Jungle Adventures Chapter 1: Who told the pastor I'm the visiting preacher??

Ever since the end of last year, I'd been talking with Lisi and Meche, two of my good friends from church, about taking a trip into the jungle. That's the one part of Peru that I hadn't explored yet and I had an itching to go (I still have an itching....but now it's from mosquito bites!) Meche has a brother and a sister who both live in the jungle, in a town called Salvación, so we had contacts and somewhere to stay. We had a bit of confusion as to when we would leave. We were hoping to be able to hitch a ride into the jungle with Meche's brother, but he ended up leaving almost a week later than we wanted to leave, so we decided to take a bus in. 5:30 PM they said the bus left. So I got there around 5. I began to worry a bit when people began to say that we shouldn't take a lot of weight, that the roads were bad and that it wasn't safe. I'm used to traveling adventures in Peru, so I wasn't too surprised, but it was a little disconcerting. I met up with Meche's sister Doris and we began our trip. Meche and Lisi said they'd meet up with us in Huacarpay, since the bus was going right past there anyhow. We stopped in San Jeronimo (where I live) to eat supper. They said we'd have half an hour. We decided to go for chicken and fries (very typical). We were just eating our chicken when one of the other occupants of the bus, an acquaintance of Meche's sister, came in and was like "The bus is about to leave!" So we asked for bags for our chicken, got another order of chicken for Meche, and ran back to the bus, only to sit there and finish our chicken before the bus left. Hurry up and wait. We finally left Huacarpay around 7:00 and began our journey. By this time it was dark, so we weren't able to see much and we were tired, so we tried to sleep. We were awakened by our arrival in Paucartambo, the last main town we passed through and a popular tourist destination, where we took a pit stop around 11 PM. The rest of the night after that we were not able to sleep because the bus was lurching back and forth, bouncing and jouncing over potholes and sounding very much as if the screws holding it together were going to come unscrewed. At one point, they turned on the lights, said "Everybody off the bus" and we had to walk around this one big hole in the road. The bus went through minus passengers and we all got back on on the other side. Actually, the road was not too bad for our trips in and out. It could have been worse. We could have gotten stuck or rolled over or something like that. Both have been known to happen. But we made it, safe and sound, after having crossed a shallow river in the bus, at 6:30 Saturday morning. After a basically sleepless night, we were all tired, so we took a short nap in the morning and a longer one in the afternoon. We made lunch for ourselves and Meche's sister and brother-in-law. When we gathered for lunch, they had coconuts for all of us. Coconut milk is okay, not my favorite, but definitely drinkable. They say it's very good for you. That evening, refreshed by our napping, we helped to make bread to sell to the local stores. That is one source of income for Doris and Wilbert, Meche's sister and brother-in-law. It was fun to see how the bread is made, though we could tell we weren't professionals. Our bread turned out large, small, flat, puffy, heart-shaped, you name it. Wasn't too bad for our first time though. Sunday morning we got up and got ready to go to church. The church in Salvación is a small, cement-block structure with no windows, doors, or sound system. Doris said there are about 50 people in all who attend the church, though we only ever saw about 30 at a time. The service was fine, but the really funny part came after the service, when the pastor walked home with us. He looked at me and said "So, you're going to bring the word tonight?" I stared at him, rather stupefied. We had plans to go to a lake that afternoon, so I checked with the girls whether they thought we'd have time to go and come back. They did, so I told him I would. It was kind of hard to say no when I could tell he was expecting me to say yes, though I didn't particularly want to preach and felt a little strange that he had asked me specifically and not all three of us. We spent the afternoon at Machuwasi Lake, where we saw lots of beautiful jungle scenery and some birds as well. It was a fun afternoon. We got back home just in time to shower, change clothes, and head to church. There is no public street lighting in Salvación, so we went to church by flashlight. I preached on 2 Cor. 5:17-21, what I'd been studying in my own devotions. It went fine, though nothing super spectacular or anything. I don't think I'll quit my day job and become a pastor. Monday morning we decided that at the Wednesday service we wanted to try to teach the church some new songs, since they'd sung basically the same songs in the morning and evening services the day before. So we spent the morning thinking of songs we'd like to teach them and writing down the words. It was a long process, but fun. Then it was time to make bread again. After all that heat and work, we were ready for a swim. So we went down to the river - cool, clear, beautiful water rushing over smooth, colorful stones. Yeah, it was pretty beautiful. The river wasn't deep, so Meche got a creative idea. Why not put rocks on each other's backs like they do in a spa? I was first. Then Lisi put rocks on Meche's back. Then I got up and put rocks on Lisi's back. It WAS relaxing laying there in the water, cooling off, with little colored rocks on our backs. We stayed there until it was getting dark and cool and then went back to the house. I was glad for the chance to relax. Little did we know all the adventures we'd have in the next few days...

