MURRAY Christmas, y'all!

I feel like I never have anything to talk about on this blog that other people would actually want to read, and then all at once everything happens and I feel like I have so many things to talk about.  I want to apologize ahead of time if this post is all over the place…

Ok - well Friday was the last day of school for the year.  Peru’s summer break is during January and February.  I fully intended to come home from school on Friday and type up a blog post on the past two months of working in the school, but due to some emergencies I have been frantically shopping for Christmas presents for 20 kids. (Man, and I thought buying for my parents was difficult) I am going to postpone my post about the school until next time – it’s probably better for you and I both if I refrain from writing a novel-length post….

Ok, where was I?...Oh yeah - Every year a church in Dallas provides the presents for the kids at Casa Hogar.  Each child receives one box filled with t-shirts, socks, toothbrushes, school supplies, little toys, etc.  Well somewhere between Dallas and Arequipa the boxes went MIA.  We learned this news last Monday – the week before Christmas.  Kym was flying home to spend Christmas in the States that day, so I eagerly volunteered to take on the task.  The church from Dallas sent me money, and once I had it I got to SHOPPIN’! 

I shopped every day after school and all weekend, except for a couple of hours on Saturday when I did a small little Bible lesson about Christmas at Casa Hogar.  The lesson was about the Christian significance behind the candy cane.  They were very patient with my poor Spanish and I think it went well.  I gave them all candy canes afterward so they seemed happy :)  

Anyway, shopping was very fun, but also terribly EXHAUSTING.  I missed Target.  I even missed Wal-Mart.  But most of all I missed my 4-Runner.  Shopping is much harder when you do not have a trunk to throw everything in while you move on to the next shopping destination.  I covered ever inch of the mall that is nearest to me, and then I branched out.  Naty took me to some local markets near the center of town, and after church Sunday we explored a new mall further away.

Then today a group of us went to another market to buy all of the food for the Christmas feast. It was a very interesting experience. Check out the pictures.  I had to laugh a little inside when they were talking about the thickness the steaks they were buying.  When I showed them how thick the steaks are in Texas they thought I was crazy.  After the market we went and bought fireworks.  It is a Peruvian tradition to set off fireworks at midnight, so I’m looking forward to seeing that!

The presents are all done and ready to go for tomorrow.  I am so excited to spend this holiday with the kids and everyone at Casa Hogar.  As weird as it feels to have Christmas during the summer – I’m liking spending the holiday season down here.  My favorite part is all of the nativity scenes! They are EVERYWHERE!! There are Christmas trees too, but the most important decoration is definitely “El Nacimiento.” 

One last little tidbit - At church on Sunday we all wrote our name on a little sheep, and after lighting the 4^th Advent candle we put our sheep around the nativity scene.   It was so cool.   While doing so Padre Juan Carlos told us to remember, “We are all God’s sheep.”

Family in Lima!

I woke up to a message saying that my Very Most Favorite Aunt Katy and two of my cousins, Bert and Will, were going to be in Lima on a business trip for Bert and Will's new golf apparel line - Devereux.  They had meetings all weekend and wouldn't be able to leave Lima and come to Arequipa.  They were going to be so close I just HAD to see them... sooo I asked Momma (very kindly) if she would purchase a plane ticket so I could travel to Lima and spend the weekend with them.  She said, "Of course!" I know deep down though she was a little jealous her sister would get to see me before she did.  

It was a great weekend and some much needed family time.  Even better - I got to pretend like I knew what I was talking about regarding all things Peru.  I knew the most Spanish out of the group which was a weird change.  Usually I know the LEAST!  

I got to go to the meetings with them. SO INTERESTING! So much work goes on behind the scenes I never would have imagined.  When we had free time we went to a mall over the Pacific Ocean, ate at several very tasty restaurants, and walked around a park that is swarming with cats! No joke.  Arequipa is pretty different, so it was great to have the opportunity to see another side of Peru!   

To make the weekend even better the hotel where we stayed was only a short distance from the Anglican Cathedral of the Good Shepard.  On Sunday morning we got to go to their (English) service and I was able to meet some of the other SAMS' missionaries that I have heard so much about! I also got to see a couple of familiar faces of people I had met through Kym and through SAMS' bridger training.

