Being Present in the Present and Looking to the Future

With less than a month left in my time here in Peru I find myself in the midst of many preparations. It gets a little difficult at time to stay focused on my work and mission here when I feel like there are so many things to do to prepare for my homecoming. To steal from fellow YAV Alissa King, I feel like I've got each foot in two different worlds.



On one side I'm here, finishing up projects, work, translating, and saying goodbye. Saturday I had my "despedida" or good-bye party with the Chicas Tamar, the group of girls that I work with on Saturday afternoons. This group was my very first project here in Huanuco and I've been with since September. So it was certainly an emotional time saying goodbye to them. I tried to make it fun by teaching them some "typical" dances from the U.S., the Cha Cha Slide, the Cupid Shuffle, and of course the Electric Slide, hahaha. Then I gave each girl a friendship bracelet as well as a small dream catcher and told them that I really enjoyed the time I got to spend with them and that I hope that God blesses and watches over them and that I hope all of their wishes and dreams come true. Then I was given a few gifts, including a beautiful picture drawn by one of the girls that also said something to the effect that I was an angel sent by God to spread God's love. It was then that I kinda lost it! The girls told me to not forget them, to which I replied that I could never do that. As I said goodbye to each girl with a hug, I was hoping that they don't forget me. They have impacted my life so much with their stories and struggles that I hope I've made at least half an impression on them as they have left on me.



A lot of my work has really tapered off in the past few weeks, so while I'm still continuing with some of my projects, my work load has certainly decreased. This has given me some free time that I have chosen to occupy myself with thoughts and plans for when I get home. So here I am trying to be present and in the moment for my last days in Peru, and yet a lot of times all I can think about is home, the people I'm going to get to see and things I am going to get to do.




One of the things I am most excited about is starting a NEW JOB! A few of you already know this news, but drum roll ladies and gentlemen..... Pending a successful meeting activity and approval by the youth I will be the Director of Children and Youth Ministries at the First Presbyterian Church of Oklahoma City!!!! When I was thinking about and beginning my search for a new job in Oklahoma, my main criteria was something that paid fairly well and that I didn't hate myself for doing. Basically I didn't want to sell anything, food, clothes, cutco knives, coffee, whatever! Now that I've found a job that I think I will not only enjoy, but one that also utilizes my skills and gifts and will give me an outlet for my passions. The way that this all came together was definitely a God thing, and I just feel so blessed and excited to have recieved this call!




Next up for me is packing, which I kinda started last night and holy cow I did not realize how much crap I've accumulated over the past 11 months!! I'm also trying to plan out time to spend with friends and my host family. With only a week left I'm really starting to feel the pressure of feeling like I still have so much left to do and not much time to do it in. So now I'm back to trying to be present while I am still here. I'm one of those people whose head is almost always days, weeks, months in the future. So for me to focus on the now is something I actually have to work on.

I will be leaving my dear Huanuco on July 15th on the morning bus. I've got a seat on the first row of the second floor of the bus (for those of you who don't know, the long distance buses here have two floors, the bottom with larger more luxurious seats and the top with smaller more squished together seats) so that I will be able to see and take picture of all the beautiful landscape as I pass up and over the Andes Mountains on my way to Lima. Once in Lima it will be a despedida with the wonderful folks at the Red Unidos Manos (our umbrella organization) and then the YAVs along with our coordinator, Debbie, and her husband, Harry, are off to Paracas - a small coastal town called the Galapagos of Peru - for a time of retreat and reflection on the past year. And after all that strenuous retreating us YAVs are off for one more vacation to Iquitos a city right in the heart of the jungle on the Amazon River. No worries - many pictures to follow!!!

After Iquitos it's a couple of days in Lima for last minute shopping and more goodbyes and then we board our plane bound for the U.S. of A. at 12:20am on Tuesday July 27th and barring any unforseen travel delays or arrests at the customs checkpoint because of the pirated DVDs (haha) I should be home for lunch, probably at Sonic, all safe and cozy and happy with my family!!!


This will probably be my last post for a bit, as obviously I will be busy the next few weeks and will have little to no internet access. So thanks again for reading and I will hopefully be seeing most of you back HOME!

My Life in Pictures

So I thought that instead of a long boring post where I try to be all metaphorical and philosophical I would just simply show you some of the sights that I see everyday to give you an idea of what my day to day life is like.

My typical breakfast: fresh bread from the bakery, fresh cheese, fresh squeezed orange juice (notice any pattern here?), and of course COFFEE!

On Mondays I ususally take mototaxi into work because I'm carrying my laptop and it's safer than walking, plus it gives me like 20 more minutes to sleep and get ready in the morning.

