It’s been a little crazy this past month. From no internet, to living in a compound with our whole squad of 60 peeps, to only having cold water to shower in, and being in the desert….which means that everything is covered in a thin (or thick) layer of dirt and sand….Oh Joy.
There is no comparison between our Ecuador ministry site and our first month in Peru. In Ecuador our team lived in what I would refer to as a castle. At the orphanage that we lived at we had almost the entire 2nd floor to ourselves. There were 3 bedrooms to share between the 7 of us, with a king sized bed in each plus spare mattresses, and ensuite bathrooms. We had a massive kitchen all to ourselves, with granite countertops, our own laundry room, and our own living room area with couches and a TV, as well as a trampoline, playground, fire pit, and a pet llama, whom we lovingly dubbed as Tina.
We had no set schedule, and were free to come and go whenever we pleased. The majority of the kids had school during the day so we split up days and half of us were free during the late morning til mid-afternoon to do what we pleased. We were responsible for cooking for ourselves and were given a food budget, and due to the low cost of food in Latacunga were able to eat whatever we wanted as long as we were able to cook it for ourselves. It was an ideal first month for our team to bond and get to know each other better. We had scheduled one-on-ones with each other so as to be more intentional about spending time with each other, getting to hear one another’s stories and sharing our hearts with each other. We also had weekly team bonding where the whole team would go out together and do something fun together. We went to Banos and rappelled waterfalls and jumped off a bridge attached to a pendulum rope.
It was an amazing month full of growth, and amazing kids, and awesome relationship development between my teammates and myself.
Fast forward to present time….After two 12 hour overnight bus rides in between which we sat around at a bus station for about 9 hrs we arrived in Trujillio Peru. We arrive at the “orphanage” that we will be staying at and working with for the next month.
Photo credit: Kirsten Phillips
photo credit: Kirsten Phillips
I place the word orphanage in parentheses because it is still under construction and has been for a couple of years, there are not yet children here, and part of our squad’s job while here is to help with construction. With feet that are swollen so much from the constant sitting on buses that they look a lot like a Hobbits we trudge up the stairs to our “rooms”. We are living dorm style, which means that about 20 girls are in one room sharing bunk beds, another 5 in the room next to mine, and 7 in our room made for 6, ALL sharing the same bathroom….EEEEK! Another 7 share a room with an adjoining bathroom, and all 13 guys are packed into the remaining one. Have I mentioned that I have never lived with anyone else but family or by myself? We eat 3 square meals a day, prepared by 2 Peruvian women that work for the compound. Breakfast at 7:30 am consists of a bun with jam or a spoonful of scrambled eggs and coffee with no cream or milk. Lunch at 1230 is a plateful of rice, a couple slices of potato, one small slice of vegetable (usually cucumber or tomato and sometimes a piece of broccoli if we’re really lucky), and a piece of chicken that is the size of my thumb (usually containing more bone than meat). And dinner at 7 that looks pretty much the same as lunch, sometimes we get pasta instead of rice This is not me complaining, just giving you a picture of the conditions that we are living in. Total there are 7 bathrooms for us to use, the showers are cold, and have I mentioned that since leaving the USA I have not flushed a single piece of toilet paper….every bathroom has a trash can in it that you dispose of your TP in.
Our washing machine facilities are made up of a hose, 3 buckets for water, and bars of laundry soap, and our dryer are a bunch of ropes that we rigged up to light posts. I spent one afternoon off doing team laundry…..4.5 hours and a sunburn later the job was complete……It is the little things like this that make me realise how lucky I really am, and also how rich I am. I am on the World Race, I have no job, and have people financially supporting this journey that the Lord has me on, but I am still richer than 2/3’s of the world population. How crazy and eye opening is that!
Our mode of transportation for the month was mostly combie rides. You spend a sole and cram as many people as you can into a van that is a little bigger than a minivan. The amount of seats in a combie including the driver add up to about 19 or 20…..but in Peru the amount of seats in the vehicle is only a guideline to the number of passengers, as many people as you can crush inside while still being able to close all the doors is the parameter that actually defines how many people can fit inside. Kinda like a can of sardines. We actually squeezed 29 people inside one combie, some people sitting on laps, while others still were standing hunched over trying not to hit their heads too hard on the roof when flying around corners and going over the many speed bumps that are their substitute for STOP signs.
After a month of living like Kings and Queens in Ecuador, The Lord is teaching me that even thought this past month was a struggle, contentment can still be found. Joy doesn’t always come naturally, it has to be a choice sometimes…and this past month was one of those months where I had to actively choose joy on a daily basis.
