Back from the Trip!

Hello Everyone! Hola a Todos!

I am back in Pausa! Out time traveling around the surrounding villages was good.

When we arrived in Quilcata, of course it was already cold, we met up with Pedro. He is the town's mayor and also one of the christians in that town. Pedro is also currently being equipped to lead a house church. As I mentioned in one of my previous blogs, Pedro had an ancident and broke his leg. We were pleased to see that it was not as bad as we thought it was, and that he will be traveling to Lima to have some pins put into it and have it taken care of properly. I also met up with Yulbert. I finally learned how to spell his name and pronounce it. He is also a believer and is there helping Pedro with his broke leg and learning the techniques of the Peruvian artisians. He is studying the weaving and all that is done here. We got along very well since we are around the same age. He also wanted me to help him learn english. You know, i have been teaching english a lot it seem since I have been here. Maybe that is a sign of some sort? ANyways, all of us enjoyed the day together and then we had service at night. At 6pm was the childrens service where 38 kids came (praise the Lord!) and then at 7:30pm was the adults service where only 9 came (but still Praise the Lord!). This was a great time of Bible study, singing and fellowship. After the service, it was time for bed! And WOW it was then FREEZING. I slept in all my clothes and my sleeping bag that is graded down to 15 degrees. I woke up nice and warm!

We woke up very early and ran to catch Lopez (a bus going to Marcabamba). We cought it just in time to experience the bus hitting one of the adobe houses in Quilcata as it was making a turn to go down the hill. You should have heard the people in the bus hollar. Wow. Well, we had to make a pit stop in Pausa (it is on the way), so Cindy and I ran to Cindy's room, had some quick coffee and a bit of breakfast, used the bathroom and then we were off back to the bus. Well come to find out, the "short time(30 mins)" we had turned into an hour and something. Oh well. We got to Marcabamba and went straight to a fellow sister is Christ's house. Her name is Fanny. This was my first time meeting her. She is such a sweetheart. I call her the "Nature Woman". Everywhere we went (at her house and in town), she told us what each plant is good for and such. It was pretty interesting. She made an amazing meal for lunch. Wow...it was delicious! After we ate, Pastor and Fanny told us that we are going to go visit some people. Well, we start climbing this mountain and Cindy and I are wondering where we are going. This thing went straight up. Well we asked him again where we were going and he said to visit some people. Well once we got to a small plain on the mountain, we saw a house. Cindy and I thought it was it, but no it wasn't. Pastor then said for us to Return back to fanny's house. We were like..."are we not going to visit?" Haha...we think he didn't visit those peple because Fanny wasn't with us due to Claudia was tired from hiking and took a break down the hill and she stayed with her. Oh well..it was a fun hike though. Later that night, we had Bible study at Fanny's house. Only a few people came, but it was a good service. Fanny had all sorts of questions and I could really tell that she is growing in the Lord so much.

When I awoke the next morning, I heard my name in English (JOSH!). I was like...it's got to be Cindy. (My name in Peru is Josue) I was like, "Yeah!". "The bus is leaving, we got to go...NOW!!" So I jumped up...threw on my clothes and ran out the door. Wow...you know that drunk feeling you get when you get up way too fast and then run? Well..i don't know how I survived running down the stairs, but i did. I sure did have a headache after that though. Well we run and catch the bus as it was leaving. Then-we were almost out of town when the bus stops. They were waiting on some people. I was so upset. Lol...i could have went to the bathroom, brushed my teeth, put on some more deodorant and had time to wake up. Haha...I guess the Lord had something else in mind. Haha..no worries...It was fun! We arrived in San Sebastian and waited for Tania and Wilman to wake up. Once they woke up, we had breakfast. Weird breakfast I must say. Black olives, lettuce, a hot corn and milk drink, potatoes and bread. Tetracycline became Cindy and I's best friend. Haha. We wouldn't have taken any, but if you would have seen them prepare it and how they cleaned, you would have too. For example, for lunch, the same water that was used to rinse the chicken (organs and all) was the same water used to wash the dishes we ate out of. But...We are not sick! Praise the Lord! And we also thanked him for the nutrition ;) During the day, Tania educated me on the people of Ayacucho. I told her that I will be spending two months in the "state" of Ayacucho and she immediatley told me that she needed to tell me some things. She told me about the 20 year long war that occured and how that war is still a part of the people there. She said that a key part in witnessing to these people was understanding where they have been and what they have endured. It was really interesting and I am glad that she told me all that stuff. Later on, we had our service and no one came, but we were still able to talk with Wilman and Tania. The service lasted 2 and a half hours. We sang, prayed for each other (in english and spanish) and studied the Bible and answered tons of questions. It was very awesome. We also studied the Bible in Quechua some. It seems like Tania understands Quechua more than castellano (spanish).

Well, as you can tell, the trip was AMAZING! God is working and it is evident in the lives of the people in each village. Plesae continue to pray for the believers in these villages as they face percecution for not being Catholic like everybody else and believing in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Pray that the desire to know Jesus Christ will spread like wild fire amongst the people in these villages.

Thank you for your continued prayers! Until next time -