¿Qué tal Lima?

Although it seems I spend a little of each month in Lima, our capital city, I'm not usually site-seeing and don't take many pictures. But I'd love to share some of the sites with you, so here is a little tour I took with some friends I babysat for a weekend with my friend Clare.

After visiting the catacombs under the San Francisco church (a must-do in Lima), we walked the few blocks to the main plaza, or Plaza de Armas. I like the ornate brown "boxes" which extending off many buildings, designed to give a cloistered nun, or any woman, a view of the street's activity without revealing herself.

Every city is designed around the main plaza. I forget how gorgeous this one is. It still has the feel of a plaza, being bordered on all four sides by important buildings. A number of the streets leading to it are pedestrian only, so there's a lot less traffic than you'd expect. Maybe the amoured cars and machine-gun-carrying troops help discourage lollygagging as well.

Of course our tour included a stop at an ice cream shop, and then we walked down a beautiful street that used to be under a canopy made of glass. After it shattered in an earthquake, they left the framing in place so the street still feels unique. They call this Postcard Alley because that's pretty much all you can buy here.

Ingredients

I'm not a detail-oriented person, but it only takes a few tries in a ministry project before you figure out what are the essential ingredients. A basic one is funding. While we can generate our own resources in ministry, often the Body of Christ must get involved to make things happen. It's the way it was meant to be! How did Christ support His ministry? How should we support ours? How do we involve others? These were the questions we asked and started to answer at the Funding Workshop held in Lima a few weeks ago.

Leaders of indigenous associations came from all over Peru. We listened, talked, learned, discussed, and then retaught basic principles of funding projects shared by a friend from World Vision. We spent time on the internet looking at possible partners. Computers and the internet are new to many of these leaders so the learning curve was steep, but we made good progress.

At one moment in particular I was struck by how overwhelmed we can be by many things in life, and how quickly we forget to cry out to the Lord for help. He's not just God of the great traumas or great blessings, He's Lord of all, and deeply desires to be involved in every detail of our lives.

Can we even call out to Him to help us when we get stuck while searching for a web page? Does He care like that?

I just think about how much I want to help my friends when they run into something that overwhelms them, and I know that is just a shadow of the great love of God for each of us.

PROJECT ALLIANCE

I started singing with my church worship team 4 months ago. I was amazed that they are responsible to raise funds for whatever they need, their microphones, instruments, and outfits. Next up on the project list are stage monitors, which allow those of us on stage to hear what we're singing and playing. (Our church is large and made of concrete and most of the sound never gets back to the front of the room where we're standing.)

Fundraisers are usually bake sales, where you can by a papa rellena, a stuffed potato, for 1 sol, which is about 30 cents. I started doing the math and realized it would take a lot of papas rellenas to raise around $700, which what we estimate it will cost to provide monitors for our church.

Then I realized what a great opportunity this was to give my U.S. friends the chance to help out my Peruvian friends. And there are a lot of you musicians who know just what I'm talking about regarding the monitors!

Any size gift will be a big help to the project. Just think: a gift of $5 equals 15 papas rellenas, and donating $20 is equivalent to purchasing 60! I'll be in Lima in the middle of April, so I hope to see enough funds come in so we can purchase these then.

Click here to donate through PayPal or to mail a check.

Thank you!

Let the Little Ones...

One of the most mind-blowing things to me is the variety of opportunities for service here. Did I miss all of them in the States? Is there something about being a "missionary" that leads people to tell you about their ministries and invite you to work with them? Am I just more attuned?

I enjoy expanding my understanding of the ways others are serving. When my friend Deedra came down we made a point to visit the girls' home my friends started. We even took along a tiny keyboard (thanks, Smiths!)....


While we can't serve in every capacity, we are called to listen and follow. And we can be confident that He will lead. "The mind of a man plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps." Proverbs 16:9
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Food & Friends

Two of my friends decided it was time I learned how to make my favorite Peruvian dish, Ají de Gallina. So they came over last Friday and we cooked together for a few hours, one of my favorite things to do.

Ají de Gallina literally means Pepper of the Hen and the idea is that you can use your oldest, toughest bird, simmer it in this spicy yet creamy sauce, and get a fantastic result. It's served over rice and potatoes, with hardboiled egg and olives as condiments. As an added plus, we made a refresco, or drink, out of apple, cocona, and maracuya. Peruvian food is certainly not a hardship!

2 days, 50 people, 6 languages

Two weekends ago we had over 50 people working together here in Huánuco from 6 distinct languages. We had to use Spanish to communicate. Female ministry leaders (and a few guys) came to share and learn about the Women of the Bible project. In the picture above are members of the Huamalíes team I traveled with a few times last year. Their team is expanding as they bring new leaders on board for this year's round of workshops. They helped introduce this Bible teacher training program to ministry leaders from other Quechua language groups. It was thrilling to watch these Quechua women trainers learn from each other, share experiences, hopes, and frustrations, and spend hours in prayer for their ministries and each other.

The kids were pretty awesome too:

Best Christmas Present Ever

Riding on the back of a motorcycle is one of the closest things to perfection for me. So when Larry asked Christmas morning 2006, if I wanted to go for a ride, I knew this might be the best present I´d ever receive. We took the back roads up to Sacsayhuamán, one of the most beautiful ruins in Peru. And then back down again for Christmas Day festivities. That's held me over for a year or so, but it's about time again!

My Coworker's Story

Wycliffe USA's home page is featuring a story I wrote about Pali, one of the trainers for the Women of the Bible project. Check it out by clicking here.

Peruvian Navidad

Looking for my Lima church's Christmas play, some friends and I stumbled into an Episcopalian service. It was a beautiful church, and these windows depicting the early life of Christ were done by a local artist.

The play charmingly included lots of child actors, and the story described the U.N. searching hard for world peace when there was only news of war...eventually finding it only in Jesus Christ. I really liked the Peruvian Baby Jesus.

(The girl in red, black, and white, is a classic take on the criolla culture, originating with Africans who were taken here by force, and now have made a huge impact on Peruvian culture, especially along the coast.)

Jan, Ruth, and I went down the Lima coastline for lunch one day. If the drop off and highway weren't dramatic enough, the restaurant with this view is called "El Salto de Fraile", literally "The Jump of the Friar" and has a coinciding folktale of a love-sick (of course) monk who jumps to his death. The tiring job of recreating the jump falls to this strapping young man:

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.

La Loma, I love ya

I've now been to La Loma twice. Last Sunday, 3 of my Peruvian girlfriends and I took a taxi out of Huánuco 30 minutes into the countryside. Turn left up a hill, drive through a little town, and you'll find La Loma, a beautiful retreat center where you can eat a fabulous 4 course Peruvian meal, wander around the gorgeous grounds, and even spend the night. After lunch we walked up the hill to the Quechua town of Conchamarca and visited the local church. By far the highlight for me was the hour we spent listening to a local man talk about how God rescued him and keeps giving him opportunities to share that same gift with others. It felt like a piece of heaven, sitting around recounting stories of God's great love, meeting others who've experienced the same. One day those conversations won't have to end!

Peruvian Birthday #2

It was my birthday Tuesday and the ladies surprised me with a full-blown birthday tea instead of the cake and hot drinks I was expecting.

What a great time we had! Sandra, Sara and Ana came from church; Jan, Martie, and Marilyn from the missionary community; and 4 new friends as well!

We aren't supposed to live alone, and I thank God all the time for putting me in a community here!

I also thank God for this piece of dessert heaven which we are calling Pecan Pie Upside-down Cake. Thanks Jan!