Also on Mondays we have a weekly meeting and devotional. Each department shares what's going on in their area and ask for prayers for certain projects, people, etc. Then we break up into groups and pray.

On the other days of the week I walk to work. It's about a mile from my house to the office. I do this 4 times a day! This is one of the paths I take. It's really pretty, but it's right by the river and a lot of people dump or burn trash around there and so often it smells.

This is the view from my desk. Notice how I have gmail up on the computer screen. There is a running joke with the YAVs and our coordinator that we gchat with each other more than we actually do work.

This is the cutie-patootie who sells churros at the bakery on the corner near my house. About once a week I succumb to temptation on the way home from work and have to buy a churro. Besides who can say no to that smile?

This the collectivo "Micro" bus that I take to get out to the farm and shelter where I work with the kids out there for one afternoon a week. I'm sure my Lima friends are laughing right now at the lack of people on the bus, but let me assure you that not 5 minutes after I took this picture it was full enough that several people were standing. Also it only costs me s/1.50 which is about $0.50 for a good 30-45 minute drive.

When I get off the bus I have to cross the river on this fun but kinda sketchy boat that you pay 70 centimos (like $0.20) for someone to pulley you across. During the rainy season however (Dec. - April) there is a sort of basket seat that is hung from those cables in the right of the picture and they pulley you across that way.

One of the fields that I cross on my way to get the farm. Yes, it is quite the trek to get out there and back. Hopefully in the future there will be easier access, although right now the set up is nice because it keeps the kids in our shelter safer to have them in such a remote place.

So there it is, glimpses into my life through my eyes. I also have many more pictures from my life and year here on my facebook, the links to which you can find on the right hand side bar. Sorry that I don't have more picture of some of the actual work that I do, and I promise I do do SOMETHING! It's not all just gchat and exotic vacations with the YAVs. I just can't post any pictures of the kids and the women I work with because of their sensitive cases and privacy. HOWEVER, I will be giving a very informal photo presentation and sort of brief summary of my YAV year and work at St. James Presbyterian Church in Jenks on Sunday August 1st after worship, during Sunday school time, so at about 10:30am. This is just the first presentation that I have planned and I will not hesistate to share my photos and experiences to anyone who asks. So just let me know!

I'm writing another post about my future plans, so look for that probably this week. And thanks again for following me this far!!

Hiking the Inca Trail. A.k.a The Most Difficult Physical Thing I've Ever Done in My Life

Challenges.

This year has been full of them for me.

Some of them have been emotional and psychological: adjusting to a new culture, living with a new family, losing and relinquishing some of my independence, experiencing loneliness, and being away for the first time in my life from everything and everyone familiar to me.

Some of the struggles have been mental: learning a new language, converting soles to dollars in my head, finding my way around a new city, and calculated exactly how much time I have to cross a street before a moto runs me over.

Then there are the spiritual struggles: living in a conservative evangelical community, not agreeing with the Catholics either, sitting through 2 hour + worship services in Spanish, having to find spiritual fulfillment on my own (actually that's been quite a blessing), trying to listen to God more and figure what that next step is in my life.

And the physical ones: Walking everwhere! (which I actually really enjoy now), dealing with near constant stomach issues (you never know how much you miss tap water until you can no longer drink it without suffering severe consequences), and being talked into a 4 day, 3 night hike along the Inca Trail with your fellow YAVs.

The Inca Trail is a famous hiking path in Peru, built by, well, the Incans centuries ago and is now enjoyed by only a handful of adventurous tourists who are allowed on the trail at a time. We started our journey first in the anchient Incan capital of Cuzco. There we were breifed on the hike and other necessary information by our Guide Valerio aka Papi (to the ladies). So after a confusing and chaotic afternoon of running around the city procuring the necessary items for the trip, we relaxed with a nice dinner as we said a temporary good-bye to civilization. The next morning we were up early and were taken by bus to the small town of Ollantatambo, where we could get our last minute things for the trek, like the all important walking stick with brightly colored manta handle (seriously one of the best investiments for 8 soles I've made here!). After Ollantatambo we arrived at the official starting point for the trail, Kilometer 82 (along the railroad tracks, it's 82 Km away from Cuzco). And from there, there was no turning back...

