Day 13... I'm not sure how I managed to mess up my dates but today is day 13

Short and sweet....

Today was complicated, we got up at 5am to watch the sunrise over the Itaya river... I wish a could say I took some amazing pictures, but that would be a lie... We couldn't see anything, too many clouds...

That's pretty much how the day worked... We came back to El Jardin, to get a little more sleep, this was difficult because construction that continues just outside the pond house... After we finally got up we began prepping for next weeks group, we met with the pastor from the church they'll be working With next week :) the group will be doing some work here at El Jardin one day and then two days working with this church doing bible study and minor construction on the church :)

Well that's all I got folks... Short and sweet , tomorrow we go to the ZOO!!!

Location:Iquitos, Peru

Day 11 and the rain continues...

Hey all :)

Last night after I spoke with y'all ben and I ventured out to the Plaza de Armas for Churro's :) it was quite a sight, apparently that's the place to be in Iquitos on a Sunday night, there were so many people there, families with children even babies out on the street at around 9pm it was crazy... We saw all the venders with toys, and food, hoping the kids would form a scene forcing their parents to buy them something, we saw tourist taking in the city, we saw local Peruvians just out for a stroll it was nice to see the city so full of life, not just people rushing off to work or school, but people just hanging out and enjoying the city :)

We woke up this morning to the sound of chainsaws and falling trees, as the clearing of trees began here at EL Jardin. The contractor and men brought in all their supplies and tools and got straight to work removing all obstacles because they'll begin dig trenches and leveling out the ground to prep for the foundation that will come in later this week... If you never been woken up by chainsaw, I can tell you it's quite an experience, one straight out of a bad horror movie... It literally sounded like they were in the pond house with us, not they forty feet away, that they actually are...



The new building will be located by the church...


I had a lazy morning... I finish the Kabul Beauty School, it was amazing, like most real life accounts it doesn't end the way you think it should but, does life ever? Lol
Totally a must read if your into that kind of stuff ;)

I wish I could tell you that I ventured out into the city and explored and had a great meal or something, but that simply wouldn't be true, it rained a thunderous rain today, and unfortunately this city offers little protection from the rain and I've already ruined too many pairs of toms, so I declined to go trudging through the rainy puddles outside our Jardin, I will attempt t adventure more tomorrow, weather permitting... But I did venture out a little today to call my folks :) love y'all... Sometimes you just need to hear a little piece of home, even when it results in soggy toms :(

We had a lovely spaghetti meal today with our amazing cook Maria, and we discussed the adventures in store for later this week, which include a visit to a local movie theater, and a possible trip to the Zoo :) yay! I love Zoos we're just focused on enjoying each other company and the quiet that the rain brings :)

That's all for now :) stay tuned

Location:Iquitos Peru

Day 10 a Reflection on Foreign Mission

We went out for the most amazing lunch today at this restaurant call Bucanero, it's was one of the coolest places I've been so far to eat in Iquitos, it's right on the river, literally right beside Puerto Huequitos. You enter the restaurant on street level and proceed upstairs into the only air-conditioned space that I've been in during my stay in Iquitos thus far, and trust me you feel that air-conditioner when you walk in :) Pam had to put on her rain jacket she was so cold. The entire dining room was about the size of a whitemen dorm room at wofford with about twenty or so four person tables scattered throughout it. But the most amazing part of Bucanero is that the entire dinning room is enclosed in glass, so there are no walls to block your view of the river, if I would have know how amazing it was, I would have brought my camera, but your just going to have to take my word for it.

At lunch we discussed the concept of foreign missions, it came up because Pam will be celebrating the two year anniversary of her move down to Iquitos this thursday. We discussed the amazing faith it takes to follow God's plan, when that plan differs so greatly from your own. It seem I'm surrounded by examples of people who follow their passions and deep personal desire to serve humanity around the world. Just the other day I burrow a book from the communal shelves at El Jardin, it's call the Kabul Beauty School, by Deborah Rodriguez. It's a true life account of an American woman, who follows her heart to Kabul to teach the woman their a trade, hairdressing :) although not technically a foreign mission, the message is the same, follow your talent, serve a need, make the world a better place. That's what Pam did, abandoning her teaching career and moving to Iquitos to serve as a full-time live-in missionary, she followed God's plan for her life and move herself down here, knowing that he would provide the skills she needed to do this job effectively and that's what Debora Rodriguez did. She used the skills she had acquired as a relief worker, and her experience as a hair dresser to serve a need she saw in Kabul.

