Women of the Bible graduate!

Early Sunday morning I peeked out of my little dirt floor room, and found the courtyard humming with activity. These ladies peeled 400 POUNDS of potatoes to feed 100 people. Yes, that's the Quechua estimate: It will take 4 pounds of potatoes per person to keep everyone happy.












I also appreciated this lady's work, sweeping the dirt. That's not something you see everyday in my home town. You could actually see the difference!







Around 10:30, we started heading to the church for the graduation ceremony. It was scheduled for 10 a.m., but everyone knows that's just a goal. The service will start when everyone is ready. (My kind of place!)

Almost as soon as we started, Jan began to honor the trainers who had dedicated so much of their past year to these workshops. Each came forward to receive a gift of appreciation and we prayed over them.


The groups from each of the 3 workshop locations shared songs of praise. These ladies from Pachas couldn't have been more exuberant!




Plays were created, well, produced, out of the lessons. My favorite was supposed to be describing Job's wife, but instead focused in a very Quechua-like manner on the animals that Job owned, lost, and then regained. In this dramatic moment, the ox-driver is trying to control her "animals". Don't ask me where Job's wife ended up in this scene. (Actually I think she's on the right, helping control the oxen!)

This girl of 13 recited many, many memory verses in Quechua. She is also a star pupil, teaching these Bible lessons to men, women, and children in her church. Their level of hunger for Bible study doesn't seem to mind that this workbook is geared toward women!











Victoria shared about the "hardness" in her heart that softened when she heard of this class and started studying the Word of God in Quechua. Her smile alone tells how her heart is now.















After introductions, dramas, testimonies, memory verses, and a message, finally it was time to graduate. Felix, Bruce, and Polly joined with others to help pass out the certificates. These ladies were the "stars" of the show.













After the ceremony, we feasted together to celebrate the moment. It didn't take long for 400 pounds of potatoes, 50 pounds of onions, and 25 pounds of hot yellow peppers to disappear! Jan and Ernestina even made a three layer chocolate cake (two of them!) complete with chocolate frosting.


It was hard for me to come down from this all-day high, but the ladies had to jump on buses quickly to get home before dark, and the cooks and local folks were ready for their weekly volleyball game just an hour later. A good way to end this great day!

"Come unto me"

I spent most of the workshop last weekend looking into faces like these.

As you can imagine, we had a lot of fun together!

While moms were studying, we went outside to play with, well...whatever we could find. I was so impressed with their resourcefulness, I started keeping track of how long we played with things I would have just passed by. Kayla and I played with one rock for over an hour. Another day, 3 girls played with a loop of rope for close to 3 hours! It's amazing how much fun you can have, even without Tickle Me Elmo. ;)

People who work with kids overseas will tell you that kids are the same everywhere. Same basic needs, same desire for your undivided attention. That was true of this bunch of kids...as well as the fact that a child's affection can melt your heart faster than anything. Kids don't seem to mind the occasional language barrier either.

Hasta Pachas

Come along with me on a trip to Pachas, one of the Quechua villages that held the 5th in a series of 5 workshops on the Women of the Bible this past weekend. We'll take the Bensons' truck, pack the back full of supplies for the workshop and the following graduation day, and drive about 6 hours out into the countryside. The road will be bouncy and the other drivers will be unpredictable, but around every curve will be breathtaking views of the hills and valleys of the Andes.

Now we're traveling from up from about 6,000 to around 11,000 feet. The air is getting thinner and it's chilly all day long, unless you're standing directly in the sun. We slow down for herds of sheep and goats, as well as the occasional donkey. This one has an albino baby!

Now that we've reached Pachas, we're driving up to the church, unloading all of our stuff, and parking the truck down by one of the participants homes near the plaza. Every town in Peru has a central plaza, or town square, and this one happens to have a bell tower too.


We are staying the next few nights in these rooms on the church property. The trainers are getting together tonight to adjust their lesson plans, to account for the absence of their leader hasn't been able to make it due to her late-stage pregnancy.

I am having fun reconnecting with Kayla, my 8 year-old friend, whose mom is on the teaching team. We are playing with my camera and telling Bible stories. Her mom has done a great job training her, because when Í try and translate what Jesus says from English to Spanish, she always has a correction for me. She remembers the Bible verse and my translations aren't that great yet!

Tomorrow morning, we'll all get up as soon as the sun rises, and start the first day of the workshop. But for now, it's time to snuggle under layers of wool blankets and get some sleep.