Imminent Return

You might of seen on facebook already but I now have an official return date.  I bought my ticket for the 5th of January.  There has been a lot of changes in my plans since the last blog post so I'll catch everyone up to speed. I've decided to put my plans for starting a new project on hold for awhile, there are a lot of reasons for this, one of the main ones is that I have been offered a position at another orphanage in Trujillo.  The position was described as an administrative position and I am extremely interested in it.  I'll keep everyone up to date with how that unfolds.  The only thing keeping me from jumping all over this opportunity is the emotional attachment I have with the kids in Pacasmayo where I have been heavily involved in the past two years.

So the plan right now is that I will return to Pacasmayo in January and spend a month at the orphanage in Pacasmayo and see how things go, if things work out then it is a possibility that I stay there, but right now it is looking very likely that I will be going to Trujillo in February.  

To clear some things up, when I say "see how things go" I'm referring to the current unstable condition of the orphanage in Pacasmayo.  They recently had an inspection and they need to change a lot of things physically and administratively.  These things are in truth pretty simple to change it is just a matter of people wanting to change them.  Sorry I'm being vague I just don't want to step on anyone's toes right now.  The deadline for these changes are February and I'll have a good idea if they are going to be made when I arrive in January allowing my decision making process to be much easier.

On a side note you may have noticed I'm playing around with the format of the blog a bit.  Hang with me if things get a little crazy, and if you absolutely hate the new layouts just let me know via comments.

Getting into action

After a couple of more meetings with the people who own the house that I posted in my last post we have decided that it would be too risky to depend on them for the house. What we are doing now is looking for a new location to rent. We have also determined in order to get a smoother start that we will begin with an education and feeding center. In this center we will work primarily but not exclusively with 15-20 kids that are to be chosen through a process that accesses their needs. We will work with the children and their families (or caretakers) to help provide them with an opportunity for a better future. While working primarily with the selected children we will also be working very hard throughout the surrounding area doing community outreach, emergency relief, and family education.

There are so many areas of great need in the Trujillo area that we are a little overwhelmed at the possibilities right now. In the last month we have visited a couple of more locations one in particular is Alta Moche and in the next month we will be visiting a couple more so that we have a good idea of the different needs.

Some things we are looking for in the areas we visit are...

Poverty level

Need

Receptiveness of local government

Accessibility

Accommodations for possible volunteers

Availability of land, water, electricity

After we whittle the down the number of suitable locations we will be praying and doing a lot of discernment before we decide where to plant our roots.

Here are a few pictures of the Alta Moche location

The Future

I might of caused some stir at the Gateway business meeting this morning, so I figured that I would post this for anyone who was there or was not there and is interested in the idea I shared.

What you're looking at could very well be the future. This is a house that is possibly being donated for 5 years for the use of an orphan care facility. What I proposed this morning is that Gateway church sponsor the monthly support for the care of 15 kids that would live in this house while we simultaneously build our own orphanage on our own piece of land for the care of 30 orphan children down the road. More details to come, get excited!

Goodbyes

Well last Tuesday was my final day at the orphanage Casa de Paz. It was extremely hard saying goodbye to all the kids and people who work and live there. I am missing them very much right now and hoping that I can one day return for a visit. But for right now life must go on. It's been a little bit of a hard transition these first couple of days. I came back and my mom had fallen on her bike and broker her shoulder the day before so she couldn't come to the airport to meet me, then Friday we had to put down my old dog Cole who I got on my 12th birthday.

For some going away festivities the kids threw a "surprise" going away party for me. All the older kids went to Maribel's house and lured me up there so when I walked through the door they all jumped out screaming surprise! The party included a lot of dancing (there are videos of me dancing with kids and house moms but you will never see them...ever.) as well as eating some good food and cake. The after the cake they had what Joey B would call "Barnabas time" where they went around a circle and told me all sorts of heart touching things. Afterwards I could only manage to get out a few words to everyone but they knew how much I loved them all.

On my final day there a team from an organization called "Inca Link" came with a bunch of volunteers to throw the kids a party. It was the Dia de San Pedro so all the kids had the day off school. It ended up working out really well because I was able to spend the early morning with the kids all to myself and then hang out and play some games with them and the big team of 40 people who came around 10:00 am. The big team served as a pretty good distraction to keep me and the kids from completely losing it when I left. Yes there were still plenty of tears but they had something they could jump into and try and take their mind off of it.

