Nelton just had his second interview for tourist visa today and this is what he had to say:
Dear Family and Friends,
I give sincere thanks for all of your prayers for my visa to go to the United States. Today I had my interview, and I was denied the visa. With great sadness I tell you this, because I really wanted to meet all of you. But I was also thinking that God has His will for my life and He will use me as He pleases. For that reason, I told God if he has a purpose for me to go to the States to use me there, that He will make it possible. That’s why I feel okay, because I left everything in God’s hands. But thanks for remembering me and may God richly bless you, so much more than what you asked on my behalf. I know that God has His way to help me get to the States to meet you all and to work for His purpose, which is the most important. I know that God always moves with purpose, so I know that I will be able to go when it’s His time. Don’t be sad for me, but rejoice, because you know that God has a plan for all of us.
I told Bethany that if she wants to go to the States, she can go. I would be very happy for her to go and see her family and friends. I also want my daughter to meet all of you, because I know that you are all anxious to meet her, and I don’t want to be selfish. I know it will be a great blessing for her to be with you all. So maybe Bethany and Kyliana will go to the States, and I will stay and continue the work here that God has given us to do together. It would be sad to see them be so far from me, but deep down I know that she is going ahead to open the doors. When God put this in my heart, I felt peace and I know that God Himself is doing His plan.
Thank you to each of you, and above all, to my in-laws, Terry and Debby Baxter, for their prayers and belief in us to do God’s work here.
With much Love,
Your Brother,
Nelton Noriega Tejada
If anyone has any ideas about how to get to the States without being an immigrant, just for a visit that's more guaranteed then the tourist visa, please let us know. The reason we didn't get it this time is because "we don't make enough money." We think they will always find some reason with the tourist visa. Thanks for any pointers! They can be sent to shark_sister1@hotmail.com
Monday, November 15, 2010
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Family Restoration
At the end of August, God lead us to work with a church on the outskirts of Iquitos as we continue waiting for the funding for our boat project. We have gotten very involved as a ministering couple on the pastoral staff. We have seen a lot of changes in the church as we seek to restructure the programs of the church so that everything we do has purpose and a goal in mind. So many times churches get into programs and soon they just work on maintaining the ministry they are doing, forgetting the objectives and purpose for the particular program they have established.
With our experience in ministry and training at Moody, we have been able to provide a fresh pair of eyes to prayerfully accompany the church in the process of assessing both the programs and effectiveness of such ministries. It has been exciting to see changes in individuals, couples, and families as we restructure to build a stronger body.
One of the major targets of the enemy in any culture is marriage and family. Where there are weak marriages, there will be weak families. Where there are weak families, there will be weak churches. Where there are weak churches, there will be weak nations. But where there are strong marriages, there will be strong families. Strong families bring strong churches, and strong churches, strong nations. This has been the theme of the Sunday Night Series on Family Restoration that I have had the privilege of putting together and delivering.
I have seen the struggling family unit before, but never as blatantly as in this culture. Most marriages here, Christian or not, bear the scars of unfaithfulness by one or both partners. The physical closeness in the “infatuated” dating stage quickly dissolves until close physical proximity between married couples is rare. Those who dare to share public hugs and kisses do not do so without strange looks and even laughs from an ever watching culture. But walk to any plaza and a Friday night and you’ll see benches filled with young unmarried lovers “necking” late into the night. The four letter word, “Love,” has not been protectedly taught in the church, but is learned from the world, it is rarely expressed in a pure wholesome way within the Holy confounds of matrimony. It has become morphed into an ugly knockoff, which never results in security and protection. This four letter word also starts with “L,” but ends in destruction, lust. Lust is the best way to describe most relationships in this culture, two people together until it is discovered that what they are truly looking for is not to be found there. Then it’s on to another destructive relationship to try and fill the void they couldn’t in the last relationship.
So there I am, with my series on Family Restoration and it’s been incredibly encouraging to see the difference it’s been making in our church. Last week when we talked about Matthew 12, “A House Divided,” the topic of forgiveness was elaborated on. At the end of the message, we had communion. Before communion, the pastor initiated a time of forgiveness, when he called his wife forward and publicly asked forgiveness for anything he’s done to offend her. I watched with joy as several people throughout the church began turning to one another and asking forgiveness. I must say that Family Restoration has been a wonderful topic and to God’s glory, we are seeing change.
Tomorrow, Friday the 22nd of October, we are going to have another night of prayer, with the theme being “Forgiveness and Holiness.” I am very excited to see what God is going to do in our time together. Thanks for continually being in prayer for the ministry God has called us to!
(I am sorry to say I was interuppted a number of times during the writing of this blog post from home. I was just starting to edit, when Kyliana started crying, waking up from her nap. I apologize, I have not been able to edit.)
With our experience in ministry and training at Moody, we have been able to provide a fresh pair of eyes to prayerfully accompany the church in the process of assessing both the programs and effectiveness of such ministries. It has been exciting to see changes in individuals, couples, and families as we restructure to build a stronger body.
One of the major targets of the enemy in any culture is marriage and family. Where there are weak marriages, there will be weak families. Where there are weak families, there will be weak churches. Where there are weak churches, there will be weak nations. But where there are strong marriages, there will be strong families. Strong families bring strong churches, and strong churches, strong nations. This has been the theme of the Sunday Night Series on Family Restoration that I have had the privilege of putting together and delivering.
I have seen the struggling family unit before, but never as blatantly as in this culture. Most marriages here, Christian or not, bear the scars of unfaithfulness by one or both partners. The physical closeness in the “infatuated” dating stage quickly dissolves until close physical proximity between married couples is rare. Those who dare to share public hugs and kisses do not do so without strange looks and even laughs from an ever watching culture. But walk to any plaza and a Friday night and you’ll see benches filled with young unmarried lovers “necking” late into the night. The four letter word, “Love,” has not been protectedly taught in the church, but is learned from the world, it is rarely expressed in a pure wholesome way within the Holy confounds of matrimony. It has become morphed into an ugly knockoff, which never results in security and protection. This four letter word also starts with “L,” but ends in destruction, lust. Lust is the best way to describe most relationships in this culture, two people together until it is discovered that what they are truly looking for is not to be found there. Then it’s on to another destructive relationship to try and fill the void they couldn’t in the last relationship.
So there I am, with my series on Family Restoration and it’s been incredibly encouraging to see the difference it’s been making in our church. Last week when we talked about Matthew 12, “A House Divided,” the topic of forgiveness was elaborated on. At the end of the message, we had communion. Before communion, the pastor initiated a time of forgiveness, when he called his wife forward and publicly asked forgiveness for anything he’s done to offend her. I watched with joy as several people throughout the church began turning to one another and asking forgiveness. I must say that Family Restoration has been a wonderful topic and to God’s glory, we are seeing change.
Tomorrow, Friday the 22nd of October, we are going to have another night of prayer, with the theme being “Forgiveness and Holiness.” I am very excited to see what God is going to do in our time together. Thanks for continually being in prayer for the ministry God has called us to!
(I am sorry to say I was interuppted a number of times during the writing of this blog post from home. I was just starting to edit, when Kyliana started crying, waking up from her nap. I apologize, I have not been able to edit.)
