Summer in Peru

2011-07-23T18:39:00.001-05:00

On Friday, June 15th, we didn´t have to be at school until 12:00. So, I got up and went to Theresa´s for breakfast. By myself. Sometimes, you just need time alone. I had fried eggs, rice, and hot tea (the same thing I eat for every other meal). Afterwards, I went and sat in the plaza for a little while and said hello to the children as they walked to school. One boy came up on the gazebo with me and pulled all of his notebooks out of his backpack. Then he tore a page out of one of them, handed me a pen, and asked me to write out the lyrics to the song, ¨My God is So Big.¨ Since, I don´t know the lyrics in Spanish, I told him that I would get Jenna to do it and I would bring it to him at school. It was sweet. At 4:00, Francisco and Sarah had asked us to come over for a visit. They served us roasted corn and coffee. And then Francisco built us a fire...because we were all freezing.

On Saturday, we went to Pedro´s at 8:00 to see if we could meet with him and discuss the Bible. He couldn´t because they had killed a cow and he was having to butcher it. He told us to come back at 5:00 though. We went to Theresa´s to get hot tea and as soon as I walked in, she had set down some green beans to be snapped. I sat down in front of them and told her I would do it...she could just get us some tea. Matt peeled potatoes for Granny. We went back home and chilled for a little while. On our way to lunch, Theresa told us that the family needed help branding cows. Solomon and Jenna had gone on a hike, but Ayla, Matt, and I went and helped. When we went back to Pedro´s, he was still busy but he gave us a bag of fresh meat and told us to go home and fry it. We took it to Theresa. :) It was delicious. All of Theresa´s sisters came to the restaurant because they wanted to have one more Bible study with us. After all of this, we went to the hospital and played UNO with the staff.

Sunday, June 17th, we rolled out of Oyolo. It was sad. When I woke up, I was hoping that all of the children would be waiting in the plaza to tell us bye. But they weren´t...haha. We left at 7:30. Our expected time of arrival in MarcaBamba was 3:00. We got there at 11:30. Our driver was speedy quick. It was great.

Monday, June 18th.
Peruvian public transportation...I hate it.
We got on a bus at 4:30 this morning. At 10:00, we got to a new village and new people got on.Three different people came up to me and Ayla and informed us that we were in their seat. I was very frustrated and told the last one in English that there was no way our seat could also be three other people´s seats and that there were plenty of other open seats on the bus and that they could pick one. He stared at me for a minute and then walked away. We finally got off in some city. Then we had to catch a combi to Chumpi. Then we caught a car to Cora Cora. We finally rolled in around 2:30. The Chavina team was there for the night also so we all went to dinner together at the legitimate Italian restaurant and ate pizza. Yum.

Tuesday afternoon, we went to the orphanage in Cora Cora. The babies were precious. We played with them for a few hours. For dinner, we went back to the Italian restaurant and I had spaghetti.

I thought I hated Peruvian transportation until Wednesday. This day totally changed my perspective of Peru. We got on a combi at 5:30 in the morning. This wasn´t the normal combi with tiny seats and no leg room. It was spacious and comfortable. At 10:00, we made it to Puquio. This is where the paved roads starts. Here, we got on a van. Once again, spacious and comfortable.We took this van to Nasca. We ate lunch in Nasca at my favorite restaurant...the one with the amazing lasagna. Then we had the really good ice cream. I thought I was in heaven. At 4:30, we got on the nicest bus in Peru. A bus that none of us ever dreamed we would ride. Most buses we usually ride are crap and full of mountain Peruvians. This one was only white people, from all over the world. The seats were super comfy...like first class airplane seating. They leaned back far. It was a two-story bus. The bottom floor was the first-class floor. We were on top. We were served dinner on the bus, we watched movies in English, and it had free Wi-Fi (not that I had anything that would connect to the Internet). We made it to Lima around 11:30. Best travel day ever!!!