So anyway, I will go ahead and sum up my time there. It was an amazing learning experience. What I have learned in this past year will benefit me and others who I come in contact with for the rest of my life. I learned about a lot about business and management, Peruvian government, politics: but the most important things I learned were relationships, parenting, love, sorrow, patience, and myself. I would say that Ecclesiastes 3 would be a pretty good summation. There were good times, and there were definitely bad times. But this year I spent living with these kids and all the experiences good and bad that came along with it I would not trade for anything in the world.

I would like to go ahead and use this entry to say that as one chapter ends another begins. I am very certain that in the future (~6 months - 1 year) I will be starting work on a new project in Peru. The project right now as it is shaping up is looking to be an organization that does youth development programs in the area of Trujillo Peru. Our first, and maybe our largest scale project will be an orphanage. I am still ironing out some details and as soon as I have everything ready to go I will disclose everything.

The kids and I

Surprise!

The people at my "surprise" going away party

The big team who came on my last day

Giving some lessons

Updates

I've been wanting to write a blog post for awhile now but every time I have sat down to do it the internet seems to crap out on me. This last Friday was the kids Father's day presentation at the school. It was great, they did a bunch of little skits and songs with their fellow classmates. It was going smoothly until all the power went out. Everything went pitch black except for our emergency lights that came on, and of course all the kids starting doing the whole screaming because its dark thing. So when the lights went out I brought the little kids that were from the orphanage but not old enough to be in the school back to the house with a house mom so we wouldn't have to deal with them with no lights. Then walked back to the school just in time for the power to come back on and the kids to finish their Father's day presentation. I got a couple gifts from the kids, a couple of picture frames with a picture of them and I in it all decorated.

About 2 weeks ago there was a team from Colorado here. They came and painted all the outside walls of the orphanage. It was something that has been needed for a long time now. All there work looks great. Before they go here our workers painted the swing set and we hired a local to paint some murals on the outside of the orphanage gate. Everything looks so much more alive now with all the new paint it really helps a lot with the atmosphere.

I only have 6 days left here now. I return to the states Wednesday the 30th at around 6:30 pm. Everyday the past week I've had the same two thoughts in my head, "I wish this last week would just hurry up and get over so I can be home" and "I wish this last week would never end because I'm dreading leaving all the kids."

Below are a couple pictures of the new paint jobs.

One of the paintings Steve and I painted in the kids rooms

Outside gate painted by local Peruvian

Mural by Colorado team

Swing set painted by Carlos Augusto

Mural by the Colorado team

Updates

I've been wanting to write a blog post for awhile now but every time I have sat down to do it the internet seems to crap out on me. This last Friday was the kids Father's day presentation at the school. It was great, they did a bunch of little skits and songs with their fellow classmates. It was going smoothly until all the power went out. Everything went pitch black except for our emergency lights that came on, and of course all the kids starting doing the whole screaming because its dark thing. So when the lights went out I brought the little kids that were from the orphanage but not old enough to be in the school back to the house with a house mom so we wouldn't have to deal with them with no lights. Then walked back to the school just in time for the power to come back on and the kids to finish their Father's day presentation. I got a couple gifts from the kids, a couple of picture frames with a picture of them and I in it all decorated.

About 2 weeks ago there was a team from Colorado here. They came and painted all the outside walls of the orphanage. It was something that has been needed for a long time now. All there work looks great. Before they go here our workers painted the swing set and we hired a local to paint some murals on the outside of the orphanage gate. Everything looks so much more alive now with all the new paint it really helps a lot with the atmosphere.

I only have 6 days left here now. I return to the states Wednesday the 30th at around 6:30 pm. Everyday the past week I've had the same two thoughts in my head, "I wish this last week would just hurry up and get over so I can be home" and "I wish this last week would never end because I'm dreading leaving all the kids."

Below are a couple pictures of the new paint jobs.

