And this is from June 20th.
Well I now have four and a half days left here. It's been excellent. I was not able to get in to help with a clinic here in Iquitos but God brought lots of oportinities for Jose and I to help with children here. Almost everyday we've helped in kids clubs or helped feed hungry kids. On day Jose and I got to help feed about fourty kids I now know how to fey eggs pretty well after making those fourty. God has taught me and stretched me each day and has reminded me of many important thing I had forgotten. I've had many first time epriances that I will never forget such as my first time translating. I will see you all soon which is so bitter sweet to say. I envy your prayer for the rest of this trip. Grace and peace k
Thursday, July 11, 2013
Catching Up
Sorry for not adding this sooner, my internet connection was very poor in Iquitos and I could not access my blog while I was there. This is my update from June 2nd.
Dear friends,
All is well here in Peru! I've been in Iquitos now for just over a week. We had a team from Tennessee here that Jose had been helping with when I came and they were doing some youth outreach at a friend's church. It's been fun getting to know the people here. My host lady is hilarious and we've had some good times with Language mess-ups. For instance I said we needed a certain type of fish instead of peppers to put in the omelets I was making. So when we were ready to make the omelets unfortunately all we had were onions to go in them. Not the best but still not horrible. It was super bummed though because I really wanted to cook them something special (this is about the only thing I can cook without a recipe) and it was really not that great. Kind of a bummer. But it was a good time.
Things have been great the weather is pretty hot here. Everyday it's about 32 degrees I think and I don't really remember what that is but maybe 90's with humidity (so much for having a straightener haha). Jose has been working with a group from Oklahoma that has been gracious enough to let me help out. I often am not sure how helpful I am but I've enjoyed getting to know them and have some great one on one talks. I've also made a lot of little friends here at the church we're working with so that has been a great joy for me. I can't always communicate all that I would like to but I definitely have enjoyed the fact that I can adequately communicate with the kiddos (usually a bit better than the adults). It's been really fun to learn more of the language little by little. I am often a bit impatient with my skills (or lack there of) but I'm continually reminded that it will come and to be patient.
On my way here (on the 24th) there was a man on the flight who went into cardiac arrest and they started yelling I was sure he was throwing up because he was leaning forward and the flight attendant was there but then they started yelling for a doctor I thought "Surely there's a doctor here." But no one came and they started yelling for a nurse (yes I should have run up there the minute I saw something wrong but it was a moment where you watch in amazement thinking I'm sleeping and this is not really happening.) But it was happening. The man sitting next to me said (aren't you a nurse?) and it hit me that I should try to help I ran up there and we tried to do CPR on this guy in a plane seat and the isle was so crowded. Finally a girl came running up she was from Holland but spoke pretty good English she said she was a critical care nurse and I thought "oh thank God" because I've never been here before in this situation. She shouted for a mask (no the flight attendant did not speak very good English so we were all trying to communicate and I became the interpreter for the nurse). I started doing the breathing for the guy we could feel no pulse but he was getting warmer. He was swollen all over and we knew that this guy had left and right sided congestive heart failure just from looking at him.
We continued doing CPR as best we could) There was no room to set him on the floor and so I had to lift his body up and tilt his head back as best i could with the seat reclined as far as it could go. We were in the front of the plane everyone was watching. Some tried telling us to do some things they had seen on the movies. But it all came down to the fluid in his lungs and we just couldn't get the air past the fluid. He had been alive when we started the CPR and was gasping for hair but there was really nothing we could do without a doctor or suctioning equipment. We carried on for about 15 minutes and the plane landed at the layover sight (Tarapoto). I thought oh praise the Lord, there will be a doctor and an ambulance ready (The flight attendant assured us that he had called ahead). We got there and who we thought was the doctor came on we stepped aside waiting for him to examen him and give us orders. It wasn't until too late that we realized he was no doctor but a poorly trained EMT and by the time we realized it the man was dead and cold. His wife started crying asking why he was leaving here beating his chest asking what about the kids why leave us? It was a pretty tough day.
There was nothing we could really have done and it was so helpful that the other lady was there. Jose and I ran into her at the hotel we went to, to swim and her friends. It was good to see her again in different circumstances. They were really nice and stayed around me for the time we waited to get back on the plane as they had to take the body off and have a real doctor examine the body (this took seemingly forever). I remember feeling guilty as I got off the plane for admiring the scenery. As if nothing had just happened.
Through all of this God really reminded me (yet again) that we really have no idea what will happen, how many days we have. "But to make the most of every opportunity because the days are evil." Needless to say I was really really happy to see Jose at the airport and I was super relieved that I could talk to him about it all immediately not over skype or gmail or facebook but face to face. He was a huge encouragement to me. I'm very blessed to have him as my boyfriend.
Any way There have been more things that have happened but this is the biggest and I thought I would share it with you all and encourage you all to really not wait to share the gospel or be afraid or ashamed of it. It is life and hope for all and the world needs it.