Friday, August 27, 2010
Learning to be a mom in Peru
Kyliana always draws attention, including the regular unsolicited advice that I am learning to handle with patience and grace, which isn’t always easy. Nelton figures the rate at which it comes my way is directly related to the fact that because I (a “gringa”) don’t have a nanny, I must not know what I’m doing. In their minds, “all white people have nannies.” My differences in methodology translate to ignorance on my part.
The trip to the jungle includes about 4 nights and 5 days of travel roundtrip on the public launcha. Because hammocks are crammed side-by-side as tight as hay bales in a barn at harvest time, there is no such thing as personal space or privacy.
On the trip into the jungle, one woman must have adopted me as her personal project. She came by several times a day to tell me what I was doing wrong with my baby. Generally is was not wrapping Ky warmly enough, so she would grab whatever blankets were in my hammock and start bundling her up. On one occasion I tried to protest, telling her that my child sweats profusely in the heat because she has “Northern blood.” I really thought that would throw her off, but no, she quickly informed me that that’s what I want, it’s good for newborns to sweat because they were always warm in the womb and they need to be as warm as possible on the outside.
On the trip home, when I saw my new “mentor in motherhood” approaching my hammock, I grabbed a receiving blanket and stuck it over her to avoid that conversation, it didn’t work. Her reprimand was that my baby was too hot and I shouldn’t have any blankets on her, which I would much rather hear.
I’m sure Kyliana’s arm is evidence that gringas don’t know what they doing, which demands much more patience in dealing with comments. Conversations generally go like this, “Her arm is squished!”
“No, it’s broken, that’s how it needs to be.”
Assuming I broke her arm, the next comment is, “You can’t yank on baby’s arms or lift them up by their arms, they are too fragile.”
The most insulting one was when one lady shock back at me in a tone iced with judgement, “How could you permit that to happen!?” As if I handed my baby over to someone and stood-by in silence as I watched them bust her arm in two.
Patience wasn’t so easy to encounter at that time, but I calmly and almost flippantly replied that I didn’t permit it to happen, there are things that happen in life that happen that we have no control over. I explained that it happened while she was being born and being in the position I was, I couldn’t exactly sit up and say “STOP!” More than that, we didn’t even know it until later.
When I tell them that it happened when she was born, it usually silences the comments. However, one girl, around the age of seventeen, quickly replied, “that’s impossible.”
I was shocked, and continued her that that’s what the doctor’s said (the “doctor” word is usually effective).
“No, that’s impossible,” she stated again. Annoyed, I continued, “So you’re telling me you know more than 3 doctors?”
“No. But I just know that’s not possible.” Finally, deciding to give up the battle, I asked her why. She explained that the nurses check all babies over when they are born, and if they didn’t find it there, then it couldn’t have happened at birth."
A lot of advice rolls our way and I have no frame of reference on how to even reply, so I just humor them and use it as a way to learn more about the culture. Two ladies told Nelton that we can’t comb Ky’s hair. When he asked why, they both said because she won’t learn how to talk quickly, it will slow her speech development down.
Another one was that we can’t give her a pacifier because it will give her gas, or another reason is because it will hurt her throat.
One question we get almost every time someone new encounters her is, “is it a boy or a girl?” Even though she’s decked out in pink and has bows in her hair. “It’s a girl.” OH!, “why doesn’t she have her ears pierced?” Or “When are you going to pierce her ears?”
Parenthood is a learning experience for everyone, but doing it for the first time in a new culture... well, lets just say I’m learning more than I ever imagined I would. Patience with the public being at the forefront. After two months I’ve relaxed so much and have learn to not let the opinions of everyone effect how we raise our daughter. It’s been great though, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Hope you get a kick out of those brief stories.
The trip to the jungle includes about 4 nights and 5 days of travel roundtrip on the public launcha. Because hammocks are crammed side-by-side as tight as hay bales in a barn at harvest time, there is no such thing as personal space or privacy.
On the trip into the jungle, one woman must have adopted me as her personal project. She came by several times a day to tell me what I was doing wrong with my baby. Generally is was not wrapping Ky warmly enough, so she would grab whatever blankets were in my hammock and start bundling her up. On one occasion I tried to protest, telling her that my child sweats profusely in the heat because she has “Northern blood.” I really thought that would throw her off, but no, she quickly informed me that that’s what I want, it’s good for newborns to sweat because they were always warm in the womb and they need to be as warm as possible on the outside.
On the trip home, when I saw my new “mentor in motherhood” approaching my hammock, I grabbed a receiving blanket and stuck it over her to avoid that conversation, it didn’t work. Her reprimand was that my baby was too hot and I shouldn’t have any blankets on her, which I would much rather hear.
I’m sure Kyliana’s arm is evidence that gringas don’t know what they doing, which demands much more patience in dealing with comments. Conversations generally go like this, “Her arm is squished!”
“No, it’s broken, that’s how it needs to be.”
Assuming I broke her arm, the next comment is, “You can’t yank on baby’s arms or lift them up by their arms, they are too fragile.”
The most insulting one was when one lady shock back at me in a tone iced with judgement, “How could you permit that to happen!?” As if I handed my baby over to someone and stood-by in silence as I watched them bust her arm in two.
Patience wasn’t so easy to encounter at that time, but I calmly and almost flippantly replied that I didn’t permit it to happen, there are things that happen in life that happen that we have no control over. I explained that it happened while she was being born and being in the position I was, I couldn’t exactly sit up and say “STOP!” More than that, we didn’t even know it until later.
When I tell them that it happened when she was born, it usually silences the comments. However, one girl, around the age of seventeen, quickly replied, “that’s impossible.”
I was shocked, and continued her that that’s what the doctor’s said (the “doctor” word is usually effective).
“No, that’s impossible,” she stated again. Annoyed, I continued, “So you’re telling me you know more than 3 doctors?”
“No. But I just know that’s not possible.” Finally, deciding to give up the battle, I asked her why. She explained that the nurses check all babies over when they are born, and if they didn’t find it there, then it couldn’t have happened at birth."
A lot of advice rolls our way and I have no frame of reference on how to even reply, so I just humor them and use it as a way to learn more about the culture. Two ladies told Nelton that we can’t comb Ky’s hair. When he asked why, they both said because she won’t learn how to talk quickly, it will slow her speech development down.
Another one was that we can’t give her a pacifier because it will give her gas, or another reason is because it will hurt her throat.
One question we get almost every time someone new encounters her is, “is it a boy or a girl?” Even though she’s decked out in pink and has bows in her hair. “It’s a girl.” OH!, “why doesn’t she have her ears pierced?” Or “When are you going to pierce her ears?”
Parenthood is a learning experience for everyone, but doing it for the first time in a new culture... well, lets just say I’m learning more than I ever imagined I would. Patience with the public being at the forefront. After two months I’ve relaxed so much and have learn to not let the opinions of everyone effect how we raise our daughter. It’s been great though, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Hope you get a kick out of those brief stories.
Friday, July 9, 2010
OLD POST
This is the post I meant to put up when I got home from the States. I still haven't had time to write about the birth, but plan on doing it. Hopefully it will be coming at you all soon.
So this is from April 29th, 2010.
