Joanna's Journal: Friends!

I am very blessed! God has given me amazing friends, both old and new! The one thing that I have really enjoyed is getting to know the people. The different missionaries, seminary students, and kids are all so sweet! I enjoy talking to them and being around them.

Thursday was a busy day! I had class in the morning. Everyone’s “libro sin palabras” presentation was due Thursday. I haven’t gotten a grade, but I think that it went really well! I know the wordless book really well, and I think I remembered everything I needed to include. (she had some specific words that you needed to include) We also really started working on making our puppets. We each got felt for a puppet and a sock puppet and the different supplies, and got to sew it all together. I felt bad for some of the guys. Sewing day!! I was talking to Marco, and he said that other than the tie on his, he glued everything together. Today (Monday) the puppet and an outfit on it was due. We both did ours last night…Mine has 2 braids, and a pink with purple flower dress. It turned out pretty cute I think.

We were broken up into groups, and after class Thursday we got together and worked on our script. My Spanish was kinda failing me that afternoon, but it turned out well. Raquel came to the chapel where we were practicing to play piano, and so she helped a bit with it too. The general story line… 2 sisters want to play with their teddy bear, and it starts out fine. One wants to give it a bath, and the other wants to comb its hair. And that turns into a that’s mine, your not sharing, I want it etc… The papá comes in, and tries to settle it, but the one girl runs off with the teddy bear. My girl gets sent to her room to do homework, and the dad and other girl have a talk. She apologizes to me, and everything is good. We teach the verse Ephesians 6:1 and sing the OBEDIENCE song. I think it’s really nice, and coming together!

After our puppet practice, I got to play piano with Raquel for a good while! She is the sweetest thing. We had fun playing duets where I would improvise/play chords in the lower part, and she would play the melody higher up. On Sunday, Cassandra asked if I wanted to play the piano next Sunday, and I said YES! Raquel and I are going to do a duet for “In Christ Alone” for the offertory. I think that is their favorite song I can play. We played the afternoon away (which I loved) and then we went back to our rooms to get ready for church and dinner. I ate with the girls for dinner, and it was a ton of fun! We all really get along, and enjoy each other’s company. One girl said, “When people come, they don’t eat with us, and if they do, they’re like… “I like that, I don’t like that”, and only eat part”. I’m really trying, let’s put it that way. Most everything is really good, and then I just eat the rest.

We talked about different things, and they asked about when I was leaving and everything. I’m going to be sad (but happy to see everyone in the US) when I leave, and I think they are going to be sad too. They invited me into their dorm room and we had a little photo session. I really like the pictures, and I felt special that they would let me come to their room. One girl showed me a blanket she was crocheting, and made me try on this Peruvian pancho. They REALLY enjoyed that, and I got a funny picture.

Raquel and I walked to church, and a bunch of other seminary students showed up later. We sang a few songs played by Hna. Cassandra, then Raquel played the next set because Hna. Cassandra has to leave earlier because she teaches a class. Before Raquel went to the discipleship class, she said, “You play at the end” and I’m like “what do I play at the end???” I asked the guy in front of me that did the slides, and he gave me a list of 3 songs. When I first looked at them, I didn’t recognize any. I kept working on it, and the first (which was the only one we ended up singing) I had heard about twice here in Peru, and never in the US. I got to stare at it for a bit, and then at the end, I played it. (never played it or practiced:) The first verse was kinda rough, but the second and third wasn’t so bad. That is very common here (having little to no practice time). I’m glad that I could, and I enjoyed it in the end even if it was a bit stressful. We ended up having 3 pianists that evening. J I also played a song while everyone went out. Fun times! (as Lauren would say:)

After we got back, Raquel and I played a bit more. (like 45 min) Raul also came with a guitar and played along. He is going in my group to Puno for the seminary mission trip, and so we will be doing a lot of music together. We played ping pong for 15 min, and then it was time to head back.

Friday we went to Cusco to do a LOT of different errands. Rachel had a TON of money to get out of the bank for different things, but one major thing was they were going to pick out tile to tile the whole chapel. We did different errands (bought a plane ticket, went to the bank, bought some material for decorations for a ladies thing, and did a little of Joanna shopping.) Mr. and Mrs. Campbell, Victor, Pastor Percy, Rachel and I all had lunch together at the mall. We got Papa John’s pizza again, and it was pretty awesome! The different errands took a while, but we headed back home at about 5:30. We were trying to get as far as we could before dark. The mountains, steep hills, crazy dogs going through the middle of the road, and everything all were in favor of getting back early.

