Joanna's Journal: Working hard!

Even though I haven't had classes this week, man have we been busy!!! I love to be busy, and am glad for things that I can do!

Everything is in full preparation for the gira! (Pronounced hee-da) groups of about 7 or 8 are headed out all over Peru! Our group is going to Puno, which is 8 hours south, and a few hundred feet higher. We are driving over 1400 feet. And south is colder, so without heat will be interesting. :-) :-) fun fun, can't wait! It will be one PACKED week! We are knocking on every door in the community (200), teaching the Sunday school classes and junior church for 2 Sundays in 2 churches. Doing a 5 day club/VBS type thing. Pat is teaching a condensed revelation course and Rachel is translating. Wendy is also teaching part a class. We are doing 8 songs or so special music, and they sound really great!

We are handing out gift packs to every house that include a Gideon's New Testament, a pen that says either "smile, Christ loves you" or "the Bible contains the answer. Read it!", a box of matches (everyone uses them to start their gas stoves, so they are very practical) and a few different kinds of tracts. I have been working on each section, and today, Thursday, Elena and I finished tying the ribbon on the last one!!! It is great to finish a big project like that! I've spent a lot of hours on it, but a lot of lives will hopefully be changed by those packets. I might not be able to teach a 20 min lesson on Spanish, but I can take pens apart with the best of them, and after 200, you've gotten pretty efficient. :-) I will be teaching verse time in Spanish one day, and I'll be in charge of the pre club games a few days.

Last time we went to Cusco, Rachel picked up the 10,000 tracts she got printed. Today, we passed the 3,000 mark that we double stamped and folded. Rachel wants to take 4,000 to hand out in Puno on market day, but we have been making progress. A lot of different girls have been over helping with different things. Milka, Alicia, Elena, Isabel, Jackie, and Yanet have all helped at one time or another. Milka especially has really helped when the pens. I take them apart, and she stuffs them.

Wednesday instead of chapel, we had a Gira meeting. We worked on our songs. I didn't know all of them, but by counting everything out, it has been working ok. One song was really high, so they asked if I could transpose it down. It was in A flat with 5 flats or something, so I lowered it a little to G, with 1 sharp. It takes a bit to think about it when I play it in my brain, but it's going well! Everyone started to put all the finished pieces together of the bags. Elena and Roxana put the pens in bags (because of the altitude we don't want them to burst and ruin everything in the bags), Juan and Rachel put the pens with the Bible in the bag, and Hna Wendy and I put in the tracts and matches. Raul and Juan taught their lessons for practice also. When they had to go back to class, I kept on working away.:-)

I am playing the music for the gira, and I didn't know about 1/2 the songs, so I have gone over to the chapel some afternoons and evenings to practice. I love to worship God through music! There is one really beautiful song here that I've learned that I think is my favorite, Abba Father. We sang it at church tonight. I never heard it in the US, but I find myself humming it and other Peru songs often. They have study hours here until 9, so after that the students sometimes play ping pong or join me at the piano. I was playing through the hymnal, and when I got to one song, Juan came out of the side room and got the number because that was one of his favorites. I told him that "Hallelujah, What a Savior" was one if my dad's favorite too.

Monday, after a long day of work, Rachel and I were both exhausted! Rachel had the great idea of heading down to the little bakery/restaurant for hot chocolate and cake. It was really cold, so that sounded great! We put on an extra sweatshirt and our sock hats, and headed out. The hot chocolate is a bit different here, but we got it with milk and added sugar, and it was the best hot chocolate I've had here! Rachel got chocolate cake, and I got tres leches. Not quite as good as Annette's but the best I've had here. It was delicious! We sipped on the hot chocolate, ate our cake, and watched princess diaries in Spanish. Y yo comprendí cada palabra. And I understood every word... That Rachel translated. :-) :-) Yes, very girly, but after a long day of stamping, folding, and stuffing, the relaxation was perfect!

Tuesday afternoon I had lunch with the seminary girls. I really enjoy that! I don't have my class to talk about any more, but we branch out to other topics. After, Raquel said she had some time because she didn't have to be at work until later, and she wanted to do my hair. I quickly agreed, and she did the most beautiful braid I've ever seen! It was all very smooth, and stayed together nicely! I really really enjoy her company! I do a lot with her. I'm going to miss her...

Tuesday night, Rachel and I volunteered to babysit the Pardine kids so Eric and Cassandra could go out for her birthday, which was Wednesday. We went over around 4. The boys are really busy, but they petty much entertained themselves and were very well behaved. Gabriella almost 4 months, and like to be held, so I happily obliged. :-) she really only cried when we took away her empty bottle. We are homemade pizzas and watched a movie. It's hard to beat that with a cuddly bundle on your lap!