Back to Peru
The trip home to Peru went well. My only downfall was that I was allowed one carry-on and one personal item, which I loaded down, as I could purchase most things in the USA for much less than here in Peru. So my baggage became cumbersome after about the first 3 minutes of my trip. I had a small rolling suitcase and a small duffel bag packed to the limit and I felt every pound.
Not because of the baggage, but simply due to my pregnancy, it’s the first time in my life that I have really dreaded an international trip on my own. Every stretch of the way went smoothly, but felt so long, uncomfortable, and drug out.
It did make me laugh arriving in Iquitos though, as my husband looked right past me, not recognizing me. The truth is, he knows me well. See, when I travel, I generally do so in sweats, comfy clothes, and hair up, which I did until I arrived in Lima. In Lima, I changed into a cute maternity dress, put my hair down, and freshened up a bit. So when his brother saw me getting off the plane, he asked if it was me. Nelton glanced and said, “no, she never travels like that.” So he continued to watch everyone deplane and when no sight of his traveling beauty appeared, he began to wonder if I even made my flight.
His brother again insisted that I was the women in the dress, so he looked again, shocked that it was indeed his wife. It was a sweet reunion. :)
The weather absolutely knocked me out, however. My ankles quickly swelled up, along with my hands and fingers. It was uncomfortable to even stand. Energy? Gone, no sight of it. I am still wondering if that is due to running myself out in the States or really just the weather, it’s probably a combination of both.
Thanks to personal gifts received in the States, Nelton made an executive decision that we would get an air conditioning. He promptly purchased and installed it in the following day and a half. What a guy! And yes, I am continually thankful. It allows for much needed rest as I am cooler and can sleep, and for a change the doors and windows are closed.
Although, that doesn’t stop the neighbor kids, just reduces the frequency of their unannounced visits. Now it’s little hands under the door calling for us. We still have regular game night once a week. Tuesday night really was comical. We had all the kids come in and closed the door, the ones that knew we had air came decked out in sweatshirts and jackets, the ones that didn’t know were cold.
At the end I presented them with a surprise of stickers from the US, given to me for them by my sister Rebekah. Nelton wasn’t sure that the boys would really like them, as they were hearts and cartoons, and kinda girly, but it was the older boys (12-14) that were begging me for more. I insisted that everyone only got 2 sheets and if they wanted some for friends, they could tell their friends to come get them. Probably a mistake, because word spread in no time. Soon, not children, not women, but men were gathering at the door! I thought they were just bringing the toddlers to get stickers, but as I turned to close the door they just said, “and mine?” Nelton had stepped out to run some errands and I was really not comfortable with the gathering crowd of men, so I quickly gave them stickers and closed the door before the other ones could reach the door. As the door latched safely shut, I could only burst into laugher. Never had I expected that!
I’ve been resting a lot, which has been really good for me. In addition, I’ve been getting the paperwork and information together to present our boat proposal to out board. I hope to have that either posted or sent out somehow for all to know what our future plans are. Time is going by, and really, though I work on those things, my mind is constantly focused with anticipation at the arrival of our daughter. We really are only six weeks away! I can hardly believe it.
So this is from April 29th, 2010.
Back to Peru
The trip home to Peru went well. My only downfall was that I was allowed one carry-on and one personal item, which I loaded down, as I could purchase most things in the USA for much less than here in Peru. So my baggage became cumbersome after about the first 3 minutes of my trip. I had a small rolling suitcase and a small duffel bag packed to the limit and I felt every pound.
Not because of the baggage, but simply due to my pregnancy, it’s the first time in my life that I have really dreaded an international trip on my own. Every stretch of the way went smoothly, but felt so long, uncomfortable, and drug out.
It did make me laugh arriving in Iquitos though, as my husband looked right past me, not recognizing me. The truth is, he knows me well. See, when I travel, I generally do so in sweats, comfy clothes, and hair up, which I did until I arrived in Lima. In Lima, I changed into a cute maternity dress, put my hair down, and freshened up a bit. So when his brother saw me getting off the plane, he asked if it was me. Nelton glanced and said, “no, she never travels like that.” So he continued to watch everyone deplane and when no sight of his traveling beauty appeared, he began to wonder if I even made my flight.
His brother again insisted that I was the women in the dress, so he looked again, shocked that it was indeed his wife. It was a sweet reunion. :)
The weather absolutely knocked me out, however. My ankles quickly swelled up, along with my hands and fingers. It was uncomfortable to even stand. Energy? Gone, no sight of it. I am still wondering if that is due to running myself out in the States or really just the weather, it’s probably a combination of both.
Thanks to personal gifts received in the States, Nelton made an executive decision that we would get an air conditioning. He promptly purchased and installed it in the following day and a half. What a guy! And yes, I am continually thankful. It allows for much needed rest as I am cooler and can sleep, and for a change the doors and windows are closed.
Although, that doesn’t stop the neighbor kids, just reduces the frequency of their unannounced visits. Now it’s little hands under the door calling for us. We still have regular game night once a week. Tuesday night really was comical. We had all the kids come in and closed the door, the ones that knew we had air came decked out in sweatshirts and jackets, the ones that didn’t know were cold.
At the end I presented them with a surprise of stickers from the US, given to me for them by my sister Rebekah. Nelton wasn’t sure that the boys would really like them, as they were hearts and cartoons, and kinda girly, but it was the older boys (12-14) that were begging me for more. I insisted that everyone only got 2 sheets and if they wanted some for friends, they could tell their friends to come get them. Probably a mistake, because word spread in no time. Soon, not children, not women, but men were gathering at the door! I thought they were just bringing the toddlers to get stickers, but as I turned to close the door they just said, “and mine?” Nelton had stepped out to run some errands and I was really not comfortable with the gathering crowd of men, so I quickly gave them stickers and closed the door before the other ones could reach the door. As the door latched safely shut, I could only burst into laugher. Never had I expected that!
I’ve been resting a lot, which has been really good for me. In addition, I’ve been getting the paperwork and information together to present our boat proposal to out board. I hope to have that either posted or sent out somehow for all to know what our future plans are. Time is going by, and really, though I work on those things, my mind is constantly focused with anticipation at the arrival of our daughter. We really are only six weeks away! I can hardly believe it.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
A Baby Soon
So, we had a doctors appointment Monday (this is my first time to the net in over a week I think), and she said that she would be surprised if the baby takes two more weeks to be born! Her head is good and in position and ready to be born! She thought this week even would be possible. Well, here we are on Thursday and still nothing, but I know it will be soon.
After that visit I was sooo nervous as I am going natural, the other options that include drugs aren´t very common here, and I don´t really want to be a tester on advancing such progress in this country.
Mom and Hannah are here, along with Sarah Hoobyar, they have been a HUGE help! We have gotten things in the house all set up and organized for the baby, and they pretty much take care of all of the meals and dishes, which is totally great! I really hadn´t been able to rest until yesterday though, because after Dr. appointments, I had different testing and things I had to get up for. Today I was able to sleep in and totally loved it. However, it isn´t paying now, because I´m drousy. Oh well.
Naomi sent us a card and money for a date for Nelton and I before the baby is born, which is scheduled for tonight. I´m looking forward to it. It was very sweet of her!
So that´s a quick update, sorry these are so not as constant as I´d like them to be. But thus is life right now.