Now I'm the kind of girl who enjoys the outdoors. I've been a few hikes, none lasting more than a few hours, and I've spent many nights sleeping outdoors, even in the heat and pouring down rain. But I have never done something as remotely as intense as this hike was. The first day and 3rd days are the longest, but it's the second day where you feel like you're going to die. It's only about 5 or 6 km, but the vast majority of it is climbing up. Valerio, told us that it usually takes people going at normal pace 5 hours to get to the highest point, Warmiwanyuska or Dead Woman's Pass. During most of the trek I seemed to find myself always towards the back of the line of hikers. But thank goodness though for Joe's dear sister, Callie, who was with me every step of the way, and formed the other half of our exclusive Team Tortuga. We pushed each other up that mountain, so when we finally reached the pass in 7 hours, I couldn't help but feel first very accomplished, but then like I was going to die! At 4200 meters, it was easily the highest this Oklahoma girl has ever climbed.
Along the trail we slept in small, yet comfortable 2 person tents, and Callie and I ended up bunking and huddling together for warmth during those high altitude nights that brought with it cold winds and even colder rain. Thank God for thermal insulated sleeping bags!! We ate delicious meals in our common dinning tent. It was during these times that we got to know the other 5 members of our expedition. There was the German couple, Stephan and Johanna, the Canadian Best Friends, who were celebrating retirement!, and then the lone Scotsman named Fehrro (pronouced like Pharoh, but I always called him Fierro from Wicked in my head), then there were 5 of us YAVs, along with a hodge podge of family and friends along for the fun! German, Canadians, Scots, Peruvians, Presbyterians, you really just can't go wrong with that mixture, haha.

Here are a few things that I learned while on the trip:

New vocabulary words: Fleesers - fleece jacket, esleepings - sleeping bag, behatacion - vegatation. Toliet - whole in the ground with two spots to place your feet. Tumbas - Incan burial places

ALWAYS have toilet paper on your person. (I should have learned this lesson much earlier, but it really sunk in this trip)

Wiping down with a baby wipe is just as good as a shower, and you don't have to endure the cold water.

Coca tea is wonderful drink to counter altitude sickness and tastes especially nice first thing in the morning when it's brought to you in your tent.

Climbing up maybe hard on your muscles and endurance, but it's the walking down that will get you in the end! (My knee still hasn't fully recovered)

Ok, I'm getting a little metaphorical here; but those times when you just feel like you really can't move one more inch and you just want to sit down and make camp, putting one foot in front of the other and consentrating on that amazingly enough helps you make it to the next check point, the next Incan ruin, the next pass, the next camp, and then finally to the end!!!

As I write this post I've got about 50 days left in Peru. I can see the end off in the foggy future. While the trek has been fun, and beautiful, and difficult, and of course full of life changing experiences and lessons, seeing the end has made me excited and ready to be there already. I've been away for a long time now and I'm tired and ready to be back among familiar places and people, and back on solid ground sort of speak. But I've still quite a bit of trail until then, and I fully intend to take in all the beauty and wonder that I have yet to experience here!

Thank you all for those who are still reading this. Sorry I've been such an inconsistent blogger, but I've got a few ideas for posts on these last few weeks on this adventure, so maybe I will redeem myself a bit. Thanks for following!!!

Semana Santa and my new found appreciation for the Catholic faith.

Quick! Say to yourself the Lord's Prayer! I'll start you out, "Our Father, who art (is) in heaven..."

Now if you're like me and a well raised member of a mainline denomination church, that wasn't that difficult of a task. The reason I had you all say the Lord's Prayer is because even though I've attended church nearly every Sunday , as well as a few services in the middle of the week, I just said the Lord's Prayer for the first time since arriving here in Peru on Palm Sunday when I visited the Catholic Church near my home. As someone who is used to saying this simple and comforting prayer every Sunday, it's something that I've been missing. But because I've been living in the tiny Evangelical community of Huanuco all forms of litergy, really anything makes them look Catholic, are removed to help them distinguish themselves as well NOT Catholic.

Here's a break down of each service as I have experienced them here so you can see the similiarities and the differences for yourself.

Typical Catholic Worship Service (or what I've experienced so far):

* Welcome and Call to Worship

* Hymns, some recognizable, and sometimes some more contemporary sounding songs.

* A Prayer maybe

* Passing of the Peace

* Reading of the Scripture (done by lay people of the congregation, and the few services I've been to have actually had women read the scripture)

* Another Prayer

* Sermon by the Priest (duration approx. 15-20 min.)

* Lord's Prayer and Hail Mary

* Apostle's Creed

* Communion with Words of Instiution

* People go up for Communion

* Sing another song or two and the offering

* I think another prayer

* The priest goes around with Holy Water and blesses everyone

* And then we all go home

TOTAL DURATION: APPROX. 1 HOUR

Typical Evangelico worship service:

* Get to church and wait for a good 20-30 minutes after church was supposed to start for more people to come and for people to stop chatting.

