Update

Puerto Lopez is going well. Super busy this week with volunteer work and my final exam. I am getting better at communicating, but still a ways to go. One thing that is pretty cool is the community here. For example, my host mom invited the yard man to have lunch with us today.

Cleaning Bathrooms

Most disgusting day of my life.

1st week of classes

Things are still going well. Teaching has gone well, even with my lack of Spanish skills. The kids are all super nice and suprisingly eager to learn. I have one 5th grade class that is a little bit of a pain in the butt, but not too bad.

I was asked to build a planter to grow weed two days ago. Of course I refused. Unfortunately, I missed my chance to get into the South American drug game.

1st day of classes

Had a great 1st day of classes. Teaching was challenging, but fun! Looking forward to tomorrow. Today the janitor at the school bought me ice cream because he said I look to skinny. He kept calling me ''Flaco, Flaco!''. What a true man of God! How many times do you see a janitor from a 3rd world country buy ice cream for a rich white guy? Blows my mind.

Update

Its weird being the tallest person in the town.

Puerto Lopez Update

Everything is going well here. I had a good first week of volunteering. This week was a planning week, and the children come on Monday. I will be teaching 5th and 6th graders english. Also, they have me repairing a bathroom that is dilapidated, and possibly fixing a broken water cistern. Excited to enjoy the weekend at the beach and hang out with the host family.

Definitely learning to use a whole lot less here. Suprisingly living in a tropical climate without AC isnt that bad.

Easter Weekend

I had a great Easter Weekend here. I went to some neighboring towns with my host family. Not a whole lot to report. Everything seems to happen very slowly in this town. I did go to a small church for their Easter service, which was pretty cool. It was one of those churches where people are always screaming and yelling. I couldn't really understand them, but it was an interesting experience. My Spanish is getting better, but I still can't understand when people talk fast.

Shower

I electrocuted myself in the shower with the electric water heaters they have down here. Nice and refreshing....

Passover

I had a great passover feast with my host family last night. I bought some wine and unleavened bread (crackers), and we read the last supper part of the Bible. It was my first time celebrating Passover as a christian.

This morning I went for a run on the beach and saw some locals that got their car stuck in the mud. It was pretty intense trying to get the car out before the tide came up. With the help of about 20 people we got it out just in time. Praise God!

Puerto Lopez

I made it to Puerto Lopez, but got my laptop stolen on the bus when I was sleep. I was quite impressed with the sneekiness of the theif as I had my backpack at my feet the whole time.

Puerto Lopez is beautiful. My host family lives about 5 minutes walk from the beach. I have a 22 yr old host brother, Angel, and my host mom's name is Elsa. They have been very nice. I spent most of the past two days at the beach since there is not much volunteer work to do because of Holy Week. When I start work on Monday I am going to be teaching English at the elementary school in the morning, and then working on a stormwater design and construction in the afternoon for the school. Apparently, they are having flooding problems.

Quito was a pretty cool city. The day I was there I did a city tour. The church there is quite impressive, and compares to Notre Dame.

Some highlights from the past few days:

-I saw a giant St. Bernard dog try to kill another smaller dog. It was pretty intense. The bigger dog was on top of the small dog tearing into its neck. Some locals started hitting the dog with bycicles to save the small dog, which eventually worked. The small dog was bleeding, but I think it was ok.

-I accidently hit a guy sunbathing in the nuts with a soccer ball. It was pretty embarrassing, and he was super mad, and cussed me out. I am terrible at soccer.

-If anyone is wondering what happened to all of the Sacagewea dollars, they are all in Ecuador.

Made it to Quito

I made it to Quito...overnight busride to Puerto Lopez. Hopefully updates to follow tomorrow.

Last Day in Urubamba

Today is my last day in the Sacred Valley. It has been such a blessing to be here, and I am very thankful for a great host family. At this point, the biggest thing I have learned is humility and being content where I am at. It was great having time to read the Bible and pray with a low-stress lifestyle. I found that a lot harder to enjoy than I thought. I am ready for some exciting times in Ecuador, and looking forward to Holy Week. Ready for God to do some crazy things. God Bless!

Some highlights from the last week:
-My host brother tried to pee on me.
-I planted about 200 trees
-I'm starting to be able to have conversations in Spanish.

No water

They turned off the water in the town today. Lots of fun! Not sure what to do what I reach capacity (if you know what I mean).

Back to Work

Back in action today from the sickness. I feel pretty good, except a runny nose. I helped plant about 200 native trees today for a reforestation project. It was a beautiful day and enjoyed workin the earth. I am very thankful for the opportunity and my health.

Sick but better

I got a very high fever yesterday, and almost fainted. I had to go to the clinic, and the doctor gave me some antibiotics. He said I have a respitory infection. I feel much better now that the meds have kicked in. Thankful to be feeling better.

Crazy Saturday Night

One of the staff members at ProWorld has a daughter that turned 15 yesterday. In Peru the 15th birthday is a huge deal and they had a big pàrty that I was privledged to attend. WOW....and it was a party. Food, drink, dancing, and clowns. Probably one of the wildest and clean parties have been to. This clown shows up with music blasting and balloons and noise makers....everyone goes insane (including parents, little kids, everybody), and the clown starts dancing. I was so confused, but was swept up by the madness. I can't describe with words what it was like.