I'm sure Guillermo, Beto, and Katherine (they changed their names for the weekend) thought the only thing I talked about was the kids back in Arequipa.  It's true.  I thought about them the entire weekend and found myself checking my watching thinking "I wonder what they are doing right now."  I missed them so much and I was only gone a couple of days!  Although I was sad to say goodbye to my family, it was good to get back home and back to loving on the kids.

Día de Acción de Gracias

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!  

I skipped school today, and Kym and I cooked a Thanksgiving meal.  Since we had to make do with the ingredients we were able to find here and we have a funny oven, we knew there was a definite possibility we would be eating cereal for Thanksgiving dinner.  

But, everything turned out perfectly!  My favorite part was the dressing, or the stuffing.  My mom mailed us cornbread mix, and we used Kym’s mom’s recipe.  It was great!  We also had turkey, green bean casserole, sweet potato soufflé, macaroni and cheese, and pie!  With way more food than two people are capable of eating, we will be having leftovers until next year. 

These are some picture I snapped buying sweet potatoes at the little Saturday street market near our house.

And….drum roll…the finished product… 

 I have to share the pictures cause we are pretty proud of ourselves. 

We even had iced-tea.

So, maybe I’m slightly biased, but I think Thanksgiving ought to be a worldwide holiday.  It’s one of my favorite holidays because it isn’t about getting stuff!  It’s a day when you sit down for a dinner with friends and family, and focus on all the blessings of life.  

My list seems to be extra long this year and I want to share a few.  This year I am thankful for:

1. Supportive family and friends:  

I can’t even begin to express how grateful 

I am for the prayers, uplifting words, donations, 

and unending love and encouragement.

2. A terrific new sister-in-law. 

This picture was from their rehearsal dinner 

and pretty much sums us up.

3. Internet.  It

allows me to keep in touch while I am so far away.

4. A cousin who is in remission after battling breast cancer!!  Praise the Lord!

Picture of Christen (sister) and Rebecca (cousin) at Race for the Cure 

5. My English-Spanish dictionary and my translator app.

6. Peruvian coffee. 

7. A new mentor, friend, and 

roommate - Kym.  

To the left is a picture of her 

getting ready to start a Bible 

lesson with the kids at the orphanage.

8. And last but certainly not least…..The opportunity to live in Peru and work with sweet, endearing, and rambunctious kids at the school and in the orphanage everyday.

 

My sister had a Thanksgiving/Christmas party for me before I left back in September since I wouldn’t be able to celebrate the holidays with family, and I am cherishing those memories today.  I have to admit, I was a little nervous about how I was going to feel today.  I didn’t know if it would be hard spending my first Thanksgiving apart from family…..

But, it has been one of the best thus far because I am still surrounded with family here, a new family of brothers and sisters in Christ.

Give thanks to The Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever. 

Psalm 107:1

My name is Mary Moore-Eye.

Today was my first day working at the school!  I am helping the English teacher, who speaks English but still needs help with pronunciation, checking papers, etc.,   By the way, here it’s not like the United States where during any given day you probably see several different ethnicities.  My hair might as well be lime green, because I pretty much stick out like a sore thumb.  So, when I walked in the classroom all of the little kids were excited/curious/bewildered.  It was pretty fun.  Maria, the English teacher, let them ask me any questions they wanted before we began our lesson, as long as it was in English.  

Typical questions I got were:

What is your name?

“Madi” Which they have a terrible time pronouncing.  They think I’m saying Mary so I always have to spell it out.  They think it’s a weird name.

How old are you?

What is your favorite color?

What is your favorite animal?

Where are you from?

What part of the United States is that?

One boy asked me if I was from California?  I said “Noooo! I am from Texas.  It is much better.”

What is your last name?

Wow, if I thought Madi was hard for them, Murray was next to impossible.  They did the rolling r….and they pronounced it like Moorrrrrrrrrr-eye.

What are the names of your parents?

            Scott and Suzy. Again, lots of difficulties and strange looks.

How many brothers and sisters do you have?

“Wow” they said after I told them.  I also made sure to say that I am the youngest, and the favorite.