* Sing 2-3 songs all praise songs Open the Eyes of My Heart Lord = Abre Mis Ojos Oh Cristo

* Passing of the Peace

* Prayer

* Sermon with Scripture sprinkled in (duration approx. 1 hour - 1 1/2 hours)

* Prayer

* Song with offering

* Another Prayer

* Announcements and Such

* Mingle, get hugs and kisses from cute old ladies, and go home

TOTAL DURATION: APPROX. 2 HOURS (sometimes more)

Now which service is most similar to what is typical for you on Sunday Morning?


I usually end up going to church with my host family, because I feel like it's an important time for us to spend together. Sometimes I will go to another Evangelico church with my friend Edel and her boyfriend Jimmy. But there are times when I just need the familiarity of liturgy and hymns, even if they are in Spanish, so that's when I go to the Catholic Church. Also I will never again complain or grumble about the length of a sermon back home, haha.


Recently, ok it's been a few weeks now, I was in a region of Peru called Ayacucho spending a retreat week with the other YAVs and celebrating Holy Week. Part of the festivities of Holy Week in Peru, and I'm sure in many Latino countries as well, is the tradition of Alfombras and processionals. During Holy Week, and especially on Good Friday. The streets of the city around the Plaza de Armas are covered in colorful scenes and designs made out of saw dust and/or flowers and other plant pieces. And then they take a few of the icons out of the church and walk them around the streets and people either line the streets or follow along with the image of Jesus or the Virgin Mary.

Alfombra on the street in Ayacucho. Each one was as beautiful and intricately designed as the last one!

The most moving processionals for me where on Good Friday. Hundreds of people lined the streets, with lighted candles, and down the streets comes a slow moving crowd in the middle of which is a lighted coffin containing a Jesus figure (morbid I know, but stick with me). After Jesus passed through the crowd it was the Virgin Mary's turn. Accompanying Mary was a group of very somber women, all dressed in black with black veils. And it struck me how much this resembed a funeral processional, which is I am sure the whole point. For that moment each one of those women was Mary, following her child and grieving for him all the way to the grave. I recently read a wonderful book called, Gracias, written by Catholic priest Henri Nouwen. In it he commented about Mary's importance and significance to the women in Peru, and in Latin America. Mary, was a mother and wife, like so many women are. She knew what it was like to raise a child (children) in tough economic and political times. She is a woman who has known loss of first her husband and then her child. For all these reasons, and so many more, Mary is an accessable figure for women all over world and someone that they feel they can turn to, because she's been there before.

I know it's a bit blurry, but here is the Mary icon. She is dressed in mourning black.

There will always be things about the Catholic faith that I don't understand. The crucifix, all the statues of the saints and disciples, all the different Virgin Marys, when and how you cross yourself, etc. etc. But even in the protestant churches here I am still surrounded by the unfamiliar and the confusing. Living in country that is predominately Catholic has taught me a lot about this anchient faith that for better or worse has kept up it's traditions for centuries and provides us with a link back to those first few believers in First Century Palastine. It's sometimes funny to me where I find comfort and familiarity in this country, whether it's the Supermix Mercado that always has Coke Zero, or the girls I work with playing and singing along to Beyonce music playing on their cell phones, or game nights with foreigner friends, or in a Catholic worship service, I never know where God is going to give me these little gifts of comfort.



... And speaking of comfort and familiarity, we're getting down to the wire with my time here! 8 months down and a little more than 2 to go!! This has already been such a wonderful adventure and part of me never wants it to end. BUT, I am getting really excited to come home and see all your shining smiling faces. Thank you all so much for your support so far, I'll never be able to express how much it has truly comforted and strengthened me. Please continue to pray for me in these last few weeks here, for my health, for focus, and for comfort and peace as I leave so many people that I've grown close to and transition back into life back in States.

Dwight Mission South

I think it's pretty common knowledge that I love camp! I've spent every summer of my childhood and adolescence at Dwight Mission Presbyterian Camp and Conference Center and a subsequent 3 summers of my young adult life on the staff there. You could say that place has had just a little influence on my life.

So when I heard that part of my work here in Peru would be to help put on a camp for children and adolescents who are victims of abuse, I thought great! something I'm actually pretty good at and I know what I'm doing. Starting in about October I started preparing myself for this camp. I quickly found, however, that a lot of my good old stand-by actvities like songs and energizers did not translate well. I even ran into a few problems with the simple games I was planning.