Grace and Peace,
k
Dear friends,
All is well here in Peru! I've been in Iquitos now for just over a week. We had a team from Tennessee here that Jose had been helping with when I came and they were doing some youth outreach at a friend's church. It's been fun getting to know the people here. My host lady is hilarious and we've had some good times with Language mess-ups. For instance I said we needed a certain type of fish instead of peppers to put in the omelets I was making. So when we were ready to make the omelets unfortunately all we had were onions to go in them. Not the best but still not horrible. It was super bummed though because I really wanted to cook them something special (this is about the only thing I can cook without a recipe) and it was really not that great. Kind of a bummer. But it was a good time.
Things have been great the weather is pretty hot here. Everyday it's about 32 degrees I think and I don't really remember what that is but maybe 90's with humidity (so much for having a straightener haha). Jose has been working with a group from Oklahoma that has been gracious enough to let me help out. I often am not sure how helpful I am but I've enjoyed getting to know them and have some great one on one talks. I've also made a lot of little friends here at the church we're working with so that has been a great joy for me. I can't always communicate all that I would like to but I definitely have enjoyed the fact that I can adequately communicate with the kiddos (usually a bit better than the adults). It's been really fun to learn more of the language little by little. I am often a bit impatient with my skills (or lack there of) but I'm continually reminded that it will come and to be patient.
On my way here (on the 24th) there was a man on the flight who went into cardiac arrest and they started yelling I was sure he was throwing up because he was leaning forward and the flight attendant was there but then they started yelling for a doctor I thought "Surely there's a doctor here." But no one came and they started yelling for a nurse (yes I should have run up there the minute I saw something wrong but it was a moment where you watch in amazement thinking I'm sleeping and this is not really happening.) But it was happening. The man sitting next to me said (aren't you a nurse?) and it hit me that I should try to help I ran up there and we tried to do CPR on this guy in a plane seat and the isle was so crowded. Finally a girl came running up she was from Holland but spoke pretty good English she said she was a critical care nurse and I thought "oh thank God" because I've never been here before in this situation. She shouted for a mask (no the flight attendant did not speak very good English so we were all trying to communicate and I became the interpreter for the nurse). I started doing the breathing for the guy we could feel no pulse but he was getting warmer. He was swollen all over and we knew that this guy had left and right sided congestive heart failure just from looking at him.
We continued doing CPR as best we could) There was no room to set him on the floor and so I had to lift his body up and tilt his head back as best i could with the seat reclined as far as it could go. We were in the front of the plane everyone was watching. Some tried telling us to do some things they had seen on the movies. But it all came down to the fluid in his lungs and we just couldn't get the air past the fluid. He had been alive when we started the CPR and was gasping for hair but there was really nothing we could do without a doctor or suctioning equipment. We carried on for about 15 minutes and the plane landed at the layover sight (Tarapoto). I thought oh praise the Lord, there will be a doctor and an ambulance ready (The flight attendant assured us that he had called ahead). We got there and who we thought was the doctor came on we stepped aside waiting for him to examen him and give us orders. It wasn't until too late that we realized he was no doctor but a poorly trained EMT and by the time we realized it the man was dead and cold. His wife started crying asking why he was leaving here beating his chest asking what about the kids why leave us? It was a pretty tough day.
There was nothing we could really have done and it was so helpful that the other lady was there. Jose and I ran into her at the hotel we went to, to swim and her friends. It was good to see her again in different circumstances. They were really nice and stayed around me for the time we waited to get back on the plane as they had to take the body off and have a real doctor examine the body (this took seemingly forever). I remember feeling guilty as I got off the plane for admiring the scenery. As if nothing had just happened.
Through all of this God really reminded me (yet again) that we really have no idea what will happen, how many days we have. "But to make the most of every opportunity because the days are evil." Needless to say I was really really happy to see Jose at the airport and I was super relieved that I could talk to him about it all immediately not over skype or gmail or facebook but face to face. He was a huge encouragement to me. I'm very blessed to have him as my boyfriend.
Any way There have been more things that have happened but this is the biggest and I thought I would share it with you all and encourage you all to really not wait to share the gospel or be afraid or ashamed of it. It is life and hope for all and the world needs it.
Grace and Peace,
k
Monday, May 20, 2013
This is real life!
Well a lot has happened and I've not made good on my promise to write weekly. I've just now been in this country for two weeks and the time has flown! I came and Jose picked me up from the airport and took me to meet the family that I have been living with. A sweet Godly family I have been so blessed by their hospitality and patience with my ignorance of their language. It's been a joy to get to know Jose's family and the three days spent in Pucallpa were great but way too short. I so enjoyed meeting his grandparents aunts, uncles, and cousins as well as some of his friends. I started working at the hospital on the thirteenth and have enjoyed learning so much about how the neonatal units work here. I spent four days with the neonates all about 2 kilos or so mostly in incubators. The doctor is a sweet man who sings to the babies and cheers for the moms when they leave with their babies. Bottle-feeding is basically not an option here as they have signs everywhere saying breastfeeding is the best decision ever. There are a lot of things that are different. Friday I was moved to labor and delivery unit. There I learned that the father is only there for MAYBE a few minutes during the labor then is rushed out as to not contaminate the baby. The baby is then immediately given to the mom to feed then is taken to be weighed get shots and everything else. This is WAY different went together than what I saw in the united states. Oh I haven't seen the dads be allowed to be with the mom or baby again until they leave the hospital. This may not be true but they are always in the waiting room and I never see them together. Any way just different ways to do things.
