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.

One step closer!

With graduation officially behind me I have now entered what I am calling my “nomad” stage.  Until I leave for Peru I will be living out of a suitcase and hopping around from family member to family member.  These two months are the time I thought I would really be working to fundraise and speaking with churches in order to reach my budget.  Well, I should learn not to try and plan things out the way I expect them to happen because sometimes God likes to take those expectations and do something completely different….

Last week I received my official email that my entire budget is already raised! I have known I was very close, if not there, but all of the funds weren’t officially in my account.  Now they are! In just a matter of weeks I have raised what I thought would take months.  To say the very least, I am completely overwhelmed. So first of all I want to say thank you.  Thank you for the complete and utterly amazing outpouring of love, support and donations.

So then, seeing as I still have three churches scheduled to talk to the question hit me, “Um, what do I do now? What happens if I raise more?”  I sent out support letters not too long ago, and I still have people telling they want to join with me in the journey and make a donation. This is a question I never dreamed I would be asking myself.  I had faith that God would provide, still though such a large budget was pretty daunting. But, man did He provide!  I took it as a huge confirmation that I am doing what He wants. But now what do I do?

Well, I have been visiting with SAMS and I am able do any number of things with any extra money in my budget.  For example, I could extend my stay there if I chose to (my parents probably won’t be too keen on that option), I could use it to make a return trip to Peru again next year, or I would be able to use it in case of an emergency.  But when I heard my final option, I knew what I wanted to do…

Now for the exciting part, my final option – Anything I raise at this point I will be able to put toward a special project for the kids there in Arequipa! What that project will be I do not know yet, but I am so excited that I will have the opportunity to use the generous donations and support I have received in a way that will directly benefit these children!!

I have my flight purchased and I leave October 16.  Everything is starting to feel so real.  I just want to thank everyone once again for the support and I ask for your prayers as I prepare for this journey.  And, if you still feel led to join me and make a donation, everything from now on will go toward some type of special project for the kids!

Image of St. James' Episcopal Church in Dalhart, TX where I spoke on July 28.  I have my very first church memories from this church, and it has a very special place in my heart.

The journey here...

How did I get here?  A question I have asked myself over and over.  The answer seems pretty obvious, God led me here.  It has been a journey made up of small steps, signs, and experiences.  But when I look back and see how everything played out, it’s pretty evident that He was guiding me and directing me the entire time.

A lot of it began last year, May 2012…Someone told me the night before I left for a study abroad program in Spain that the experience was going to change me.  And it did, to say the least.  Living in another culture, seeing different parts of the world, and just getting out of my comfort zone and experiencing a whole new set of adventures was an incredible opportunity.

I remember telling my mom at one point, “I want to move abroad or get a job in another country when I graduate.”  But what the heck would I be able to do?  It seemed like a pretty unlikely dream….

Not long after, my brother, Mark, and I had a long conversation about our similar “unlikely dreams.”  We both ideally wanted to go somewhere in South America and do some type of mission work.  From there we just had to figure out how to make it happen.  School started and my classes got hectic, but I tried my best to do research and look into programs when I could.  Then one Sunday in church, a missionary came and visited with our congregation about the work she was doing in Japan.  I took this as a push from Him, and I decided it was time I started taking more deliberate actions.

I visited with my priest and contacted that missionary.  I also really started talking to my brother-in-law, Kevin, about everything.  I came close to applying with an organization that would have been a year commitment.  But when the time came I was scared. First of all, I had never gone on a mission trip, much less a 52-week mission trip!  Kevin and I both agreed it would probably be wise to get my feet wet with a short-term trip before I dove in headfirst.  I also was beginning to see my life was going in another direction.  Being gone for a year was hard to imagine, and I made the decision to hold off.

Over Christmas break, two friends told me their plans of going on a mission trip to Peru during Spring Break and mentioned that I might be able to join them.  They were going with the Reformed University Fellowship (RUF) group at Tech.  I contacted RUF's leader, Steve, and through a lot of selfless effort on his part, everything fell into place for me and I was able to join up with their group.  “Ok,” I told myself, “This trip will give me some experience with mission trips if I do end up deciding to do a longer one later on down the road.”  Later on down the road, I said.  I had just about convinced myself that my future was going in another direction.

The semester started, and shortly into it my world was turned upside down.  That future I had imagined was no longer going to happen. The mission trip to Peru came at just the right time, and as I was boarding our flight in Miami I was thinking, “This is just what I need.”

What an understatement that proved to be.  God worked in my heart that week and when I returned to Lubbock I took the idea of something longer-term off the backburner.  I felt guilty for denying something that God had obviously placed on my heart, and I set out to make it happen.

I called Kevin, we talked, and he sent me information on an Anglican organization he had learned about at a conference.  Next thing I know, I am visiting on the phone with Bridger coordinator, Lynn.  I told her everything, my available time frame, where I hoped to go, and what I hoped to do. Within the next week I was turning in my application, and three weeks later I was flying to their training program in Pennsylvania.

Everything worked out even better than I could have imagined, and it fills me with faith that I am doing exactly what He had planned.  I will be moving to Arequipa, Peru and will be there from October 2013 – July 2014.  During that time I will be working with SAMS missionary, Kym, another Texan!  I will be working in the schools and also with the local church.

Until that time I am finishing up my undergraduate degrees, and starting to fundraise and prepare for my trip.  It will be a lot of work, but I am excited to see how God will provide and what all He has in store for me.