Vocabulary word of the day - Fogata = Campfire

First of all the budget for our camp wasn't much, so I had to stick to games that used little to no materials. All in all this wasn't too difficult, I can probably name you 10 different types of tag games right now, but once again I was having problems in translation. It wasn't exactly the words that were getting lost, but the actual concept of the game. I began working with my Spanish tutor in trying to translate these games for the camp, and even explaining them to him was difficult. Think about trying to explain the concept of "It" - I can tell you it's a lot harder than you think. My tutor and I ened up settling on the word "chaser" for "it" I begin to explain some of my games, classics like elbow tag, blob tag, wink, look, etc.. Then my tutor starts asks me things like, "so what's the point?" "Who wins?" and my personal favorite "how do you punish the people who lose?" Apparently here in Peru there is a very big culture of competition, especially within the Collegios (schools). So I had to explain to him that where I come from, we don't emphasize competion and that everybody wins, the fun is in just playing the game, Jesus loves you, etc., etc.

I eventually get some games and team-work activities selected and translated and I begin work on my next project for this camp. TIE-DYE! For me camp is not complete without tie-dye. Even if we don't make it with the kids, the staff all has to make a shirt or something by the end of the summer. Because of this unspoken rule I have quite the collection of tie-dye in my wardrobe and a few of those items made it into my suitcase for my year in Peru. After weeks of wearing my tie-dye some people at work begin to ask and compliment my colorful shirts and I tell them I made them at a camp of mine back home. This gives us the idea to make tie-dye with the kids at our camp. So I work it out with my parents to donate some good quality Dharma tie-dye supplies and bring it up with them when they came for their vacation in January. I spend the next month or so writing out and translating the instructions for various basic tie-dye designs and I hope and pray that the campers will be able to understand me and this whole venture will not turn in one big colorful mess.

Finished tie-dye hanging up to dry

Our first camp for adolescents started on a Monday. I was assigned the counselor for the Los Viajeros group - "the Travelers." Our theme for the camp was "Mi Amigo Dios Y Yo" or "My Friend God and Me." It's cheesy I know, I didn't come up with it. But our Bible theme was the story of Moses and God bringing the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt. As counselor I did many regular counselor things like helping my group with Bible study time (I even sucessfully led a bible study for the whole camp!), following them around and participating in activities with them, joining them for meals, etc. But it was a different experience for me to add small child wrangler to my list of counselor duties. In my group, two of my campers had children - one was about 2 years and the other 10 months, so part of my job was to take care of the little tots while their moms participated in the camp activities. It was definitely one of my favorite parts of this camp (we had 7 babies/toddlers, all under about the age of 2 1/2 at the camp) but not something I ever really imagined myself doing in a camp setting with adolescents.

My girls! Friendship bracelet power!

Monday was also the day that we started our tie-dying! In the afternoon, each group rotated through various activities, one of them being tye-die. It was at times a difficult process explaining all the steps included in making tye-die, not because of the language barrier but because none of them, including the other camp leaders, had ever really seen tye-die much less made it. So I had a fun time explaining things in small simple steps. It was a long and at times tedious process. But despite all the headaches and little hiccups, I knew that it was all worth it when each camper unfolded their shirt and shouted, "Mira!" (look!), and beaming with pride showed off their art work to everyone. As much as this whole process kinda stressed me out, it really made me happy to be able to share this with these campers.

The Camp Leadership in our awesome Tie-Dye!Sorry I can't show you pictures of the campers, we'll just have to wait until I get home.

The next week we did the whole camp thing over again. This time with younger children with ages ranging from about 5 to 11 or 12. We did many of the same things as the week before, tie-dye included. Even though this camp was a whole day shorter, dealing with all the little ones really spent my energy so much faster. But they were really great and of course super cute. And I would like announce right now that I've fallen in love. His name is Cesar, he's 5 and about the cutest little butter ball you could ever find. So if I arrive home with a small child in tow, you know why now, haha.

This camp was one part of my work here that I was really looking forward to because it's an area that I have a lot of experience in and it was an opportunity that I felt I could really contribute. Now that it's all said and done, I can say that I'm pleased with the work that I did, and happy that I was able to sucessfully lead a bible study, games, team building activities, and of course the tie-dye. So for me this experience was one of accomplishment and a milestone in my Spanish progress. But the whole thing ended up being pretty different than what I imagined. I expected that since we have such a unique group of campers that we were working with that we would tailor the lessons and themes to be relevent for their lives and situations. But it actually was very similar to a normal camp experience that one might have in the United States.

