throat, but that makes translating all the more difficult. She says she's slowly getting better, but PRAYER WARRIORS! WE NEED YOU! Pray for her health so that she can be the vital team player that she is. Without her, we are literally mute! Or are walking around with one leg.

So far we've: gone shopping for groceries and supplies, helped clean dishes, helped make food, visited friends and family of Pastor Ruben, ate some local food, washed our own clothes, played with the kids, learned some guitar, successfully showered, and tried many a-new things; all of which occurred in 3 days and in VERY NON American ways.

But we're doing great. The Toledo family are perhaps THE micest, most gracious, most helpful, and certainly most patient people on the planet - and we could ALL learn something from them, and I'm not talking about Spanish. OH! Speaking of...here's a fun fact: the people here don't say they speak Spanish. They call it Castayano (sp?) though I know I jus butchered that. It's just the regional Peruvian version of Spanish but still the same. I don't know, I just thought that was cool (or chevere down here). Today we taught local children "Head, shoulders, knees, and...feet" we use feet because toes and fingers are the same word. On Thursday we will teach them some animals and colors in English. We also visited Luisa's friend Veronica, who accepted Christ 2 months ago, but was very insecure in her faith. She didn't know what would happen to her if she died. She also was confused about Darwinian evolution. I told her the story of Abraham sacrificing Isaac and how God provided a substitute in Isaac's place and that Jesus was our substitute sacrifice for God. We also told her how evolution was false and that people are just looking for ways to explain things they don't understand. But we told her man is created in God's image and that we have souls whereas animals do not. We tried to talk to her about getting Baptized but she was scared and didn't know why she needed to. We somewhat ran out of time, but we told her to pray for what God had in his Will for her life and that she needed to make the decision for herself and that we couldn't for her. I said that getting Baptized was like when Jesus was ressurected. Your old life dies, but your new life is risen a-new. Somewhat of a stretch, but it clicked with her somewhat.

Anyway, we're currently trying to make preparations for the Barnabus team (a team from REAPSouth that comes to give us encouragement) who come on Saturday. We're also trying to see if we can get to Conima earlier than expected because Patty said she thought the house was completely ready when she was there in April. But we'll keep you updated.

Until next time, God Bless and Adios!

Psalm 18:1-3