NOTE: THIS IS BEING SENT JUNE 16 FROM OUR HOTEL IN CUSCO. WE COULD NOT GET OUT FROM Pomocanchi or the ADRA Camp.)
2013 Peru Mission Report #2: Monday, June 10 at 5 A.M. from ADRA camp between Cusco and Pomacanchi, Peru.
Dear Family and Friends:
Maybe the bold type will be easier to read. Let us know if that is so. We have no ability to get out on Internet here and very little time to write these reports, but I’ll write anyhow as able in order to preserve the memories. We will send them whenever we get the chance to do it.
The 8 A.M. projected leaving time from our hotel in Cusco turned out to be closer to noon. All the other members of our group were delayed because the Miami flights were cancelled and they had to catch another flight. Dr. Raul Vila and his family had to change airlines and buy another ticket to avoid further delay. Pastor Lopez from the South East Peru Mission picked up Austin and me and took us to the mission office again to join the others for a fruit and bread breakfast there. We also drank a special hot drink that helps to deal with the altitude challenge.
It was great fellowship getting acquainted with the team. It turns out that Austin and I are the only non Latinos in our group (besides John Youngberg who spent childhood years in Latin America and knows Spanish well). They all speak English (somewhat) but do most of their conversing with one another in Spanish. So it is a test of what little Spanish we know. Mine goes back 63 years to the classes at Mount Vernon Academy. I wish I could tell Prof. Ralph Nobrega, the teacher, how I am now using it in Mission work. The problem is that he died at age 90 a couple of years ago and before I could visit him. There will be some nice things to share when we reach heaven.
One of the team is Claudia Hernandez with her husband David. They are from USA and she teaches Spanish in Public School near Collegedale, TN. We soon discovered that she is the cousin of Libby who married Curtis Forrester in an outdoor wedding that we attended in Gentry many years ago. Curtis was an associate pastor also working with Bruce Alborg.
The ride to our lodging was very comfortable in a modern mini-bus with a driver assigned to our team for the duration. He is very careful and we all appreciate that. Gorgeous scenery greeted us all along the way. Our pictures will demonstrate it. The humble people here live mostly from subsistence farming and a little trading at the Market on special days. Their clothes are very colorful but we see some western clothing too. The women wear several skirts at once depending on how cold it is. They do amazing amounts of hard work. That makes it hard for them to stay awake during our evening meetings.
Austin and I are staying in Room #13 (I’m glad we are not superstitious). The room is on second floor of the lodging and is about 9 x 15 with a western toilet that works and a mini shower. The water becomes hot if you have only a tiny spray because it is heated as it is drawn. You can have a larger spray but it comes at the cost of cooler (cold) temperatures. We managed to accidentally lock the door one night and our room key does not fit it, so there was a serious search for the man who has all the individual keys. My shower was postponed that day for a while.
John assured us that it is ok to flush toilet paper here rather than put it in the waste can in the bathroom. It was not that way last year in our meetings at Tacna, Peru. ADRA built a better facility. The cost for our room each night is $28 rather than the $10 it would have been in the scheduled hotel. We do not have to pay that since lodging was included in the basic trip cost. John had a special $5000 gift from a friend that picks up the slack in cost overruns and incidentals. Whew!
Our ADRA Camp is not used much but it is on a beautiful location beside a river. They have two greenhouses that produce great vegetables. We are enjoying that freshness in our daily delicious food. Austin and I are both impressed with how tasty it is. There are some dishes we want the recipe for if possible. They make use of a special grain developed by the Incas. Austin says it is available in USA in Chicago and probably elsewhere. We have not used much of the food we brought yet, but probably will do so shortly in order to get more protein. We have peanut butter plus Mary Alice’s special crackers and the nutrition bars recommended by Dr. Neil Nedley for their Omega 3 content. The nuts and dried fruit will also help supplement the tasty but watery meals here.
There are at least two friendly large dogs on the grounds that want a lot of attention. One is obviously a pup with puppy glee and enthusiasm manifest by his wanting to jump up on us and be petted. Two baby Llamas are here too and nervously submit to close up photography but seem to begrudge that interference with their bottle-feeding. We had seen on Internet news in Cusco a video clip of a tourist approached by a Vicuna and nuzzled, but then spit upon in the face. It is a nasty experience and one we do not want to get firsthand.