For more pictures, follow this link:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=267051&id=610351019&l=cb87e7538f

Merry Christmas and Happy 2011!

I guess you could say an unofficial (because I've never written it down or anything) New Year's resolution is to blog more. Hopefully it will help to have Internet all year this year... :)
So I guess that means I need to tell you what I've been up to! Well...
School ended with a bang. The last day of school was Wednesday, Dec. 15, followed the next day by an 18-hour workday making report cards (till 1:30 AM), followed the next day by the closing program of the school year, followed the next day by the first PROMESA sixth grade graduation. Needless to say, we were all QUITE ready for summer vacation, after all that! The next day was Sunday, and I got a new roommate. Her name is Mary and she's been a blessing and quite a lot of fun the last few weeks. The next week we were finishing up grades and final paperwork until Thursday. Thursday afternoon, we celebrated Christmas with Marga here at our house. Friday was Christmas Eve. Mary and I went to the annual Santurantikuy Christmas Eve market in the Plaza de Armas downtown that morning. Despite the drizzle and the huge crowds, it was quite enjoyable. That afternoon, we headed out to Huacarpay and "helped" (mainly just watched) cut up an entire lamb to make lamb soup for the service that evening. The service was fun. There was a short message and time of worship and then it was opened up for special numbers, which included a lot of dancing and singing and lasted till midnight. At midnight we ate the lamb soup (very yummy!) and gave everyone hugs, then went home to sleep. Christmas Day, we were in Huacarpay for the morning, waking up and eating breakfast. We got home around noon and got ready to go to the missionary Christmas dinner. That was delicious! Then, in the afternoon, I left to talk to my family and go to Marga's house for a bit. I felt very blessed and surrounded by many loved ones. The next week was filled with different social activities - birthdays, cookie making, game nights, etc. New Year's Eve, we headed back out to Huacarpay for the birthday of some friends' mom. Then we went to the church in San Jeronimo for a New Year's Eve service filled with all kinds of music and some really fast Quechua that I had a hard time keeping up with. And of course, food. Nothing in Peru is complete without food. That is literal. Rice, salad, chicken cordon bleu, some traditional desserts, and the oh-so-yummy and very traditional fruitcake and hot chocolate. We went to Marisol's house stuffed and spent New Year's Eve with Mari and her family and Norminda playing Uno. At midnight, we all went out to the street and watched the fireworks lighting up San Jeronimo like multi-colored fireflies in a field on a summer's night. After wishing everyone a happy new year and praying blessings over the year, we went back inside and watched the first part of Inception, till we got too tired. We finished in the morning, then went back home. The new year began on a delicious note (can you tell there is no shortage of food in my life here?) with a major grilling session with Rolando, Francisca and Christian (the owners of our house and their son), Mary, the Kreiders and I. Chicken, beef, kebabs, sausages, garlic bread and veggies, plus dessert, all on the grill....delicious!
Christmas Eve, as I looked around my church, I realized that these are my Christmas presents. These people, these relationships, these memories, my family worldwide - these are the blessings of Christmas, the blessings that I have been given in abundance.

On that note, I posted some pictures on facebook of my Christmas celebrations and a bit of the craziness. :) For those of you not on facebook, here is the link to the album. Enjoy and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from me to you. Blessings!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=255426&id=610351019&l=b63b1161eb

Things I love about summer vacation!

