Mice in the kitchen

Nuestra casa no es su casa (Our house is not your house). At least if you're a mouse. Yes, we have mice in our kitchen. Not many, but enough to allow us to bond together fighting a common enemy. The mice have been a mixed blessing. The fact that they seem to think our pan cupboard is their place to have fiestas and dance around is not so cool. But the bonding experiences we have had because of the mice have actually been a blessing. Mice a blessing? Let me explain.
For example, the other night while we were praying, a mouse squeaked really loud in the kitchen, loud enough that we all heard it, stopped praying and started laughing. After we finished praying, we went out into the kitchen. The mouse, started by the appearance of three gigantic humans, scurried in plain sight down, off the counter, and behind the stove. After which, we bonded by listening to Carrie's stories of past mouse adventures.
Another night, Shannon and I decided to try to trap the mice using a plate, some peanut butter and a bowl. The idea was that we'd wait for the mice to come out and start eating the peanut butter on the plate, then I'd slam the bowl over top of them and catch them. Well...we didn't catch any mice, but we did catch some laughs and Shannon got some fun video footage.
Our other comrade in arms against the mice is Marga. That is where, at least from my perspective, the mice have really been a blessing. Marga is a woman in the church who comes and helps us out in the house. She has done so for years and it has been a blessing for her to have the job and the money, as well as to build relationships with many of the missionaries. But for me, a servant-gifted person who is used to running around like crazy trying to do everything, it is really weird to have a maid. I really want to be more friends with her than anything else. And, lo and behold, in the beginning of my term, I don't have any responsibilities, in order to allow me to adjust to Cusco. Since Shannon's learning Spanish and Carrie's teaching English in summer school, I'm the only one right now who is in this situation of not having any specific job. I was a little discouraged about it last night, but God reminded me of Marga and I really think the next few weeks are to be a time of bonding with her and learning from her while we are the only two here and before I get really busy with school and church stuff. The mice have given us something to laugh about, a common enemy against which to fight, and a common place to pour our creative energies. That is a recipe for bonding.
So, yes the mice are a pain and yes, I'm ready to see them be gone. But in a way, I'm thankful for the mice and the opportunity God has given me through them to see Himself at work, to teach me and to build relationships with those around me.

He llegado - I have arrived in Peru!

Hola everyone from a currently cloudy Cusco. Let me tell you about this past week of my life, since so many of you have asked about it and I know others are wondering. On Monday morning, bright and early, I left Lancaster for the Philadelphia airport, where I met up with my roommate Shannon. We had uneventful flights from Philly to Fort Lauderdale and then from Fort Lauderdale to Bogota, Colombia. The only flight snag we experienced was in Bogota when we were forced to wait on the airplane for almost 2 hours until the fog had cleared enough for us to leave the tarmac and take to the air.
We arrived at Lima around 3 AM and had a very uneventful trek through immigration and customs. By this time we were exhausted and just wanted to go to bed. I definitely felt the prayers of many people throughout the whole smooth process and was very grateful for that. We wearily pushed loaded luggage carts out to the waiting and greeting area and were immediately surrounded by the loving arms and welcoming smiles of the rest of our missionary team. Finally, the end was in sight. We arrived at our hostal and got to bed around 4:30 AM, making it officially a really long day of travel!
Bright and early the next morning we crawled out of bed to begin the wonderful and crazy journey of getting residence cards. We spent a lot of time waiting for paperwork to get processed. We got fingerprinted and got our teeth checked, filled out tons of paperwork and finally were able to leave and go do some fun shopping at the more modern stores in Lima.
In the evening we spent some time in the main plaza of the city with Ron and Regina Shultz. There are some pictures on the Internet of that. See the links below.
The next day was basically free. We got together with our friend Meche in Lima and spent a while with her. It was really good to connect with her again after 5 years.
Thursday morning we woke up early to go to immigrations to finish processing our residence cards. In a span of 2 hours, I officially became a resident of Peru and everything was all finished. I now have a Peruvian residence card. We left right from immigrations to head to the airport.
As the airplane descended through the clouds shrouding Cusco, I began to see views of the mountains and the red roofs of the city. It was a beautiful sight. Then houses began to come into view and rush by as we taxied down the runway into the airport. Beautiful houses. Colorful adobe walls and red tile roofs, walls around every house. The roads are a reddish mud, bordered by grass with mangy dogs walking around wherever they please. Black-haired children walk all over the place and Andean women with their long black braids and colorful blankets on their backs for carrying things can be seen anywhere. Surrounding everything, like a giant green cup, are the rugged, jagged peaks of the Andes Mountains.
Cusco is an interesting city, a mix of the traditional Andean culture of Peru with the more modern western culture of a tourist city. It is a beautiful place with beautiful people. Each morning so far, I have been awakened early by the songs of birds and the barking of dogs, as well as the early morning light coming through my windows. Outside my room, I can see a jumble of mustard-colored houses and the green of our backyard.
Right now everything outside is nice and green, since it's summertime. Although summertime is relative. I sleep under three heavy blankets and fleece sheets, simply because I like to be warm when I sleep and Peru does not have any indoor heating systems. During the day, I will often wear a warm shirt layered over a thinner shirt. The altitude makes it much cooler.
Yesterday, my roommates and a friend went to the center of town and spent some time walking around. You can see pictures of that too. See the links below. I have really appreciated my roommates so far. I feel very blessed by them. Carrie has been here for a year and will be here for another 2 and Shannon just came down with me and will be here for a year.
I also posted pictures of my house (see the link below). It is not necessarily typically Peruvian, but it is beautiful. I love our house and it is truly, as Carrie calls it, a dulce refugio (sweet refuge). I feel so blessed and I am looking forward to living here for the next 3 1/2 years.
For now, I need to go, but here are some links to web albums that I just created of pictures from my last few days here. Enjoy!

My first few days in Peru
My house

Commissioning Service

Thanks to all of you who came to my church at some point yesterday for my commissioning and/or the meal and fellowship time that followed. It was a blessing to see each one of you and to get to say goodbye to many of you.
Just in case anyone is interested in hearing the commissioning service again or missed it and would like to hear it for the first time, it should be on my church's website in a few days. The address is www.explorelivinghope.com. Click on the downloads link at the top of the page and you will be able to listen to the service online or download it to your computer.
Blessings to each one of you and I am looking forward to seeing as many of you as I can during the next two weeks.