The air is very cold here in the morning and through the night but warms up during late morning. How much to wear is a constant challenge. We did get an electric space heater that helps very much. We turn it off during the warmer part of the day. There is low humidity here so we put a pan of water on it to add moisture beyond what our showers provide. Austin has allergies but the air here seems to be in his favor. There are many Eucalyptus trees with beneficial effects. At least the pollen is different and not affecting his breathing.
We arrived here late on Friday afternoon and did not get to have the usual orientation that was preempted by the airline flights problem. It was good to get out and photograph the place in good light before unpacking and getting the room straightened a bit. Since Mary Alice did the packing for me, the unpacking made me familiar with what all was in the suitcases. Now I know where to look for needed items.
Following the delicious meal we had a vespers program and went to bed to get as much sleep as possible. Sabbath would be a busy day.
Riding the additional 20 minutes up the mountain to Pomocanchi was again an immersion in beauty. Church was held on the patio of one of the few church members there. The sermon was in Spanish by a mission officer, but Austin and I had some translation by other team members. It was very well done, challenging us with God’s call as in the days of the disciples of Jesus. Following church we walked to the site of the new church being constructed and took photographs of the progress thus far. There were no volunteers on our team other than Austin for the building of the church. John Youngberg, our leader, teaches Construction at Southern Adventist University and has had lots of experience. He was once Principal of Hinsdale Academy where Austin is a student, and did a lot of the remodeling there, so he and Austin have a lot in common. Austin is getting “free” building education. The only tuition is his sweat at the hard work.
Local church members have done a lot of the early work with John who came down ahead of the group for the head start on foundations. One local man is age 81 and carried on his back 90 Lb. cement sacs from the truck to the site. I had my photo taken with him and may be with him at the site this morning until noon doing something similar. I did see him again at the clinic on Sunday morning, but don’t think it was for work related problems.
After a late lunch at the Camp we had the orientation meeting with Mission officers leading out, but before that we took a long hike up a mountain beside beautiful cascading water. It was so peaceful with blue sky and white puffy clouds accenting the green of the foliage. That climb showed me clearly that we are at significant altitude here and really deep breathing is a must.
There was very little done in preparation for our meetings so we must adjust to what approach we will use here. Remember! Mission work requires adaptability, adaptability and adaptability. There are four sites with meetings. Mine is one where the translator goes directly from English to Quechua but the texts on the screen are in Spanish.
I was supposed to have vespers on Sabbath evening, but in the mass confusion of deciding just what we are to do at the meetings, it was lost. People just ate supper and went to bed. Just now there are only 40 minutes until breakfast and following that I have worship for our group before we take off for the work at the church site, so I’ll get Austin up and get ready for that. Sunday’s interesting day will have to come later.
4:20 P.M. Monday continuing: After breakfast and worship John had to go to Cusco to get more building supplies for the church in progress, so I accompanied Austin and a few of our group that went to help in the morning. Before telling about that I’ll fill in about Sunday.
We all went to Pomacanchi by 10 A.M. to set up for a clinic that was seriously delayed by two programs that were scheduled after we had scheduled for that site—the Central Plaza. It is common here to have double scheduling we were told. One ceremony was in honor of the flags and there was a marching band of students from the local Catholic school. It went on and on and was followed by a celebration in honor of the 36th Anniversary of the Simon Bolivar University. He is honored for being the “George Washington” of Peru.
It was an opportunity to give out the little handbills advertising our meeting on that site. John believes the local priest was trying to drown us out, but it only delayed our clinic that was well received. Our problem was that the clinic began at the time it was supposed to end, so our lunch back at Camp was delayed and we did not get to go ahead to our sites to check out equipment etc. By the time all the fallout was filtered out we did not get that first visit in daylight. I reached my site at Chllchicaya at 7 P.M.—the time scheduled to start the meeting.
There were only two older “grandmas” and one child there then. We set up the video projector and got electricity to it and the computer in good time, but the screen was a rose colored wall that reminded me of our bedroom wall in Coshocton, Ohio at the beginning of our ministry. Mary Alice and I persuaded the Syrian Landlord named Saba to let us repaint it into a color that would not generate nightmares. If colors do affect you as reported, that wall might have marked our posterity.
What a surprise when we projected Sunday night onto that same colored wall! The pictures showed beautiful and bright. To me it was a minor miracle. There was a prayer group in another tiny room so we met the helpers including Ruth, my translator. She knows English somewhat and also Spanish and Quechua and proved a great help. She has worked with little children and knows songs for them. When we played the Jesus video the sound was only from my computer. The District pastor showed up and hastened off to bring a speaker with amplifier. He also had a DVD of children’s songs that really drew in the children playing on the street outside. Some adults followed later. My sermon was about Creation and God’s love for us, and the songs matched a bit. It was exciting to see the little children listening intently. We ended with about fifteen people in attendance.