We are now officially done with the school year, after the closing program on December 17 and the first elementary school graduation ceremony on December 18. Report cards are done. Grades are handed in to the Dept. of Ed. Classrooms are cleaned out. Desks are washed. And I am not going to school every day anymore. So in celebration of summer vacation, here is a fun post highlighting some of the things I enjoy about summer vacation, not in any particular order of importance or anything.
1. Sleeping past 5 AM!
2. Good time to spend with God.
3. Time to be social without the pressure of schoolwork bearing down on me.
4. Watching movies and playing games with my roommate, Mary, just because we have time to do so.
5. Christmas!
6. Time to work on schoolwork that I want to get done for next year at my own pace (yes, I know....I'm impossible!)
7. Vacation....time to travel. I'm planning on going to the jungle.
8. Time to scrapbook....at least in theory, because I haven't gotten to that part yet.
9. I don't have to wear a suit twice a week!
10. Catching up on some emailing.
11. Laughing and destressing! I do this during the school year too, but it's more pronounced during summer vacation.
12. Seeing my kids randomly and them telling me that they miss school, 2 weeks after they were so excited for summer vacation! That cracks me up!
There's only one thing I don't enjoy....the water pipes for the area of Cusco where I live were installed years ago and the population has grown a lot since their installation. That means there is no longer enough water to go around and my water in the mornings is very on-again-off-again (case in point, I just washed my breakfast dishes 4 hours after using them). Oh well. It does make me feel more like the typical missionary!
Before I was a teacher, I saw a mug somewhere that said "There are three reasons to be a teacher: June, July and August". I couldn't understand it and thought it a little rude. If teachers were so dedicated and enjoyed so much what they did, why in the world would they be so excited for summer vacation?
I love my kids, but now.....I understand. :)

Huayllar

For the last few months, I've been walking to Huayllar with some of the other youth and young adults from my church to have a kids' club with the children of this neighboring village. Many of the families in this village are involved in the roof tile-making industry. A number of the families are also involved in the church. However, most of the children who come to the kids' club are not from families involved in the church. They have shown a keen interest in the Bible and in the stories we have been telling them. My good friend Lisi is in charge of the group, but I've been helping her out lately with telling Bible stories. I continue to realize with doing this that I love to tell stories. It's great fun to dramatize the crossing of the Red Sea or the 10 plagues, for example (we just did a series on the life of Moses). We also usually have a time of playing games and sports (jump ropes, baseball, frisbees, soccer, volleyball, dodgeball, etc). It's a fun time and is starting to show some fruit in the lives of the children. There are several in particular who have shown a lot of interest and even some who come regularly to church. I enjoy being involved with this ministry and it has been a blessing for me. Here is a link to some pictures on facebook that I just posted of our times in Huayllar. Enjoy!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=255415&id=610351019&l=998b03b595

Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room

The other day in fourth grade was one of those "worth it all" days. It started out crappy. The kids were talking and they would not be quiet and pay attention. We always start out by saying the date, saying and singing the monthly memory verse and then choosing someone to choose a song for the whole class to sing. The entire time it was noisy and I felt like we weren't getting anywhere. It was Jafet's turn that day to choose a song and he, in the spirit of the season, wanted to learn a Christmas song. So I "randomly" chose Joy to the World, since it's pretty easy and fun to sing. We sang it through once, with the participation of about a fifth of the class. I got frustrated and told them to all sit and put their heads down on their desks. That apparently did the trick and, after a bit of down time and me talking to them, they were ready to work. So we sang Joy to the World again, this time with the participation of the whole class. Then we talked about what it meant. The line "Let every heart prepare him room" got special attention. We talked about how the innkeepers in the story of Jesus didn't have room in their inns for Jesus. I dramatized it. They had fun saying "No!" When I asked if there was room. Then we talked about how lots of people today don't have room in their hearts either, how some people just want to drink or work or study and they don't want to go to church or read the Bible and they don't care about God. We talked about how we all have a door in our hearts, a door that can be open or closed, a door at which Jesus knocks and asks if he can come in. I asked them if they wanted to be like the innkeepers and say there was no room. I also said that Jesus won't just open the door and say "Ahem! Attention please! I am now going to live here in your heart, like it or not!" We have to open the door for Jesus. And we talked about how Jesus knocks on the door of our hearts and says to each one of us, "May I come in to your heart?" I ended the day by praying with them if anyone wanted to open the door of their heart to Jesus and talking about how when Jesus is in your heart, He tells you what is right and wrong, what is true and not true and how to live and He tells you that God loves you. As they scampered out to recess afterwards, I was talking with some of them and had the distinct feeling of "Wow, this is worth it!" It was exciting and I thought that was the end of it.
The next day they wanted to sing the same song again. They really liked it. After we sang it and were all sitting down again, Sebas had a question. "Profe", he asked, "how do you know when Jesus is talking to you?" That's not something I'm always completely confident about either, but I gave it my best shot. "Well," I said, "sometimes when you're in Bible class, did you ever think 'Wow, I think what the teacher is saying is true' or 'That makes sense'? That's God talking to your heart right then. And sometimes when you're reading the Bible and you think 'Wow, if God could help them, He can help me too', that's God talking to you. And even sometimes when you have peace in your heart, that is God giving you that peace." Then we got into a discussion of peace and I shared with them the saying "Know Jesus, know peace; no Jesus, no peace". It was fun because they were able to understand the humor in it, even though it was in English! And then I shared with them a riddle that my friend once shared with me: "What's greater than God, more evil than Satan, poor men have it, rich men need it and if you eat it you die?" (nothing) They got that too. So we ended up talking about God things for the better part of two classes and mixing that with English and they were having fun and learning about God and learning English at the same time! Yes!!!!! It gave me an idea for a permanent English bulletin board in the hallway for next year, to try to get the students playing with and interested in English by putting games, puzzles, etc there. But more than that, it was encouraging just seeing how God took that crappy day and turned it into a great day and a very fun day and a day that, I trust, will plant seeds in the hearts of my students. Praise God for those "worth it all" days!