After that visit I was sooo nervous as I am going natural, the other options that include drugs aren´t very common here, and I don´t really want to be a tester on advancing such progress in this country.
Mom and Hannah are here, along with Sarah Hoobyar, they have been a HUGE help! We have gotten things in the house all set up and organized for the baby, and they pretty much take care of all of the meals and dishes, which is totally great! I really hadn´t been able to rest until yesterday though, because after Dr. appointments, I had different testing and things I had to get up for. Today I was able to sleep in and totally loved it. However, it isn´t paying now, because I´m drousy. Oh well.
Naomi sent us a card and money for a date for Nelton and I before the baby is born, which is scheduled for tonight. I´m looking forward to it. It was very sweet of her!
So that´s a quick update, sorry these are so not as constant as I´d like them to be. But thus is life right now.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Waiting...
I posted something last week, or so I thought, as I don´t see it now.
I´m back in Peru and have been for over a month. It´s been wonderful to be with my husband. However, the heat was so bad and aweful! We finally broke down and got an AC, thanks to a gift from a friend in the States. It´s been much better to live with this pregnancy.
It is funny though as everyone that comes over seems to freeze a bit. My sister-in-law asked if we´d be shutting it off when the baby comes so she doesn´t get sick. I explained that she´ll get used to it and that I was born into much colder climate. It´s funny to hear some of their concerns and comments.
I am currently counting down the days for the arrival of my mom and sister. I would be counting down the days ´til the birth, but it really is not too set in stone, especially because every doctor we have visited has given us a different due date.
I´ll try to repost that last post, as i have it on my laptop at home.
I´m back in Peru and have been for over a month. It´s been wonderful to be with my husband. However, the heat was so bad and aweful! We finally broke down and got an AC, thanks to a gift from a friend in the States. It´s been much better to live with this pregnancy.
It is funny though as everyone that comes over seems to freeze a bit. My sister-in-law asked if we´d be shutting it off when the baby comes so she doesn´t get sick. I explained that she´ll get used to it and that I was born into much colder climate. It´s funny to hear some of their concerns and comments.
I am currently counting down the days for the arrival of my mom and sister. I would be counting down the days ´til the birth, but it really is not too set in stone, especially because every doctor we have visited has given us a different due date.
I´ll try to repost that last post, as i have it on my laptop at home.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Pregnancy Update
I went with my sister-in-law Andrea, who is also pregnant, to her regular check-up and took the chance to talk to her doctor about my little episode in the hospital.
He said that spotting is common in about 40% of all pregnancies and when his patients have it, he tells them to take it easy and rest for a week, if it continues after that, he takes action, if not he tells them to continue life as usual. Because my spotting was only one night, he said he didn't think it was too serious.
In addition, he said that contractions are normal, even up to 4-6 an hour. The key is to listen to your body, sleep or drink plenty, and if they don't go away, then take action.
As for the cervix, if it's only softening and not thinning, then it's okay. From what I understand my cervix was only softening, but I used the term thinning, because I didn't know there was a difference.
He said I could make an appointment to see any of the doctors there if I still felt I needed to, but that most of them would probably say I was fine and normal.
So the plan is to return to Peru and my honey as scheduled. I'll fly out April 21st.
Thanks to all for your concern and prayers. Please continue to pray that things will be fine as well as the insurance/billing from my little spell.
Thanks again!
He said that spotting is common in about 40% of all pregnancies and when his patients have it, he tells them to take it easy and rest for a week, if it continues after that, he takes action, if not he tells them to continue life as usual. Because my spotting was only one night, he said he didn't think it was too serious.
In addition, he said that contractions are normal, even up to 4-6 an hour. The key is to listen to your body, sleep or drink plenty, and if they don't go away, then take action.
As for the cervix, if it's only softening and not thinning, then it's okay. From what I understand my cervix was only softening, but I used the term thinning, because I didn't know there was a difference.
He said I could make an appointment to see any of the doctors there if I still felt I needed to, but that most of them would probably say I was fine and normal.
So the plan is to return to Peru and my honey as scheduled. I'll fly out April 21st.
Thanks to all for your concern and prayers. Please continue to pray that things will be fine as well as the insurance/billing from my little spell.
Thanks again!
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Life in These United States
The day after Nelton didn't get his visa, he suggested that I still make a trip to the States for a couple reasons. First, we still need to raise support to move ahead in the ministry. Second, he wanted me to have time with my family. and Third, it's easier to travel before the baby comes.
Sooo... the biggest news for me is that I am state-side!
I would have put it in my last newsletter to let everyone know, but since I had such a short-time to plan, I decided to come as a surprise for my mom's birthday. She was surprised! Along with everyone else. I only told those I needed to tell in order to line up a schedule to speak in churches.
I have been going, going, going since I've been home. I got home April 19th, and since then until today, I have spoken at four events and visited daily with one or two different people, at the least. I have been busy! Last night I was scheduled to speak in Edgewood, IA, but we had to cancel due to more complications in the pregnancy.
I came over here on Tuesday, March 30th, to spend sometime with Kevin and Sherri Kubly. Tuesday night I began spotting, which made me a little nervous, but since we were going to the hospital on Wednesday morning to pray with Sherri's sister before her surgery, we didn't worry too much. We thought we'd just ask a doctor there.
When we got there, we asked a nurse, who didn't know much, but never saw the doctor we hoped to see and ask. So while we were in the waiting room, Sherri called her doctor back home and asked her about it. She said that I should get in to a doctor right away. Sherri said we were at the Finley hospital in Debuque and she said, get in and see someone.
I really did not want to go in, because since moving to Peru, I don't have American insurance. Sherri convinced me there are options, so we checked-in, which turned out to be a good thing.
The doctor came in to give me an exam and said that I haven't been resting. I'm like "yeah, how do you know." She said that my cervix is thinning and at a point it shouldn't be for another month and a half at least. Basically, had I kept going at the rate and speed I was chances are my water would have broken before the end of my trip and I would have been delivering a premie baby.
She wanted me to stay and rest for a few hours and then check me out again before deciding if I could go home or would have to stay. They had me hooked up to the machine that monitors the baby's heartbeat and watches me for contractions.
When the nurses switched duty, the new nurse came in and her first question was if I was having contractions. I was like "NO! Why? Should I be?" I figured she thought I was in to deliver and made it clear I was only there for a check-up. She told me it was just a routine question and not to worry.
A little bit later the doctor came in and asked if I was having contractions, I said "no." And she's like "well, that's funny, because you're having a pretty big one right now." "REALLY?!," I said, "So that's what that is. I thought it was just the baby moving like crazy, doing flips or something." So turns out I have been having warning contractions for a little over a week now because I have not been resting enough, which is probably why my cervix is thinning.
The nurses were all great and took so much time to talk to me and answer all my questions, which was my crash course in child-birth. The funny thing is, we were in the hospital for more time then Sherri's sister who had surgery and was released, and we had the same doctor!
They released me, but I have to rest, rest, rest. They are treating it like early labor, or something like that.
So it turns out that it's a good thing that I didn't announce I was coming home, because chances are I'd be even more booked, and now I'm just having to take traveling a day at a time. And it's a good thing I came home, because hopefully due to that episode she won't be a premie.