The challenge is finding that need, and recognizing that you have the talents or skills needed to meet that need, that's the starting point for foreign missions, then comes the real hard part comes... You have to figure out how you go about living and working in a culture not your ow


For anyone who hasn't read Kabul Beauty School I highly recommend it, I literally started it today after lunch and haven't put it down till I started blogging for all of you :) I'll probably finish it before I go to bed :) I'll let you know how it goes...


I'm off to finish reading :) talk to later lol

Pray for Foreign missions

Location:Iquitos Peru

Day 9 a slow rainy day ;)

Hey all :)

Today's is going to short, but you're not allowed to complain because you got two yesterday ;)

It rained all day... Still raining actually so we didn't do much, we went out to lunch and it was delicious, just finished watching I Am Number Four, it's pretty good if you haven't seen it...

We met the contractor who will be running the construction taking place here at the Jardin this summer, nice guy, they start monday, so will be helping them out and hanging around El Jardin most of this week :)

That's really it for today though guys, sorry there really isn't much to tell...

Love you all


-

Location:Iquitos Peru

Day 8 my personal adventure... Stuck...

Hey all :)

So y'all are in for a treat... Two blog posts in one day lol

After I finished my last post I ran back to the pond house to grab my bag and clean up a little, its really hot and muggy here today so I wanted to wash my face before we left for the airport, so I head to the bathroom for what I thought would be a moment or two and then I was planning on running back up to the main house to help get people in motokars off to the airport, well it didn't really end up working out that way because I couldn't, I was stuck in the bathroom. Unbeknown to me I had closed the bathroom door completely, which I never ever do, because the door doesn't really hang straight so it's not that easy to open if you close it all the way, well I must not have been paying attention because it was shut all the way...

So I grab the door knob and give it a turn...but nothing happened, the mental piece that is supposed to move when you turn the knob sat quite still in it's place... I tried several more times before my nerves kicked in... I was stuck in our hot little bathroom... Really this would be my luck... So I opened the bathroom curtains and began to wait, the pond house sits on the back of the El Jardin property far away from the main house so I knew shouting would be of no use, I said the serenity prayer and tried to wait patiently for ben to come find me... Locked in the bathroom.

Probably no more then five minutes later Ben comes jogging down our path, surely wondering what was keeping me, since I had told him I'd be right back... Well I give a little holler out our bathroom window, and tell ben that I can't seem to get the door open, he chuckles a little bit and runs in the house to help me open the door, well he had probably assumed that it was just caught on the floor, like has happened before... But After of couple of minutes of us both trying to get the door to budge, he decides it's best to call for reinforcements and calls Pam, her and Michael one of the mission team members come running down the path a few minutes later, Michael tries to wiggle the door free but they soon come to the consensus that the knob is in fact broken, and that getting me out of the bathroom is going to end up being a little more complicated then we all had hoped.

So Pam and the Charleston group head off to the airport... They couldn't wait any longer or they would have missed their flight, and Ben stayed behind to keep me company while we waited for Villa (pronounced Vija) the amazingly funny handy man of AMF and El Jardin in particular, to come save the day...

So we waited for what seemed like twenty or so minutes, at this point I resounded myself to seat and try and be patient and calm, because short of asking Ben to kick down the door their really wasn't much I could do other than wait....

When Villa finally showed up, and began to examine the situation, he tried to leverage the door out of place, and then he comes out side the pond house and offers to remove the window, to allow me to escape, although this option appeals to me a great deal because it ends with me no longer in the bathroom, we decide against it because it would be too much work to put it back in, once i was free.

