Joanna's Journal: My awesome week.... part 1(Tuesday-Thursday)

Hey everyone!

Wow, my time here is flying by! I have just a bit over a month left! :-( God has given me a love for the people, and a love for what I’m doing while I’m here! I was playing the piano tonight, because I play in church tomorrow morning, and I stopped a second. I could hear the sound of the town’s parade/party/happy Urubamba day music. There are so many people here that have no hope… And yet if we have accepted His gift of salvation, we HAVE that hope, and we CAN share it!

There has been a lot going on, so I will try to hit the highlights! I’m officially done with my class here, and I think it went really well! I learned some useful things, I learned Spanish, and I got to know the people better!

All of us had been preparing for Tuesday because we were going to present our puppets. Our puppet show went well, and everyone did a great job! We all worked on it together, and we were well prepared. We chose the song OBEDIENCE to go with it. I didn’t realize until later that they didn’t know the song, so I basically taught it to them. We had fun with our group, and sometimes during practice, it was hard to keep from cracking up laughing. One thing that was hard when we presented was that we used the real curtain stage. We couldn’t see the puppets, so when Milka and I are passing the puppet back and forth, we had to hope we made it. (and we did… in class) It went really well! Hna. Wendy chose one group to perform when we went to the different schools, and she chose ours!

Also, we practiced our wordless book again with paint, because the next day we were going to go to the plaza and paint it with kids. We practiced with our desk buddy, so I did it with Roxana. She did hers first, and then I did mine…all in Spanish! It went really well I thought except for one mistake… :-) I was explaining how that we all are sinners and how we all HAVE sin. Tú quieres pecado, y yo quiero pecado. (You want sin, and I want sin.) That wasn’t exactly what I had in mind… Yo tengo pecado, y tú tienes pecado. Also, contar/cantar (to tell a story/to sing) banca/banco (chair/bank) pecado/pescado (sin/fish) mate/mata (a drink that the seminary students have/killing something) …….I’m trying!

Tuesday evening we went out to dinner with the 4^th year students and Mr. and Mrs. Campbell. Rachel translated for the class so she went, and I went along. Elana and Raquel are both 4^th year, and Sonya (wife of Alex, a 4^th year student) was there also. I know them all pretty well. Mr. Campbell asked them all what their plans were when they finished seminary, and it was neat to see all the different responses and see a little more about each person. Raquel’s mother is having a hard time, and so Raquel is too, Hein is stuck in the middle of half of his brothers that follow God, and half that don’t, Raul wants to go to Mexico and study music, and Alex and Sonya have had many offers, but don’t know where God wants them just yet. I’ll remember that dinner, and what a special time it was. We went out to dinner at this chicken place, but it took a REALLY long time for us to get our food. Like 1 ½ hours. Someone came up with the great idea of singing for our food. Within us singing 3 songs, we had chicken in front of us. :-) It sounded really beautiful with different parts, and it was pretty hilarious at the same time!

Wednesday was one packed day! Everything was coming to a close for the class as we had 2 days left. (wed and fri) In the morning we went to the Christian school that meets at the Urubamba church. (Heroes of the Faith) We presented songs, a lesson, memory verse, a puppet show, more songs, and closing. (the other school we would add a few things) Yanet, Roxana, and I led the songs. We sang “Mi Dios es Tan Grande” “Yo Tengo un Amigo” and later we would sing the “OBEDECER”. Marco did the lesson. In our class, when he presented, he did a really great job. He is really good at communicating and thinking on his feet. The Good Samaritan came to life as the priest, Levite, and Samaritan came by the person that was hurt. We sat with the kids, and beforehand I asked everyone their name on the front row and gave them high-5s. The ages varied from 4-10ish probably.

The puppets were next! 1. I forgot my script, so Milka and I shared and I think we messed up one line because of that. I had everything laid out, but when I put my stuff in my bag to take with me, I must have looked over that paper. 2. We used different puppets. Hna. Wendy had some bigger/nicer puppets, so we used them. Problem was that you had to use 4 of your 5 fingers in different places at once. (2 mouth and 2 hands) The mouth wouldn’t stay closed unless you kept it shut, and for our script, we needed our hands to pass the “osito” or bear back and forth. We couldn’t see the puppets, and we had never used those puppets before so therefore we dropped the bear I think twice. :-( It’s all good though, and the kids thought it was funny. The song went well at the end of our show, which I was a bit worried about. The verse and everything else went smoothly, and too soon, everything was done!