Please be in prayer for the duration of this pregnancy that things will go smooth and I'll learn to say "no." If not for me, for my baby. Also be in prayer for insurance stuff. I have no idea what that afternoon bill will come to, but we don't have the means to pay the American rates. We have some leads, but that means... (my favorite) more paperwork!
Sooo... the biggest news for me is that I am state-side!
I would have put it in my last newsletter to let everyone know, but since I had such a short-time to plan, I decided to come as a surprise for my mom's birthday. She was surprised! Along with everyone else. I only told those I needed to tell in order to line up a schedule to speak in churches.
I have been going, going, going since I've been home. I got home April 19th, and since then until today, I have spoken at four events and visited daily with one or two different people, at the least. I have been busy! Last night I was scheduled to speak in Edgewood, IA, but we had to cancel due to more complications in the pregnancy.
I came over here on Tuesday, March 30th, to spend sometime with Kevin and Sherri Kubly. Tuesday night I began spotting, which made me a little nervous, but since we were going to the hospital on Wednesday morning to pray with Sherri's sister before her surgery, we didn't worry too much. We thought we'd just ask a doctor there.
When we got there, we asked a nurse, who didn't know much, but never saw the doctor we hoped to see and ask. So while we were in the waiting room, Sherri called her doctor back home and asked her about it. She said that I should get in to a doctor right away. Sherri said we were at the Finley hospital in Debuque and she said, get in and see someone.
I really did not want to go in, because since moving to Peru, I don't have American insurance. Sherri convinced me there are options, so we checked-in, which turned out to be a good thing.
The doctor came in to give me an exam and said that I haven't been resting. I'm like "yeah, how do you know." She said that my cervix is thinning and at a point it shouldn't be for another month and a half at least. Basically, had I kept going at the rate and speed I was chances are my water would have broken before the end of my trip and I would have been delivering a premie baby.
She wanted me to stay and rest for a few hours and then check me out again before deciding if I could go home or would have to stay. They had me hooked up to the machine that monitors the baby's heartbeat and watches me for contractions.
When the nurses switched duty, the new nurse came in and her first question was if I was having contractions. I was like "NO! Why? Should I be?" I figured she thought I was in to deliver and made it clear I was only there for a check-up. She told me it was just a routine question and not to worry.
A little bit later the doctor came in and asked if I was having contractions, I said "no." And she's like "well, that's funny, because you're having a pretty big one right now." "REALLY?!," I said, "So that's what that is. I thought it was just the baby moving like crazy, doing flips or something." So turns out I have been having warning contractions for a little over a week now because I have not been resting enough, which is probably why my cervix is thinning.
The nurses were all great and took so much time to talk to me and answer all my questions, which was my crash course in child-birth. The funny thing is, we were in the hospital for more time then Sherri's sister who had surgery and was released, and we had the same doctor!
They released me, but I have to rest, rest, rest. They are treating it like early labor, or something like that.
So it turns out that it's a good thing that I didn't announce I was coming home, because chances are I'd be even more booked, and now I'm just having to take traveling a day at a time. And it's a good thing I came home, because hopefully due to that episode she won't be a premie.
Please be in prayer for the duration of this pregnancy that things will go smooth and I'll learn to say "no." If not for me, for my baby. Also be in prayer for insurance stuff. I have no idea what that afternoon bill will come to, but we don't have the means to pay the American rates. We have some leads, but that means... (my favorite) more paperwork!
Friday, March 5, 2010
Fire Ants, Cookie Dough, and Neighbor Kids
Catchy title, huh? Unfortunately the fire ants are not related to the rest of the title. I just want to tell that story because I don’t want the pain to be in vain.
Upon arriving home from Lima, we discovered that our house had been taken hostage by ants, but not just any ants... fire ants. However, these ants aren’t the most obvious about their work, either that or we weren’t the most attentive. In a short time, as I would sit in our living room with my feet on the ground, it wouldn’t be long before something was stinging me. Looking down, I hardly noticed anything; but looking closer, I realized a small ant had decided my foot had gotten in the way of whatever it was doing. NOT FUNNY!
As we began to look around the room, we noticed lines of these little guys, marching in order on about 4 different trails through the living room, into the study, and back outside.
The climax of my fire ant story was when I was almost taken down by a whole army of them. We have a towel on the floor in front of our sink because the sink tends to splatter water in every direction when washing dishes. I went to do dishes one evening and in a matter of seconds my feet were on fire! Top and bottom! I looked down, but couldn’t see anything, because I was only lending the light from our window. I went over and turned on the light in the kitchen to find the towel was COVERED with fire ants! Never had I seen so many gathered in one place. I promptly grabbed the bleach and made a counter attack, successfully defeating the majority of the army in one swift pour of bleach.
It took me at least a day before I mounted enough courage to return to the kitchen sink.
So Cookie Dough and Neighbor Kids? Those two are related.
Several months ago, in the first trimester of pregnancy, I was craving sweets. It dawned on me that I had all the ingredients to make cookie dough; except, I didn’t (no brown sugar or baking soda). So I just improvised and it came out alright. Not my favorite, but it did the job. Considering the fact it wasn’t the best in the world, I stuck it in the freezer and let our guests try it as they wanted. Time slipped by and I sort of forgot about it. UNTIL Sunday, when we received four suitcases from home, delivered by a friend who was coming down with another mission. One of the suitcases was filled with chocolates, candies, cookies, goodies, cooking ingredients, etc.
That suitcase is the sole reason I feel like we are running the Peruvian branch of the Willy Wonka Factory. I do love it, because I always have something on hand to share with neighbor kids, or unannounced visitors (a daily occurrence). Admittedly, it is a little comical as sweets aren’t a real big thing here, so most people can hardly handle one bite-size candy bar.
Of course, in this climate, the chocolate needs to be stored in the freezer, which was when I ran into the cookie dough. I made it all fit snugly, until we went to the grocery store and bought a whole chicken for all our guests this week. I had completely forgotten about our lack of freezer space, and was forced to laugh when I got home to put away groceries and found no room in the freezer, rather heaps of chocolate. Well, when deciding what to remove, it’s no doubt that the not so great cookie dough was the first to go. When my nephew came later in the day, I tried ponding it off on him, but he wasn’t hungry and only wanted cool aid. So I stuck it on the counter and figured if I didn’t get rid of it by the end of the night, I’d just throw it out.
Now the link...
In the last newsletter, I wrote about the possibility of getting a kids ministry with our neighbors rolling. Well, we certainly did it. We are at once a week, but they would love it if we did it all day everyday. Anyway... our big thing is game night with them. They come over, play games for about an hour, then we give them some sort of treat and they go home. We are slowly incorporating a Bible time of sorts, which started last night (more on that in the next newsletter).
For our games, we try to give the winner of the game a special prize in addition to the treats everyone gets. Last Tuesday, we remembered the tub of cookie dough. So I gave it to the winner, relieved to be rid of it, and wondering if they would even like it. Well, five minutes later a string of 6 kids were marching right back into the house with gobs of cookie dough sticking to their fingers, led by the proud winner of the loot, Elio.
“Senorita Betanya [for some reason, they all still call me “senorita” -miss-, although I have rightly earned the title “senora” -mrs.-],” he starts, “I gave some of this stuff to all the kids, my mom, and other people at my house. Senorita Betanya, it’s DELICIOUS! We all want to know, what is it? Where is it from?”
