October in Peru

Always New

Even though I've been studying the Bible and learning about God ever since I can remember (thank you, Mom & Dad & Holy Spirit), I continue to be amazed at the way God's Word is never old. I could read the Bible 100 times over, and I would find something new, interesting and encouraging every time. For that matter, I could read the same book or verse over and over and still find something new.

Over the past few weeks, I've been reading through Paul's Epistles, starting with Galatians. I've always loved Paul's writings, and they're applicable to every situation in life, but they've taken on a new meaning for me as I read them through the eyes of a missionary.

I've always loved it when a verse I have known, cherished, and even memorized comes alive for me. I think it usually happens because of my changing situation or perspective in life. I experience something new, and I go from understanding the verse on an intellectual level to understanding it on a deeper, sometimes inexpressible level.

That is exactly what's been happening to me as I read the prayers Paul writes throughout his Epistles. The first prayer that struck a new chord with me was his prayer for the Ephesians in chapter 1:16-18. It reads, "I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you..." (ESV).

Ever since I read that verse, I've started praying it daily for the people of Lunahuana and Lucumo and for friends and family that still haven't realized the hope to which they are called. It expresses perfectly what I feel for unbelievers. I pray it for myself, too, that I may understand more and more each day the "immeasurable greatness" of the hope we have by God's "glorious grace." (Check out all of Ephesians 1.)

Another prayer of Paul that I've rediscovered and identified with is from Colossians 4:2-4. "Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison - that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak." I daily ask for opportunities to share my faith, and that I would know what to say when the opportunity presents itself. I ask that you would pray this prayer for me and yourselves as you go about your lives as missionaries wherever you are. And thanks be to God for his faithfulness in answering our prayers!

What a privilege to have a few little peaks at one of the many awe-inspiring demonstrations of God's surpassing wisdom -- the power of His Word and evidence that it is truly "living and active." (Hebrews 4:12)

From Tourist to Tourist Attraction

Not surprisingly, almost everyone in Peru thinks that I'm a tourist. In the streets of Lima, taxis honk thinking I'll need a ride to a hotel or tourist attraction. Waiters and waitresses call to us to come and eat in their restaurants. People try to speak to us in English because they assume we don't know any Spanish. Here in Lunahuana the people who work in the rafting business constantly advertise "canotaje" (rafting) as we walk by. A mototaxista tried to overcharge us today thinking we wouldn't know what a normal rate is for a ride into town. And I expected that. And most days I'm not too annoyed by it, although I hope the people of Lunahuana eventually realize that I'm living here.

However, in the past three days a new phenomenon has developed. Something that I wasn't expecting. Something that makes me laugh and ponder and feel a little uncomfortable.

The first time it happened, Katie and I were minding our own business at the nispero festival here in town on Saturday, watching the Miss Nispero pageant. Anthony wasn't with us because he was asked to be a judge of the pageant--another story for another time. Anyway, at one point this group of people from Lima started talking to us, and about one minute into the conversation, they asked if they could take a picture with us. Interesting. Katie and I stood next to each other, and one of the Limenians stood next to us, but quickly decided that she should stand in the middle. Ok. As soon as the camera flashed, a second person replaced the first, and we took another picture. And another. And another. At least after they took the pictures, they continued to talk to us for another hour or so and seemed like really nice people. They were excited for the work we would be doing in Peru and happy to meet us. After we parted ways, I looked at Katie and asked, "So, did you feel a little like Machu Picchu tonight?" Maybe we weren't quite as magnificent as Machu Picchu, but we definitely felt like we were a tourist attraction.

Then tonight, Anthony, Katie, and I went out to eat at a hotel restaurant near our house (much closer than walking all the way into town). There was a junior high school having a retreat at the hotel, so there were a good 20-30 kids there with about 10 chaperones. We were enjoying supper by ourselves in the restaurant until this group poured in. When a group of boys walked by, they yelled, "Gringos! Una foto, una foto!" We then heard them talking about getting their cameras so they could take a picture of us. We decided to shovel our food in and get out as fast as we could. We were about halfway down the sidewalk to the road when a girl came running out and asked if she could take a picture with us. Her mom came down to take it, and then about 4 more girls lined up to take pictures with us, one at a time.

I don't quite understand why we "gringos" were photo-worthy. Was it that they associated gringos with Hollywood or sports stars or McDonald's? Maybe they don't see many foreigners in their country? Maybe they would want pictures with Europeans or Asians, too. Who knows. But I can't imagine running up to a Peruvian or Asian or German or fill-in-your-own-nationality-an in the U.S. and wanting a picture with them just because of where they're from. It's interesting to me to think about what that might say about the influence the U.S. has in the world and the stereotype Americans have. And maybe I'm reading too much into it. I do like to analyze.

Whatever the reason, I still felt like a tourist attraction. And maybe I should enjoy it. It's the closest I'll ever be to famous.

Mototaxis

On October 6, Katie and I officially moved to Lunahuana, the town where we will be doing most of our work. It's a small town up in the desert mountains, about 3 hours south of Lima. It's beautiful. It's sunny almost everyday, we have a mountain view from our bedroom windows, and the people are very friendly. I sometimes need a jacket in the morning and at night, but during the day, the temperature is very pleasant.

Katie and I live in what they call a "casa de campo," which basically means a "country house." It's very comfortable and cute, and we love it. There's a kitchen, living/dining room, and we each have a bedroom. The bathroom is in our backyard...a separate little building from the house, but it does have plumbing. :) Our house is a 25 minute walk to the Lunahuana town square, and that's where we go to eat 1-2 meals a day. We don't have an oven here, so we don't do much cooking. Plus, it's so cheap to eat in restaurants, it's not worth the hassle or the cost to try to cook ourselves. Below is a typical meal we eat for lunch. It's call "menu" and consists of two courses - these courses happen to be a noodle soup and aji de gallina (chicken mixture and rice), plus a drink. All this cost us 5 soles each. That's less than $2.