I've enjoyed getting to know the family I'm living with and now that Jose is gone I believe my Spanish might be improving more quickly but probably not. The language is pretty hard for me and I am impatient feeling like I should know a lot more by now. Jose's family and the family I live with have kept me busy the past two days Sunday morning I spent with Jose's dad and we went to church together and hung out until his sister Nerea came and we went to their aunt Patricia's house and had so much food and met that family. Then went for a walk all around the plaza to see some cool parts of Lima (photos on facebook).
It's been a really good thing to work at the hospital and see how things are done here. Also to learn more about the culture. It has been such a pleasure to see different churches and bodies of believers here. To worship the same God in different languages as brothers and sisters is beautiful. Please continue to pray for my language learning as I often don't understand what is being said until much later (especially at the hospital). That's the last two weeks in a nutshell and tons of run-on sentences I'm sure.
I've enjoyed getting to know the family I'm living with and now that Jose is gone I believe my Spanish might be improving more quickly but probably not. The language is pretty hard for me and I am impatient feeling like I should know a lot more by now. Jose's family and the family I live with have kept me busy the past two days Sunday morning I spent with Jose's dad and we went to church together and hung out until his sister Nerea came and we went to their aunt Patricia's house and had so much food and met that family. Then went for a walk all around the plaza to see some cool parts of Lima (photos on facebook).
It's been a really good thing to work at the hospital and see how things are done here. Also to learn more about the culture. It has been such a pleasure to see different churches and bodies of believers here. To worship the same God in different languages as brothers and sisters is beautiful. Please continue to pray for my language learning as I often don't understand what is being said until much later (especially at the hospital). That's the last two weeks in a nutshell and tons of run-on sentences I'm sure.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Dejected & Blessed
“Look at the nations and watch—
and be utterly amazed.
For I am going to do something in your days
that you would not believe,
even if you were told. "
- Habakkuk 1:5
Thank you all for the prayers about the mosquitoes!!! This trip has been SO much better as far as that has been concerned! Actually the trip was just awesome! We set out to go to the normal village we go to. The people were awesome and God blessed us with a whole night/half a day of rain for us to catch up on sleep when we got there. (no we didn´t sleep the whole time, but I spent a LOT of time in the book of Ruth and was seemingly faced, continually with the idea of Gods sovereignty). Well for about the three following days I continued to learn about Gods sovereignty and the excellence of HIS plans above our own. We had been going to one village deeper in the jungle to explore the village and hang out with the people there. BUT because of a LOT of misunderstandings between the people they decided they did not want us to come back to their village. We traded with them what we said we would, wiped off the dust from our feet and left feeling dejected.
We then decided to go to a different village this village was appropriately named after a species of biting ants :) lucky for me they seem to be female ants or something because they only seemed to bother the boys. They are SO much better to deal with than the mosquitoes so i was counting my blessings, because in this village i was almost never bit and i even began to not wear bug spray. These people LOVED us! They were so happy that we were there and though I couldn´t communicate with the women with out a translator who spoke Spanish and their language, they were more than happy to have me come sit with them for hours as they sewed shirts and skirts or made bracelets. We were given two monkeys to eat while we were there and... lets just say though i was SO thankful for the gift of meat... I will never again purposefully buy monkey to eat. :) We had meat everyday which was a BIG change in diet, we also had more than coffee for supper which was a big change as well. I was so full that week but so thankful for the INCREDIBLY generous and sweet brothers and sisters we had met in this village!
The village was flooded as is normal for this time of year and we had the privilege of going to the bathroom in the jungle on a log surrounded by water... needless to say, this was quite an adventure, especially in the dark. :) I cannot over emphasize how great this trip was for our group, and especially for me! God, as usual blew me away with his wonder and awesome power over everything. How amazing he is and how wonderful is his love for us! I have recently heard the best version of the song ¨How Great Thou Art¨ that I have EVER heard, it happens to be in Spanish making it even better in my opinion. :)
While I have been this country I have been taught so much about the glory of God´s creation and how beautiful EVERTHING he does is. I have learned to trust him more fully and have been reminded that nothing that I do apart from him I can do nothing. I have seen what the early church in Acts must have looked like when everyone shared and provided for each other. I have seen, to my great shame, the flaws in my character magnified, such as selfishness, pride, and materialism. It is my great prayer that God would continue to shape and mold me into the woman he wants me to be. That He would use me for His glorious purposes, and continue to allow our trips to go well as we see and learn more about his creation and people. I am continually praying for my family back home, both immediate and spiritual. May you be filled with peace and joy through our God and Father in the weeks to come!
and be utterly amazed.
For I am going to do something in your days
that you would not believe,
even if you were told. "
- Habakkuk 1:5
Thank you all for the prayers about the mosquitoes!!! This trip has been SO much better as far as that has been concerned! Actually the trip was just awesome! We set out to go to the normal village we go to. The people were awesome and God blessed us with a whole night/half a day of rain for us to catch up on sleep when we got there. (no we didn´t sleep the whole time, but I spent a LOT of time in the book of Ruth and was seemingly faced, continually with the idea of Gods sovereignty). Well for about the three following days I continued to learn about Gods sovereignty and the excellence of HIS plans above our own. We had been going to one village deeper in the jungle to explore the village and hang out with the people there. BUT because of a LOT of misunderstandings between the people they decided they did not want us to come back to their village. We traded with them what we said we would, wiped off the dust from our feet and left feeling dejected.
