30-31 de Agosto (School and Decorating!)

Yesterday (30^th), we had a lazy day! After all of our travels, they decided to give us a day to rest and regroup. And rest we did! I got up at 12:30. :) Ahhh. Felt like home. :) We got up, went to the grocery store. . . carried our groceries back to the apartment and then went to do laundry! I know it’s been less than a week, but carrying even that little bit of laundry on a 15 minute walk to the Hughes’ house makes you really value your car. I miss my Lady Bug. :( But, alas. . . we’re getting some exercise!! :) While we were there, Jeff brought us some sandwiches called “Pollo a la Brasa.” They were good! We packed up at about 8:30 and Jeff brought us home! What a nice day!

Today (31^st) was another event filled day. We got up and went over to ICPNA (Instituto Cultural Peruano Norteamericano) to get registered for our Spanish classes. We had to take placement exams to see which level of Spanish we were on. After a written exam and a grueling verbal exam, I was placed in level four! I was very excited. I guess all that money I paid to UTA and my dating a Spanish-speaking boy has paid off! ;) Hopefully when I get back Joey’s little cousin, Fred, won’t laugh at my Spanish anymore. :) We’ll see. Oh! I’m also super excited that we have scholarships for the classes since we’ll be leading the Conversation Club for those who are working on their English. Hopefully they won’t pick up our Texas accents. :)

ICPNA:

So, we left ICPNA and headed over to the church that we’ve been working at to cut plastic. The government has allotted one 20 meter strip of plastic to earthquake victims in Peru. These people will take the plastic and line their grass homes with it; this is their form of insulation. I guess I should quit my belly aching every morning when I wake up in the cold. At least I have real walls . . . something else to be thankful for. I encourage you as you read this, to take the time to realize how fortunate you are to have homes and food to eat. How easily we ignore the sufferings of others and complain about our lives.

Anyway, we left the church and headed out to La Plaza Gutierrez for some TGIFriday’s!! I got a hamburger (yum!), french fries, caesar salad, tea and loved every minute of it. Oh!! And the bathroom had toilet paper, soap AND paper towels! What a treat!

We then ventured off back to the church for more plastic cutting. We got it down to a science and were able to get all of the rolls cut pretty quickly. Those bundles will go to Ica to be distributed very soon.

So, we decided the apartment needed a bit of a facelift. At Wong, a grocery store, I bought a new shower curtain, bath mat, pink mat to go by my bed, mat for the kitchen, some mugs, canisters, candles and a new bowl for the kitchen. Whew. It looks so much more homey now!! We still have work to do, but we are enjoying our new turquoise and lime green apartment!! :) And it looks so nice with the doorknobbers. :) Awww.

Time to get serious again. . .

On our way back from Chincha, Quentin posed the question, “Who are you going to serve? God? Or the World?” Although he wasn’t asking any of us directly, it got me to thinking. You can’t serve two masters. Who am I going to serve? Of course, God. But who does my life reflect that I serve? I hope it shows off the light of God, but I know that there are many times that this light is dimmed by my worldly nature. I don’t want it to be. I pray that God will illuminate His grace and love in my life and in the core of my being. Sometimes it becomes so difficult to maintain a positive attitude. Attitude is something that I noticed in Gina when working with her in Chincha. She says everything with a smile on her face and a chuckle in her voice. Although I haven’t been around her very much yet, I would guess that the love of God has just become a part of her nature, and it shows. I want the joy of Christ to show in my face, resound in my voice and bounce in my step.