9 more days!

We are counting down the days till the end of the school year at PROMESA. As of the end of school today, that makes 9 more days. Please pray for a strong end to the school year and for renewed energy for the last few days.
A special prayer request is for fifth grade. Lately their attitudes have been very bad and they have not been respecting their teachers, particularly me. I'm not quite sure what has gone wrong, but it is extremely difficult to have class in that classroom right now. Today I talked to them about things for the entire 90 minute class. And I felt like I was talking to a brick wall. So I am quite frustrated with them right now and yet really wanting the last few days of school to be good ones and positive ones, for all my classes but especially that class. But I feel a bit hopeless. And I feel completely unmotivated to do anything in or for that class. Please pray that I can show them God's love even when I'm very frustrated.
On a positive note, I had a very good day with fourth grade, mostly. Started out rough, but then the end was pretty amazing. We learned the song "Joy to the World" and talked about preparing room in our hearts for Jesus. They were very interested and we prayed at the end of class if there was anyone who wanted to open their heart to Jesus. So that was the high point of the day.
I continue to need God's grace for each day. Please pray for the end of the school year. Thanks!

Project Read More English!

Does this image look familiar?
Have you ever looked at a stack of magazines like this and thought there was no hope for them?
Well......think again! Why not send all those dust-collecting magazines to Peru?
I have recently discovered that my students really enjoy reading kids' magazines. The difficulty I've found is that while my students' interest level is that of a normal 4th-6th grader, their reading level is much lower, since English is their second language. Therefore, it's difficult to keep their attention with traditional books in the classroom (Note: I am talking in this sense of free reading books that they can read in their spare time, when they get done early with something, in reading groups, etc. I do use books in my class as well!) While they are ready in thought to tackle a Chronicles of Narnia-sized book, they can feasibly independently read a simple chapter book. This creates a bit of a difficulty. And this is where magazines come in. They're not the answer for everything, but they are cool, appropriate for my students' age level and formatted in bite-sized chunks that are not so overwhelming to read as a thick novel. And yet they're still reading, which is what I want them to do...
So that's where you come in. I'm posting this to ask for any back issues of magazines (particularly kids' magazines) you want to get rid of. Magazines geared to adults are nice to cut up for pictures and things, but for reading purposes, kids' magazines are much more attractive to and easy for them. Possible titles could be (though NOT by any means limited to these): Highlights, Club House, Zoobooks, Kids Discover, National Geographic Kids, Ranger Rick, Weekly Reader, Spider, Cricket, etc.....
If you have any magazines you would like to donate to the cause, please contact Angela Kline or I (see email addresses below). Thanks so much and blessings to you all!
Bethany