So Villa once again enters the pond house and we began the process of removing the door knob, which probably took about another ten minutes... First we began by using the back side of a hammer to pry off the exterior side of the door knob, then a screw driver and hammer to drive the rest of the knob into the bathroom the hammering noise was a little overwhelming, metal and metal pounding, that echoed in the completely tiled room I was stuck in, but finally the knob was free of the door, but still the door was not open... because the metal piece that locks the door in place had been broken off in the removal of the knob, and was STUCK in the door jam, much like I was STUCK in the bathroom

So Villa announced he was off to find some pliers to remove it, and Ben decided to pass the time by attempting to throw starbursts through the hole that there now was in our bathroom door, needless to say this helped me to stay calm and also allowed me to laugh a little at Ben repeated failed attempts...

Once Villa was back with the pliers it only took about another five or so minutes till the bathroom door was finally opened, not gonna lie I almost cried when I saw Villa goofy smile, and Ben relieved face.

Now that I'm free, I do see the humor in the situation... It would totally happen to me, and maybe God was trying to teach me something about the benefits of staying calm when all you want to do is panic... I'm not really sure why I got stuck in a bathroom in the pond house, at el Jardin in Iquitos Peru, but I'm sure there's a reason, and hey it makes a pretty funny story :) I am said I didn't get to say good bye to the group from Charleston properly, that's a real shame, because I miss them already, but at least I'm not STUCK in a bathroom ;) lol


Pictures from post adventure...




Bathroom that I was STUCK in...




My hero Villa :)




Ben and Villa after I was rescued :)

That's all for today I promise I've had all the adventures I can handle for one day ...

Stay tuned it proving to be quite a fun adventure :)

Location:Bathroom,Pond House, El Jardin, Iquitos, Peru :)

Day 8 We say bye-bye to our new friends

Hey all :)

Today was our last day with our new friends from Charleston, this mission team was amazing and approached every situation with positivity and determination! They were so much fun to work with :)



Megan and Ashely working of medicine directions for the clinic :)




Toby and Steven outside the church :)




Carrie, Megan and Tita with some local kids after everyone got their name tags :)

We got to sleep in till 8AM TODAY!!!! Praise lol, when Pam told us last night we almost started to dance we were so excited, we had breakfast and relaxed till around 10am and they we took the group around the El Jardin property touring the various building and explaining to them where the construction that begins next week :) will be taking place, AMF is adding another building. The upstairs will accommodate eight more mission team members and the first floor will serve as a pastor research center and library.

After our tour we vented down to the S.C.O.T.A. school, which is one of three schools Medical Missions started down here to help the special needs children, S.C.O.T.A. stands for Special Children Of the Amazon :) it's right around the corner from El Jardin, and the way the facility works in with the Peruvian government is quite interesting, the contract states that if Medical Missions will provide the facility, and manage their up keep then the government will provide the teachers :) The one we visited had three large classrooms and outdoor patio like space a full kitchen and a full bathroom with showers.

We were informed that most of the children who attend these schools are from the poorest of poor families in Iquitos, so as a service they are feed a large meal at school everyday and the also take a shower everyday at school, this school employs three full time teachers and three teachers aids. The school is currently serving 27 children, who are either deaf or blind, physically impaired or emotional disturbed. We visit the down syndrome classroom that was a group of nine year olds :) they were so sweet and the school was very bright and cheery, it was really amazing to meet the teachers and see how much they cared for their students. It was really amazing because they do some much without many of the support programs that we take for granted with the American Public education system, while we were there we learned that the Peruvian government has only recently started a pilot program for seeing eye dogs in this country, this was a little shocking to me. Especially when a walking stick alone would be practically useless in this city with it's uneven sidewalks and various holes in the ground.

They are apparently a couple of U.S. Churches that partner with the SCOTA schools and come down and do work with them and throw them a party :) I hope they be one of the teams I have the opportunity to work with while I'm down here for the next six weeks :) because these children have such joy, they are so amazing I hope I have the opportunity to spend more time with them!