One of the paintings Steve and I painted in the kids rooms

Outside gate painted by local Peruvian

Mural by Colorado team

Swing set painted by Carlos Augusto

Mural by the Colorado team

Some Fun Stuff

The last week has been a little busy for me and I enjoyed that. Las Thursday there was a medical mission team that was giving a free clinical in Chenpen that we decided to take advantage of. We heard about it through pastor Tito whom helped organize the team. So Thursday morning I loaded up half of the kids in the van and we traveled to Chenpen. They gave check-ups to everyone of the kids and prescribed medicine if needed. They even pulled some teeth. Friday I took the rest of the kids, mainly the older ones...and Danilo. Danilo actually behaved very well, until getting back to the house. I guess he saved up all his energy for the whole afternoon and then let it out in about 20 mins. Somewhere in those 20 minutes he pee'd on another kid from the top of the slide.

Saturday I went surfing in the morning and Steve took the kids to soccer practice. However the soccer practice was cancelled he brought them to the beach to watch me surf and play in the ocean for a bit, it was a little cold for them. Unfortunately the waves weren't good so I didn't get to put on a surf demo for the kids.

Monday was a big March day. The kids had been practicing last week for the Flag Day ceremony. That was my third year in a row attending that, thinking about that kind of blew my mind. After the March we took a couple of pictures the kids needed for Father's day. Below are a couple of the Father's day pictures the kids are going to use for their school project.

Just bought my plane ticket from Trujillo to Lima, so now all my traveling preperations are finished (besides getting from Pacasmayo to Trujillo), and I'm already starting to get that bittersweet feeling with exactly 3 weeks left to go here.

Pulling Teeth

Father's day Pictures

Last weekend decided to take a trip with ALL the kids from the orphanage. We left Friday morning because the kids were still on their week long vacation. We went out to the house mother Gina's house. She lives about 20 minutes outside of town on a farm that is in a river valley. It took me two trips in the van to get everyone there and that was still a stretch. We fit about 20 people in the van with clothes and food each trip.

When we all got to Gina's house we started off Friday with a trip to the river. It was about a 10 minute walk from her house and was a great place to swim. The older kids had fun swimming against the current and goofing off on their own. While the other volunteers and I took the little kids out and swam with them. The current was too strong for the little kids to play in it alone. We took some fruit out there and had a snack, then after about two hours we returned to the house and got ready for lunch. We had come pan fried pork which was excellent. After lunch we went to a different stream which was more of an irrigation ditch but was just as fun for the kids to swim in. The little kids could play by themselves in that one because it had some shallow parts that did not have much of a current. After the second swimming time we came back and ate dinner which was a turkey from Gina's house that she killed and cleaned for us to eat.

After dinner we went to Rosa's house when it started getting dark. Rosa is a lady who goes to the church and has a son in the school. She likes to be very involved with the kids. We all slept in her living room after watching all three Home Alone movies. All the kids were piled on mattresses and I was sleeping on top of a couple blankets on the floor (not the most comfortable thing). Throughout the night one little kids kept waking up and crying thus waking everyone else up. I think we all got about 3-5 hours of sleep that night.

Saturday we went back to Gina's house and did some more swimming in the morning. Then we did my favorite part of the weekend which was return back to Rosa's house for lunch. For lunch Rosa and her uncle prepared pork, chicken and beef by cooking it under ground surrounded by hot rocks they heated up in a brick oven with firewood. It was by far the best meal I have eaten in Peru. It tasted a lot like BBQ and was super tender. After lunch we lounged around for a little while then went and played some soccer. We headed back to the orphanage around 4:00 in the afternoon. Overall it was an excellent weekend, I had a blast and I know the kids had even more fun.

Packing up the van.

Looking out from the back of Gina's house, beautiful farm country.

Swimming in the big river

Swimming in the irrigation canal

Smashed together on some mattresses watching Home Alone movies

Machu Picchu

I went on a vacation with my friend Matt Sams last week. We met up in Lima then headed out to Cusco. We had a great week exploring all the ruins and for the last day of exploration we went to Machu Picchu. Everyone kept telling me I had to go and I kept putting it off but I can now say I am very glad I went. It was definitely worth the little amount of money it cost me to go there.

In other news I have my return ticket to go home as in USA home. I'll be back June 30th around 6:45 pm. I kind of hate to say it but I'm ready to be there now. I will really miss all the kids and the house moms and some of the other Peruvian people I worked with here. But it is time for me to move on to some other projects. As a teaser I can tell you I am already in the process of working on another project here in Peru that I would love for you all to be a part of. I'll let you in on more information when I feel the time is right.

The famous Machu Pichu picture

Another famous Machu Picchu picture but with some random guy in it.