kline_angela@yahoo.com
betania129@yahoo.com

Conquerors in Jesus Forever - Promotion 2010

I got to school about half an hour before the bus was to leave on Monday evening. A smattering of students were already there. Took care of some last minute details for Wendy (the other teacher) and I. Kids trickled in slowly, bouncing up to the office, about as excited as you've ever seen kids be. Andre was a human jumping, yelling bean. I felt as tight as a fiddle string myself, not sure how all this would go. After we gave them their class jackets and had a time of prayer with all the nervous parents, we boarded the bus - 18 students and 5 adults (2 teachers, 3 parents). I felt the presence of God as we prayed. We set off for Ollantaytambo (about 2 hours away) where we would board the train for Machu Picchu. We were not even out of Cusco before we heard the first "How long till we get there?" Nor were we out of Cusco before the first student began complaining of motion sickness. Between checking on carsick kids and getting everyone settled and comfortable, I began to feel like a flight attendant. Can you put this CD in the CD player so we can all listen to it? Miss Bethany, I feel sick! Can you help me get my backpack down from the overhead rack? Can you help me get this blanket situated? My stomach hurts! I need to go to the bathroom. They finally all settled down. The first "I think this will all be okay" moment came when Sara and Clara suggested that the whole bus sing a song together instead of singing two or three songs in little groups. They began singing "I Could Sing of Your Love Forever". It didn't catch on, but I enjoyed it. We finally got to Ollantaytambo around 10:30 and got everyone's luggage sorted out. Weighed down with said luggage, we waddled to the train station, boarded the train, and then had to get luggage situated again, this time on the train. It was Magna's birthday that day, so when the train began moving, we sang happy birthday. A high school class behind us in the train compartment was also going on promotion and they pitched in with the happy birthday singing also. They were being normal, hormone-infused high-schoolers, so we broke out the dice and soon had people distracted and entertained with games of Farkle and Yahtzee. Between farkling, yahtzeeing and sleeping, we arrived uneventfully in Machu Picchu around 1 AM. We then proceeded to the church which would be our lodging for the night, struggling under heavy bundles of luggage. Till we got everyone settled in and the lights turned off, it was more like 2:15. I found it difficult to sleep for some reason and lay on the floor listening to the chorus of heavy breathing around me for what seemed like most of the night. Right after I heard the first rooster crow, all the kids started waking up and soon my sleeping bag nest on the floor was surrounded by a hive of barely suppressed activity. Who programmed all 20 of their internal alarm clocks to go off at 5:00 AM, I had to wonder. As soon as I got up the kids started asking "Can you help me roll up my sleeping bag?" I had to remember all the times I asked my parents the same thing as a child and smiled to myself as I thought about how the shoe was now on the other foot. Gradually all the sleeping bags turned into neat little sacks and pajamas were traded for clean clothes. Around 7:00 they couldn't wait any longer. The church had turned into a confining prison for 18 rearin'-to-go sixth graders. We decided to go on a walk and out they poured through the open doors. We went to the plaza and enjoyed taking pictures there and playing with the local dogs while we waited for breakfast to be readied. After breakfast, we went up to the ruins of Machu Picchu. Waiting at the train station, playing "I Spy" (in English!) and hearing Andre call out to the tourists "You need to have a good time in Peru", I began to feel as though I have been successful as an English teacher. :) Sometimes it's the little things.

Machu Picchu is honestly a blur. Between the late night and fitful sleep of the night before and the hot sun of the new day, my brain did not retain much. We trekked all over the ruins of the city, seeing the agricultural district, the various temples and mystical rocks, and the residential area. It was, however, an interesting tour, despite my out-of-it-ness. The kids got tired pretty quickly, for the same reasons I did, and were quite ready to head back to town for lunch when the tour was over. In the afternoon we got everyone installed in a cheap hostel in the town and gave them time to rest and shower before we went to the hot springs and then supper in the evening. Somehow, they all found enough energy to annoy the other occupants of the hot springs with their splashing and noise, trying to figure out the art of floating and swimming in the water and just in general having fun playing. I think everyone was ready to see our troupe leave. Back at the hotel after supper and a round of eye drops (you would have thought we were torturing the poor kids!), we bandaged up the battle scars from the rough stone bottoms of the hot spring pools, had a short devotional and fell into bed exhausted.