We then decided to go to a different village this village was appropriately named after a species of biting ants :) lucky for me they seem to be female ants or something because they only seemed to bother the boys. They are SO much better to deal with than the mosquitoes so i was counting my blessings, because in this village i was almost never bit and i even began to not wear bug spray. These people LOVED us! They were so happy that we were there and though I couldn´t communicate with the women with out a translator who spoke Spanish and their language, they were more than happy to have me come sit with them for hours as they sewed shirts and skirts or made bracelets. We were given two monkeys to eat while we were there and... lets just say though i was SO thankful for the gift of meat... I will never again purposefully buy monkey to eat. :) We had meat everyday which was a BIG change in diet, we also had more than coffee for supper which was a big change as well. I was so full that week but so thankful for the INCREDIBLY generous and sweet brothers and sisters we had met in this village!
The village was flooded as is normal for this time of year and we had the privilege of going to the bathroom in the jungle on a log surrounded by water... needless to say, this was quite an adventure, especially in the dark. :) I cannot over emphasize how great this trip was for our group, and especially for me! God, as usual blew me away with his wonder and awesome power over everything. How amazing he is and how wonderful is his love for us! I have recently heard the best version of the song ¨How Great Thou Art¨ that I have EVER heard, it happens to be in Spanish making it even better in my opinion. :)
While I have been this country I have been taught so much about the glory of God´s creation and how beautiful EVERTHING he does is. I have learned to trust him more fully and have been reminded that nothing that I do apart from him I can do nothing. I have seen what the early church in Acts must have looked like when everyone shared and provided for each other. I have seen, to my great shame, the flaws in my character magnified, such as selfishness, pride, and materialism. It is my great prayer that God would continue to shape and mold me into the woman he wants me to be. That He would use me for His glorious purposes, and continue to allow our trips to go well as we see and learn more about his creation and people. I am continually praying for my family back home, both immediate and spiritual. May you be filled with peace and joy through our God and Father in the weeks to come!
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Going Deeper
I'm not sure if I said before or not that we went to the Zoo with Shaun, but we had a lot of fun and held a boa and just had a great time seeing the animals that we eat :) and see some of the animals that we see dead alive. :) That was last time in Iquitos.
When we left Iquitos I felt (as i always feel leaving) a nervous feeling of wondering what will happen and how things will go in the village. When we got there us girls decided to go out everyday with our Peruvian friend to share stories at a different house everyday. We met a lot of really cool people this way and this trip had a LOT of joy in playing with the kids and talking to the people. We built a lot of relationships and everything went really really well!
Then the last of the three weeks we went deeper in the jungle to the village we had previously visited we were well received when we arrived, we met with all of the women of the village and asked questions about their culture (marriage traditions, about having babies, burial traditions etc.) we learned quite a bit. When they decide to marry a man will come and ask the father if he can marry his daughter, if the dad agrees they drink a lot and then are married by a little ceremony complete with a TON of drinking and getting drunk. They are usually not legally married and no one in the village is legally married. Because the village that we are in is becoming more and more "westernized" they are now all wanting to be legally married and are working to have that happen. They also are all learning Spanish and only one woman feels very comfortable with speaking Spanish, most of the other women understand Spanish but like us have a difficult time or are shy to speak spanish for fear of mistakes. The second day we were invited to a farm (by we i talk about the girls as it is not cultural to spend very much time with our guys). We made a fifteen minute trek through the jungle, across logs to cross creeks and everything. The mosquitoes were bad before but in the deep jungle they're very very very bad and HUGE!!! :) surprisingly i made it out fairly unscathed by their attacks on my already low blood supply :). we got there and there were a bunch of plantain plants and baby (apple) banana, and some type of banana/plantain that is very thick in the body it's very good and the closest to an american type of banana that i've had so far. YUM!! The ladies chopped a bunch of bunches down and started tying leaves around the bunches to form a type of jungle rope to use to carry the bunches on their backs. they had brought a basket back and they loaded it up with papaya and bananas and told me to carry it. I have some pictures i can hopefully add to facebook and maybe here of me and another woman demonstrating how they carry the baskets and bunches resting on their backs with the majority of the weight on their foreheads though. This was surprisingly not incredibly difficult for me (though i had a very light load) we made the fifteen minute trek back which was quite a bit more difficult when we tried to cross the creeks with the extra weight especially if you know of how handicapped my balance is.... This was deffinently probably the most fun we had in the three week stint we had this time.
