So it turns out that the last team was not from Costa Rica, but the Dominican Republic. They were a YWAM team, led Glen and Rhoda, missionaries to the DR from Canada. The team consisted of their son, Jason, his friend, Matthew, and four Dominicans: Jose Miguel, Omar, Joel, and Vanessia. Of the Dominicans, only one spoke English, but of course, the missionaries and MK’s were fluent in Spanish, so Spanish was the common language for my first multi-cultural team. Another man, Cliff Russell, an MK raised in Peru, now in his 40’s, was on the trip as well. I do have a very interesting story about him, if you want to hear it, read the next paragraph, if not skip ahead to the following paragraph.
The story of our first encounter with Cliff Russell:
So Nelton and I had gone out to eat for breakfast one day. Suddenly, this tall, built, gray-haired white man walked into the restaurant and was having a conversation with the woman behind the counter about his 20 soles, and he spoke good Spanish. For that reason I couldn’t tell where he was from, he grammar and pronunciation were flawless, so I wasn’t sure that he was American, but to be sure he was not Peruvian. The woman was insisting that his money was false, he was claiming that it was not. I was making mental cultural observations, so I took the opportunity to listen to the “social commentary” (as Dr. Park would call it).
The man waited by the door for a good 5-10 minutes while a teen-aged guy ran around to another store to check out the money or something. When he returned, the lady and almost every waitress in the place hovered around the money talking about it. Then the woman preceded to place it under running water to test it, she pulled it a couple times and it ripped, her proof that it was false.
The woman preceded to bring Nelton in on the whole discussion, the only reason I could imagine is that he was the only male in the building besides to white guy. He too confirmed that he suspected that it was false. The man took the money and left, I was left wondering what the encounter was all about, because I didn’t see him pay with any other money, and I wasn’t even sure he had eaten. I went back to my room and typed out no less than two pages of culture observations to figure the whole scenario out, pin down some culture values, underlying assumptions, or at least form some diagnostic questions. Frankly, the man left me perplexed.
Okay... so fast forward a week, Nelton and I walk into the airport to wait for the Dominican team, when suddenly Nelton asks me, “Who is that?”
I see Willie and respond, “Willie?”
“No, that?” Nelton asks again.
“I think it’s Paulette.”
“No. That other man with them.”
I barely looked before recalling information stored from an earlier conversation with Paulette, “Oh! I think his name is Cliff......Russell?”
“No, Bethany, we know him.”
I look closer, before Nelton realizes, “It’s the man with the false money!!”
We both laughed, a little surprised that we would ever see him again, and I though, “ohhh this will be interesting.”
He didn’t recognize us, and I wasn’t going to be the one to give away our identity. I was a little surprised when the only seat left on the bus to Nauta was in the back next to him. It was only a couple minutes out of the airport parking lot before I hear Nelton curiously asking, “So whatever happened with the false money?” To which, Cliff freaked out, laughed, went wild saying, “YOU WERE THAT GUY AT THE RESTAURANT!” He preceded to explain the whole deal to Nelton, that he went to the bank and learned all sorts of tips about figuring out what false money looks like and so on. Indeed, his money wasn’t false, there were a couple years when bills were made that were weaker.
Back to the Trip...
The trip itself was pretty structured and scheduled as the YWAM team had several goals to accomplish to meet the requirements for the training program they were in. Consequently, I fell into the background and jumped in where and when I was needed. It was glorious to see how much God has changed me over the past year. The old Bethany would have been freaking out, running from here and there trying to figure out what I could do and working overtime just to stay occupied. The new surrendered Bethany was so relaxed and at peace, trusting God to bring me face to face with the encounters I was to have, and he did.
Paulette confirmed this change, or maybe she first pointed it out, when she confessed to me that it is so refreshing to be around me, because I am so laid back and relaxed, waiting for God to have His way. She was a little nervous about my returning, because she didn’t have much energy to keep up with me. We laughed, because it seems like God brings us through these changes together. It’s not that I have lost my passion or energy for the work of the Lord, I think it’s just a life-changing realization that He is going to do what He will do in His time. He doesn’t need me to complete His work, He graciously allows me to come along and obey what he gives me to do. I think another reason I am more relaxed, unstressed, and not worried is because I am here for longer than two months. This is life now, there is no reason to stress out about seeing results in a short amount of time. I am able to take the proper amount of time to really study the culture and learn the language.
The trip was long, scheduled, and full. We started at the mouth of the river and went to three different villages, one a day. In each village we had children’s ministries at 3:00 pm, women’s and men’s ministry at 4 pm, a soccer game at 5, dinner at 6, then the night service at 7 pm.
After those first three days, we headed up to Estreno, spending a day and a half there before making our way on up river. We visited four different villages, one a day, before going back to Estreno and moving onto Iquitos.
Most of my key highlights had to do with people on our team. I had good conversations with Ketty, Julie, Eric, and others, encouraging them in the face of the trials that had broken out and taking time to just be a listening ear.
I also inherited a bell ministry. Someone had donated those color coordinated bells to the ministry and we whipped them out for the trip. So that was my role. I “taught” the kids the bell songs during the childrens ministry, then I led my bell choir for the night service. It was a riot, and beyond me why I got the ministry as I have little to no experience in the music world. I had a ball though because I’ve always wanted to play something and I was leading my whole little choir.
It was crazy coming back to Estreno, not many of the families have returned, I think maybe only four were there. It felt like a ghost town, but apparently it’s been more populated than before. But in a weird way, it was peaceful, and felt more like coming home than anything.
I did have a great time one afternoon with a couple guys from our team, Jamie and Roy, who are very interested in learning English. We decided that after Nelton and I get married and move back to town, I will have English classes for them. Jamie wants to be a translator for preachers and speakers one day. The future is starting to take shape.
That’s about all I can think of for now... so I’m out.
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