Joanna's Journal: Church

This is my last big post on the Gira trip to Puno. You can tell that it was one busy and eventful week! I've gone by activity more than day by day, so all I have left is a post on Church... Wednesday night and our last Sunday, July 20th.

Wednesday was a long but amazing day! From the time we got up at 6 with devotions, breakfast, visitation, and kids club, we immediately started helping with dinner because we had church that night. Wednesday was our coldest day, and we were getting pretty exhausted!

All the kids and adults were in together for the evening service. The guy that led music was very thoughtful asking which songs I knew and such. After 8 verses, 4 Spanish and 4 Amari, it was getting smoother. :-)

Pat really was preaching that night, and it was great! Pat preached in English, Rachel translated to Spanish, and then Asencio (guy from Revelation class) translated to Amari. Like I said before, so many of the older people only spoke Amari. He gave a clear presentation of the gospel, and told it the way it was. :-) At the end of service, 2 ladies, a mom and daughter, said that they wanted to accept Christ. (Great!!!) But they said that they would have to ask permission from their dad/husband to see if they could. (strange in an American mind, but very common here) We didn't know what would become of that, so we prayed over the next few days that God would work in his heart and have him say "yes". That next Sunday, those 2 came back with permission, and brought an older sister who also received Christ that day! It was a good day!

After service music, the guy showed me some words and asked if I knew the song. (uh, no...) Then he hummed the first line. (no again) Then he hummed the first line of the chorus. (yeah, I've heard that a few times) So I memorize the name, because when I go up to play, I flip to the back and find the number, find it's only 4 flats, run through the chorus quickly to get to the last line for an introduction, and then start playing and hope and pray it goes well. (very typical :-) It was a good challenge, and I was getting used to it by then. :)

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Sunday was our last day at the church in Cacorco. We would be at their morning service, and then head to the "big" town of Desaguadero for their afternoon service.

That morning, we got up early so we could clean our room spotless and load the truck before service. I had stuff on my couch bed, and stuffed into my suitcase. That suitcase went through a lot, but it did great! We burned our trash, and Ariel was working on that, and somehow it became my job. I tried to light it and tried some more. On little bits of paper (supposedly flammable) I could not get it started, and then a local guy comes over and starts it with one match in 30 seconds. Untalented Americans :-)

Breakfast was the hot habas punch. It was simple and since the ladies had church, and then a big meal later, that was good for them too. I enjoy that meal, and we had it a few times. I was talking to Wendy at breakfast, and mentioned the verse I read that morning.

Isaiah 40:12

"Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?"

That is just Puno's verse to me... And it was so neat that I read it that morning. When you walk out the door in the morning, you see a beautiful, huge, Lake Titicaca... At night, the stars were indescribably beautiful!!! We saw a lot of dust and by the end of the day we were pretty dirty. (wind + dry season = lots of dust) Then the mountains... gorgeous, tall, snow-capped mountains in the distance. That verse had new meaning that morning to me...

Sunday was one cold morning! We usually have the kids program outside, because the adults are in the main auditorium. It was so cold, that we moved stuff out of the kitchen to put the kids in there where the wind wasn't as bad.

Every day in kids Club, we learned a verse that went with a lesson. We said that if a kid would come Sunday, and say all 5 verses, then they would get a New Testament, and a prize bag. We had a good group that said them, and more than just the church kids, a few people came that hadn't been to the church before. While some people were outside helping with the verses, Roxana, Elena, and I stayed with the little kids in the kitchen. We reviewed the verses from club and saw if they could say one or two. We also sang some songs that we sung in club with them while we waited for the older kids.

Elena taught on Elijah that morning. I really had fun spending a week with the seminary students. I learned a lot from them, and it was neat to see how God can use each one's individual talents. We did a color sheet to go with a puppet show that we did. It was about these little worms that made fun of the other worm because he had so many different colors. His mom told him the story of his colors... Black is for sin, Red is Jesus' blood when He died for us, White is a clean heart, Gold is heaven, and Green is growing as a Christian. We did a color sheet with that, and then the challenge of handing out the crayon that each kid wants right then begins. We didn't have as many kids as in club, so that wasn't as bad.

After Sunday school, our group headed into church to do the songs and specials. Raul was leading music, so it was a walk in the park. He gave me the songs a few days earlier (didn't get to practice, but at least I knew what they were) He also sings like he is in Urubamba. (with correct timing...so I played with him) What was difficult again was that the people knew the song slightly differently but it wasn't my job to change to go with them...so I just stayed with Raul's timing. We sang a few of our specials that we practiced and prepared for, and those always seem to go pretty well. We chose some on faithfulness and being strong in the Lord kinda as a special as we were leaving that afternoon after lunch. All the kids came up (which were more than 9) and said their verse from that morning's Sunday school. Then Wendy also recognized the people that memorized all 5 verses from club. They did a great job.