Admittedly, I was a little shocked and slightly embarrassed that it had made it that far around the neighborhood... let alone so quickly. Even still, how do I even explain what cookie dough is in a culture that doesn’t really eat cookies, and if they do, it’s just packaged snacks. So I just called it some sort of sweet and that I made it.
“Senorita Betanya,” all the other kids chiming in at once, tongues clicking as they lick their little fingers, “do you have more of this stuff? Can we have some? We love it! Will you make more?”
As they filed back outside to spread the wealth, I just stood at the kitchen sink over a pile of dirty dishes, laughing. The whole scene was just comical as they all burst right in without knocking, walked right past Nelton and the two guys in the living room, until they reached the goal of the gringa in the kitchen to inquire about the new tasty treat that had reached this land. It was as if they owned the place.
When I thought the cookie dough hype was over, it got funnier later that night when Nelton came home from running some errands. I was in the bedroom, getting things straightened out, but was quickly filled with curiosity at the sound of his laughter as he entered the room.
“You’re not going to believe this,” he told me, “as I was coming home Paulo (our other neighbor I wrote about in the newsletter) stopped me and asked me where that jam was from.”
-Stopping him there, I burst out laughing, but had to clarify, “Jam?” I asked.
“Yeah, your cookie dough, he had no idea what to call it, so he called it jam. Anyway, he said ‘IT WAS SO DELICIOUS! The kids just gave me a nibble and I tasted it and wanted to grab the whole tub from them and send them away. Why haven’t you ever offered me any before?’” As if to imply that we were wasting it on the kids.
Nelton’s relaying of the incident with Paulo was filled with imitations of his facial expressions, hand gestures, and voice inflections, which made it that much funnier.
Oh, the random things that catch me off guard everyday in this culture. Such a mess-up of cookie dough would have never drawn such a positive response in my culture. My only hope was not to hear anything more of it after it left the door, but am so glad I did.
Although I’d love to draw a lesson from these experiences, or at least make a valid point, I don’t feel inclined. Maybe this will just give you a peak into some of the events of everyday life in another country.
Upon arriving home from Lima, we discovered that our house had been taken hostage by ants, but not just any ants... fire ants. However, these ants aren’t the most obvious about their work, either that or we weren’t the most attentive. In a short time, as I would sit in our living room with my feet on the ground, it wouldn’t be long before something was stinging me. Looking down, I hardly noticed anything; but looking closer, I realized a small ant had decided my foot had gotten in the way of whatever it was doing. NOT FUNNY!
As we began to look around the room, we noticed lines of these little guys, marching in order on about 4 different trails through the living room, into the study, and back outside.
The climax of my fire ant story was when I was almost taken down by a whole army of them. We have a towel on the floor in front of our sink because the sink tends to splatter water in every direction when washing dishes. I went to do dishes one evening and in a matter of seconds my feet were on fire! Top and bottom! I looked down, but couldn’t see anything, because I was only lending the light from our window. I went over and turned on the light in the kitchen to find the towel was COVERED with fire ants! Never had I seen so many gathered in one place. I promptly grabbed the bleach and made a counter attack, successfully defeating the majority of the army in one swift pour of bleach.
It took me at least a day before I mounted enough courage to return to the kitchen sink.
So Cookie Dough and Neighbor Kids? Those two are related.
Several months ago, in the first trimester of pregnancy, I was craving sweets. It dawned on me that I had all the ingredients to make cookie dough; except, I didn’t (no brown sugar or baking soda). So I just improvised and it came out alright. Not my favorite, but it did the job. Considering the fact it wasn’t the best in the world, I stuck it in the freezer and let our guests try it as they wanted. Time slipped by and I sort of forgot about it. UNTIL Sunday, when we received four suitcases from home, delivered by a friend who was coming down with another mission. One of the suitcases was filled with chocolates, candies, cookies, goodies, cooking ingredients, etc.
That suitcase is the sole reason I feel like we are running the Peruvian branch of the Willy Wonka Factory. I do love it, because I always have something on hand to share with neighbor kids, or unannounced visitors (a daily occurrence). Admittedly, it is a little comical as sweets aren’t a real big thing here, so most people can hardly handle one bite-size candy bar.
Of course, in this climate, the chocolate needs to be stored in the freezer, which was when I ran into the cookie dough. I made it all fit snugly, until we went to the grocery store and bought a whole chicken for all our guests this week. I had completely forgotten about our lack of freezer space, and was forced to laugh when I got home to put away groceries and found no room in the freezer, rather heaps of chocolate. Well, when deciding what to remove, it’s no doubt that the not so great cookie dough was the first to go. When my nephew came later in the day, I tried ponding it off on him, but he wasn’t hungry and only wanted cool aid. So I stuck it on the counter and figured if I didn’t get rid of it by the end of the night, I’d just throw it out.
Now the link...
In the last newsletter, I wrote about the possibility of getting a kids ministry with our neighbors rolling. Well, we certainly did it. We are at once a week, but they would love it if we did it all day everyday. Anyway... our big thing is game night with them. They come over, play games for about an hour, then we give them some sort of treat and they go home. We are slowly incorporating a Bible time of sorts, which started last night (more on that in the next newsletter).
For our games, we try to give the winner of the game a special prize in addition to the treats everyone gets. Last Tuesday, we remembered the tub of cookie dough. So I gave it to the winner, relieved to be rid of it, and wondering if they would even like it. Well, five minutes later a string of 6 kids were marching right back into the house with gobs of cookie dough sticking to their fingers, led by the proud winner of the loot, Elio.
“Senorita Betanya [for some reason, they all still call me “senorita” -miss-, although I have rightly earned the title “senora” -mrs.-],” he starts, “I gave some of this stuff to all the kids, my mom, and other people at my house. Senorita Betanya, it’s DELICIOUS! We all want to know, what is it? Where is it from?”
Admittedly, I was a little shocked and slightly embarrassed that it had made it that far around the neighborhood... let alone so quickly. Even still, how do I even explain what cookie dough is in a culture that doesn’t really eat cookies, and if they do, it’s just packaged snacks. So I just called it some sort of sweet and that I made it.
“Senorita Betanya,” all the other kids chiming in at once, tongues clicking as they lick their little fingers, “do you have more of this stuff? Can we have some? We love it! Will you make more?”
As they filed back outside to spread the wealth, I just stood at the kitchen sink over a pile of dirty dishes, laughing. The whole scene was just comical as they all burst right in without knocking, walked right past Nelton and the two guys in the living room, until they reached the goal of the gringa in the kitchen to inquire about the new tasty treat that had reached this land. It was as if they owned the place.
When I thought the cookie dough hype was over, it got funnier later that night when Nelton came home from running some errands. I was in the bedroom, getting things straightened out, but was quickly filled with curiosity at the sound of his laughter as he entered the room.
“You’re not going to believe this,” he told me, “as I was coming home Paulo (our other neighbor I wrote about in the newsletter) stopped me and asked me where that jam was from.”
-Stopping him there, I burst out laughing, but had to clarify, “Jam?” I asked.