Lima has been a nice break from the mountain life. I have eaten really great food. Thursday, the girls shopped for dresses to wear to the wedding. I flew down in one so I didn´t need to buy one. Friday was the wedding. It was beautiful! Today, we ate at Chili´s. I had sweet corn on the cob and country fried steak. Once again, I thought I was in heaven.

That is my brief update of what has happened since the last time I updated. The rest of my time here, I will just be in Lima...not doing a whole lot of anything.

2011-07-14T20:20:00.000-05:00

Wednesday, June 6th, was Teacher Appreciation Day. The definition of a Peruvian Teacher Appreciation Day : kids are out of school for the day and teachers get a full day of recess. We got to participate. There was a soccer game, and then a basketball game, and then a volleyball game. At this point it was lunch time so we left. They played the rest of the day.

The rest of the week wasn't too eventful...

Sunday, June 10th, started our last week in Oyolo. We spent the morning at Francisco and Sarah's house. They are a cute old couple in the town. Sunday is soccer day so we went and watched a few games.

Monday started our week of school teaching. We were at the high school at 9:45 to teach English. At 12:00, we taught religion at the primary school. We are teaching at both schools everyday this week but different classes each day. We went to Theresa's for lunch and she had fresh brocolli. I got super excited and asked if we could eat some. She said I would have to teach her to cook it the way I liked it. So, we boiled three heads of brocolli with butter. Matt, Solomon, Ayla, and I devouredd it. It felt so good to eat vegetables! We had church at Isabelle's on this night. After church, Matt went to Theresa's to pick up our water bottles. She boils water for us at night to put in our sleeping bags. When he came back, he said, "I have good news and bad news. Bad news...they ran out of gas and you have no hot water. Good news...they sent some for the skinny girl." And then he threw me my bottle full of water. The girls were mad. It was freezing.

On Tuesday, we taught the senior class at the high school. Afterwards, we went to the pimary school and taught the 4thgrade religion class. This is my favorite class. I love the kids and the professor. We taught the birth of Jesus and let them act out the story. I was the donkey...and Mary rode me to the inn. It was quite hilarious. We had church on this night at the hospital. It was our last one while we're here. I told the Bible story. After church, we sat around and played UNO. The hospital staff loves it.

On Wednesday, we taught at the high school at 8:30. The class we taught was AWFUL! Well, mainly just one boy in the class. I really wanted to put him in the corner, or make him do wall sits, or give him some form of punishment, but I'm a missionary and I had to be nice. Afterwards, we taught the 5th grade class at the primary school. My favorite kid is in that class. We happen to have the same name. Carlos and Carlita. :) On this night, we had a date night set up with Marilyn, the doctor. We had a nail painting party. It was really fun. Mom, you would hate my nails right now. They are granny smith apple green...almost neon. With sparkles on top. At dinner, Eufimea called us "dirty greengas." She said we need to shower more. We told her we haven't showered since we've been here. She had a cow.

Today, we didn't have to teach at the high school, and we didn't have to be at the primary school until 12:00. So, this morning, Matt and Solomon helped a man work in the plaza. The girls were just sitting and all of a sudden the entire preschool class ran up to Matt yelling, "Hola greengo!" Then they started yelling something to him but he didn't know what they were saying so he asked Ayla for help. Turns out, a little boy was saying he had a baby pig...in his backpack. He pulled it out for us to see. Then, with the biggest grin on his face, he yelled, "Es muerto!" That means, its dead. A little baby piglet. Not only was it in his backpack, but to show it to us, he had to pull out his jacket, and then a notebook, and then there was a pig. This may have been the craziest thing I've seen since I've been in this country. The kids had been on a field trip...not sure where they went today.

We're leaving early Sunday morning. My time in Oyolo is almost over.

2011-07-05T17:22:00.000-05:00

Thursday, June 30
Quote from journal:
"I can't believe it's the last day of June. It feels like I've been here forever...and the first month is just now over. Crazy. I like it here, but I'm ready to go home."

Matt was sick on this morning, so the rest of us went to a man name Pedro's house and visited for over an hour. After lunch, Salomon took Matt to the doctor and Ayla, Jenna, and I went and worked in the fields.