We got ready next at the school to go to the plaza. This square has lots of people, and we were hoping to paint the wordless book on kids’ hands. It ended up that most of the kids were in school, and the ones that we saw were too young. Roxana and I used the wordless BOOK. We went up to one girl, and she was listening, but then her mattress store got a customer. Next we went to another lady, but then her chicken store got a customer so we left a tract and Bible with her too. We handed out some tracts, but at the very end, we went to the market and talked to this girl (probably 20 something) that had a plastic selling booth. (here you have a booth or store for everything) She listened and answered the questions that Roxana asked. (Yo era orando.) When we went to leave her some tracts and a Bible, she pulled out one from under her counter. (Some plant, some water, but God gives the increase. -1Cor 3)

We headed back to class to present our song. We had to explain it, and then sing it with our partner and the “kids” in our class. I did a song I learned here “Él Es Rey” (He is King). It’s very easy, and it’s something you would sing with kids. I wrote it on yellow paper and cut the top like a crown. It went pretty well. The day before when I asked Roxana what song she was doing she showed me one in the hymnbook. I didn’t know it, so I went to the chapel and practiced it the evening before. When we went to sing it the next day… She had a different song. I was surprised, and I tried, but there was nothing I could do. I didn’t know the song. Good thing her grade didn’t depend on my singing. :-)

Next we presented out mime. I think it went really well, and the point was clear. (see last post for details on mime) We had only practiced it once, but it went really smoothly! It clearly showed how our sin will entangle us, but believing in the truth in God’s word will set us free. Milka (representing God’s truth) used the verse John 8:32, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

After class I helped Rachel with some projects here. For our trip to Puno, we will be doing a lot of visitation to the people in the area. At each house, we will give them a gift bag containing a New Testament, some tracts, a pen, and a box of matches. I put stickers that said “Lee tu Biblia” (read your Bible) on 200 match boxes. We are going to put papers inside pens with a little message, so I started cutting those apart. Kinda tedious, but it needs done, and I can do it!

Wednesday evening is OANSA!!! Yay! Rachel, Alicia, and I left early to get things ready for that evening. We went to our pre-oansa restaurant and got our meal. Next we headed out all over the different stores looking for prizes to give because that night was… Crazy Hair night! We found some things for prizes, and every kid got a sample size/1 use shampoo and a comb. Something useful, but the kids really liked them. We passed a guy from the seminary that went out and bought a…gluestick to make his hair stand up. It worked, but that probably wasn’t the way I would have done it. :-) Rachel’s hair is really long, so she made her braids stand out, and the kids thought that was hilarious!

I really really really enjoyed Oansa Wednesday because I really got to help! I helped in Sparks (Chispas) and I helped a girl named Sami with her verse. We said it together many times! (Acts 16:31) At the end she could say it 3 times by herself without looking, so I went to Alex, who is the main Chispas leader. He was like, “Oh, you can sign her off.” I was excited, and it was fun to be able to help the girls with their verses. I stayed with that girl and the girl next to her for games. I was on team Rojo! We never got even close to getting one of the 2 things in the middle, but hey, I think they had fun… Milka taught the lesson and did a great job! She can teach really really well! At the end Rachel handed out the prizes for best crazy hair. I walked back with a bunch of girls, and talked the whole way back. :-) :-) :-)

Thursday we didn’t have class because we were going to the public school Friday instead. That morning Mr. and Mrs. Campbell, Rachel and I headed off to Cusco. Even though I have gone on that rode to Cusco so many times, it is still so beautiful! We go through the rural part with fields of crops with people herding cattle surrounded by a backdrop of breathtaking mountains. Wow. I was talking with a friend Friday and we were outside, and I mentioned just how beautiful it is here! We had to do a bunch of little errands like mailing some stuff, refilling a fire extinguisher, getting tires aligned, and picking up some tracts Rachel had printed. We picked those up…all 10,000 of them. They are really great tracts, and we can use them when we go to Puno and to put in the bottle project. Every one of them has to be stamped with the church’s address and church info, and folded in a special way. At the beginning, I could only do one at a time, but about 1,000 later, I have gotten the hang of it! Hey…practice makes progress!

Thursday night, I had dinner with Heidi (Ayde). She is a 3^rd year student, and I generally don’t talk to her quite as much. It was great! I branched out from my normal topics of conversation, and talked about music, church at home for me, what she does on the weekend at her extension ministry, and my testimony. Practice is making progress on my Spanish too… :-) I really enjoyed, and I got to know her better!

Thursday night is the midweek service here! I called Hna. Cassandra in the afternoon to see if she had the songs, but she didn’t, so I got the songs that I was playing about 15 min before it started. I had enough time to see if I knew them, and go through a couple, but not all. A few I had heard, but never played, which makes a difference. (There are a lot of songs I hadn’t heard before, but either have sung multiple times, or played on the piano. It’s not unusual to be asked to play a song a few minutes before that you have only heard in Peru 2 or 3 times…with like 4 flats. I have had practice improvising and lots with sight-reading!) It’s quite the challenge, but I enjoy it! It went very well, and much better than the other time I played Thursday night. I walked over and back with Raquel. She and I are going to play the offertory tomorrow together… one of those made up duets. :-)

The service was really good, and I think for the first time really I was able to understand the general flow more than normal. Mrs. Rojas’ dad taught, and it was on being in the world, but not of the world. I was very excited. Also Thursday nights, they have prayer time. There are sooo many requests and the prayer requests and prayers take about a half an hour I think. All different ages of people share what is on their hearts, and I think it is amazing how that God hears each of our prayers!

After church, a bunch of people went over and played ping pong at the chapel because Friday was the tournament. I got to play with Jackie, and that was fun to get to know her more because again, I don’t see her as much and I don’t know her as much. She was pretty good, and I played against her in the championship!