After the camps were over, everyone in my department took some time to celebrate a job well done and to discuss and evaluate the camps. So over some delicious pollo a la brasa we talked about having the themes and discussions being more relevent. In the past they have apparently done more psychological themes, but this year opted to do a more biblical theme. I suggested that they combine the two. For me it would be all too easy to use God's word in the healing process for these kids. But there is also something to be said about giving these kids a break, and a few days to be normal kids, and have a camp experience that would be just like any other.

Anyone care to share your opinion on this? Which do you think would be better? A camp that is designed to specifically address the abuse that each of these children have experienced? or a camp where the children are allowed to be normal kids for just a few days and have a chance to take a break from their stressful home lives?

For me it's something that I really debated during and after the camp.

I think as with most everything in life there is a middle ground here. The very capable people I work with here at Paz y Esperanza can surely find a way to balance out normal kid time with using the camp as time to address issues, foster healing, and build confidence in the campers. I think that this camp is one of the best things they have going in the program, and I just pray and hope that they are able to utilize the unique opportunity that a camp experience can provide to really change these kids lives.

Thanks for reading this exceptionally long blog. I hope that this gives you all a little more insight into some of the work I'm doing here. I recently returned from a most amazing mid-year retreat on the beach in Northern Peru, and since returning have been busy with regular steady work here, which has been really nice. I'm about to start working with a couple of individual cases, a couple days a week, and also with the kids in our shelter at the farm one afternoon a week. So once I get those projects up and going, I will definitely update you all on that and how everything is going. Thanks again for following me and please don't hesitate to post any and all thoughts, questions, and comments you have, because I check here regularly if anyone has commented and it helps to know that I'm not just writing this for my parents, and Debbie my site coordinator, haha.

A little slice of paradise in Mancora, Peru.

P.S. - If you haven't done so already, check out the new photo albums on facebook. Links are on the side and you can access them even if you aren't on Facebook, so go check them out!

Holiday, Celebrate

So this is about 2 months a little late but I'm going to update everyone on my Peruvian Christmas experience. Since I already wrote a bit about the holiday season about sharing my traditions and learning new ones, I'm just going to update you all a little bit on my actual Christmas Eve/Day celebrations and my vacation time with the other YAVs.

For most Peruvians the Christmas tradition to celebrate more Christmas Eve night and leave Christmas day as a day to sleep in and rest, that means no presents from Santa to wake up to. So the day of Christmas Eve I spent talking people back home on skype, hearing about and seeing via webcam all the crazy snow they were getting back home while I was sitting in a short sleeve shirt, a skirt, and my chacos. I think there was mutual jealously going on. I'm not a huge fan of the cold and snow, but I do miss it sometimes, epecially around Christmas when the hot weather was not helping me get in the "Christmas spirit."

That day I went to the mercado with my host mom and sister to buy stuff to make our dinner that night (more on that later). There were so many people out doing the traditional last minute Christmas shopping, except in this case I have a feeling the items being bought were more out of necessity because most of the shops would be closed for the next couple of days. That evening I went back out to the centro to run some more errands, mainly to get some cash for my upcoming travels, and when I rejoined my host dad and sister I saw that Pastor Abdon was just now buying his Christmas presents for the family. I hate to stereotype men, but all I can say is typical! We then grabbed a quick little bite to eat since our dinner wouldn't be served until about 10:30 that night, so we needed something to tide us over until then. That evening out in the centro, I was finally feeling the excited buzz of anticipation that comes with Christmas. Seeing everyone else out and about with family and friends, you could just see and feel the joy of that evening.

That night we had the traditional Peruvian Christmas dish of .... chinese food! Ok so it wasn't really a typical Peruvian dish, but the chinese fusion food here called Chifa is everywhere and really popular so it might as well be traditional food. So we had a delicious spread of Chicken and pinapple with rice and wantons. And of course to top things off Paneton and hot chocolate!

After we finished dinner it was close to midnight so we opened up our presents as per tradition here. The presents were simple and sweet, not the usual crazy spread as it is at my house, but it was nice to celebrate a little more simply. Then, right at midnight, we started hearing fireworks going off all around the neighborhood. So we went out to join them with our sparklers. Everywhere around me people were out in the streets celebrating the joyous arrival of our Savior! And in that moment of pure joy and excitement I forgot that I was thousands of miles away from home, in a foreign country, speaking (well trying to speak) a foreign tongue, and adjusting to foreign customs, I was celebrating with my fellow brothers and sisters and giving thanks to God for gifts of love and grace that was given on that night and every single moment since then.

Christmas day was quite the lazy affair. I parcipated in the great American tradition of watching A Christmas Story, except this year I watched it on my laptop instead of the the TV, and other than packing for my vacation, and skyping the family I didn't do anything! I was back to being a bit homesick and missing everyone, so needless to say I was so ready to get this vacation started!!