I don't know if I have explained this before but there is a family here that is very important to us. There's Granny. I don't know her real name...I just call her Granny. She has no idea what I'm saying though. Granny has four daughters. They are quite the businesswomen. One is Isabelle. We stay at her house. She is also the principal of the primary school. Then there's Eufimea and Theresa. They own a restaurant...where we eat daily. And the youngest is MariLuz. She owns a store and has animals. We went to the fields with this family and dug up oyukos - these are potato-like things that are pinkish to yellowish. (We don't really like to eat them.) We had a blast. We got dirty and it was freezing cold. Under our nails was the dirtiest so Ayla and I went back to Theresa and Eufimea's and asked if they could give us some hot water to soak our nails in. Eufimea told us to sit and shell some peas and when we were done, then we could wash our hands. Haha. We were excited about this too. We shelled peas, then washed our hands, and then she gave us some hot tea. It was a great day!

Friday was our day of rest. We had been traveling alot and never took a break. And Matt was sick. So we decided it would be beneficial to us all.

We woke up Saturday, and everyone in the village was moving their cows. We asked MariLuz what was going on. On the last day of harvest, everyone moves their cows from their cow fields, to the crop fields. They all mix together and stay for a week. It is kind of like a festOival. The cows eat everything that is leftover, and everyone's fields get fertilized.

The Peruvians told us that July would be colder than June. No kidding, It used to be warm during the day and cold at night. Now it is cold during the day too. Freezing actually. I can definitely tell that it is winter now. It rained on this day and snowed on the mountains around us.

Sunday is the day we learned to MILK COWS! Eufimea and MariLuz taught us. Sunday is soccer day so we watched a few games during the afternoon. But we froze. And it rained and snowed again.

On July 4th, we actually did celebrate. We opened the bag of beef jerky that Matt's church brought us and we all shared it. It was so good! Haha. Not a burger off the grill...but still very good. We had church tonight at Isabelle's.

Today we taught English to the senior class at the high school.We taught them the song "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes." It was funny to see them do it. Tomorrow is teacher appreciation day.There will be a volleyball game at the high school...primary school teachers against highschool teachers. Matt has been asked to play for the primary school. Should be a fun day.

We're having church tonight at the hospital.

Teaching at the primary school Thursday and Friday.

2011-06-29T15:16:00.000-05:00

My mother has been sending me complaint emails informing me that I'm not updating my blogs enough. Sorry mom...my internet access has been limited. I'm going to try to make up for it now though. I will add a few more details from Nasca and go from there.

I woke up Sunday morning, June 19th, in a comfortable bed and warm room...with a bathroom that had a toilet, and I didn't even have to walk outside to get to it. I also got to sit in my bed and watch FOX news. American news! I was so happy. Although, I didnt get to catch up on much. It was all about the budget and whose running for president...

I had lasagna for like...four meals while I was there. And I don't even like lasagna. It was delicious. I really just loved the restaurant. Everything there was good.

On Tuesday, all the other teams began arriving. We went early because we had to leave early. It was wonderful to see other greengos (thats what Peruvians call us).

Matt's church came in Wednesday night. They consisted of Pastor Daryl, Mrs. Janice, Mr. Tom, and his nine-year-old daughter Sarah. We also gained a new translator for the week. His name was Leehi. And our van driver...Ra-ool (this is not the correct spelling...just the way it sounds).

We left at 10:00 AM on our van from Nasca. We drove to MarcaBamba and arrived at 2:15 AM.

Friday morning, we pulled out of MarcaBamba at 9:30 AM. When we hike into Oyolo, a combi takes us to a certain spot, we get out, and start hiking. On this day, we were taking a different route. A route where you can drive into Oyolo. It is very expensive though to get someone to drive you over. It isn't an easy task...and most people never do it. We got pretty far upbthe first mountain...but our van was barely making it. It got to a point where Ra-ool said no more. His van just wasn't going to cut it. We needed a four wheel drive. So, we had to turn around and go back to MarcaBamba for the night. We got back around 7:00 PM. Oh...and I saw a wild fox today.