Wednesday morning dawned with a general power outage in the town. I feared my watch had gone crazy when I peered at it through sleep-dazed eyes at 7:00 in the morning. 9 hours of dead to the world sleep felt excellent! So did the nice hot shower. We hurried through breakfast, then grabbed our luggage and lugged it again to the train station to leave for Ollantaytambo. The train ride was long for the kids, about 3 hours, punctuated with several stops, Leo's severe motion sickness, and jumping from one game to another. I, as the only one who knew most of the games, spent my train ride jumping from Yahtzee to Racko to Phase 10 as a stream of interested kids came to see what games I had brought in my bag. Dice are extremely handy for playing games in cars and lively games of Farkle and Mennonite Madness also ensued. Once at Ollantaytambo, we again loaded ourselves with our luggage and made our way to the bus that would take us to Pisac. I spent the trip from Ollantaytambo to Pisac squeezing the wrists of poor Leo, who never got a chance to recover between the bout of motion sickness on the train before we got on the bus. Thankfully, I remembered a trick my mom had taught me as a child, that putting pressure on your wrists, for whatever reason, helps. Unfortunately, he ended up throwing up, right as he was getting off the bus. Fortunately, he did it in a bag and the clean up was easy. We stowed our luggage in the Royal Inka Hotel in Pisac quickly and went to find some lunch. After lunch, we walked back to the hotel, and some of the boys almost gave me a heart attack when I saw them walking carefree in the MIDDLE of the road, right around a CURVE! That did not go without its respective talking-to afterwards. After getting everyone situated in their rooms, they all wanted to go to the pool, so we decided to let them do so for a little while. Wendy and I sent them with the parents, while we worked frantically to figure out the best way to set up a projector to show a movie in our bedroom. A bedsheet, a few curtain hangers, Ada Sol's speakers and an extension cord borrowed from the hotel later, we were almost ready when the kids started coming to our room. Partway through the movie, the battery-powered speakers died and Mr. Steve, Micah's dad and the resident adult male on the trip, made several trips to the reception desk to borrow speakers that would work with my laptop. We finished 2/3 of the movie before supper, which turned out, for me, to be one of those magical moments.

It's difficult to be inconspicuous when you're a group of 21, 17 of which are students (a mother and son stayed behind in Machu Picchu for business reasons). It's especially difficult to be inconspicuous when you take 17 sixth-grade students to the nice restaurant in the hotel for supper. We were joined in the adjoining dining room of the restaurant by a group of kind adults from various countries (I think I heard Pakistan, the Philippines, and Ethiopia). One older gentleman in particular took an interest in our students and was talking with them in English (short phrases, but English nonetheless), which in this case was a common bridge language for both parties. I again felt highly satisfied when my kids could enjoy talking with them in English and found a good and intriguing reason to speak the English they know. That was the beginning of the magic for me. I had to hold down a laugh when Sara and Crhisnna returned to the table after getting hot water for tea and announced wide-eyed "Nos dijeron que somos beautiful!" (they said we're beautiful!) Their next question was "How do you say in English 'De que pais son?'" (what country are you from?) That's not a question they use every day, but they know the elements. They figured out how to say "Where are you from?" and then went back to the group of adults. They chickened out, but Mr. Steve took advantage of the moment and helped them begin a conversation with the international gathering. A guitar had been brought out as we ate and slipped glances over their way, and when one of the Ethiopian men began dancing while our kids were over talking with them, inhibitions dropped. Pretty soon, Crhisnna and Sara were dancing with the Ethiopian man. And then a beautiful Asian dance of some kind was begun and we all watched in wonder as we saw culture and language barriers be torn down right then and there. People from 5 of the 6 inhabited continents (one of our students is half English) standing in the same room, speaking to each other in the same bridge language and enjoying the same music and dance....that for me was a magical moment.

We then went back from supper and finished The Princess Bride, which the kids, much to their own amazement, enjoyed. The evening then was a flurry of putting drops in eyes again (half of the boys were amazingly cowardly before a tiny bottle of eye drops...it made me laugh), re-bandaging wounds, devotionals with the boys and girls separate, and trying to get everyone in their rooms and settled down. It was midnight till that goal was reached. Clara was told that she could NOT under any circumstances call Ronaldo's room and Clara and Ada Sol were also told that they could most definitely NOT have a slumber party and stay up till all hours of the night doing who knows what. I again had a fitful night of sleep, for whatever reason.