The next day I left on my bus to Lima to meet up with Sarah "Alta," Ginna, and Anna. We left the day after that with a friend of Joe's to spend some time in a beautiful city called Arequipa. There we met up with Joe and his girlfriend. Alissa, the remaining YAV, couldn't join us on this leg of the trip because she was traveling with her family. I don't have much to say about my vacation other than you should just look at the pictures, because they tell the stories so much better than I do.

I do have just a couple of short stories that I want to share from this vacation.

The first one involves traveling woes. No vacation would be complete with out a bit of complications involving transportation especially when we are talking about the Peruvian bussing system. As we learned some agencies (Cruz del Sur) are reliable and nice, others (*ahem* Ormeno) are not. We had planned on visiting a small coastal town called Paracas and seeing some rare wildlife, but our bus from Arequipa never arrived! After a few minutes of trying to figure out what to do we decided to go on a different bus that was going all the way to Lima. So we got like the last 4 seats on this bus, on the top floor, which if you don't know is where the smaller, less comfortable seats are. But we were finally on our way and settling in for a 15 hour bus ride. Well apparently our travel woes weren't over after that. While I was sleeping (I heard about all of this after the fact) our bus swerved to miss a semi-truck coming at us and ended up hitting the guard rail on the side of the road. I was told that we were stopped for quite a while and that most of the people where out of their seats looking out the window to see what was going on - and I slept through the whole thing! So my first and hopefully only Peruvian bus crash I slept through!

The second story I will end this blog with goes along with the theme of holidays and celebrating. We spent New Years Eve in Lima, and after a wonderful meal of sea food in Barranco (a very hip, kinda bohemian part of town) we headed back to our Hostel, Loki to bring in the New Year at the bar there. That night was about our 3rd night there so we had already made friends with some of the people who were staying there as well. We had met and made (at least temporarily) friends with people from Ireland, the U.S., Israel, Lima, Arequipa, England, and Denmark. At midnight we all toasted and gave hugs and cheek kisses and shouted and sang, celebrating a New Year, a new day to be alive. For me it was what I call a little "Kingdom moment," times when I experience what I think the Kingdom of Heaven will be like. And it might seem rediculous but I felt that in a bar in a hostel in Lima. Here we all were, a bunch of strangers really, from all different parts of the world, different religions, beliefs, cultures, etc., and yet for this one night we were all friends, together we were singularly celebrating an event that proclaims new beginnings and celebrates life!

So I end this blog hoping that you all experience a "Kingdom Moment" today in your life! More blogs to come, I'm really trying to play catch up here, so I hope that you enjoy them!!

In Her Shoes

I thought that I would change things up a bit and add a new voice to this blog by having my mom write an entry reflecting on her time in Peru and especially in Huanuco since she is the only one from my family who got to really experience what my life is like.

I had a really great time with my family while they were visiting Peru and I was so glad that I could share this country that I've fallen in love with with the people that I love.

And now without further adieu... My mother -

Hello to everyone who visits Sarah's blog. I'm Renee, Sarah's mom and Sarah has asked me to write about my experience in Peru. So now after a good bit of time to reflect on my time in Peru, I am finally getting some of my thoughts and feelings put together in this writing.

We(myself, Sarah's dad Larry, and sister Jill, as well as Jill's friend Melissa) arrived in Lima late the night of January 1st and began our journey in this unfamiliar country. From the time we left the arirport we were totally in Sarah's hands to communicate for us for all our needs including negotiating prices for taxis ordering our food, and of course shopping. It was a new experience to suddenly be almost completely dependent upon your child for everything. She took the responsibility firmly in her hands and was a very competent guide during our entire trip.

We as a family (plus an "adopted" daughter) had a wonderful trip to Cuzco and Machu Picchu. We moved from one amazing incredible place to another each with their own uniqueness. When in Cuzco area our guide Juan Carols had an extensive knowledge but more importantly an intense passion for the ruins near Cuzco. He spoke of the spiritual aspect of how the now ruins of Ollantaytambo and Saqsaywaman were built. The Incans truly had a great reverence and respect for the earth and what the Creator provided for them through this earth.

After a couple of days in the Cuzco area we moved on to Machu Picchu. As I walked through the ruins of Machu Picchu I had such a respect of how the Incans built on and among those mountains with such thorough planning and execution of those plans that the buildings looked as if they were a part of the mountains. While standing hte midst of this rightly titled Wonder of the World, the beloved hym How Great Thou Art, frequently flowed through my mind. "Oh Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder, consider all the worlds thy hands have made"... Machu Picchu and the people who built and inhabited thouse mountains are certainly God's creation.