What is your favorite sport?

Oh, and my favorite question of the day:

What is your telephone number?

            When he asked this one, he and several other little boys got their pencils ready.  I told them I do not have one.  White lies are ok sometimes, right?     

Adventures in Juliaca

After a pretty quiet (and restful) two days in Arequipa, Kym, Naty and I all loaded on a bus headed for Juliaca. In my last post I said it was a small town - I was wrong.  The population is around 225,000.

Things got interesting when somewhere between Arequipa and Juliaca our bus broke down.  The driver was unable to fix it,  so we waited on the side of the highway (luggage and all) until another bus came along that let us climb aboard.  The second bus was less...smelly, so actually I wasn't too upset with the change.

Sunday, we went to the Juliaca airport to meet the team flying in.  The team consisted of 5 (very hilarious) men from Kym's home church, Christ Church in Plano, TX.  That evening we went to a service at the church where we would be working all week.  Padre Luis, who is Naty's son, is the priest.  It was a great service, which I was able to understand thanks to Kym's translating, and the people were so thankful to have us there.

The work we did was: 

Monday: We weeded, planted new flowers in the gardens, leveled a part of the courtyard that will be turned into a playground for the kids, and played with puppies.  (Not kidding...Padre's dog, Gigi, had puppies several weeks ago)

Tuesday: We sanded the walls inside and outside to get ready to paint.  Followed by more sanding, and then some more sanding.  Then we did a nice long clean-up of all the dust from all the sanding.

Wednesday: Painting on Painting on Painting.  We painted the inside of the church, and then most of the other buildings around the courtyard (some are still waiting to be re-plastered).  Kym and I also sat and scrubbed the floors of the church after all the painting, because the guys managed to get as much paint on the hardwood floors as they did on the drop cloths. Thanks guys.

Thursday: Painting, and a lot of puppy playing by yours truly.

Friday: I'll get to that in a little bit.

In the pictures you will see some other projects that we left to the professionals, like laying tile and repairing parts of the buildings with new stucco and plaster. 

Now I'm going to jump back to Tuesday and Wednesday when things got interesting... again...

First there was a strike. ("Huelga" in Spanish...) The city of Juliaca, unhappy with their mayor, shut down for a three-day strike (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday).  And by shut down, I mean shut down.  No taxis, no busses, no cars.  In fact, just in case some taxi driver decided he didn't want to support the strike, the people blocked the road with rocks and broken glass.  Our hotel pulled down huge metal doors to cover the front of the building so that it was not obvious they were still open.  And, with most of the grocery stores closed or only selling limited amounts of food, it was a challenge for Naty to find food for the team to eat that week....  

Because of the strike, we got our second surprise. (This one was better, though) Wednesday night Kym and I are in our hotel room, and the phone started ringing.  It was the front desk.  Turns out there were two German women downstairs that spoke a little English, but no Spanish, and the people at the front desk thought, "Oh, that woman in room 215 could come down and translate for us. She speaks Spanish and English. Let's call her." So, Kym willingly went down to translate.  These women were riding into Juliaca on a bus, and because of the strike, the bus had to drop them off at the outskirts of the city.  They then had to walk for over an hour until they found a hotel - ours.  They needed to catch another bus the next morning to a nearby town, but since the strike was messing up everything, they didn't know where to go, or more importantly, how to get there.  Kym told them they could follow us to the church the next morning and Padre Luis would help them out.  But, Thursday morning there was really nothing Padre Luis could do. They had to stay another night until the strike ended.  So, being in Juliaca an extra day with nothing to do, they stayed at the church and helped us paint...all day long.  In fact, I think they did more work than I did.  It was pretty neat sitting around the dinner table that night with three different languages being spoken - German, Spanish, and Texan ;) 

Then Friday came.  Our plan was to all take a bus to Puno, a nearby town.  That was where the Germans were needing to go, and we had been planning all week on going to visit Lake Titicaca which is just outside of Puno.  Well........The strike didn't end.  