Thursday morning dawned bright and clear. We rested in bed till about 7, then got up and got ready for breakfast. After breakfast and getting luggage ready to take back to Cusco, everyone wanted to swim, so we all trooped over to the pool. I was teaching Magna and Mishell how to swim and we were all playing around in the water, when we noticed that Sara and Crhisnna were out in about 6 1/2 feet of water, had gotten tired, and were clinging to each other, desperately trying to stay afloat, panicking and pushing each other under the water worse. I swam out to them and they, in their panic to get to a safe place, were pushing me under the water further and making me panic. I can swim, but I am not a lifeguard and don't know how to do water rescue. After what seemed like an eternity, I surfaced and saw that Mr. Steve had gotten them to the shallow end and they were okay. It was a traumatizing event for all three of us and I thank God that He knew all along what would happen and provided someone who could help in the situation. I'm not sure what I would have done by myself. It would have been a bit more time until serious damage would have happened, but we were very shaken by the whole experience! We played a bit more in the water, then went back to the hotel to shower and get everything packed up and ready to leave. After another round of bandaging things up and putting drops in eyes, the bus came an hour early and we had to get everyone rounded up, luggage moved to the bus, pictures taken. Then came lunch, the last rush to the bathroom and we were all on the bus heading back to Cusco. When we arrived at the school, we were met with the welcome of returning heroes. Parents and teachers alike awaited us at the door, clapping, smiling, hugging, reuniting. It was good to see everyone again, see that my sub had survived, and especially to know that the whole stress of being responsible for the well-being of 17 students was no longer in my hands. Coming home to my house after the last student was picked up was anti-climactic. I realized it's kind of depressing coming home to an empty house as a single person. I was greeted by a wilting plant, some old bananas and a house that hadn't moved a muscle since I left almost 3 days beforehand. And yet it's good to be home. It was fun to see my students outside a classroom. It was good to know that I have Jesus' help to do all that I need to do. And it was interesting to get out of the normal routine of life and have a change of scenery. But I'm glad to be back. I'm glad that I am not the mother of 17 sixth-graders constantly. And I am ready for SLEEP! Thank you God for a good trip and help it to be a good memory and a good class-builder for years to come. Thus ends the chronicle of the first promotion trip of PROMESA.

Thank you!

I just wanted to say thank you all so much for your support in many various ways that you have been showing me during the time I have been here in Peru. In particular thank you for your support at the chicken barbecue this past weekend and at the prayer event last month. It is a true blessing to know that I am being upheld in so many ways as I serve here and that I have the prayers, confidence and love of a large "cloud of witnesses" around me. So thank you!!!!!
I am currently in the process of getting together another newsletter to be sent out ASAP. If you are interested in receiving my newsletters and are currently not receiving them, please send an email to either Angela Kline (my newsletter coordinator on my support team) or I. Both of our email addresses are below. If you prefer a hard copy, we can print one off for you as well. Just let us know. Thank you so much for your support and may God bless you abundantly.

kline_angela@yahoo.com
betania129@yahoo.com

Update on Huacarpay

It seems that God is answering prayers as far as Huacarpay is concerned.
After the flooding in Huacarpay in January, the government had promised land and houses to the residents of Huacarpay. They were very happy, until they learned that the government planned on taking away the land that they did have already. Huacarpay is a good location for the plaster business in which much of the town is employed. Plus, many of the people have significant plots of land in the town and that would be a major loss for them economically.
However, just in the past few days, I learned from my friend Juana, whose family lost their house in the flood, that the government has now retracted that statement and are planning on allowing those of the townspeople who would like to stay in their houses, to do so. This is a big answer to prayer. I am just continuing to hope and pray that the government doesn't go back on their promise and their word again. Praise God for this development!
A continued prayer request would be people's economy, which has been seriously affected by this flood and the aftermath. Families have lost crops and possessions and now are just beginning to work on rebuilding their houses with better materials which cost money. Others have lost businesses and sources of income. It is a difficult time for many families. Please continue to pray for God's provision for them during this time.
Thank you for your prayers!