“Yeah, your cookie dough, he had no idea what to call it, so he called it jam. Anyway, he said ‘IT WAS SO DELICIOUS! The kids just gave me a nibble and I tasted it and wanted to grab the whole tub from them and send them away. Why haven’t you ever offered me any before?’” As if to imply that we were wasting it on the kids.
Nelton’s relaying of the incident with Paulo was filled with imitations of his facial expressions, hand gestures, and voice inflections, which made it that much funnier.
Oh, the random things that catch me off guard everyday in this culture. Such a mess-up of cookie dough would have never drawn such a positive response in my culture. My only hope was not to hear anything more of it after it left the door, but am so glad I did.
Although I’d love to draw a lesson from these experiences, or at least make a valid point, I don’t feel inclined. Maybe this will just give you a peak into some of the events of everyday life in another country.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
My Heart Broke a Little Today...
There is no easy way to say it... Nelton didn’t get approved for a visa. The words are heavy and basically sum up how the day went.
I couldn’t go in with him and when he came out he was smiling, I was hopeful and sure he had it. So when he told me he didn’t, I really didn’t believe him at first, until he short me the “we regret to inform you...” note.
We really don’t know why. The process to get him in was 3 hours, the interview was less than 2 minutes and they didn’t even look at his paperwork or any of the evidence we provided.
One thing could be because under “How long do you intend to stay?” on the application we wrote “89 days, unless I can get an extension from the United States for 90 more days.”
I really figured they would want an honest answer, providing all our intentions.
When they asked Nelton how long he intended to stay he said “3 months” and the lady just said “it says here 6 months.” Which is not what it says. So I guess if we go for the extension in the future we don’t tell we want it???
Anyway, the real reason they told him in the interview was that because I don’t have my card of residency yet, we don’t have tying binds to be here. However, I do have my residency, because the law of Peru says once it’s in your passport, you are a resident. He had evidence of that, but didn’t look at it. They just went on Nelton’s word that we are getting out my card Friday and didn’t think it was good enough. So really, we don’t know what it was, because we have evidence of property here and those “tying binds” but didn’t get a chance to show them.
So really, I’m honest when I say I don’t understand the plan of the Lord in all this. My heart is sad because I was really looking forward to getting home and seeing everyone. I have to admit that having the baby in the States also provided comfort at the thought of having familiar surroundings in a new and potentially difficult situation, labor.
I’m experiencing various waves of emotions: anger at my country, frustration for not knowing what we did wrong, sadness for not knowing when we’ll be able to go home, disappointment that Nelton won’t meet my family and friends until who knows when, peace by knowing that God is in control and knows why this didn’t work out just now, and maybe a little fear at the thought of having the baby here, but then comes the peace and confidence that God has a reason.
So the plan is to wait until maybe July, when we come to work on the baby’s citizenship and try again.
I couldn’t go in with him and when he came out he was smiling, I was hopeful and sure he had it. So when he told me he didn’t, I really didn’t believe him at first, until he short me the “we regret to inform you...” note.
We really don’t know why. The process to get him in was 3 hours, the interview was less than 2 minutes and they didn’t even look at his paperwork or any of the evidence we provided.
One thing could be because under “How long do you intend to stay?” on the application we wrote “89 days, unless I can get an extension from the United States for 90 more days.”
I really figured they would want an honest answer, providing all our intentions.
When they asked Nelton how long he intended to stay he said “3 months” and the lady just said “it says here 6 months.” Which is not what it says. So I guess if we go for the extension in the future we don’t tell we want it???
Anyway, the real reason they told him in the interview was that because I don’t have my card of residency yet, we don’t have tying binds to be here. However, I do have my residency, because the law of Peru says once it’s in your passport, you are a resident. He had evidence of that, but didn’t look at it. They just went on Nelton’s word that we are getting out my card Friday and didn’t think it was good enough. So really, we don’t know what it was, because we have evidence of property here and those “tying binds” but didn’t get a chance to show them.
So really, I’m honest when I say I don’t understand the plan of the Lord in all this. My heart is sad because I was really looking forward to getting home and seeing everyone. I have to admit that having the baby in the States also provided comfort at the thought of having familiar surroundings in a new and potentially difficult situation, labor.
I’m experiencing various waves of emotions: anger at my country, frustration for not knowing what we did wrong, sadness for not knowing when we’ll be able to go home, disappointment that Nelton won’t meet my family and friends until who knows when, peace by knowing that God is in control and knows why this didn’t work out just now, and maybe a little fear at the thought of having the baby here, but then comes the peace and confidence that God has a reason.
So the plan is to wait until maybe July, when we come to work on the baby’s citizenship and try again.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Visa Update! Urgent Prayer Request!
Nelton and I both have to go to Lima. Me to complete my residency, and him to apply for his visa and have his interview.
We will be leaving on Feb. 21st and will be working on both of our visa's until the 27th.
We are working on getting him a tourist visa, which will allow him to be in the States for 90 days, during which time he can apply for a 90 day extension. The visa is apparently good for ten years, which is the reason we are going that route. The process involves collecting all our paperwork to prove that we intent to return, we have reason to return, we have the funds to support us while we are there, and we have good reason to be there. Next, there is an interview that lasts 3-5 minutes, in which he presents everything. I just found out (and am very excited!) that by the end of the interview we will know if he is approved or denied. We should also know how long before he will have his visa and can travel.
PLEASE PRAY FOR FAVOR!!!
Apparently, we bring all the paperwork to be prepared, but the officer may or may not even look at any of it. I believe that with obtaining my Peruvian residency, we should have a good chance of getting it as it will prove that we intend to live here, not there.
At any rate, please pray!! We want to get to this States this year!
More updates to come.
We will be leaving on Feb. 21st and will be working on both of our visa's until the 27th.
We are working on getting him a tourist visa, which will allow him to be in the States for 90 days, during which time he can apply for a 90 day extension. The visa is apparently good for ten years, which is the reason we are going that route. The process involves collecting all our paperwork to prove that we intent to return, we have reason to return, we have the funds to support us while we are there, and we have good reason to be there. Next, there is an interview that lasts 3-5 minutes, in which he presents everything. I just found out (and am very excited!) that by the end of the interview we will know if he is approved or denied. We should also know how long before he will have his visa and can travel.
PLEASE PRAY FOR FAVOR!!!
Apparently, we bring all the paperwork to be prepared, but the officer may or may not even look at any of it. I believe that with obtaining my Peruvian residency, we should have a good chance of getting it as it will prove that we intend to live here, not there.
At any rate, please pray!! We want to get to this States this year!
More updates to come.
Our Trip to Colombia
Our trip to Colombia was squished in the middle of Kelsey leaving, us moving, and heading back to the jungle.
We went by way of speed boat, which was only an 8-9 hour trip. We landed at the edge of Peru and had to take a small wooden fishing boat to Colombia. The fun started there, because Nelton has never been out of his country. Nelton had our stuff loaded in the boat and I told him he better ask and make sure that this particular boat accepted soles (Peruvian currency). Nelton, working with USD and Soles in the ministry, but never having a problem with people accepting soles, asked. When the man heard the question, he took our luggage and threw it on the dock without even verbally responding. Nelton was a bit shocked. I really didn’t think that culture shock would be an issue for Nelton, because it’s another South American culture, but he went through it. It was his first time out of Peru.