A good shot of the terrace techniques the Inca used

That altitude sign is in meters. And yes that lady is really spinning alpaca thread while sitting next to her alpaca.

A beautiful shot of Cusco. The weather was like that all week for us.

Danilo Emergency

Tuesday night Danilo had an emergency. He started breathing really hard and could not catch his breath, he was scaring himself so it just made it worse. We rushed him down to the Health Center here in Pacasmayo where they put him on an oxygen mask. Everyone was pretty worried at this point because he just wouldn't calm down and he was starting to sweat from all the effort he was putting in to breath. The Health Center here in Pacasmayo decided he needed to go to Trujillo and this time they had the ambulance ready. So I rode in the back of the "ambulance" with Danilo, Maribel, and a nurse. They had him on an IV and oxygen. About halfway to Trujillo he fell asleep which actually helped the situation because he was getting more oxygen through his nose that way.

When we arrived to Trujillo he was calm and breathing a lot better but still a little labored. They took him off the oxygen and gave him some more medicine through his IV. They said that he had to stay over night to monitor him. So Maribel stayed in the room with him and I went to Mari Ester and Luis's house in Trujillo to spend the night. We got back to the hospital early in the morning and they took an x-ray of danilo's throat and lungs. They said everything looked fine and let us go at around 2:30 in the afternoon. We decided to go to a private doctor afterwards to get a second opinion. The Doctor said it was a croup spasm probably initiated by a foreign object that Danilo swallowed (very likely as Danilo puts anything and everything in his mouth). The Dr. gave him some anti-inflammatory liquid and some steroid pills.

Danilo is back 100% and causing more trouble today, so no need to worry about his health.

Some things still stand out

Well I know I just wrote a blog post not too long ago and I'm not in the habit of writing one so frequently but there are just some things that still catch my attention. Wednesday my attention was caught. Maribel found out about a nine year old girl that was living in pretty bad conditions through a pastor friend in Chenpen. The pastor's name is David and he does a kids group that anyone who wants to can come one of those kids is Claudia. Maribel went and visited Claudia last week because the pastor was wanting to know if there is anything we can do to help her or possibly bring her to the orphanage. Maribel came back crying and told me that it was the saddest thing she's ever seen, and that says a lot because both her and I have seen some pretty sad stuff here. So I agreed to go back with her and visit Claudia.

Wednesday we drove to Chenpen to go meet Claudia. We drove up and parked outside of what looked to be a pretty normal street in Chenpen. We got and I was a little surprised and was thinking this really doesn't look so sad to me, it's a pretty busy street nothing terrible. We then walked through what I thought was going to be a front door of a house but it was actually a door to an alley way. The alley was about 3 feet across and all dirt with adobe walls on each side. Along this alley were 10 foot x 10 foot rooms that people lived in. No electricity no running water. The people who lived there paid 20 soles a month for the rooms. One of these rooms is where Claudia lives. We knocked on the door frame (there was no door) and a mentally ill old lady told us to go ahead and come in, as soon as we walked in I had to walk back out because Claudia was just sitting on the bed naked. I came back in the room about 10 minutes later after she had put on the new clothes that Maribel had brought for her. The room was piled floor to ceiling with junk. In order to pay for food and the 20 sole a month rent the mentally ill mother and Claudia would scavenge for junk and sell it. After I got a hold of what I was seeing the older lady offered me a chair to sit in, however it was a preschool chair designed for toddlers and there was no way I was fitting in it so I just stood. We watched Claudia open her little doll set that we brought her and at the same time explained that the vitamins that we brought were only to be eaten one a day.

After she opened her present is when I noticed the old man lying on the floor. It was her mothers step father or something like that. He was lying there on the dirt floor on top of a blanket and he looked pretty out of it. David the pastor told me that they think he has TB and they are getting him some medicine. I wouldn't doubt that he has TB because the entire house is dust, mold, and cobwebs not to mention all the trash and the pot that they use to go to the bathroom in. We asked Claudia if she might like to come to Pacasmayo one day to come visit, she said she would because she hasn't seen the beach before. I doubt she's ever been out of Chenpen. I really am just flabbergasted as to how she has made it to nine with the caretakers that she has, the mother is in no way mentally stable and the man of the house can't even walk. It's just a sad sad story.