Saturday morning, Pastor Daryl found a truck that would take us to Oyolo. All the boys, and Sarah, had to ride in the back. She wanted to...we didn't make her. We left around 10:30 and made it to Oyolo around 5:30. The truck ride was amazing compared to the van ride. And it was beautiful! We got to the top of the first mountain and it turned into a flat plain of dirt. We could see for miles. It was also very cold. Salomon got to hold snow for the first time ever in his life. The plain turns into marsh land, and then more mountains. Being a geographer, this was very cool for me. When we finally got to Oyolo, we all felt like we were home. Like, real home. All the village people were so happy that we were back.

Sunday morning, we left again for Ushua, the next town over. We were suppose to be baptizing a man name Gilbert, but...we didn't get to Sunday. We did have church though. 18 people showee up. That was great. Testimonies were given a Bible story was shared. Little Sarah was amazing. And 10 people were saved that night.

I had an awful night. I got very sick and threw up a few times...and had a fever the whole next day. The baptism at the hot springs was Monday morning so I missed it. I was in bed until they got back from that, and then we got back in the truck and drove back to Oyolo. I've decided that our mission trip is like Paul...all we do is travel.

Tuesday was the last day that Matt's church would be with us. We went to the primary school and played with the children. Sarah shared her testimony with two classes, gave them the plan of salvation, and then said that if they wanted to make that decision, they could pray with her right then. Precious little Sarah... We had two church services on this night. We split up and had one at the hospital and one at Isabelle's, where we live.

The Parkridge missions team left this morning. It was sad. It was nice having a mother figure around for a few days. Matt thinks he's getting real sick. Please pray for all of our health. I will be in Oyolo for the next three weeks with no traveling. YAY! Internet access may be limited during this time. Be patient with me. On the 17th or 18th we will leave, stay in Cora Cora for a day or two and visit the orphanage, and then head back to Lima. We have to get there a few days early because Salomon is in a wedding. A Peruvian translator is marrying an American girl who has been here sevral times for summer missions.

I'm going to go ahead and put in my order for when I get back:
Mother: could you bring wheat thins and pepperjack cheese to the airport
Grandma: salmon patties
Aunt Fay: fried okra
and Mrs. Dixie: could we please go to Sweet Magnolia when I get back to Florence??

2011-06-23T07:57:00.000-05:00

Once again, I waited way too long to post.

We hiked out of Oyolo for mid-summer break last Saturday morning. At 1:30 AM. We had to leave so early in order to catch our bus. When we got close to the end of our trail, we realized that our trail was gone. It was quite a night/morning. I can go into more detail about this later.

We arrived in Nasca at midnight Saturday night at the Hotel Alegria. Our break has been wonderful. For breakfast everyday, we were able to eat bread with yellow butter. Heavenly. It was also great to see other white people for a few days.

Matt´s pastor and 3 other people from his church arrived last night. We are leaving Nasca at 10:00 this morning and heading back to Oyolo. We have great plans for the week that they´re here. Some men in Ushua, one of our neighboring villages, are going to be baptized. We won´t have to hike in this time. His church rented a luxurious van for us to ride in on. God is good. We wouldn´t have been able to hike in anyways since the trail has been blown off the side of the mountain.

I will try to do a little better this month about keeping the blog updated. Please keep praying.

2011-06-14T20:43:00.000-05:00

Today was a great day in Oyolo. We really saw God at work.

Josh hiked into the mountains with David today. He is the sixteen year old son of the lady we stay with. She is a believer but he has never showed much interest. Josh went to help milk cows and God used the time. On the side of a mountain today, David began to ask questions and he became a believer. And, it happened at the exact moment that the rest of us were sitting back at town praying for their time together.

While they were gone, the rest of us went to a house and talked to a family. Please pray for them. The man is Antonio, his wife is Clara, and they have two daughters, Evelyn and Shirley. They are so eager to study the Bible and learn. They had so many great questions for us and we think they may be a great family to start a new house church. We had a great conversation with them today and we're going to try to visit with them daily. We want to train Antonio to be a leader in this village.