The kids and leaders headed back to the kitchen for service while Pat preached to the adults. We watched a movie/animated Jesus film... from what I could understand, it was pretty accurate. It was neat to see a bunch of different parts of Jesus' earthly ministry. I was called out early because I was needed at the piano...I think we just sang a few songs over again at the end. They also took up the offering, but in a different way. Everyone would come up and put the money in a box, and then a man from the church prayed over it.

Pretty soon, we were done with service, and the dinner on the grounds (literally) began. I don't know if they did that every Sunday, or just because we were here. It was my favorite meal they served us all week. (and yes, there were some really good ones along with interesting ones) It had really good flavor! It was beef strips, flavored French fry type potatoes, rice, and... lots of potatoes. If I could have taken out about 4 potatoes, it would have been a bit easier to get down. It was delicious, but there was SO much food! By that time too, I was getting a bit tired of potatoes, so it was a little harder to get them all down. The soda was good. Green apple flavor or peach flavor. :-)

I talked with Cynthia and Ana during lunch, and she wanted to know if I could get her some copies of music for her. I wasn't able to get them until later in Urubamba, but I sent them with Pat to send when he sent the grades for the class back down to Puno. I wrote her a card and sent a picture, and I hope she enjoys it!

Wendy got everyone to get a picture by family and then the whole church. We told everyone goodbye and gave last hugs, thanked the ladies for cooking for us all week, piled into the truck, and headed off. It was a really good week!

We went to the Alpha and Omega church in Desaguadero for their afternoon service. It started at 3, and by the time we got there we had to get ready quickly! We sang a few songs while the pastor played the guitar. He asked if I could play out of their hymnbook, but I didn't have any clue of the songs. (they were the "real" Amari songs, not Spanish or English songs translated. I would have no clue how to play them.) That church had a sound system and the piano plugged in. When I played for the specials though the low notes sounded EXTRA loud and like a bass guitar, and you couldn't hear the higher notes at all. That was a challenge! When the guys sang, I just slowly stopped playing. it sounded awful!

After music, we went to help with the kids program. We had about 20 kids. Roxana taught the same lesson as at the other church on Jonah. We were supposed to do the Obedience puppets, but the script disappeared. We ended up doing the Guzman puppet show about the wordless book. We had lots of time, so this was a great opportunity. We explained each of the colors and they got a pom-pom worm at the end of the night that were left over from Cacorco.

We finished off the night and I got to talk with a few church members a bit afterwards. A family from church volunteered to have all of us stay at their house for the evening. Their house is in the town of Desaguadero, and is built up (3 stories with lots of rooms, but very skinny... perfect for lots of company.) This was Naomi's family's house, the girl that came with our group when we handed out the tracts in the market that day. For dinner they served us bread and coffee. Ok, so I don't normally like coffee. I knew this was coffee, and that they had tea in the kitchen, but they just served coffee, so that is what I had. It had lots of sugar and cream, and since they made it for a LOT of people, Rachel said it was watered down a bunch. I was ok with that, and it wasn't bad at all! If it's hot at that point, then it's good.

We headed out to play volleyball with the girls from that family and some people from the church. (20s ish...Some older and me and Roxana younger... I think) I love to play, and we walked to 2 indoor courts find one open. They were small, and if it hit the wall they were out. I wasn't playing the best, but I still enjoy playing. I did get a few blocks though. (which doesn't normally happen here)

The next morning at about 5 we would head back to Urubamba. God had truly blessed that eventful and busy week! 200 houses were visited and they now have the Word of God and lots had the gospel clearly presented too... Over 75 kids got to hear the gospel through the Kids Club in the afternoon.... By God's grace, 19 people were saved in that week alone, and only God knows the fruit that will come from that week alone. Today I was writing a paper to Baptist Mid Missions about my experience, and I said 3 main things that I saw/learned were these: 1. It was so neat to see people, old and young, in another country and culture, speaking many different languages, all singing to, praying to, and teaching about the same God that I serve. We serve a big God! 2. We saw the POWER of God's Word! God's Word doesn't return void, and that was really awesome to see! 3. I enjoyed seeing God use each person's individual talents in special ways. I can't teach a 30 minute lesson in Spanish, but I can do other things. I was so glad that I was able to go on the trip after I had put a lot of prep work into it! It was a great learning experience, and we had a lot of fun too!

Sunday morning saying their verses in the cold.

Girls that said all 5 verses

Sunday school in the kitchen

Listening faces

Me, Cynthia, Ana, and Cathy

Church ladies... They were sitting waiting for lunch. (a favorite picture!!!)

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Wednesday

Me playing the piano

Specials

Ariel giving her testimony.

Preaching in English, Spanish, and Amari

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Back to Sunday morning

Pastor Jose (left) and his dad.

Elena giving her testimony Sunday morning

These are the kids that could say all 5 of their memory verses from club!

Kids presenting their verse from Sunday School for the adults

church ladies

Church family. We saw them a lot.

These were the people that wanted to be saved, but had to get permission (on the edges) and they brought their sister/daughter who also got saved Sunday.