The entire house

you can see man sleeping in this picture

Alley way, their door on the right

alley way looking back at the street you can see our van parked out front.

I'm alive

Hey everyone, I know that it has been far too long since the last post. A lot has been going on around here but it all just seems so normal to me now that I have trouble getting motivated to post about it. One of the more noteworthy things I've done in the last couple weeks was take a trip to Lima to talk with the lady who is in charge of the orphanage regulation in Peru. We have an inspection coming up soon so we decided that it was a good idea if Maribel and I went to get an overview of all the things that we need to improve or change in order to pass the inspection. The things we need to change aren't really serious, but it's a lot of small stuff. For example we need to get covered cabinets in the kitchen, touch up paint and decorate some houses, enclose one of the water pumps and other misc. jobs like that. I think that the new English teacher, Steve, and I are going to start working of that stuff next week. To decorate the houses we are going to use a projector to put pictures on the wall then paint them in, imagine big stencil. Other projects that Steve and I are planning are switching out some light fixtures and enclosing the pump.

Here is a picture of Yhonson after his team won the championship in a soccer league he was in. He did really well playing goalie and had a blast. Their team won the 200 sole prize and split that between 10 of them.

Last week we threw a surprise birthday party for one of the house moms Gina. She is the one directly to the left of me. We had the other house moms there, Maribel, Gladys and another friend Rosa (far left) who has been doing a lot in the community to help the orphanage. We had the party at Maribel's house and had about 8 kids come as well. It was a lot of fun and she was really surprised. You can also observe from this picture that my hair is just getting out of control.

Canada eh?

The team from Canada has arrived. I went to Lima with Fred, Rita, and to go pick them up. We left on Tuesday night by way of bus and arrived in Lima the next morning with a day to kill. We went and got a hotel room to set up a base camp for the day. Fred and I roamed the streets of Lima scoping out where to buy food for the bus trip back and running some other areas while Rita and Meg relaxed in the hotel room. My errands included picking up some printer toner for Jose Luis and bringing one of his internet antennas to a repair shop. Then I had an errand of my own, I went and bought a wetsuit. I can now surf pretty much whenever I want and don't have to wait for a sunny day to do it. I went and tested it out yesterday morning and it worked very well (I got my sandals stolen...I have an excellent plan to get back at these little kids that I'll share with you afterwards if it all works out). I decided to buy a higher quality one because I figured that it is something I can use for a very long time not only surfing but scuba diving and other water sports as well.

So after the errands were done, Fred and I went and bought a whole bunch of food for the team's bus ride back. So then we waited. We had to go to the Airport at 10:30 pm because Meg was leaving and Rita's friend Heather was arriving. Then we had another person arriving at 5:00am so we just waited in the airport, hanging out on really uncomfortable chairs. The team got in about 7:30 then ate breakfast at the airport and we were on our way out of Lima at 9:30.

We arrived in Pacasmayo at 7:00 and had a big dinner with all the kids and the team together. Last night there was a really great concert put on by a band that came with us from Lima. they played traditional Wino music that pretty much ruled.

I woke up this morning with the news that we had been robbed. Someone knocked out window in the tool shed and stole Fred's welder. He was pretty pissed, I know how he feels considering I've been robbed the last two times I've been surfing. The team put on a spa day this morning and in the midst of that I found out that the school is out of water which is bad because that means the orphanage will be out of drinking water. There is a businessmen meeting later today in about an hour.

That's all I know for now.

Camp!

I just got back from a week long camp this Friday. It was a nice change of scenery for me because it was in the middle of a forest and it was quite a bit cooler than here in Pacasmayo. The camp was built about 40 years ago by an American church but now it is completely ran by Peruvians and they do a really good job. The kids all loved it and behaved really well. I just sat back, relaxed and listened to my ipod all week making sure none of our kids ran away or hurt themselves. It was a pretty easy job because we only had 6 kids in this age group which was 12-16. It was 4 older boys and 2 girls.

Throughout the week the schedule was wake up at 7:00, church gathering at 7:30, breakfast 8:00, group bible studies from 9:30 - 1:00, lunch, fun activites, dinner, more fun activities, sleep at 10:30. Of course there were breaks and small group times scattered throughout the day. One of the activities we did was climb a freaking mountain. That was pretty intense. If you have ever been to Peru and see those gigantic hills/mini mountains then that is what we climbed, except this one was more grass and rocks and sandy. I was really exhausted after that activity, then the next day we walked to the nearest pool. They told me that the pool was close, I guess that my concept of close is a little different from theirs because I don't consider a 5k walk close. My legs were already sore from the mountain climb the day before so they were jello after the pool walk. I was just surprised all the kids handled all the walking so well.