We also had cuy for lunch. This is guinea pig.Us girls shared one. We all had two bites and that was plenty. Disgusting. It was still in the shape of the animal. It had claws and teeth and everything. Never again.

2011-06-14T20:31:00.000-05:00

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile. I haven't had access to the internet.

I spent last week in Corculla. We left Oyolo Monday morning at 8:30 and arrived in Corculla at 4:23. I thought the hike into Oyolo was bad. It was a oiece of cake compaeed to this hike. The majority of the hike was uphill and very steep.

We had a good week in Corculla. Catholicism is the only sect there. Missionaries haven't been there previously like the other places we've visited so it was a fresh start for us. We spent most of the week just meeting people and trying to build relationships for when Matt and Salomon go back later in the year.

We ate fried eggs and rice for every meal. Literally. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner. One day, we were fortunate enough to have lentils with our fried eggs and rice. I didn't eat any form of meat for a week. The things we do for God...

Saturday, we woke up at 5 and started our hike back to Oyolo at 5:45. We rolled into Oyolo at 4:00.We stopped for an hour during the hike and talked to the Corculla soccer team. They had traveled to Oyolo the day before for a tournament. It takes Peruvians about 4 hours to make this hike.

Funny story...
One day in Corculla, we had gone to visit the primary school. As we were leaving, the principal offered us some milk. Ayla didn't want to be rude and not accept it so we said yes.

IT WAS AWFUL! It was warm, thick, and gritty. I'm positive it came straight from the cow. Ayla almost threw up on me. I let Salomon, the Peruvian, drink mine. I tried, but I just couldn't.

Oh, and momma, I love bananas now. I ate 5 today. They're delicious.

We made it!

2011-06-03T19:31:00.000-05:00

Wednesday morning at 2 am we all woke up in MarcaBamba and packed up our sleeping bags. Around 2:45, we walked down the street to a little corner where our combi, or little van type thing, was going to pick us up. It pulled up a litttle after 3. There were already 6 Peruvians on the combi and we piled in with them...like Mexicans. (For the record Grandma, we all had seat belts.)

We rode in the combi until 7ish. Keep in mind that we are deep in the Andes mountains. The roads were slightly scary.

They dropped us off at a certain point where the combi couldn't go any further. We started hiking with very heavy backpacks down the road. The road eventually turned into a path. A lady from Oyolo knew what time we were being dropped off and she sent a man with two donkeys to help us with our stuff. He finally made it to us. This may have been one of the best things that ever happened to me. I don't think that any of us would have made it with all of our stuff.

The hike was treacherous...but beautiful. We could see SaraSara the whole time, and still can from our village. It is a snow-capped volcano. Around 12:00 noon, we finally saw Oyolo. And we were all starving!

Our toilet is a squatty potty. In other words, you have to squat down, walk into a little tiny tin covered thing, and use the bathroom in a hole in the ground. Awful. No toilet at all actually. It hurts my legs to hold myself up for that long...I feel like I'm doing wall sits.

We have rice for every meal. Tons of it. And most of the time, potatoes are on the side in some form. For breakfast, we have a fried egg on top of rice. I'm starting to get a little worried about eating all of these starches.

Oh, and did I mention that it's freezing cold here. For those of you that know me well, I sleep with a heated blanket year round. Bedtime is quite a struggle for me. We all have runny noses.

Last night, we had a little service. We sang, Josh told his testimony, and I told a Bible story. It went so good. Two people accepted Christ. I loved the fellowship with the believers. It was so neat to hear their stories about how they came to Christ.

They requested another service in the morning at 8. A lady named Theresa that cooks most of our meals asked if we could have a party in the plaza tomorrow to praise God for what he has done in her life. She requested soda pop and she is going to cook a big meal. We are going to sing and praise Jesus. This will all happen at lunch. Church twice in one day!