The next day we were told that some people were mad that we weren't just giving the people handouts and the village was going to vote to see if we would be asked to leave the village. This was a HUGE discouragement. We were so incredibly disappointed at that point. and i didn't know who we could talk to with out them becoming more angry with us. I spent a lot of time in my hammock reading after this just to get a fresh perspective and some encouragement by thinking a lot. Then they told us that we were able to stay but that there was a big festival called carnival coming up and that they would need the place we were staying to celebrate so we would have to move. However because we had another family with us with two girls ages 3 and 7 we decided to leave when it started because it was all about drinking and being drunk the whole time. We spent the rest of the time tip toeing on egg shells but at the end of the trip the women began bringing us gifts of friendship and we began to feel more comfortable with them. they established a list of five women that we could trade with each day. we were asked to trade with only the five women designated for each day to trade for food or what ever we needed. However our goal was not to trade for things since the only reason we wanted to trade was to not establish a mindset of "here are white people what can we get from them". Unfortunately this mindset seems to be already throughly established... This is something i think about often hoping that it will change. The people are wonderful though and despite how little they have they share everything, we try to share with them as well and build relationships in that way.
The boys have great relationships with the men and are trading English lessons with them for lessons in their language. The end of the trip was great, the last day we were there they were beginning to kick of carnival chasing people down and throwing them in the river. They shot a pig and because they used one of our shot gun shells to do it they gave us some meat YUM!! I've never seen a pig being butchered until now, it's quite entertaining. :) Then some people came to work on the well they have in the village and that night they showed Jesus of Nazareth in the tribal language (they really have done a great job in translating these movies into EVERY language) But by the time they came to the baptism of Jesus it started raining so they hurried and tore the equipment down so it wouldn't get ruined. This was a big encouragement. Apparently an american missionary pays a crew to go around and work with wells in the villages and then they show the Jesus film in the villages that night!
Think about us as we are eaten alive by all sorts of blood sucking insects, it is really a miracle that non of us have gotten malaria or dengue yet! We're loving the rest here in Iquitos and are excited to go to a movie some time this week. It's super encouraging to talk to friends online and to get some good familiar food in our system.
Food by the way is not bad or crazy different. We eat some sort of plantain for every meal though and usually will eat at least one form of starch for every meal if not up two three different things of starch for example a normal meal would be boiled yucca, fried plantains, rice, and beans or if you're lucky some sort of fish and if your really lucky chicken or other meat. My favorite type of fish so far is the Pirana because though all fish is super bony it is familiar enough that i'm beginning to get the meat off of the fish with out always having a mouth full of bones. The only real meal that they eat is lunch. breakfast and supper are usually something like oatmeal in the morning (very soupy served as a hot drink) or coffee.
Any way send some questions if you want me to give you some other info... i don't always know what to write about so just go ahead and ask what ever... :) love you and pray for you all often!
When we left Iquitos I felt (as i always feel leaving) a nervous feeling of wondering what will happen and how things will go in the village. When we got there us girls decided to go out everyday with our Peruvian friend to share stories at a different house everyday. We met a lot of really cool people this way and this trip had a LOT of joy in playing with the kids and talking to the people. We built a lot of relationships and everything went really really well!
Then the last of the three weeks we went deeper in the jungle to the village we had previously visited we were well received when we arrived, we met with all of the women of the village and asked questions about their culture (marriage traditions, about having babies, burial traditions etc.) we learned quite a bit. When they decide to marry a man will come and ask the father if he can marry his daughter, if the dad agrees they drink a lot and then are married by a little ceremony complete with a TON of drinking and getting drunk. They are usually not legally married and no one in the village is legally married. Because the village that we are in is becoming more and more "westernized" they are now all wanting to be legally married and are working to have that happen. They also are all learning Spanish and only one woman feels very comfortable with speaking Spanish, most of the other women understand Spanish but like us have a difficult time or are shy to speak spanish for fear of mistakes. The second day we were invited to a farm (by we i talk about the girls as it is not cultural to spend very much time with our guys). We made a fifteen minute trek through the jungle, across logs to cross creeks and everything. The mosquitoes were bad before but in the deep jungle they're very very very bad and HUGE!!! :) surprisingly i made it out fairly unscathed by their attacks on my already low blood supply :). we got there and there were a bunch of plantain plants and baby (apple) banana, and some type of banana/plantain that is very thick in the body it's very good and the closest to an american type of banana that i've had so far. YUM!! The ladies chopped a bunch of bunches down and started tying leaves around the bunches to form a type of jungle rope to use to carry the bunches on their backs. they had brought a basket back and they loaded it up with papaya and bananas and told me to carry it. I have some pictures i can hopefully add to facebook and maybe here of me and another woman demonstrating how they carry the baskets and bunches resting on their backs with the majority of the weight on their foreheads though. This was surprisingly not incredibly difficult for me (though i had a very light load) we made the fifteen minute trek back which was quite a bit more difficult when we tried to cross the creeks with the extra weight especially if you know of how handicapped my balance is.... This was deffinently probably the most fun we had in the three week stint we had this time.