I could spend pages on the amazing and interesting sites in those aboce placdes but I think I want to spend more time writing on my time with Sarah in Huanuco. She and I said good-bye to the rest of the family as they returned to the U.S., then we took the 9 hour bus ride from Lima to Huanuco. Huanuco is a very unassuming community without the spoils of tourism, but a busy small city nonetheless. It also was surrounded by small mountains with lovely scenery in all directions. I now was going to see how Sarah is living. Upon arriving in the Camarena's home I was welcomed with the traditional kiss on the cheek and shown to Sarah's room where they had arranged a bed and space for me. With a true sense of hospitality they reconized our need to rest for the remainder of the morning and gave us time together much as tehy did most of my visit there. Any concerns I might have had regarding the people Sarah was living with were quickly eliminating in meeting this welcoming family.

After Sarah and I had rested and were rejuvenated we took off to see the town. As I walked down the streets and along the park, I could hardly recognize anything that seemed in any way familiar. The sites, sounds, and smells were very different from Jenks/Tulsa, Oklahoma. But Sarah moved through this environment with an ease and comfort, and if she was nervous she never showed it. She made me feel comfortable as she lead me though her new home community. We experienced The Market, the place where most all groceries and others items of necessity are purchased. This place certainly took an opening up of preconceived notions of marketing and overall sanitation expecations. There were no refrigerated cases holding the meats, no sealed bins holding bulk food items, and certainly no obvious rhyme or reason asto where items were located. We wove through this market that offered items from frest meats, vegetables and other food stuffs to clothing and even toys. We came across some booths offering the unusual items we saw was a type of fermented potato [Sarah's note: This is a traditional delicacy in this region called takosh. It smells horrible, I always have to hold my breath when while passing by it, but I've been told by people here that it tastes good. I haven't gotten up the courage or the stomach to try it yet.] Our response was "yuck" but it was an obviously popular food item for many in the area.

We returned home that evening to a wonderful meal of Aji de Gallina [Sarah's note: my favorite Peruvian dish!]. Aji de Gallina is a common meal consisting of yellow potatoes, some shredded chicken, with a spicy cheese sauce served over rice. It was very tasty and satisfying after a busy day. It felt pretty uncomfortable having to sit as an outsider as I cound not understand the dinner conversation. But I did love the meal blessing at the beginning of the meal as I understood, "Gracias Senor." In understanding only the thank you Lord part of the prayer, I could share in that thankfulness for so much.

The next day Sarah tooke to the Paz y Esperanza office and I met many of her co-workers was introduced to much of what the organization does. Each person had a quite unassuming approach to their part of the mission of the organization. Later that day we were able to go out to farm, la granja. The farm is a fully operating farm with milk, cattle, cuy (guinea pigs), chickens, and small gardens that produce many fruits and vegetables. We walked down to the area wher the new shelter was being built. The complex is to have housing for women and children, mostly adolescent girls, who need a temporary place to stay while their abusers face prosecution and Paz y Esperanza is working to find them a permanent placement. It was this trip that I got to experience "Peruvian time." We rode to the farm with the director of Paz y Esperanza with the expectation that we would be there 2-3 hours. About 8 hours later we were back in truck finally making our way back to Huanuco. While spending time more time at the farm than we expected kept us from doing some other things in Huanuco it gave Sarah and me some time to simply hang out and be together with specific expectations or plans. I enjoyed this quiet time together.

With that evening being our last one together we found a movie to watch on her computer and laughed during this odd event of watching a movie with Spanish subtitles and poor video quality. I will remember that evening as one fo the best moments we spent together.

The next morning we spent a short time in the city and Sarah took me to the bus station for me to return to Lima. I'm sure the sight of thse two Anglo women hugging and crying during our goodbyes was an interesting sight for the locals, but I think they understood. I left Sarah knowing she was well incorporated into her new family and work community. I know she feels she is still in the early stages of her ability to communicate and in many ways she is, but she has certainly grown and developed in that area since leaving the U.S.

I want to end my part of this blog with a note of admiration and respect for the passion all of these young adults serving the Presbyterian Church as YAVs. They are committed, enthusiastic, and bring pure motives in working to bring the love of Christ to their brothers and sisters in this far away country. I pray for each of them as they countinue their journey and wish them well as they grow in faith and compassion for the world beyond their own backyards.

I close now with the English.... Peace and Hope.

Love and blessings to you Sarah and all the YAVs in Peru, other countries, and in the U.S.