Oansa is a highlight of my week! I love helping with that! Rachel had some extra hats and shirt I could borrow, so I looked like an official líder de chispas. Alicia, Rachel and I headed out early so we could go to our favorite pre Oansa dinner place. They got the usual hot dog and French fries, and I got the empanada. We got to watch the end of a world cup game which was pretty close. :-) I have watched a lot of soccer, and I really don't remember who was playing or who won. :-) soccer is huge here, and people are very talented at it! On the way to church, Alicia sneezed, and Rachel explained the significance of the first, second, third, fourth sneeze etc. In the US, you say bless you, no matter how many times you sneeze. Here, sneeze 1 is salud, or heath, 2 I'd amor, or love, 3 is dinero, or money, and 4 is like they have given up, or casket. Interesting... She sneezed again, and I was trying to think of all the different words, and I got the first 3, but was like... "¿Silla de ruedas?..." Or wheelchair? It was pretty hilarious, and we were laughing the rest of the way to church. Hey, it's better than casket. :-)

I got chosen to hold the Oansa flag for pledges, and Hna Wendy has some pictures, but her camera is in the Dominican Republic. First, is book time. Sami from last week wasn't there, so I helped a girl named Ruth. Good name huh? She was just starting out, and we learned Juan 3:16 and practiced the pledges. I really enjoyed helping her, and my Spanish is decent enough, I can.

For game time, I went on the green team because Ruth was on green that night. I think the leaders and kids are on different teams each week. At least that is what I can gather from observing. Verde did petty well, and I enjoyed congratulating the kids. (Happy sigh... So much fun!) Jumping up and down yelling Verde at the top of your lungs makes a very interesting evening.

Sonya taught the lesson, and during lesson, I say with a special needs girl. She was probably 20 and has downs syndrome, but she did pretty well altogether. Hna Wendy really was good with her during games, and I think she had a good night! She didn't want to go. :-)

Monday we did some laundry, and we hung it on our lines on Rachel's back patio. Random aside... I was chatting with Christin, and she said she had to go get the laundry out of the dryer. I haven't had to do that for a month! That's because we don't have a dryer. :-) She moved a cement block, and behind it she found a very dead fuzzy foe the second. It was very large and very dead. Rachel thinks it ate the poison. Hey, at least we are getting rid of them before Ariel and the other family get in Saturday. :-) most American women don't do too well with rats in the roof. I heard something the had few nights, but it didn't sound like the rat before. Other than that, I haven't heard then she the night after we got rid of number 1.

Today for lunch we went out to one of Rachel's favorite restaurants. This morning the USA played Germany in the world cup! We got all dressed up in our red, white, and blue. :-) I forgot to bring a flag shirt, and I'm going to be better fit 4th of July too... :-\ we are going to have a picnic though, which will be a lot of fun! Wendy came with us, because Pat headed off to the Dominican republic for 12 days on a baseball outreach. Anyone who has gone to the Dominican knows how big baseball is there! It's funny, because people here don't even know the rules. We got a good seat to watch. The while 90 min game had only one point. Germany beat the USA 1-0. I think Germany played a bit better, but those last few min especially were very close! We all had the same dish. French fries, rice, grilled chicken, and a salad. I had their soup to go with it, and it was ok. Others of theirs have been really good though! We had a great meal with great friends with a great game. It was all good!

For breakfast this morning, Thursday, we had a papaya smoothie, which contains papaya, milk, vanilla, and sugar all blended together. I also had dried habas. We had cooked ones when we went to Adín. These though were very hard, so I sucked then a bit before I ate them. Today also I had some flower seeds that they cook and soak multiple times because at the beginning they are poisonous. Hope they got cooked well! :-) They weren't bad at all. Now the cheese here isn't my all time favorite, and I don't really like pumpkin/squash type stuff in my soup, but I'll eat it.

Church this evening was great! I walked over with Raquel because she goes earlier than others. She brought some cards she made to give to someone, and they are so beautiful! She uses white paper, and arranges dried flowers beautifully! If I get back from Cusco in time, she and I are going to made cards Saturday afternoon. Hna Cassandra wasn't there, and the piano is locked, so I couldn't play. It was kinda sad though, because I actually knew all the songs except one, which is unusual. They sang my favorite one that I learned here, Abba Father. Before church started, I talked to this one family that speaks English really well. The dad spent some time in the states in Florida. He lived/was in Miami, Orlando, and Mount Dora! Pretty crazy! I really enjoyed talking to them! I find though when I talk to a person that speaks/understands English, my Spanish is lacking, but when I'm tossed into the water of all Spanish, sometimes I can do ok. And other times I don't know if I'll ever learn it. :-)

I really love the prayer time here Thursday nights. I can usually understand the prayers, and it's neat to think how God hears each one, and knows our hearts. The message was really good. Pastor Rojas preached on Romans 8. It's a well known chapter, but I still was able to follow along. He talked about how when you accept Christ there is no more condemnation, we can call him Abba Father, and nothing can separate us from his love!

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers. Sorry it's not as long and in kinda a random order. :-) I've been doing a lot of the same things in the morning. Enjoy the pictures.