We had dinner here… Taco salad!!! It was about as good as the pizza. Many good meals in 1 day! Afterwards, I went to play volleyball with the students for their Friday night activity from 8-10. We did quite poorly at the beginning, but towards the end of the night I think we won 3 in a row! For you Mrs. Schlabach, I served overhand, and I blocked (and it worked). That wouldn’t work in the US because there the court is longer, ball is heavier, and net is higher, but it is fun while it lasts! If your team got out, you headed over to the ping pong table. Friday night is always a lot of fun!

On Saturday… I got to sleep in!!! It was awesome, because I haven’t really done that since I got here! I slept in til 9 (I’ve been getting up at least at 7 every day) and then in the morning I worked on different projects here. We made some really cute apples for an apple themed ladies activity, I cleaned my room, and caught up on some dished and stuff also. Dishes really add up when you don’t have a dish washer!

We had to go shopping to get a few things we needed to make dessert because we were going over to the Rojas for dinner. You can’t buy everything you need at one store, so you have to hit a bunch. We got the chocolate at one, the oreos at another, and the whipped cream at a third. We made a chocolate whipped creamy cookie crust pie. It was pretty awesome! I’m used to Walmart… You don’t buy your crust, you make your crust. You don’t buy a tub of whipped cream, you buy a package and mix it in a mixer with canned milk. All in all it wasn’t too difficult, and it tasted great! Last night (Sunday) we finished up the leftovers with 2 girls from the seminary that were over. (lots of people knock/come in at all hours of the day for all different reasons!)

We ate out at this place we have gone before. I got soup, and chicken over potatoes with rice, and a salad. Rachel said that the salad was safe, but the taste of the dressing scared me away. I let her have that, and she let me have her rice. Good deal with me! The soup was delicious! There was a TV in the restaurant, and everyone was sitting on the one side of the table to have a good view of the World Cup. It’s pretty neat that I get to be here in a Latino country while their huge big tournament is going on one country over. I got a Word Cup coke cup from saving bottle caps, and it’s pretty awesome looking!

We went over a bit early to the Rojas because Bethany needed to take a spelling test. I helped make dinner, and again I saw the huge difference in a town without Walmart. We take a lot for granted. First I started out making pumpkin pie! I scraped the pumpkin out of the pumpkin, and started it that way. We were like… I think you put in this much of this spice and this much of that. You use sugar that’s brown, and be careful when you crack the egg to make sure you don’t have a surprise. J Mrs. Beth’s mom made the crust, and then we put it to bake. I wonder how it turned out because it wasn’t done by the time we left. It would have been different, but probably pretty decent! There were a bunch of dishes, so I set to work on that. I enjoyed, because it was something that I could do! They use Ayudine which is a green, gritty, pasty substance that you rub all over, rinse, and count it as clean. I still wonder about it, but everyone uses it… We had spaghetti which was really really good! She made the sauce because there isn’t canned sauce here. I think she added a bit much sugar in my opinion, but spaghetti is spaghetti to me and it’s really good! Then we had salad and pie. It took a long time to make, but it tasted great! Where they moved is really nice, and the kitchen is huge! (which they can put to use) They have people over all the time!

We headed back after a great evening! I had been to the new house when I walked Bethany over before Oansa, and so I was the one to find it again! J I did ok, and we got off the moto only 1 street off. When I got back, I got to talk with David for about 45 minutes! I was so glad to hear from him and all what he is doing this summer. I also got to text with Rebekah for a bit which was an extra treat! <3

Sunday you get to also sleep in because Sunday school starts at 10. Mr. Eric Pardine is a great teacher, and we are going through the book of Acts. I sat with Lis Carmen (there also is a Lis Beth) for SS. They memorize a verse each week, and I pretty much got the one this week. (Hechos 3:6) Some books of the Bible are different sounding/spelling in Spanish, and especially Acts is one of them.

Church was full which was great! We sang some songs in Spanish and in Quechua. I got a video of the Quechua, but it wasn’t downloading right. I still have it, and can get it in the US. It has a very distinct sound to it, and it is very different. You can see a picture of the music, and see how long the words are! The teens did a mime, and it was very well done and clear. I really enjoyed it because it was in “English”. The person in front of me probably saw it in Spanish, and the person behind me probably saw it in Quechua. It was pretty neat. Pastor Samuel taught on the life of Jacob, and at the end, all the dads came up and were given something by their children, or a kid in the church. It was nice!

Before church started, Rachel and I went to the market, which is really busy early early Sunday morning. That is where I got all the neat pictures from. It’s pretty awesome, and so different than here! I didn’t get a picture of the meat section.

