Plumbing, Plantains, and Police

Well, despite a brush with the police and a brush with a snake we have survived week two here in Yurimaguas.  We are still living here at the Hogar which has been a blessing. We have been able to spend more time working with the kids and mothers here and working to finish and move into the new building. We moved the administrator’s office into the new building and out of the conference room, and we took over the conference room. Which means we now have an indoor living room! It is a great space for home school and to sit in the evening and not get attacked by ants or mosquitos, but I miss watching the bats.

A new baby was brought to the Hogar this week. Elixson is 8 months old and was born with a cleft pallet. When he was 15 days old his mother dropped him off at the Hogar. He had surgery to repair his pallet and the staff had to feed him with special bottles. He recovered well and about 6 weeks ago he went back to his village. This week his mother brought him back because she is struggling to take care of him and returned to her village. He is due for another surgery in November in another city and one of the staff will accompany him. Please pray for Elixson and his mother.

On Thursday I was invited to help with a construction project here in town. A local church is adding classrooms behind their current building. The problem is the current building is built into a hill so a lot of dirt needed removed. I showed up along with another missionary and most of the church. Many of the church members took the day off to join the work day. This is a big sacrifice to loose a day income but they are willing to sacrifice for the Lord’s work. We spent the day hauling dirt. I would shovel dirt into a wheel barrow, wheel it through the church, and dump it on the street, then repeat. It was grueling and difficult work in the heat but everyone worked hard. Men worked with pick axes to dig. Woman would fill buckets and carry out buckets. Other woman cooked food and prepared refrescos (juice). I don’t think I have ever sweat so much in my life. For lunch some of the ladies served boiled fish, rice, plantains and yucca along with a toasted barley drink. It is a traditional meal here but I think I would rather go hungry.

Friday we decided to take a trip to see the farm. The kids had not been there and Henry wanted to see the jungle. Now I currently do not have a Peruvian drivers license but plan to get one. I was going to get one in Arequipa but was advised to wait and get it here. In Arequipa there is an optional bribe to pay. Optional because you can choose not to pay the bribe but you are guaranteed to fail. Susan has a truck just sitting here needing used and the road to the farm is 8 miles of rutted dirt road with almost no traffic on it so we decided to give a go. Lucy prayed for our trip before we left.  She prayed that only one tire would go flat because we only had one spare, that our water wouldn't run out, and that we wouldn't get pulled over by the police.  So there I was driving in Peru for the first time and there at the edge of town was a police checkpoint.  At first a stern man walked up and asked to see our paperwork.  I didn’t think it was possible to sweat anymore than I already was but I did.  We explained it wasn’t our truck and that we were borrowing it from a fellow missionary. Thank goodness I had brought the insurance paperwork with us because they checked to make sure our insurance was current and told us to continue. They didn’t ask for license or visas or anything else.

After 45 minutes of bumping along the road we made it to the farm. We talked to the workers, saw the cows, chased the chickens, and petted the horses. Then we went on a hike. About half of the farm is cleared for pasture and half of the farm is jungle. We hiked along a jungle path and stopped and had a picnic in the shade. After our picnic Lucy saw a trail of ants on the path ahead. She started to run toward it when she realized it was not ants, but a black snake crossing the path. The path was about 5 feet wide and the snake covered the whole path so we don’t know how long it was exactly, but it was long. At least it didn’t appear to be very thick like a boa, and when we asked the farm workers later they said that the snake was not dangerous.

All in all, it was a good day capped off with dinner cooked by other missionaries here in town. They are from Alabama so they love good barbeque and even have a smoker. We ate enchiladas, smoked peppers wrapped in bacon, chocolate chip cookies and sweat tea. It was a welcomed change from rice, fish, plantains, and yucca. Most of all we have made another good friendship with people that have a passion to serve the Lord. The kids already call them aunt and uncle.  

Saturday I learned how to be a plumber in South America. I had some plumbing that needed work here at the Hogar so I went to the local hardware store looking for some fittings. When I asked for a union they just looked at me and said “no hay” or there isn’t any. I was somewhat confused and trying to figure out how to work without a union when I found out here they make there own. There was a fire already at the Hogar as the staff was cooking fish for lunch so I stuck the end of the pipe in the fire for a minute until it was soft and the shoved another inside of it and next thing you know I had a union. I am enjoying learning new things and even had an indigenous woman teach me how to sharpen a machete with a rock and some water. 

The kids are enjoying new adventures as well such as playing at the only playground we've found so far, playing in the rain, or playing with the toilet paper.  Lucy and Henry are enjoying doing school each day and we often include a girl from the home here who is struggling in math so we have a class of at least 3!  Maggie is loved by all and often carried off by one of the teenagers here at the home.