Other activities included skits and dramas. All the kids got really into those and actually did put on some really nice presentations. There was also a bonfire and all the teams had to create costumes to show off for everyone else. My favorite was a kid who's team dressed him up like cupid.

The pool

Yhonson on top of the mountain

Climbing the mountain

Playing some outdoor games

General assembly hall of the camp

Rain again

The last couple days it has been raining. It only rains about 4 days a year but when it does so it all comes about 4 days in a row. My roof is leaking where they put the air vents in, so I've had fun toweling up all the water that didn't make it to the buckets. Some ladies from the community came over last at at about 10:00 asking for plastic sheets to put on their roofs. We had a roll of plastic in the tool shed so we let them have that.

I've been surfing a lot lately, perhaps a little too much. I suddenly started breaking out in rashes in various parts of my body so taking a combination of Antibiotics, Cortizal pill and some special cream I have managed to get them under control. But in the mean time that means I gotta take it easy on the surfing. I haven't been for 3 days now and I'm anxious to get back out.

On kid news, Nelson who has been here for 3 years got adopted this week. His parents came from Italy. I talked with the parents as much as I could, Italian is similar to Spanish but not quite. I talked to the official from the agency a lot more though. I found out a lot of interesting stuff. For example the average wait time after all the papers are cleared from both countries is 8 months. Peruvians have priority over foreigners, for example if there is a kid up for adoption and an international couple has been waiting 6 months for a kid that fits their criteria but a Peruvian couple just finished their paper work the day before they still have priority, thus the reason for longer waits for international adoptions. Also the guy that from the Italian agency said that the reason they parents are adopting from Peru is because it is so much easier than any other country. The guys said the reason it is so hard for people in the US to adopt from Peru is because of all the US paperwork and the agencies in the US.

Last night I took Danilo out to eat pizza, he really enjoyed it but I think he was a little over stimulated. By the time we made it back to the house he started crying and was overwhelmed. I was also a little perturbed because I realized my cellphone had fallen out in the moto taxi. So I lost my cellphone and some dude is making calls on it right now, but it's a good thing that I don't have the monthly plan an only use prepay. Unfortunately now I have to go get a new cellphone and a new number.

Danilo eating some pizza

Nelson's new Parents with all the kids

Soccer and Surf

During the kids vacations I've been busier. Although I do kind of feel like a soccer mom some days. Monday, Wednesday, Friday there is soccer practice for 5 of the boys that I usually take them too in the van. Then Saturdays are the games. Last Saturday we played in San Pedro in someones private field. It was really nice, full of grass, big goals and even a pool for the kids to swim in after the game. The owner of the place gave everyone a free lunch afterwards.

I started surfing this week. A peace corp volunteer and I are giving surfing classes to some kids in the community and a couple from the orphanage. By giving classes I mean supervising and making sure no one drowns while they practice on some boards that an owner of a surf shop is letting us borrow for free. I'm practicing too. Tuesday I stood up on my first wave and it was a blast. Yesterday I got my own board so now I can practice by myself anytime I want. The board is from Maribel, her cousin moved away and left his board so she gave it to me to use. I plan on going out tonight on my own without any kids so I can get some more practice in. I'm planning on going down to the beach around 4:30 so I can be finishing up right around sunset.

We got 5 new kids this last week all 4 brothers and a sister. For the most part they are pretty mellow but one of the new kids is quite a handful. I've already had to break up a couple fights and pull him down from a gate he was trying to climb. The oldest sibling is Carlos, he is the one that goes Surfing with me, he just got up on his first wave yesterday and was really pumped.

Next week there is a 5 day church camp in Trujillo. I got roped in to going and being the adult supervisor for our older kids, so that is going to be an interesting 5 days for me.

About time

Well a lot has happened since I last posted so here’s a long one.