The next day we were told that some people were mad that we weren't just giving the people handouts and the village was going to vote to see if we would be asked to leave the village. This was a HUGE discouragement. We were so incredibly disappointed at that point. and i didn't know who we could talk to with out them becoming more angry with us. I spent a lot of time in my hammock reading after this just to get a fresh perspective and some encouragement by thinking a lot. Then they told us that we were able to stay but that there was a big festival called carnival coming up and that they would need the place we were staying to celebrate so we would have to move. However because we had another family with us with two girls ages 3 and 7 we decided to leave when it started because it was all about drinking and being drunk the whole time. We spent the rest of the time tip toeing on egg shells but at the end of the trip the women began bringing us gifts of friendship and we began to feel more comfortable with them. they established a list of five women that we could trade with each day. we were asked to trade with only the five women designated for each day to trade for food or what ever we needed. However our goal was not to trade for things since the only reason we wanted to trade was to not establish a mindset of "here are white people what can we get from them". Unfortunately this mindset seems to be already throughly established... This is something i think about often hoping that it will change. The people are wonderful though and despite how little they have they share everything, we try to share with them as well and build relationships in that way.
The boys have great relationships with the men and are trading English lessons with them for lessons in their language. The end of the trip was great, the last day we were there they were beginning to kick of carnival chasing people down and throwing them in the river. They shot a pig and because they used one of our shot gun shells to do it they gave us some meat YUM!! I've never seen a pig being butchered until now, it's quite entertaining. :) Then some people came to work on the well they have in the village and that night they showed Jesus of Nazareth in the tribal language (they really have done a great job in translating these movies into EVERY language) But by the time they came to the baptism of Jesus it started raining so they hurried and tore the equipment down so it wouldn't get ruined. This was a big encouragement. Apparently an american missionary pays a crew to go around and work with wells in the villages and then they show the Jesus film in the villages that night!
Think about us as we are eaten alive by all sorts of blood sucking insects, it is really a miracle that non of us have gotten malaria or dengue yet! We're loving the rest here in Iquitos and are excited to go to a movie some time this week. It's super encouraging to talk to friends online and to get some good familiar food in our system.
Food by the way is not bad or crazy different. We eat some sort of plantain for every meal though and usually will eat at least one form of starch for every meal if not up two three different things of starch for example a normal meal would be boiled yucca, fried plantains, rice, and beans or if you're lucky some sort of fish and if your really lucky chicken or other meat. My favorite type of fish so far is the Pirana because though all fish is super bony it is familiar enough that i'm beginning to get the meat off of the fish with out always having a mouth full of bones. The only real meal that they eat is lunch. breakfast and supper are usually something like oatmeal in the morning (very soupy served as a hot drink) or coffee.
Any way send some questions if you want me to give you some other info... i don't always know what to write about so just go ahead and ask what ever... :) love you and pray for you all often!
Friday, February 18, 2011
Living as a Gringo Delicacy!
Okay well i´m back! It´s hard to imagine snow here... really hard actually. However it´s not always pleasant and rosy here either. I don´t have a tan really because we haven´t been out a lot in the sun a whole ton. Which brings up how much time we spend inside........ :) you see though we are inside it´s still kind of out side and when we go out we go to peoples houses. etc etc. we do spend a few hours a day playing with kids outside which is often the highlight of the day. We have had times of deep discouragement for a few days followed by something awesome only God could do... okay so now it´s story time...
Instead of the 30 some hours it was to take us to get out to the deep jungle it took us 50 hours on a boat because we didn't leave the day they said we would.... so we met two little girls on the boat and played with them most of the time as well as the other kids. On the boat there is cargo underneath such as fruit and such then the other decks are full of hammocks and people. there were some chickens by our hammocks :) it was fun but long and thought they had very dirty showers... we chose to not shower so we were super yucky when we arrived. We jumped in the river and bathed which is how we've bathed for the last three weeks. it´s fun but you never really feel clean. I was very excited to get a real but chilly shower here. :) Right after you get out of the river or shower you feel gross again because of the sweat. great... but it´s been really good. The mosquitoes seem to love my white skin... gringo delicacy! We spent two weeks in one place that spoke Spanish and I've learned a ton but have SO MUCH Spanish to learn! We were very bored at first but as we meet people we are finding more things to do.
The third week we went to another place and i was blessed to have a woman from our previous place come with us to help us cook and stuff. She brought her four-moth old baby which ended up being an interesting adventure. well she understood my Spanish so well that when i could not communicate well to some of the women she acted as a translator for me, so I was able to share my one and only story i know in Spanish, the story of how my life has changed the last decade or so. which turned out well. in the village the first few days no one would speak to us but finally the last full day we were there the woman began talking to us and dressed us up like them and made us stand in front of the guys while they all laughed at us. :) then we nabbed some pictures of them and tried to talk with them. we will be trying to make some clothes next time we go.... i hope that works out :) I´m becoming more and more of a proficient clothes washer as we wash our clothes in the river... we are beginning to make them smell decent. :)
On our way back which was a 20 hour boat ride and a 2 hour van ride i got about a total of four hours of sleep....
Okay, today is valentines day. Happy day of love to you! We've gone out to a very remote place and talked to some women who for the first two days if they would look at us would not return any sort of communication with us... it was very very discouraging. on the third day some of the guys in our group were talking with the much more friendly men of the town and found some women who were willing to talk to us. they were very friendly offered us a friendship and talked to us a little this was so encouraging! then they decided to dress us up like them and they pushed us out of the back room area where the women talk and made us stand infront of the men with their tribal clothes on us while they and the men had a great time laughing at us... i believe this was a great break through in a friendship no matter how humiliating. we mannaged to get some pictures of us with them they did not look at the camera and looked about as humiliated as we felt. however they seemed to have a great time and we were so encouraged it didn't matter. after this i was given the opportunity to share my story.