We came back, and heated up leftover taco nacho stuff because we were going over to the Rojas for dinner. (they invited a bunch of people from church, where Saturday night it was just us, the Rojas, and Beth’s parents.) We got a call while we were eating that they switched it to earlier. We left a while later, and the timing all worked out fine! I was able to Google chat with both my mom, dad, and sister in FL, and Daniel in VA at the same time. It was really great to see everyone. David was busy in the afternoon, and I skyped with him the day before. It was great to tell Daddy Happy Father’s Day in “person”. I really enjoyed getting caught up on what is going on there, and letting them know what I’m doing here!

We went over to the Rojas from maybe 3-7. It was great, and the food looked delicious, so I took a plate for later. In Peru, they have these plastic small bags that are great for holding leftovers. If you can’t finish everything, you just put the rest in your bag. There weren’t any seminary students (except one and his family) and I didn’t really want to stay with the grown-ups and sit, so I persuaded Bethany to come play soccer with me. I didn’t want to be the only girl “trying” to attempt to play soccer with a bunch of Hispanic guys. A few younger girls played, and it was a lot of fun! I was wearing boots, which isn’t the greatest for accuracy, but whatever. I held my own decently and enjoyed the activity. When we came back from our game of futbal, we drank soda and watched more futbal. Argentina vs. Bosnia was a very very low scoring game! It was 1-0 forever, then 2-0, then 2-1, Argentina. It was still fun to watch, and everything! The group that played soccer came in a played double 12 dominos. I ended up winning… I don’t know how, just everything worked out. They didn’t do doubles like we do in the states, so there were only 2 options the whole time. When a bunch of people left, Bethany and I played Skip-bo while we finished the soccer game. It was fun, and she won 2 times and I won one. We were close though.

When we walked back to the house, some students were here making Jello and popcorn to sell to raise money for their class. (50 cents each)I got to talk with Isabel and help her bag up the popcorn. She also had some dinner with us because I had my lunch from the Rojas for dinner. It really was delicious! I had these potatoes that their name sounds something like “morida”. They are dried, then later soaked and boiled. I really liked them! Rachel says we’ll probably have a lot of those in Puno. J Good with me! Milka came by to get stuff for an Oansa lesson, and we all had the leftover pie. That stuff is good!

I finished off my day by working quickly and thoroughly to finish my puppet. She turned out cute! I put on some West Coast music from youtube, and it finished right as I finished my puppet. Ready for another busy day ahead!

Today I got up extra early to get a shower because the water wasn’t working right last night. Once I got up I was ok, but getting out of bed is the problem… ;-) I got everything together that I finished the night before and headed out to class. Today all I had to have done was the outfit, so that was good. We looked at some visuals she had for teaching songs (we are doing Wed.) I’m going to do “Él es Rey” (a song I have heard here, that would be very easy to teach to children, and very easy for my Spanish. :)

We split up into our puppet groups and worked on that for a good while. Ours is going nicely, and I think tomorrow will go well. If I can remember my pronunciation… We made the script so my girl doesn’t have too many lines. ;-) We are really having fun with it and working together even more than just working on a school assignment.

Later we worked on a mime that we will present on Wed. My group is all the girls: Yanet, Milka, Roxana, and me. It’s a little bit similar to the one we did in the DR, but with other added input. I am looking for satisfaction in first money/work. I give Roxana my white heart, and she marks it up with a sharpie. When I turn around, she ties up my hands, gives me my marked heart, and takes my money back. Next I go to Yanet which is representing friends/music. While I’m listening to music, she marks my heart more, and ties my hands tighter. I’m very sad at this point, and am turning to leave when I see Milka, who is holding a sign that says “La verdad” the truth. She shows me how in Juan 8:32 it says that the truth will make you free. That frees my hands, and gives me a new white heart! I like it a lot, and think it’s going really well for the first day!

Today, after morning session of class had finished I got a thing of popcorn and jello from the 2^nd year seminary students and went to play ping pong. Raul came up and asked if I wanted to practice/play the piano. I was thinking in the afternoon like how he, Raquel and I did the other night. I was like Sure! Then he said “hoy/ahora” which is like today, right now. So, 2 minutes before chapel, I found out I was playing. I enjoy the challenge and I’m really glad I get to play, and I’m glad he asked! It does add some character to the song when you have short notice. I played “A Shelter in the Time of Storm” and “Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God”. He wanted a different one, but I asked if I could switch it, because I hadn’t heard it but once or so. It’s all good, and I hope I can play again. When I finish this, I’m probably going to go play for a bit. The piano is kinda hard because of the tune and no petal, but you make do with what you got!

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers. Thanks for reading my mini book…that is if you got this far. :)