This morning I asked Theresa if I could help her. We went and got water, and then I separated maize from wheat, and then I shelled her lima beans, which is what I was hoping she would let me do. It was so much fun!

Sunday our team is splitting up into two teams of three and we're hiking to two new villages for a week. A man that owns a store here said that the hike to my village takes a day and that it is colder there. I'm a little nerfous but God has gotten me this far.

We are all fighting colds. Please pray for that. Warm days and cold nights have not been good for our noses.

I will list my teammates names so you can pray for them too.
Salomon Grades (Peru, translator)
Matt De Rose (Florida, team leader)
Both boys above will be in Oyolo the entire year. Matts church in Miami has adopted the village. They send mission teams regularly.
Josh Aleman (Georgia, another translator)
Jenna Swift (Texas)
Ayla Mae Whittaker (Tennessee)

Bus Ride

2011-05-30T11:45:00.000-05:00

Yesterday morning, my team got up at six and left for the bus station. Our bus was suppose to pull out at 7:30 and surprisingly, it did. Peruvians usually aren´t on time for anything. We stopped for lunch at something that I would call a truck stop. I had to pay fifty cents to use the bathroom. Later our bus broke down in the middle of nowhere...in the desert. Our crank shaft (i think) was broken. The bus driver and his co fixed it. We were on our way again. Everytime we would stop to pick up more people, women would get on the bus trying to sell us things. Things that smelled awful. A man got on with two boxes full of baby chickens. It was crazy! When it started getting dark, it got cold. Freezing! Around midnight our bus broke down again. Some kind of springs were broken. We sat there a few hours...and it was freezing. I wasn´t able to use the bathroom for many, many hours. Haha. And we didn´t eat dinner until 10:30. But enough complaining, it really wasn´t that bad.

We were running late but we finally made it to Pausa this morning around 8. Our team leader Matt, knows a man in this city that runs the local christian radio station. He announced on the radio that missionaries were on their way to the villages.

We are about to load onto a smaller bus and head to a city 2 hours away. We will spend the night there and then get up and hike to our village.

I´m super excited. But, I haven´t used the bathroom since I´´ve been in Peru so my stomach is hurting very bad today.

Keep praying!

2011-05-28T21:04:00.000-05:00

Last night, my team went to the airport to pick up our last team member. He is a police officer in Atlanta and was able to take off for the month of June. As we were leaving, I looked on top of the building and it said a few spanish words...

something something Internacional Jorge

So, I asked our translator, Salomon, if "George" meant airport. He said, "Hor-hay?" No...it means George.
Everyone laughed. I thought it was pretty funny. Airport was one of those first words.

Tonight for dinner, I ate a special Peruvian meal. We ate anticuchos (cow heart) with roasted potatoes on the side. Surprisingly, they were delicious. I loved them!

Leaving at six in the morning for the village. It may be the end of June before I'm able to post again. I'm sure I'll have tons to say.

2011-05-27T19:06:00.000-05:00

I know that it has been awhile since I have posted anything. I just don't have much to say yet. We eat breakfast every morning at 7 and then sit in sessions all day until 9ish...sometimes a little later. I will be leaving Lima and heading toward Oyolo on Sunday. We will be taking a 24 hour bus ride to a city that I don't remember the name of and then hiking four hours into Oyolo. I found a big map today of Peru and spread it out on the floor and studied it. I was able to see where exactly Oyolo was located...and it's very far away! I love Lima but I can't wait to get into the village.

I posted some pictures at the bottom of the blog.

I WENT TO THE BEACH!

2011-05-24T22:50:00.000-05:00

When I finished eating lunch today, we had about thirty minutes before our next session. So, me and my two good friends Audrey and Jenna walked to the beach. We didn't have time to actually walk down to it though.

But, tonight around 8 we were able to go down. 518 stairs down and 518 stairs back up. It was quite a work out but definitely worth it. I stood in the Pacific ocean! It's beautiful! There isn't sand like back home...it's rocks. And huge, beautiful waves that crash into the big rocks.Since it was dark we weren't able to get pictures but we are going to go back in the morning at 5. I kind of feel like I'm on vacation. Saturday, that will change.

