Once upon a time…
There was a land called Puno. Puno, Peru, that is.
At this lovely place (Puno, incase your shortterm memory is lacking), there are lots of fun things to do.
For example…
You could walk around and see some pretty scenery.
You could have lunch at an awesome restaraunt (where no joke 90% of the people that came in… their first language was english… heck yes).
You could sleep in a cozy room at a cozy hostel with lovely internet and hot, yes i said it, HOT showers.
You could go to Lake Titicaca. Wish I had a better picture of it than this but at the moment I do not.
You could watch people dance in the street with big colorful sticks.
You could desire to jump in and dance along.
You could look out the bathroom window and see some sweet scenery.
But most importantly, you could have a not so enjoyable beginning to an evening, followed by an amazing evening of worship with over 50 other people.
I'll start here…
So we have to be at a different hostel than our own at 6:40 for some squad time. Annee and I are downstairs just hangin out and what not when we see some racers come down ready to go. As I begin to head upstairs to get my shoes and purse and rainjacket (because it's pouring… and freezing) I am asked "you have the key to the room right?" Nope. Nope I don't. It's chillin in the room. We ask the lady at the front desk if she could so kindly unlock our door for us with another key. She says yes. We go upstairs. She follows with a knife to attempt to unlock. Fail. She knifes the door for about 30 minutes until Amanda comes upstairs and has me and Annee go to the hostel while she stays to take care of the door situation. She offers me her shoes. They successfully cover about 10% of my feet so I figured why stretch them out and get them soaked when they would really do no good? So off Annee and I go. She waves down taxi… after taxi… after taxi… and then a lot more. A few stop (most don't) and say no to taking us. Finally one agrees. So we jump on in and she checks with him about 5 times to make sure he knows where he is taking us. He assures us he does and finally drops us off at a place I like to lovingly call Sketchtasticville. He tells us to climb the stairs to the left, so we do so thinking he would know what he's talking about considering he lives here and all.
Nope.
He told us to walk up the stairs until we see the hostel. We are unsure but we start climbing anyway. Up these stairs…
Can you see the end to them? That's right. You can't. And it was night and along the sides are alleys. I honestly don't know what I would have done if Annee hadn't been there literally holding my hand as we went up the stairs. Freezing feet and 12,400 feet up don't mix. I was being a smidge dramatic at the time I think, but I was so frustrated. We finally saw a random lady so Annee went up a little further and asked about the hostel. She says she thinks it is down the stairs and across the street.
AWESOME.
So off we go. I think around this time is where we decided to have a moment of silence because if not we both would have exploded. So we hold hands back down and walk across the street. A woman was there that we were able to ask about the hostel, and she tells us that it should be down the street and to the left. In my head I was thinking "yah, heard that one before." But, again, we go. Amanda told us beforehand that the street it is off of is really sketchy looking. She was right. We finally see a door on the left that says "Bothy Hostel" and I was so happy I coulda kissed her smack dab on the lips. Don't worry, I didn't.
We get inside and a wonderful fellow dub sees my barefeet and offers me her towel to dry them off, and a pair of socks. Coulda kissed her smack dab on the lips too. Then one of the squad leaders tells Annee and I that we have a little over an hour until we all meet together, and to use the time we have as personal time to, 1. Spend time in thanksgiving for all the Lord has done for us, 2. Ask Him to speak to you about what He needs you to hear, and 3. Just be praying for the rest of the race. We were supposed to bring our bible and notebook but it was hanging out with the room key in my purse back in my hostel. So I went into a room and sat down. I thought "dandy. i don't even have my bible. or a notebook. this is gonna be faaaaantastic."
The first 20 minutes or so were spent in a pity party. My feet are freezing. I don't have my bible. I don't have a notebook or pen. My pants shrunk in the dryer so I'm wearing highwaters. I have a headache. You get the point.
Then a song comes on the iPod that's playing… "I will praise the Lord even with my dying breath." Dangit. Every time I get a good pity party going, God has to send me a sign that He is still there. No, I wasn't dying, but I was sure worn out and didn't feel like praising Him. So I stare at Allison until she looks up at me so I could get her pen and scribble it on my hand. The next song? "Because He heard my cry, I'll call upon His Name as long as I live."
Right then He reminded me of all of the blessings He has poured on me. All of His promises. I began to think about the worship in the garbage dump we had less than a week ago where I saw people living in literally a dump, raise their hands to God. I was reminded where I was a year ago and how He did hear my cry… and here I am complaining about cold feet and thinking that I can't get anything out of what I'm doing because I don't have my bible or notebook.
When it was time we all went into one of the bedrooms and Billy, one of our squad leaders, asked us to go around the room just shouting out what we have seen God doing since the race started… in our squad, our team, specific people, anything. It was great to listen to what everyone had to say. Then we told things we are thankful for. Billy said that he is thankful that God doesn't give up on him, that even though he sometimes has to be reminded of the same things over and over and over, He is still always there. Whew, me too. Annee called me out during the first part and I sat there of course thankful for all God has done in me, but also thinking dang… if she only could have seen my heart about an hour ago. I'm so thankful for His continued grace in my life, and continued reassurance that He is there even when I don't see Him and that He is still worthy to be praised when I would rather sit in my pity party. We broke out the ole guitar afterwards and there is nothin like over 50 people praising the Lord with everything in them. I am continually amazed at the amount of love and truth my squad pours over each other and their willingness to grow and learn and listen to what He is saying to them and not just listen, but act on what they hear. I specifically had a girl come pray with me and she was spot on. I never doubt whether or not what people are praying is from God because it always fits so perfectly and is exactly what I need to hear.
So I got home tonight around midnight… still cold, but so thankful for His provision tonight when Annee and I were alone, thankful for the chance to come back to a warm bed, thankful for a team of ladies who push me forward, thankful for my supportive family back home, and thankful that God shows up time and time again in the midst of my pits.