You have done many things for us, O LORD our God; there is no one like you! You have made many wonderful plans for us. I could never speak of them all—their number is so great! Psalm 40:5

Senor en Dios mo, muchas son las maravillas que tu has hecho y las consideraciones que nos tienes. Nada es comparable a ti! Quisiera anunciarlas, hablar de ellas, pero son mas de las que puedo contra. Salmos 40:5

Katrina

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29 de Agosto (Chincha)

4:45 a.m.-We woke up. That’s right, people. We left the apartment around 5:15 this morning to take a trip south on the Pan-American Highway to a town called Chincha. Liz and I met up with two other missionaries, Quentin and Gina, at a church at 5:30 so that we could follow a bus full of volunteers to take supplies to people who had lost their homes to the earthquake. Well, at 6:30, we saw no sign of a bus and decided to check out the situation. Apparently the bus that was supposed to take the volunteers had broken down. Unfortunately, the pastor was unable to locate another bus. So, we took off on our own and some volunteers came a little later.

We took off down a long stretch of highway complete with tolls and speed traps. During this three hour car ride, I learned many things about the world. I learned that beachfront property is much more beautiful in Peru than Galveston, yet the cost of land is vastly different. Instead of paying thousands of dollars for a nice beach house, communities of people squat on these lands in shanty towns until the time comes where they are granted ownership of these properties. What a juxtaposition this sight was for an American like me. Imagine. . . beautiful ocean waves rolling in on the shores of a shack covered landscape inhabited by poor Peruanos who greet each day with the hope of someday owning their lot of land. Along with this site comes an even stranger one. . . chicken farms! Chicken farms line up along certain areas of these coastal lands. Things I’d expect to see in the outlying areas around Beaumont are settled in on the beach. Wow. Here it is:

Meanwhile, we of course are in need of a potty break. More fun to come during this part of the adventure, for sure! So, we stopped at a roadside restaurant. . . Clean bathrooms in Peru are the equivalent of bathrooms in the USA that dogs probably wouldn’t go near. But, we brought in our own toilet paper (which you can’t flush) and took care of business. I made sure I didn’t drink too much water so I wouldn’t have to go as often. . . turned out to be a good plan. :)

OK. So on the road again, we finally arrived in Chincha around 10:30. Once we got there, we had to find the rest of the group. Since they were in an area we weren’t familiar with, we paid a taxi driver to lead us there. It was a roungh ride with all of the rubble in the road. At one point, we got stuck between a tent and a pile of stones and had to have some people help direct us. We barely made it. Whew.

When we pulled up to our destination, it was a sight to see! People were standing in line to receive wool blankets and the supplies we had prepared from the day before. We began filling the prepared bags with additional items including harina, aceite, spaghetti, leche y atún (flour, oil, spaghetti, milk and tuna). Then we tied up these bags and gave one to each family who had a ticket. The week before, volunteers went out into the town and door to door gave out Bible tracts that included a number. They were told to bring this back to the site and would receive their supplies that way. The system actually worked surprisingly well. At that site we were able to give out approximately 400 sets of supplies to the families. Of course we had people who came that didn’t have a ticket. It felt terrible to turn them away, but we only had enough for those who had signed up. Tiene un librito? No? Pues, lo siento. Here are the supplies we packed:

After we gave out the supplies, we had a little bit of time to spend with the children. They seemed fascinated with us and our gringo selves. :) I began talking to several little girls who asked me questions about America. Tienes una casa grande? No, no es grande. Tienes hermanas o hermanos? Si, tengo tres hermanas se llaman Keila, Karley y Kalley. One girl asked me to write down the names; she seemed intrigued. Then they started asking me how to say things in English like “buenas dias, comer, hola, ciao, ropa” y mas. Then they started teaching me a few new words. After we got all of the kids in a big group, we sang some songs like the “Hokey Pokey,” “Father Abraham” y una cancion sobre una rana. All of these songs were in Spanish, so that was fun. :) Then we had a little puppet (títere) show for the kids. While that was going on, some of the locals people had prepared food for our lunch. I’m not really sure what it was, but I know there was rice and then some sort of sauce that had chicken and potatoes. We were told that it would be rude not to eat the food, but to be careful. We are advised not eat any of the local food and to ESPECIALLY not drink the water. But, we did survive this little bit of Peruvian food! Thank goodness. We were told that since chicken was in the food, it had probably been killed just for our sake, so that we could have lunch. Such generosity and kindness from those that have so little could not be turned away.