I love it here. We walk everywhere.

Mike's wife Kathy is feeding us American food all week because she says that we are really going to miss it when we go to our villages Saturday.
Breakfast: biscuits and gravy; scrambled eggs
Lunch: Papa Johns Pizza
Dinner: Taco salad

Our room at our hostel is on the third floor. I just discovered a ladder going to the ceiling...and I climbed up. It was the roof. So cool. You can see the city from up there. I kind of feel like I'm in the movie Aladdin.

2011-05-24T08:16:00.000-05:00

It's Monday morning. I'm staying in a hostel in Lima for a few days before I head off to my village. We're in a pretty nice part of town. I can walk to the beach. The next few days are going to be very busy...lots of training and prepartation for the months to come. I hope to find out today exactly what I will be doing.

My flight to Miami was great. It was quick and we got there 20 minutes early. I had a five hour lay over in Miami. Our flight to Lima left a little late I think. I actually didn't think this flight was ever going to end. I was exhausted and I can't sleep sitting up...and it took forever.

I met two girls in the Miami airport that were on the same trip as me. One of them was on my team. As we were boarding the plane we spotted two more people and then on the plane we found two more.

I was a little nervous about who I would be sitting by but God put me with some awesome people. On my right was a full time missionary to Peru. His parents were missionaries in Columbia and his father was kidnapped and killed when he was 18. Now he and his brother are missionaries here. He was so helpful. On my left was a very nice Peruvian man and in the row across his wife and two children. They were precious. I talked to him forever. He spoke very good English.

Oh. And on my flight to Miami I sat with newlyweds on their way to their honeymoon. Haha.

The girl I met on my plane thats on my team said that she knew someone who had been to my village. There are no bathrooms. Just a shovel. Should be interesting. And no electricity. I will tell you more about this village when I know more.

Flights and Schedule

2011-05-19T19:31:00.000-05:00

Just in case anyone was wondering...

I will be flying out of Atlanta on Monday, May 23 at 9:45 AM and arriving in Lima at 9:20 PM.

May 24-28 will be an orientation and training period.

June 21-24 we will have a mid-summer retreat in Nazca.

I will fly out of Lima at 10:40 PM on July 29 and arrive in Atlanta on July 30 at 5:25 AM.

Four More Days

2011-05-19T19:11:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone!

As most of you know, I will be flying to Peru in four days for the summer. I've been very busy finishing up this semester of school so I hadn't really gotten excited about this trip yet...until the other night. Mike, the man who is in charge of the organization I'm going through, called me from Peru to discuss my assignment. He said he had a bit of a challenge in mind and went on to explain an assignment in a very remote mountainous village in the Andes Mountains.

My first reaction was pure excitement. I love the outdoors and my passion is indigenous people (although I always thought they would be located in a rainforest). As he went on to explain how difficult it would be to get to these people, I became a little discouraged. I am extremely out of shape and he said there would be long bus rides, a lot of hiking, high altitudes, and I would be carrying a backpack with everything I needed for a month packed away.

I told him I could do it. He said, "Well Charly, I've been reading your bio and I see that you are active in outdoor activities and this is why I thought I could send you on this assignment, but...I've seen a few pictures of you and you look a little girly."

All I could do was laugh.

I got an email yesterday and he put me on this assignment. It's going to be tough, but I know I can do it.

I am on Team Oyolo, along with five other people.

I think this may be the name of the village we will be in.

I packed up my backpack today, one of the big camping ones, with everything I am taking. It's heavy! I'm a little nervous about hiking with it. I might should practice in the yard a little before I leave.

I have also been informed that I won't be taking many showers while in Peru, which is fine.

I also want to say thanks to everyone who is praying for me while I'm gone. It is such a blessing to have your support.

Prayer Partners:

Pray for Team Oyolo.
Pray for safety on my very long bus ride.
Pray for strength and perseverance as I hike into this village.
Pray for the people in the village of Oyolo, that God will open their hearts.