Today was a day of training for the ministry, area, and
people we will be working with. I have
to admit that I am having a hard time adjusting to life in the city of Lima,
Peru. In seventh grade Spanish class I remember reading a story about Peru that
was accompanied by pictures. Women were
in brightly colored traditional dress with black brimmed hats climbing up steep
green mountains. Ever since I saw those
pictures I have wanted to visit Peru and meet the women of the mountains. I was looking forward to Peru more than any
other country and could not wait to see and live in the lush green
mountains. Squad B was assigned to the
mountains and my Squad was assigned to Lima, Peru. I have never lived in a city. I have always been surrounded by mountains,
rivers, trees, or at least grass. Now I
am in Lima and the only sign of creation I see is the sky and the people. There are very few trees and plants because
Lima receives less than two inches of rain per year. Inches of sand-like dirt cover the ground
rather than grass or even weeds. I can’t
imagine growing up in a place that consists of buildings, roads, and dirt. This month is definitely going to be a
challenge for me. It has been my prayer
that my heart would be broken for the community and that I would be passionate
about sharing life with them. I need to
focus on the people and the ministry rather than the environment.
The church we are connected with has blessed us so
much. They have offered to provide three
meals a day for us if we pay for the food.
Two of the church members have opened up their houses to us for the
whole month. Our house is a little
crammed because we are putting 13 people in 3 rooms, but I am so thankful for
the roof, bathroom, and shower. The
first floor of our house is a Panderia, or bread store. There is always an amazing smell of cake,
cinnamon rolls, flan, or bread wafting up to the third floor. The neighborhood we are staying in is very
busy. We are about a block away from a
large market that sells everything from fruit to shoes to whole chickens. There
are always vendors with carts selling their goods as little moto-taxi’s zoom
by. Moto-taxi’s are basically a three
wheeled motorcycle with a cab in the back for two people. The moto-taxi I rode in today had a smell
like a wet dog and the floor was wet.
The driver held my door open as we rode through the streets so the smell
would not bother me. After the wild ride
of swerving around cars and people I got out and paid about 15 cents for the
ride. The driver then told me that a pig
had been in the back of the moto-taxi before me. He promised that he had cleaned the cab and
it just smelled bad, but it wasn’t dirty.
Honestly it did not bother me too much; I have come a long way in 2 ½
months.