Following the meeting that ended at about 8:30 because of all the postponing, I was to be picked up by our bus as were the others from the four sites. Austin was not with me because he went back to work more at the church building site with John. Well, the bus did not come and did not come. We thought we had been forgotten. One of the workers had a cell phone and called John for advice. He suggested they get a taxi to take me back to camp. It was ordered but just then the bus appeared. All the others also had trouble setting up and ended late.
Toward the end of the meeting it was very cold inside our civic hall that used to be a school before their new one was built. The whole village only has 25 families. I had worn my suit with shirt and tie as suggested and had a sweater under that before the coat. It was not enough against that cold. Finally my translator Ruth took off her scarf and insisted I wear it along with a warm yellow hat that covered the ears. She had a heavy and warm overcoat. It was quite a “getup” that greeted our fellow group leaders on the bus. Maybe Austin will get a photo of me in it before we return it to Ruth tonight. Austin was already in bed and asleep when I got to our room at 10 P.M.
It was a short night because I woke up at 12 and began thinking about the future sermons and how to adapt them to the audience. Right now I don’t know how many adults and children will come and how best to reach them in their culture. These meetings really make it clear how much we need the Holy Spirit to be present and do His work if the people are to really get the message we have to share with them. These mission trips teach us full dependence on God for all that we do. Period!
The work went well this morning at the site. There were many helpers from among the local people and the block walls are rising quickly. The biggest problem seems to be getting the building materials ahead of the block layers. The two companies cannot make the blocks fast enough to keep ahead of us.
I joined the workers at the site this morning. Since I only brought one pair of shoes and didn’t want to get them ruined with cement work, John loaned me a pair of his tennis shoes. He was in Cusco working on getting materials and did not need the shoes there. Now I can say that I have walked in his shoes, but didn’t carry his work load or responsibilities. Helping carry blocks and shovel elements for the cement mix did bring back some memories of when we were helping build the Urbandale Church in Battle Creek in our earlier ministry.
It’s time to get packed for the meeting tonight so I’ll close this.
TUESDAY, JUNE 11: CONTINUED:
The meeting last night at our site went much better. There were fifteen children for their meeting just prior to the adult meeting. The leaders did a great job telling them stories and having them color pictures and sing using our equipment for their DVDs. Then they went home and invited their parents to come. We had about seven adults plus our group. It looked good in the small hall we are using. We didn’t use the Jesus Video for lack of time. I spoke about the way sin came into our universe telling the story of Lucifer. The hearers were very attentive and nodded their understanding. Our translator, Ruth, filled in much more detail than I gave and that was good. Actually, I felt more like a teleprompter. I would give the Bible text with brief comment and she would elaborate so they could understand.
Since I was so cold the previous night, I added another layer of clothing and it helped. (Undershirt, shirt and tie, sweater, jacket and then suit coat) I continued to use the scarf of the translator since there is no place short of Cusco where I could buy one.
Our room is cold too so at night I wear underwear, pajamas, sweater, coat and socks. The heavy blanket, sheet and bedspread further guarantee better sleep. And we do keep the electric space heater going to help put more moisture into the otherwise very dry air. We keep a small pan of water on top of it to evaporate.
This morning Austin is a bit “under the weather.” He blames it on the beets he ate. He says they usually produce a reaction like that and plans to lay low and rest today rather than go to the construction site again.
One big problem is that our transportation makes for a long wait at the meeting sites and we get to bed late. The bus is very comfortable but has to deliver teams to four places in separate towns and then pick us all up again. The meetings are supposed to open and close at the same time, but that is impossible with different delivery times. They may solve it by having people with cars replace the bus. Nothing comes easy in frontier mission work.
Austin is doing well in his work. John says he is a hard worker and is fitting in well with the group in spite of the language difference. He plays finger games with Samuel and Joshua, the small children of Dr. Raul and Eunice Vila and the boys always want to engage him in taking a walk or whatever.
This is truly an experience to remember. Results will not be evident until Jesus comes and we can see the full impact of our meager efforts to share Him in a fuller way than they have known.
With love, Glenn and Austin (Grandpa and Grandson)