Sometimes we don't feel like walking the 25 minutes to Lunahuana (we technically live in Condoray), so our mode of transportation is a mototaxi. Mototaxis are basically motorcycles with two back wheels and a tent-like covering added. You can fit three people (if they're small people - Katie, Anthony, and I barely fit) in the back of one. The driver sits on the motorcycle part in the front. Each mototaxi is decorated with character, and Batman seems to be the decor of choice around here. I've also seen spiderman and wildcats and lightening decor. I don't like to look too touristy (I know my blonde hair gives me away, but I want to at least act like a local), so I don't want to whip out my camera and take a picture of one. As a result, I stood by our living room window one morning and waited for mototaxis to drive by so I could take their picture without them knowing. Below is one of the shots I got. I hope it gives you an idea of what a mototaxi looks like. I wish I could have gotten a Batman picture.

The votes are in, but we DON'T have a winner...yet

A quick update on the elections from last Sunday...the biggest race was for mayor of Lima between Susana Villaran and Lourdes Flores. It was such a close race that they are still counting the votes and have to count every single one. Susana is currently leading.

Who Will You Vote For?

There will be major political elections in Peru on Sunday (tomorrow). They are electing mayors for all the town/cities throughout Peru. It's been very interesting to be here and witness the campaign process in another culture. It's actually very similar to U.S. campaigns - a lot of mud-slinging and candidates who never actually answer questions posed. The mayor for Miraflores (where I currently live) is basically a race between two women. There's been a lot of drama in the past few weeks between the two of them. I'm anxious to see who wins.

The election process in Peru is quite different from that in the States. In Peru it is mandatory that everyone votes if they are 18 or older. They have a card that gets stamped/sealed when they vote, and they have to show that card at the bank whenever they go to make a transaction. If they haven't voted, they can't deposit or withdraw money. In order to get access to the banks again, they have to pay a fine. The amount of the fine depends on their yearly income. Also, they have a dry law throughout the country starting at midnight on Thursday (which is technically Friday) and lasting until noon on Monday. No one can buy alcohol or drink in public places during that time.

Next year will be another interesting election year here because they will be electing a new president. One of the major candidates for President is Keiko Fujimori, the 35-year-old daughter of former President Alberto Fujimori. Alberto is currently serving a 32-year prison sentence for his role in killings and kidnappings while fighting against the terrorism of the Shining Path during his presidency. Part of the sentence is also for embezzlement. Thus, the fact that his daughter is running is interesting because if she wins, she could pardon him and get him out of jail.

One more tidbit about elections here: it's perfectly normal and acceptable to ask someone who they are going to vote for. So, who will it be? Vamos a ver.

A Cooking Adventure

Katie and I have been in Peru for almost 4 weeks now, and until last night we hadn't cooked a thing. We eat cereal, toast, or fruit in the mornings, and then we eat out for every other meal. Part of it is that we want to try all the amazing Peruvian food, another part is that the food at restaurants is CHEAP, and as we found out last night when we did cook-it's difficult and expensive to cook the food we know how to make.

We decided our Friday night entertainment would be to make supper and watch a sitcom from the states (we have the season on dvd). We were debating between making spaghetti and nachos. Anthony and I had a major craving for nachos, so that became our quest. Katie and I walked to the store in pursuit of the ingredients.

We started with the chips. Check. Now what about seasonings? They definitely didn't have the Old El Paso packets that I'm used to buying. What to do? Well, we could just brown the hamburger with onions and salsa and that would give it flavor. Salsa. Check. Now for the hamburger. We couldn't find any ground beef, so we decided to go with chicken instead. Expensive, but check. On to the cheese. No shredded cheese packets in Peru. We went to the deli counter to look at the blocks of cheese. Nothing really resembled cheddar or anything close to it, but we went with the closest thing we could find. Cheese, check. But wait, do we have a cheese shredder at home? A quick call to Anthony, who was waiting for us at the apartment - no cheese shredder. We look around the store for a shredder. Nothing. Hmmm. No beef, no real Mexican seasoning, no shredded cheese - these were not going to be the nachos that Anthony and I were craving.

Plan B - spaghetti. Katie and I went and put everything back that we'd already picked up, while one of the clerks by the seasoning section laughed at us. He had seen us pondering over which seasonings and chips to get earlier, and now we were back changing our minds. Oh well. We bought spaghetti, a jar of spaghetti sauce, some garlic, and some butter. Much easier than the nachos. We also decided to treat ourselves to cookies (the pre-made mix that you just have to add eggs and butter to), and we checked out.

Honestly, spaghetti has never tasted so good to me before. After eating unfamiliar (yet delicious) food for 4 weeks, something familiar and simple was the best thing I'd had for a good week. And the cookies, well, we tried. The dough didn't really look like it does in the states. We're not sure why. And the oven is different - it burned the bottom of the cookies. Katie and I spent 10 minutes scraping off the bottom of the cookies so they were edible. Dunking them in milk helped, too. I think the big problem is the stove/oven both have to be lit using a match (it's gas), and the cookies were too close to the actual flame burning in the oven.

The whole thing was quite an experience and was even more entertainment than we thought it would be. Thank God for my coworkers here and home-cooked meals. Maybe we'll try Mac N' Cheese soon. What a delicacy.