(*Sorry for no pictures at this point. The internet here is really slow, so it takes a long time to upload pictures. Also, this town is not exactly picturesque which basically takes away the reminder to take more pictures. I may have taken a handful of photos here, but I’ll start working on that).
Now, this blog title is slightly deceiving, as the only
commonality to be found among racers is that no two races are ever the same for
anyone. So, a more appropriate title may have been, “A Look Into Tiffany’s Life
This Particular Month in Her Particular Town, Home, Team, Ministry, and Daily
Distractions�but that seems a bit excessive. That being said this blog is
obviously not like my usual posts here, but God and I are still mulling through
much that I have been unable to put into words. While I am sure that you would
all delight in reading that, in
reality I know that before the race, I loved reading blogs about what the heck
life “on the race� is really like, the nitty-gritty. So, here’s my stab at life
for me, here in Laredo, Peru. Now
going into this, understand that I find this to be an extremely ideal month
because we have so much time to spend in the word and building relationships.
However, I have teammates who find this schedule way too unstructured and
unproductive in terms of ministry. Last month looked the exact opposite from
this. Again, the “typical race experience� is non-existent.
Our team of seven is living in five different homes of
various families of one church here. Pei-Yee and I are living in bunk-beds in a
Disney princess themed (obsessed!), pink (ug) room at the Pastor’s house. Their
family of five plus dog (Herson, 10, Mixi, 6, and Daniel, 2) has been amazing
at accommodating us and bringing us into their lives.
3 AM: Wake up drenched in sweat. It’s hot here. March is
summer south of the equator. Peel off the sheet. Carefully avoid any lurking
cockroaches. Open the door and pray for the slightest breeze to blow the
windowless room. Pass out again.
5 AM: Wake up to the sounds of the children finishing their
homework while mom drills them in their studies. Get up, close the door, put on
the much-needed eye mask., and attempt to snag a few extra hours of precious
sleep.*1*
7AM: Wake up for real. Have some wonderful quiet time
journaling, praying into the day, personal worship time, maybe do a load of
laundry. Maybe.
8:30 AM: Be picked up by our delightful eighteen year-old
“bodyguard�, Cristian,(joys of the all girls team!) who is wearing his
ever-beaming, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed smile. Walk to grab Cadence, and
then saunter on over to the church.
9 AM: Team breakfast of instant café con leche, two rolls
and some sort of topping, ranging from avocado to jam, and yogurt in a glass.
Standard.
930AM: Team worship time followed by team time. This month we’re
joyously delving into James. He’s giving us quite some practical challenges, from
taming our tongue to harnessing our unrighteous anger. Love him. Normally
discussions on James lead us astray all over faith, theology, personal lives,
personal struggles, all that jazz. From there, laughter and randomness tend to
ensue for quite a chunk.
11:30 AM: Someone prays us out, and we either head off to the
home of Christi-an’s host family down the street or we head to the courts to
play volleyball or futbol with our many brothers of the church (more of our
“bodyguards�) while getting some good sun to make up for lost tans from a month
under Ecuadorian clouds. (Also, what a long sentence. Grammatically correct,
but really long-winded. Apologies–that’s what happens when one writes streams
of consciousness late into the night!)
1 PM: Back at the church for more food! Today, that
consisted of thirteen different fruits and vegetables*2*, rice, and potato
puree with chicken.
1:45 PM: Siesta time! (The joys of Latin American
countries). Sometimes this time includes showers, but this is the race, so
“sometimes� really means just that. Other times, we go to Hope’s house for some
good laughs with her incredible host family. Other days we head to Cadence’s.
She was blessed this month to live with a woman who owns an ice cream business
in the front of her house… As you can imagine, more days are passed here than
other homes…
4 PM: MINISTRY! (I’m sure you were wondering when that came
into play on this mission trip.) Break off into different teams with older
women of the church and the pastor. Do different house visitations for sick
church members. Somehow this tends
to lead to random evangelism to other curious miscellaneous family members who
linger around the Gringas, testimony sharing, and somehow, me praying in
Spanish (which always makes for a good laugh later). Go to a handful of homes.
Fall in love with everyone.
7PM (and sometimes closer to 8): Back again at the church
for dinner! Something smaller than lunch. Food this month is incredible, and
we’re being blessed beyond belief by the servant hearts of all the church
members who are graciously serving us like queens.
8PM: Prayer service? Youth service? Futbol? Volleyball? Any
of the above?
10PM: Head home with our lovely bodyguard brothers. Lots of
laughs through broken Spanglish on both ends.
Schedules at this time become a little rough. Most nights,
some journaling, some good talks with the family, maybe a shower, or just a
face planted in the pillow.
Now, this is a normal weekday. Weekends for us here are
actually jam-packed with ministry and bible schools and being at different
church services, birthday parties and even weddings.
*1*–if you’re thinking about going the race and
wondering what are true necessities on the packing list, eye mask should rank
near the top next to ear plugs.
*2* Fruits and vegetables are not always recommended
to eat around the world. I just spent three days in bed unconscious and
delirious with a wild intestinal infection that included mega high fevers, severe
cold chills despite the mega hot room, pounding headaches, muscle spasms, and
delusions! Whether or not that was caused by the fruits or vegetables is still
up in the air. Did that stop me from eating them today? Absolutely not. Some
months fruits and vegetables are abundant and don’t look mega dangerous. Eat
them. It may be risky, but your body won’t weigh the risk after not seeing
fresh foliage for months at a time. (Mega–three times in one paragraph? I’ll
work on my creativity when it’s not 1AM).
