My wild last week in Trujillo definitely had it’s highs and lows. The activities of the week consisted of: visiting a sketchy zoo that only cost 3 soles($1), going to the mall, playing volleyball, prepping classrooms in the school, getting sick from the cat(Blackie) and missing a half day of ministry, going to church for the last time, watching Captain Marvel, having an assembly at the school, and way too many sad goodbyes to friends.
Last week, I wasn’t thinking about how sad it would be too leave and how much I would miss Trujillo. All I could focus on was what I wouldn’t miss: unplanned alarm clocks(roosters and annoyingly loud salespeople), “roads” that made taxi rides super uncomfortable, the smell of trash and sewage, or the blistering heat during the middle of the day. As the week flew by and our last day was approaching, I started treasuring the things that I always thought were annoying(except for the sewage maybe). Yes the roosters were annoying, but they also woke me up early enough every morning so I could have quiet time for reading and spending time with God; alone time is something that doesn’t come very often. And yeah, the old guy selling who knows what in his beat up station wagon saying “tres soles” through his megaphone definitely got on my nerves… But it ended up being something we looked forward to hearing and laughing at every time, and will be a memory I will never forget. During the middle of the day it got sooooo hot, so everyone would end up hanging out inside. That time was some of the best time of learning, growing, bonding as a team, and deepening our relationship with Joel, our host. I don’t think I’ll remember any of the not so fun parts of Trujillo because the good parts vastly outweighed the bad.
My family moved a few times when I was younger, but it was never too hard for me to leave the old and start in the new. You can live next to people for years and never connect with them on a deeper level other than the occasional greeting or wave as they pass by. But when you spend your life(all of it) with strangers in a foreign country for over a month, deep connections are formed. This probably isn’t always the case because not everyone is open to sharing their lives with others, but all of our friends in Victor Raul and Trujillo definitely were. And there were a lot: the parents and youth at the church, all of our friends at the various volleyball and soccer games we were at, the teachers at the school, our cook, and of course Joel and Maria.
I will never be able to thank the people of Trujillo, Victor Raul, and Cajamarca enough for being so welcoming to us and being open to the love of Jesus. And Joel and Maria, the most kind hearted and fun hosts one could ever ask for, thank you for the most amazing month!!
Now I am at debrief a few blocks from the beach! Time to relax for the next few days and then go to our next host in Lima.