The wedding,

I’ll start with the wedding of Mari Ester. She was our secretary and great friend. I learned that in Peru the ceremony is just about the same, however it is just a lot more laid back (I guess like everything here). First they do a civil wedding the day before the ceremony. They go the city building and have a 10 minute ceremony where a judge has them sign some papers, and then some witnesses sign some papers, then it the judge pronounces them husband and wife. The room it takes place in is fairly large in size and decorated in red and white, the colors of the Peruvian flag. Only a few people go to this part, I was one of the few that were invited. After the ceremony ended when drank some sprite, then the groom took us out to lunch at a really nice restaurant. After we ate and were on the way out, Luis the groom, asked me if I could be his man of honor. So I obliged. I thought it was kind of strange that they would wait for the day before the wedding to ask me, and that they would ask me and not a brother or lifelong friend.

The next day was the actual wedding. It was outside under a white and green canopy. The wedding proceeded as they would in the states. However, it was a little unorganized. Everyone kept getting out of their seats and taking pictures throughout the entire ceremony. I kid you not, someone actually came up and stood next to the preacher and took pictures while he was talking, then they decided just to stay up there and stood next to the maid of honor. Afterwards the reception was in the same place, they just cleared out all the chairs and put out tables.

Kids update –

We had a couple of kids return to their parents and the twins got adopted to Italy. So right now we have 32 kids, the fewest we’ve had in about a year. Supposedly we are getting a family group of 5 within the next couple of days. Just 2 days ago we switched up the houses. Now we have 1 boy house and 1 girl house instead of them living intermixed. So far I think everyone likes it. I was moving beds around for what felt like an eternity. Bunk-beds don’t fit through door frames very well so I had to disassemble and reassemble 5 of them, but everything is in the perfect place now.

I also feel like a soccer mom these days. We have four scholarships for a soccer academy so I am bringing four kids every Monday, Wednesday, Friday for practice and every Saturday for games. I feel real cool pulling up in the mini-van, then giving rides to other kids without transportation to the games on Saturdays.

We got a new boy the day before Christmas. He’s somewhere around 12 or 13, he won’t really tell us anything about him or his parents. I think he must have had a really bad past because he is afraid that if we learn anything about him then we will find his parents and thinks that if we find his parents he’d have to go back with them. It was pretty good timing for him to arrive because as soon as he got here he was given Christmas gifts and Christmas parties.

Random Stuff –

My parents donated money for 3 semi-industrial washing machines so we are replacing them one by one when they break. We just had our one break last week and the first new washer is on the way.

The new pastors of the church got here last week they seem really great and I’m excited to work with them. The husband will also help with administrative duties allowing Avis to travel in the United States more often for fundraising, and the wife will work in the school teaching first grade.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Hola! I know it has been a long time since I posted anything. I had to move over to another location to get sufficient internet. We had an awesome Christmas this year. We had so much local support that wanted to help so we had four different Christmas parties for the kids. All of them had hot chocolate and paneton (fruit bread). They also received a lot of great presents. We had some volunteers come from the U.S. that brought money with them to buy enough specific gifts for each kid.

We had a great time buying the gifts in Trujillo. We took a house mom with us who knew all the kids clothes and shoe sizes. We also had a list of requests from the kids themselves. It took all day, 8 AM - 10 PM, but we got every kid some gifts. The house mom Gina was like a kid in a candy store when we got to a clothes store. She had so much fun picking out outfits for all her kids. Aaron, Emma and Thomas wrapped all the gifts the next day, which was another full day of work.

The actual Christmas party started at the regular Peruvian hour. That regular hour I found out is 12AM Christmas eve night/Christmas morning. We had a huge turkey feast provided by a local Peruvian. Then we opened all the presents that were bought by Aaron, Emma, and Thomas. I apologize for not having pictures of all that. My mom was taking the pictures on her camera and when they were getting ready to go I went to get the pictures off of her card and realized that her card was a different size than what I could put in my computer and we didn't have any of the cables.

The New Year's celebration was similar as well. Except no hot chocolate. We did not burn a big straw doll this year, but we did shoot off some fire works. They have a version of snaps, you know the things you throw on the ground and they go 'pop'. Except that their version is home made dynamite that blows up when you throw it. They are louder than a gun shot when they explode. So...carrying and throwing those things is quite nerve racking...and awesome.

Joel headlining for his grade at the school celebration

Mom passing out some traditional yellow lays(spelling) for the New Years celebration

Kids with the local bank that hosted one of their Chocolotadas.