We have had some sort of fruit for every meal and have had fish at least once every day. despite the fact that there is no shortage in chickens running around everywhere for two weeks in the town, we had no meat other than fish and had no eggs save one time. but we mannaged to aquire a chicken and a strange bird and a couple of rodents of some sort to eat. needless to say these were a breath of fresh air and we welcomed them.
Now, about the jungle. we are always on the edge of the jungle right by the river, the river now has some oil in it because of a small oil spill that has everyone upset. this is the same water that we bathe, do laundry, wash dishes and even drink out of. so we are careful to push the oil out of the way before getting our water and filtering it. despite what you might think we've not really gotten sick glory to God. back to the jungle. i've always thought there would be many fruits just waiting to be eaten.... not so. we have how ever tried a LOT of differen't "fruits" since we've been here... many of which have tasted bitter, one took all of the saliva out of my mouth even though when bitten into juice ran down my cheek... it was very odd, called a cashew even though it was not a nut at all! there have been some fruits that they boil to taste like bitter potatoes. and we had not found bananas until a week ago... on one leg the other day I was able to count 112 bug bites.. this was not a precise counting and i may have missed a few. needless to say i am diligently taking malaria medicine and many other vitamins to help control my health... just in case.
There have been many times where the enemy has attacked our unity, our sanity, and even attempted at our health i believe, but God has been dilligent to encourage us when we see we cannot do anything with out him. when we come to the end of ourselves he shows us he's in control. even in our dreams, which have been very odd, the enemy has been attacking. This type of conflict is very real and God is so powerful. there is no way that we can do anything ourselves. the first few chapters in joshua talk about being bold and courageous because God is with us were ever we go. I cannot say how much I am in debt to him and his love for us.
We have made friends with chickens in our boredom at times but our greatest success is with the children. everyday we play games with them followed by story time. They love this and at times we have up to around 20 and as little as 5 but God has used them to be a source of joy to us and encouragement. they are all very sweet and we can communicate to them quite well. I was very pleased yesterday to have a hamburger with cheese on it!!!! yum! granted it's not as amazing as one of moms burgers on the grill with barbeque sauce. but it was WONDERFUL! i have become a huge fan of passion fruit juice here. Yum!!
We often occupy our time talking about food... i´m afraid it´s become an idol... the enemy will use anything. :) but we have a good time. we found snickers and hershy´s the other day at one of the stores... we might buy some some time soon. :)
other news.... well the river has risen about i would say at LEAST eleven feet on the big river and maybe eight or ten on the little. i´m excited to see how much it rises this week too. it doesn´t rain every day but it does rain often. I love it!!! we have been blessed to be able to camp out in the living room area of a teacher's house and that has been great! we almost never get rained on! but it´s funny to see our hammocks in there hanging from the ceiling beems. they have banana roof houses, so it leaks at times, but they hung tarps so we won´t get too wet. we haven´t run into any enemy teachers yet, which has been a suprise to me, but i´m not expecting it not to happen. we often lose our sanity for small moments and curl up into balls in our hammocks hiding under our mosquitoe nets from the gnats and mosquitoes that feast on our pastey white flesh. :) what cowards we are. but it is very very okay most of the time. the stars at night are so beautiful and some times we brave the insects and lay out watching them. i am determined next time to let them feast on me and do what i want any way! we´ll see. :) we see butterflies some times and they are beautiful!! there´s a metal building built by the same person who designed the Eiffel tower, that´s been a fun bit of archetecture to gaze upon at times! however it´s not INCREDIBLY breath taking or impressive... but i appreciate it :)
we have attended gatherings in the bush and have loved it, but I never understand what they´re saying in the songs! it´s rather frustrating at times. i have decided that i love sleeping in hammocks a lot!!! but i do prefer beds at this point. some times you just can´t get comfortable at all. :)
I guess if i remember anything else amazing i´ll let you know and if you have questions feel free to ask.
Instead of the 30 some hours it was to take us to get out to the deep jungle it took us 50 hours on a boat because we didn't leave the day they said we would.... so we met two little girls on the boat and played with them most of the time as well as the other kids. On the boat there is cargo underneath such as fruit and such then the other decks are full of hammocks and people. there were some chickens by our hammocks :) it was fun but long and thought they had very dirty showers... we chose to not shower so we were super yucky when we arrived. We jumped in the river and bathed which is how we've bathed for the last three weeks. it´s fun but you never really feel clean. I was very excited to get a real but chilly shower here. :) Right after you get out of the river or shower you feel gross again because of the sweat. great... but it´s been really good. The mosquitoes seem to love my white skin... gringo delicacy! We spent two weeks in one place that spoke Spanish and I've learned a ton but have SO MUCH Spanish to learn! We were very bored at first but as we meet people we are finding more things to do.