This post is already getting long so I'll try to keep the next part of the story as short as possible.  We decided we would walk to the busses, because we heard it would be a 30 minute walk.  Part of the group wasn't ready, so they stayed behind at the hotel while some of us decided go along with the Germans and take them to their bus.  Our plan was to take them to the bus, then come back for the others, then go back to the busses and be on our way to Lake Titicaca.  (In retrospect it was obviously wasn't the best idea, but with such a big group to work with things do not always work out the easiest, or most efficient way...)  Well, since things never go the way there are suppose to, the journey to the busses took much, much longer than we anticipated even despite our ride in the back of a motorcycletruck.  Padre Luis was able to convince a guy to give us a ride in the back of his motorcycletruck, which I'm calling because I do not know what else to call it.  It was a motorcycle in the front and a truck bed in the back, which all 6 of us piled into.  Padre Luis rode alongside us on his motorcycle.  

We got lots of strange looks and several yells because the strike was still happening so he wasn't suppose to be taking us.  The ride was pretty bumpy but pretty fun, as we maneuvered our way through back roads trying to find glass-free and barrier-free roads.  At one point our only option was down a road where we shortly came up to a line of rocks in the road that we couldn't drive over.  Then as we were sitting there trying to figure out what to do next, a woman walked up and smashed a glass bottle on the rocks.  "You're not coming through here!" was the message she sent.  (It was actually kind of hilarious... although she was not joking) So, since we reached our dead end, we got out and walked the rest.  Ok, blah blah blah, skipping ahead, Germans are on the bus heading to Puno, and we are walking back to the hotel.  This is many hours later...rather than the hour we originally had anticipated.  Saying goodbye to our plans of making it to Puno ourselves, we focused on just getting back to the hotel to meet up with the rest of our group.  Walking along the main highway back into the city, we passed through a crowd of people burning piles of trash in the middle of the road.  These guys were the serious strikers.  They were also taking motorcycles away from people if they were riding them. Padre Luis who had ridden his motorcycle up to that point, just started pushing his.  I asked, "Can they do that?"  He said, "Well no, but when there are that many people they just do."

We all had dinner at the church that night, and then got news that the strike ended...for the time being.  (It is going to start again on Tuesday...) Since we were all suppose to leave on Saturday, we were very thankful that the roads were all open and we could get where we needed to be without hours of walking.

Despite the unexpected adventures, we really got a lot of work done during the week. The extra excitement just made for some good stories.  If you are still reading to this point, kudos for you and I apologize for the lengthiness. They are still finishing up all of the work, so we weren't able to see the finished product, but we were definitely able to see lots of progress!!  

Also, for a better write-up of the weeks events and better/more pictures you can check out peruconstructionmission.blogspot.com.  Bob, Christ Church's team blogger, is much better at this stuff than I. 

(Note: If you click on the little comment button in the bottom left corner of the slideshow, you can see captions for the pictures.)










Back in Arequipa, Kym took me to my first service at our church here.  Padre Juan Carlos introduced me to the congregation and said a blessing over me.  Good thing God speaks Spanish cause I didn't understand everything he said...  He then called me back up to take a picture with the kids.

I'm finally here!!

Well, after months of preparation and waiting Wednesday was finally the day for my move! In the weeks leading up to my departure I was more nervous than I was in my final couple of days in the US.  When the time came I was calm and I was READY, and I attribute that to all of the prayers and words of encouragement. So thank you, thank you, thank you.  Anyway, I flew all night and arrived in Arequipa Thursday morning at 7 am.  Luckily I’m still in the same time zone, so I didn’t have to readjust to a different time.  On a side note that I can’t help but share -  I was greeted at the airport with a sign saying “MADISON.”  I’ve always wanted someone to hold a sign for me at an airport like that, so I needless to say I felt pretty special!   Naty, a friend of Kym’s, was the one who picked me up and brought me back to Kym’s apartment where I will be living.  She cooked me some rice and chicken for my first meal, and I got lots and lots of much needed rest. 

Not much else to say, but I just wanted to give an update that I made it safe and sound. Saturday we leave for Juliaca, a town a little ways from Arequipa.  Kym has a short-term team coming for a week so we will all be working there!  Please, pray for safe travels for that team as they come to Peru and as we travel to Juliaca.   

Views from the apartment...pretty hard to beat if you ask me.