I am a terrible traveler.
I supposed have always known this about myself, but it never has been more evident to me than it was on this trip. Nineteen hours of layovers and plane rides can be very frustrating and exhausting, but that is still no excuse for my snappiness and impatience. God bless Andrew for not giving up on me after constantly being the target of my bad attitude.
Digging, digging, and more digging. Digging all the time.
Our main job this week was to build the foundations for a new church in a very poor neighborhood on the outskirts of Trujillo. Little did we know that the meter-deep trenches we were to dig would be full of trash and rocks. And 600+ pound boulders. Our work felt so futile and frustrating at times. The sun was hot and relentless. But in the end, the Peruvian pastor in the neighborhood allowed us to lay the cornerstone for the new church, and somehow that made all of our labor worth the while.
Some of the missionaries later commented about what great attitudes we had throughout the whole process. All of us just laughed and said that they must not have heard our side conversations as we dug up diapers, plates, and...wait for it...an entire concrete slab. Good times? Maybe not. Helpful? I sure hope so.
Hanging out with Peruvian friends
It's crazy to me that we have been able to stay in touch with these people, who we literally met for about 15 minutes in a conversation class, two years ago when we visited the National University of Trujillo. We have kept in touch via Facebook and were thrilled to have a free evening to meet up again. Sometimes the language barrier can be so irritating when trying to communicate, but we had such a fun night with Magda and Jorge. It's exciting to have familiar faces now in such a big city.
Visiting the local orphanage.
I expected this part of the trip to be completely heartbreaking, but it was actually just the opposite. Hogar de Esperanza (Home of Hope) was filled with so much joy. The kids were well-cared-for and happy. The facilities were great, and the staff was kind. There are government-run orphanages in Trujillo, which are apparently devastating, but I was so encouraged that this one wasn't. Adoption has been heavy on our minds lately, and as we played with and held some of those sweet kiddos this week, my heart was so uplifted to think that maybe, one day, one of those precious faces could be part of our family.
Humility.
Peruvians definitely have some unusual social norms, but in general, they are much more humble people than Americans. Humility is such an attractive quality to me.
Pastor Percy is probably the kindest man I have ever met. He is completely unassuming, and the people in the neighborhood have the utmost respect for him because of his meek and gentle leadership. Though he is poor on earth, I think he has a wealth of treasures stored up for himself in heaven.
Another example of humility that comes to mind is Norvil. We visited Peru Mission's wood shop one day, where men are discipled and taught a trade so that they can provide for their families and be good husbands and fathers. I remember seeing Norvil at the wood shop when we came to Trujillo a couple of years ago. I'm not sure if this stood out to me before, but I definitely noticed the softness in his face this time as he expressed his gratitude for being able to work for Peru Mission. He teared up as he talked about his spiritual and professional growth over the past couple of years. I'm not sure why this particular conversation touched me so much. Perhaps it's because people here (myself included) are typically so ungrateful and arrogant.
People living in Trujillo have lots of things working against them.
People in America do, too, I suppose, but our problems are different. The one thing that I thought about all week long was Santos, one of our taxi drivers. Bless his heart. Santos's car was the pits. He got robbed awhile ago, so he has to hotwire his car to start it every single time and then untie the wires when he wants to turn it off. His door handle is broken off, so he has to open the door from the inside. His trunk is broken. He keeps his radio in his pocket and has to stick it back in its docking station because someone will steal it again. Some of this was pretty comical to us, because despite the fact that his car was seriously falling apart, he had a dash cover "to protect it from the sun". I digress. The fact remains that his life and his family depend on his job, and his job depends on his one-foot-in-the-grave car. And that is Santos's daily life. He doesn't complain about it; that's just the way things are. Sure makes me feel silly for complaining about the "obstacles" I have to overcome with my wonderful job.
Laughter with the best team possible
We have traveled with great people before, but this particular group of people worked together so well, and I feel like I got to know everyone so much better in just a week. We laughed so much (probably partially due to the fact that we were deliriously tired). But there was also a sense of honesty and openness that I haven't experienced before on a short-term trip. Thank you, friends.
Coming home from Peru gets a little easier every time. I cried the first time because I didn't want to go back to "the real world" and didn't feel liked could serve much purpose in America. I'm figuring out, a little more every time, that that is just not true. I still want to move to Peru at some point (possibly in the near future), but there is so much work to be done here in Oklahoma, too. People may not suffer as extensively from physical poverty (although working in the public schools does sometimes makes me question even that), but the emotional emptiness seems to be far worse. In Peru, people know they have nothing. In America, they think they have everything and it still is never enough.
I don't think a week can change everything, but I am sure glad that I went. For one of the first times in months, I have some hope that God is working for my good, even in desolate circumstances. And I am so thankful that he says to people like me, "Come ye sinners, poor and needy," as opposed to "Come, those of you who have it together, for only you are useful."
I'll leave you with a few more pictures from our trip. The rest are on my Facebook page.