I also got to talk about Jesus with a former Mormon homosexual. Please pray for him. Praise God! His love is bigger!

The Kitten

I had a crazy experience with a kitten today. We came across it at this one house up on the mountain while we were checking on water filters in various houses. It started following us, and we did about 3 miles of walking on the mountain. It looked exhausted and dropped off a few times, but somehow kept finding its way back to us. I was thinking the cat was going to die. I was thinking, "God take care of this cat somehow. I don't know what to do with it." Then randomly we showed up at this house, and it happened to be the house of the owner of the cat.

Don't Waste Your Life

I came across the book "Don't Waste Your Life" by John Piper. It is challenging me very much. It is almost overwhelming.

Quiet Time

Great quiet time on top of a mountain today! Praise God! I can see why Jesus prayed on top of mountains. Florida needs some mountains...

Update

Everything is still going well. I had a great time on monday going to a honey harvesting place. I got to hold bees in my hand and eat honey fresh from the hive. My days are pretty much the same everyday, so not too much to report. God bless!

Hike

I went on a pretty intense hike today from Urubamba to some Incan ruins on top of a nearby mountain. It took about 6 hours. Completely spent.

I also had a great birthday yesterday. My host family made me a great dinner and it was fun celebrating with the other volunteers.

A Couple Highlights

I think I experienced a miracle. I was feeling very full of the Spirit and juice from a hot pepper squirted in both of my eyes, and it didn't burn. Praise God! It was one of those things where I was like "did that really just happen?" It didn't feel that spectacular, but when I think about it, it's pretty crazy.

I went to a neighboring town in a van packed with about 25 people (the van normally holds 10).

Monday 3/12

Great day today! Got to do some delicious mud-filled manual labor building stoves. I have a new found love of the pick-ax. The family that we built the stove for made us choclo (basically corn with very large kernels. It is a Sacred Valley specialty). Quite delicious and gracious of them. Tambien, Yo estoy empezado a ver una mejoria en mi espanol.

Also, today has been the most Spirit-filled day of my trip. Thank you everyone who has been praying for me :). Praise the Lord!

Weekend

Had a great weekend! Yesterday I went to Cusco to send off my host brother to college, and today I went to the Pisac market and toured the Incan ruins there. Pretty amazing stuff! I'll try to post pics soon.

The language barrier is a challenge, but getting easier.

I heard a very interesting spiritual yoga story from a girl here. This yoga instructor apparently makes people faint and can project things into people's minds. This one girl I know said she saw sound waves and was very freaked out. I wish I could meet the lady, but she just left the country yesterday. Not sure what to think of it, but more evidence of the world we cannot see.

Visit to Chichubamba

I went to a small town nearby today. I met an old married couple that only spoke Quechua that have been neglected by their family and are very poor. The lady was very nice, but started crying about something. Pray that I can love them well despite not knowing a word of Quechua.

Wednesday

Good day today. I had my first bus ride with a sheep sitting next to me. Our group went up to a town high in the mountains called Chicone to build stoves for the families there.

The project I am working on is to build clean burning stoves for local families here. Most families cook on open fires inside their houses, and the smoke fills up the house causing lung and eye infections. The stoves my group is building burn wood more efficiently and keep smoke out of the house.

I miss all my friends from back home. You all are the best!

First Weekend in Urabamba

I had a great first two days. My host family is very nice. I am living with a family with two kids, several cats, a dog, and a family of guinea pigs.

The town is really cool. It is very small, and easy to walk from one end to another. The food is great and the people are very friendly. The market is right down the street with fresh fruit, vegetables, and meat. There is also a large flower market.

I went on a hike yesterday up to a waterfall and ate at a place in the mountains that catches your food for you when you get there and cooks it for you. One of the best fish I have ever had!

My favorite thing so far is the simple laid back lifestyle. The thing I miss the most (besides my friends) is a toilet seat.

Urabamba

Arrived in Urabamba, Peru today. It is amazing here! Pumped! About to meet my host family...

Worship

I need prayer for people to worship with, and boldness to engage those people. Being humbled by how much of an infant I am in my faith.

About that time

I've reached the threshold of time spent in Peru where farting is dangerous.

No mas political correctness

Nice vacation from political correctness. I just ate an ice cream called the "chinito". It was two scoops of ice cream with slanty eyes and a fu man chu.

Thoughts from Sunday

Yesterday I went to Catholic mass with my cousins, and really got a new appreciation for the Catholic Church. It is much more alive down here than in the United States. I feel like the materialism of the US has almost suffocated the spirit in the church, and many non-Catholic Christians have such a negative attitude towards them. Yeah its not perfect, but neither is any church. It's easy to forget how much of a blessing it is to worship Jesus Christ in any fashion. I'm beginning to realize just how much cynicism I have suffered from towards the Catholic church. I'm not about to become Catholic, but God is starting to open my eyes that it really is one church under Christ as the high priest that we are apart of, and it is mostly our pride that is separating us. We truly are blessed!

Other than that, I'm enjoy good food and weather, and enjoying time with family before I go to the mountains.

First Post

Two Days in Lima. Life is good.