After that we had lunch and head out for some lunch :) I had a some Hawaiian Pizza :) I just can't seem to get enough pineapple down here :) it's so good, then the group took an opportunity to do some last minute souvenir shopping, now were back at El Jardin resting a little before we have to take them to the airport :( it's very sad to see them leave because I've formed such a personal connection with so many of them over this past week, we've gotten to know one another and shared in an amazing experience together :) and there departure marks the completion of my first official week as an AMF intern :) which is kinda crazy and really scary, I've been looking forward to this experience for months and less than two months time it'll be over... It's kind os surreal actually

Alright now that I've taken you down the road of nostalgia after only one week imagine what I'll be like when my week here is over... Lol

Anyways were about to begin prepping to head to the airport so I've got to go :)

Stay tuned


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPa

Location:Iquitos Peru

Day 7 Last day in Nvo Valentin

Hey all :)

Today was all about balance that's what I'm learning... It was a complicated yet amazing day, this morning two members of the charleston mission team left on a flight back to Lima because they're visiting Machu Pichu, so we were down to ten people today, eight of them and Ben and I.


Today was a day about the group they made the decision to venture out of Nvo Valentin and explore a town close by, but it was very hot today so the walk was a trying. We visited this community and brought them toothbrushes...

But instead of focusing my blog on our adventure outside of Nvo Valentin, I'm going to focus on what I learned from my experiences in Nvo Valentin, and highlight some of my favorite memories :)

This week really goes back to that idea of balance internal spiritual balance, because although this experience has already greatly shaped my life, by teaching me how truly furtunate I am in my own life, to have such an amazing family that would allow me and support me while I try to live and work in Peru, but this experience this week is not something I embarked on, on my own, I don't really believe an experience can truly be embarked own alone. In this experience I had to balance my feelings and concerns with the feeling and motivations of the mission team, as well as Pam and Ben. We covered a ton of ground this week spiritually, emotionally, physically... It could definitely be described as jumping in both feet first :) but it was throu all that we did that I learned that my personal struggle this summer is going to be finding that balance between my experiences and goals and the experiences and goals of those around me...

In Devotions last night, Ashley a member of the mission team from Charleston, asked us to right out one thing we had learned or experienced during our work in Nvo Valentin that, once this experience has ended, we would take back and plant in our own lives in the U.S. Mine was the important of difficult service, it's far to easy to serve the lord by doing something you love... Like talking to people, or playing with children, the true gift to God is doing something that challenges you and is difficult, recognizing that and doing it anyway. There are days, like today, where I would much rather not get up at 5:15 am and trek through the jungle, under the hot sun while getting bitten by bugs, or days where I would rather not translate two sermons and two prayers, and one speech in a hot room full of blank faces... But I get up because this is the challenge God has placed in front of me, he's challenging me to rise to the occasion. And I'm trying to find the balance within myself to rise to where only God can see me going...

And after this week, and the steps I have taken to rise to that occasion, all I can say is "Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name; make known among nations what he has done. Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts. Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice. Look to the lord and his strength; seek his face always. " 1 Chronicles 16:8-11.

Highlights from the week :)




All the games we got to play with the kids :)


How much they enjoyed playing with us, and how popular we became :)




The adorable children we got to meet


The amazing things we saw... Like a pet SLOTH!!!!




The kids who in a short four days became people we will pray for...




And the amazing relationships we formed with people we very well may never see again....

Relationships so strong that their were tears shed today when we said our good-byes... It was an amazing experience that has and will continue to have a profound impact on me as a person as well as a Christian :)

Tomorrow we're spending our last day with our first amazing mission team from First Scot's Presbyterian church in Charleston South Carolina, these men have taught me determination and these women, ESP. The three young teachers I had the privilege of working with this week, have taught me compassion! They are an amazing group of people Who I have loved getting to know, we'll stick close to the center of the city tomorrow, exploring a little before they fly out tomorrow afternoon...

I miss you all and hope your doing well :)

Stay tuned :)

Location:Iquitos, Peru