Some of the damage:

We left this town and we on to another area to distribute supplies to 100 people. When we arrived there, we formed a cadena (chain) and got all of the things into the home of a lady who was gracious enough to help with the cause. Her house was really interesting; she let us her bathroom which was down an uncovered hallway. He house had tile floors and even had a diploma on the wall dated 1957. Here is the owner of the house:

While supplies were being distributed, we left for home. On the way, we were stopped by the police. They had a checkpoint where they pulled people over to check for things like license and registration. Along with those things, in Peru you are required to carry in your car a fire extinguisher and orange triangles to be set up in case of an accident. The police officer asked if we had been working in Chincha that day. We told him yes and he let us pass through without the full inspection. We arrived back home around 7:45 in a heap of traffic. I wish I could explain how people drive here. Instead of using their blinkers to make turns, they just honk. In fact, they honk for everything. You can be in the right lane turning left, and when you’re ready, you just honk and go even if your lane isn’t for turning. They have these tiny little taxis here that pile two across one lane! It’s absolutely the craziest thing I’ve ever seen. People THINK New York or Los Angeles driving is bad, I tell you this place is insane! I’m going to try to get a good video of it before I leave. I promise you just wouldn’t believe it until you’ve seen it.

After we got home, we packed up our computers and went to Starbucks to check out what was going on in the rest of the world via the internet. We stayed there until about 11:00 or so. We even met a guy named “Jay” who works at Starbucks and said he knew the missionaries that were here in the summer. How interesting.

We went home, took our much needed showers and crashed. What an eventful day!

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God is love:

Katrina

28 de Agosto (Disaster Relief)

So, where do I start. . .

Liz and I began our day with disaster relief efforts at a church here in Lima! We went and helped Peruvian, British and American volunteers stuff bags with azucar, arroz, lentejas y guisantes verdes (sugar, rice, lentils and green peas). Then we put these little bags into some bigger sacks and put those plastic sacks into some bigger sacks to be taken out to towns! Whew. :) After we got done with that, we went to our first Peruvian restaurant, Solari. We ate cerviche, which is basically raw fish, lime and cilantro. I just found out today that it is raw. :) Oh, well. . . Sushi, right!? I also had Lomo Saltado which tasted like some kind of Asian stir fry and french fries and a Naranjada Frozen (frozen orange juice). It was all pretty tasty! Then, Jeff took Liz and I took the electronics store so I could buy a headset for my new SKYPE line and we got some llama house shoes since it’s so cold in the apartamento!!! Later we went and bought scarves from a missionary who is selling them for some ladies in a village. They were only 15 soles ($5)! Not bad. . . To finish off the day, we went back to the apartment to let the hot water heat up (haha) so we could take showers so we could get up at 4:45 this morning!!!! That’s right people. We had to leave the house at 5:15!!! AAAAA. MMMMMM. Seriously. :)

Sadly, no pictures. I forgot to bring my camera. :(

Katrina

27 de Agosto (First day!)

So, after my first day here, life is good. My roommate, Elizabeth, and I have had a few adventures so far! Today, I got up at 9:00 to turn on the hot water heater . . . yes, electricity is expensive here, so you don’t have hot water unless you turn it on at least 30 minutes before you need it! Crazy, I know. :) So, then we got up to a freezing apartment and managed to get showers. It’s like 60 degrees in our apartment since we have no heat and we’re here in the Peruvian winter. No sunshine yet either. :( Boo. Hopefully within the next few weeks or so we’ll be able to see some sol (sun)! :) After getting ready Jeff (one of the missionaries) came over and walked us to his apartment to have lunch with his wife. Lasagna! Yum! After that, we were able to get online, check out facebook, etc. and call home. How nice. :)