The third week we went to another place and i was blessed to have a woman from our previous place come with us to help us cook and stuff. She brought her four-moth old baby which ended up being an interesting adventure. well she understood my Spanish so well that when i could not communicate well to some of the women she acted as a translator for me, so I was able to share my one and only story i know in Spanish, the story of how my life has changed the last decade or so. which turned out well. in the village the first few days no one would speak to us but finally the last full day we were there the woman began talking to us and dressed us up like them and made us stand in front of the guys while they all laughed at us. :) then we nabbed some pictures of them and tried to talk with them. we will be trying to make some clothes next time we go.... i hope that works out :) I´m becoming more and more of a proficient clothes washer as we wash our clothes in the river... we are beginning to make them smell decent. :)
On our way back which was a 20 hour boat ride and a 2 hour van ride i got about a total of four hours of sleep....
Okay, today is valentines day. Happy day of love to you! We've gone out to a very remote place and talked to some women who for the first two days if they would look at us would not return any sort of communication with us... it was very very discouraging. on the third day some of the guys in our group were talking with the much more friendly men of the town and found some women who were willing to talk to us. they were very friendly offered us a friendship and talked to us a little this was so encouraging! then they decided to dress us up like them and they pushed us out of the back room area where the women talk and made us stand infront of the men with their tribal clothes on us while they and the men had a great time laughing at us... i believe this was a great break through in a friendship no matter how humiliating. we mannaged to get some pictures of us with them they did not look at the camera and looked about as humiliated as we felt. however they seemed to have a great time and we were so encouraged it didn't matter. after this i was given the opportunity to share my story.
We have had some sort of fruit for every meal and have had fish at least once every day. despite the fact that there is no shortage in chickens running around everywhere for two weeks in the town, we had no meat other than fish and had no eggs save one time. but we mannaged to aquire a chicken and a strange bird and a couple of rodents of some sort to eat. needless to say these were a breath of fresh air and we welcomed them.
Now, about the jungle. we are always on the edge of the jungle right by the river, the river now has some oil in it because of a small oil spill that has everyone upset. this is the same water that we bathe, do laundry, wash dishes and even drink out of. so we are careful to push the oil out of the way before getting our water and filtering it. despite what you might think we've not really gotten sick glory to God. back to the jungle. i've always thought there would be many fruits just waiting to be eaten.... not so. we have how ever tried a LOT of differen't "fruits" since we've been here... many of which have tasted bitter, one took all of the saliva out of my mouth even though when bitten into juice ran down my cheek... it was very odd, called a cashew even though it was not a nut at all! there have been some fruits that they boil to taste like bitter potatoes. and we had not found bananas until a week ago... on one leg the other day I was able to count 112 bug bites.. this was not a precise counting and i may have missed a few. needless to say i am diligently taking malaria medicine and many other vitamins to help control my health... just in case.
There have been many times where the enemy has attacked our unity, our sanity, and even attempted at our health i believe, but God has been dilligent to encourage us when we see we cannot do anything with out him. when we come to the end of ourselves he shows us he's in control. even in our dreams, which have been very odd, the enemy has been attacking. This type of conflict is very real and God is so powerful. there is no way that we can do anything ourselves. the first few chapters in joshua talk about being bold and courageous because God is with us were ever we go. I cannot say how much I am in debt to him and his love for us.
We have made friends with chickens in our boredom at times but our greatest success is with the children. everyday we play games with them followed by story time. They love this and at times we have up to around 20 and as little as 5 but God has used them to be a source of joy to us and encouragement. they are all very sweet and we can communicate to them quite well. I was very pleased yesterday to have a hamburger with cheese on it!!!! yum! granted it's not as amazing as one of moms burgers on the grill with barbeque sauce. but it was WONDERFUL! i have become a huge fan of passion fruit juice here. Yum!!
We often occupy our time talking about food... i´m afraid it´s become an idol... the enemy will use anything. :) but we have a good time. we found snickers and hershy´s the other day at one of the stores... we might buy some some time soon. :)
other news.... well the river has risen about i would say at LEAST eleven feet on the big river and maybe eight or ten on the little. i´m excited to see how much it rises this week too. it doesn´t rain every day but it does rain often. I love it!!! we have been blessed to be able to camp out in the living room area of a teacher's house and that has been great! we almost never get rained on! but it´s funny to see our hammocks in there hanging from the ceiling beems. they have banana roof houses, so it leaks at times, but they hung tarps so we won´t get too wet. we haven´t run into any enemy teachers yet, which has been a suprise to me, but i´m not expecting it not to happen. we often lose our sanity for small moments and curl up into balls in our hammocks hiding under our mosquitoe nets from the gnats and mosquitoes that feast on our pastey white flesh. :) what cowards we are. but it is very very okay most of the time. the stars at night are so beautiful and some times we brave the insects and lay out watching them. i am determined next time to let them feast on me and do what i want any way! we´ll see. :) we see butterflies some times and they are beautiful!! there´s a metal building built by the same person who designed the Eiffel tower, that´s been a fun bit of archetecture to gaze upon at times! however it´s not INCREDIBLY breath taking or impressive... but i appreciate it :)
we have attended gatherings in the bush and have loved it, but I never understand what they´re saying in the songs! it´s rather frustrating at times. i have decided that i love sleeping in hammocks a lot!!! but i do prefer beds at this point. some times you just can´t get comfortable at all. :)
I guess if i remember anything else amazing i´ll let you know and if you have questions feel free to ask.
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