Next stop was the money exchange place. I asked the guy to change my dolares for soles (todo en espanol, thank you very much), and I guess I did it right, because now I have some strange looking bills and some little coins. :) I’ll have to bring some home for show and tell. Currently the exchange rate is $1 for 3.15 soles. Just thought I’d throw that info in there. :)

Then, we decided to check out the grocery store. What an adventure! Judy (the other missionary) gave us a quick run-down of what to eat and what to avoid. That was fun. I managed to get home with some American cereal and HyTop baggies! :) You wouldn’t believe how expensive some American cereals are . . . some are 15 soles. $5! Other things are just as expensive. Peruvian things are seemingly cheap. . . All together we spent 260 soles on groceries. That’s a whopping 82 American dollars. Divide that in half and we each spent $41! Not bad. The milk isn’t the same here. . . I bought some that comes on the shelf in a box. It doesn’t expire until February of 2008, but it tastes a little funky. . . I think I’ll be able to manage it in my cereal, but I doubt I’ll be chugging it anytime soon. What a sad thing for Triny. :( I do love my leche. *Sigh*

On another note, let me tell you about the new things I’ve learned to do. We have to wash all of the fruitas y verduras with a special cleaner and hot filtered water. Dishes have to be washed with hot, filtered, soapy water and bleach. We also have to wash the eggs with bleach before we cook them! Crazy!

Brushing teeth is another adventure all in itself. Since we can’t drink the tap water, we have to use bottled water. So, you get your toothbrush wet and get to brushing! Just like a camping trip! I just know I’m going to forget one of these times and accidentally use the regular water. Old habits die hard. It’s not so bad until it comes time to rinse the toothbrush off. I could really use some water pressure. . .

So, now here I sit in my bed with about 4 blankets on, two pair of sock, a long sleeved shirt, a short sleeved shirt, some super cute pink sweatpants and my robe on and I’m a bit chilly! My fingers are starting to get numb . . . should’ve brought those gloves. Luckily some neighbor has decided to do a bit of construction on their apartment right now . . . makes perfect sense considering that it’s 11:00 at night. How nice. :)

Well, I’m a bit hungry but am unwilling to go through that teeth brushing process twice in one night.

Buenas Noches, familia y amigos!

Katrina

26 de Agosto (I made it!)

Well, I made it to Lima last night after a 6.5 hour flight. Not too bad. . . I had a window seat and no one was in the seat directly next to me. Que bueno! :)

Here are some pics of the apartment:Our first night there. . . so cold!!
That's our drinking water.
La cocina.
El bano. . . notice the doorknobber. :)
This picture is for Karley. :)
My lovely bed. :)
My side of the closet. It's big!! So excited. . . :) Necesito hangers.

OK. Enough for now. :)

Pray for us and email/mail me! :)

Katrina

My First Post!

I'm leaving soon. . .

Crazy, right? Sunday, August 26th at 3:40 in the afternoon!! I'll arrive SAFELY in Lima, Peru around 10:30 that night. Say a prayer for me and my fellow missionary traveler, Liz! We'll be living together over the next four months. . . as in sharing a room! So we are sure to become good friends. :)

Let's see. . . some things on my mind. . . it's been a wild ride even getting to this point. I cannot BEGIN to express how much God has confirmed my decision to go simply by the amount of encouragement I have received from my family and friends. If I ever thought no one cared about me or that I served a silent God, boy was I proven wrong! The outpouring of verbal, financial and prayerful support that I have received by my loved ones and even people I don't know has been incredible!

To everyone who has helped me in any of these ways, THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart. Again, words cannot being to express my gratitude. In order to show this appreciation, you can count on me giving all that I have to the cause I have committed to while in Peru-the cause of sharing Jesus Christ and His love for the world.

"For I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. " Galatians 2:20

I ask that as I venture out on this journey of taking up my cross daily, that I will display the God who lives inside of me and that people will feel His overwhelming love for them. Through this, I hope to see many Peruvian faces in Heaven someday. :)


"Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples." Psalm 96:3

Katrina