Leticia Colombia is where we had to get my stamps in my passport and pay a fee for residency. This is the point where Brazil, Peru, and Colombia all come together. You can see the other two countries from whatever countries bank you are on. The change was indeed different between the three countries. Colombia and Brazil have very developed towns/cities with electricity, concrete buildings, paved streets, cars, motorcycles, busses, businesses, hotels, etc. Leticia, especially was my favorite. They have many laws about noise and litter, so the streets are clean and tranquil. It’s almost like a sweet little town from the 1950‘s, everyone is friendly and helpful, most people walk, and there is an overall sense of hospitality and community.
The Peruvian side, on the other hand, is a typical jungle village and feels a good 50-100 years behind the other two countries. Most buildings are huts, there is one sidewalk that runs through the middle of the village, it’s dirty with litter, and though there is electricity and running water, it’s still run by generators and both only work at certain hours of the day.
Before we even arrived, Nelton was set on staying in Peru and traveling back and forth between Colombia and Peru. In my mind, lets stay in Colombia and really experience the country (I love traveling!). I’d never been to Colombia, so to me we’d get a fuller experience if we slept, ate, played, and worked in Colombia. Plus, I had already made reservations at a mission house, recommended by other missionaries.
So back to the story, we ended up changing some soles for pesos in Peru, not even sure what the value of the money was, so we could get to Colombia. The exchange rate was something like $1,900 Colombian Pesos for $1, it made for crazy math between soles, USD, and Pesos so that we were both clear on how much stuff cost. It was even harder for me at first, because Nelton exchanged the money and couldn’t remember exactly what the rate was. Once I had a good rate in my head, I had no problem, but everything costs like $6,000 or $25,000 and stuff, so it took Nelton a while to figure it out. It was so fun! We would exchange money and he would be like “I’m so right I have THOUSANDS of pesos!” Then a taxi ride for an hour would be like $18,000 pesos. And so after one ride or one meal, we’d see ourselves getting poorer.
When we got to Colombia, we didn’t have enough pesos to get a taxi, so we walked over the whole city twice, looking for the mission house. When we couldn’t find it, we had to go to the internet to look up directions, then walked back across town and discovered, we had passed it twice, but there was no sign on the outside and it was locked up with chains. We had even knocked there once, with no answer. When we arrived at the same place, Nelton was ready to just go to another place, and I should have listened. But being the typical North American, I was like “No, I’ve already made arrangements, we can’t just not show up.” So I stood there knocking and yelling in the gate for like 10 minutes before a Colombian sheepishly came to the gate. Well, they knew nothing of our plans to stay. Apparently, the director was in the States, and while he said everything would be set up, he neglected to inform the staff in Colombia.
From the moment of our arrival, we felt like an inconvenience. As comical as the story goes, and as much as I enjoy telling the story, I will spare the details. In short, we had to walk between the two buildings several times, which are a few blocks apart (at which point I was EXHAUSTED and just wanted to REST!) to work out the details. They finally got a room set up for us. Throughout that time we learned that we had to observe curfew, didn’t have keys to the outside gate (meaning yelling and knocking would have been a regular occurrence), had a schedule for meal time, had to wash our own dishes after mealtime, and such. Not a problem, but along with doing all the paperwork, I was hoping to enjoy our time in Colombia.
When we finally got our room, I felt like the place would redeem itself with AC, but that ended up being broken, shattering my heart. It’s been FOREVER since I have had the relief of AC, and was looking forward to it. So I was not too happy when on top of everything else, that was broken too. The straw that broke the camels back was when the water ran out as Nelton was showering. When I told the staff we would probably look for another place, as the schedule didn’t really fit with the work we had to do (we thought we would be free to come and go as we pleased in order to get the work done), and that the water ran out. He told me I just had to go down and manually pump it, which was news to me.
Long story short, Nelton was NOT excited about Colombia. Culture shock was rapid and harsh to him. He missed Peru and was ready to pack it up and head home after 2 hours in Colombia. I just laughed, we both really laughed our way through the miscommunication with the mission house. They were gracious and understood when we did end up looking for other accommodations.
So, we set out by foot, again, to look for a new hotel. Most were full because of a Colombian holiday the following day. But we ended up finding a good one, and it only cost a few dollars more than the Mission House.
When we finally settled into our new accommodations, it was getting late, but Nelton was starting to enjoy the adventure of a new culture. So we hit the streets, Nelton’s idea. I was exhausted, but we just walked up and down main street to see what the place was like. The following day we had to go back to Peru to stamp out at immigrations. As the small fishing boat was pulling up to Peru, Nelton looked at his country, in comparison to the beautiful town we had just come from and said, “This is so embarrassing. I hate my country! It’s so disgusting.” He started seeing all the litter and trash and was like “Why do they do that?” I laughed so hard and only said, “Reverse culture shocks 100 times worse.” Then I lovingly reminded him he wanted to stay in Peru, he was like “NO way! We are going back to Colombia as soon as we can. It was a good eye opener for him. I can only imagine his trip to the States.
We enjoyed the bakeries (it’s been FOREVER since I’ve had good bread!), and just the simplicity of the town. Running around, getting the visa stuff done went smoothly and we completed our mission for my residency in Colombia. Now, come to find out I have to go to Lima, more about that in the next post.
The big adventure is that we ran out of money, we had no idea how much Colombia would cost, and it was a little more pricey than Peru. I think because it is a more touristy place, and if not touristy, several people have to go there to complete that step for residency. I didn’t think it was a problem, because I had an ATM card, only, I ended up being locked out of my ATM in Colombia. So, yeah, mom came to the rescue via facebook (thanks those who saw our 911 and responded) and we got our money. We didn’t go to Brazil until the last day, when all our paperwork was done, and it’s probably a good thing, because I’m sure it would have been overwhelming for Nelton. Brazil, of course, is not only a different currency, but a whole different language too. It did have a distinct feel to it, but I could still see a lot of South America in it. We only a little bit of money, and we needed to save some of it for our boat ride back to Peru, so we walked most of the town and didn’t buy anything, except for supper. By this time, Nelton was loving other cultures and surprised me when he whipped out some Portuguese, he had picked some up on TV and sounded native to me. Of course, what would I know?
It ended up being a wonderful trip. Aside from getting all the paperwork done, we enjoyed our first get-a-way as a married couple. To me, it was more of a honeymoon than our honeymoon because we were away from everyone we knew. Our after the wedding honeymoon was spent in Iquitos, and we had phone calls, Nelton ended up needing to run errends for the ministry, and we even had a few guests show up to see our honeymoon suite. Needless-to-say, it was not just us.
At least in Colombia, we knew when we could work, because Colombian Immigrations and Peruvian Consulate had hours of operation. So we worked during those times, and enjoyed ourselves the rest of the time.
We went by way of speed boat, which was only an 8-9 hour trip. We landed at the edge of Peru and had to take a small wooden fishing boat to Colombia. The fun started there, because Nelton has never been out of his country. Nelton had our stuff loaded in the boat and I told him he better ask and make sure that this particular boat accepted soles (Peruvian currency). Nelton, working with USD and Soles in the ministry, but never having a problem with people accepting soles, asked. When the man heard the question, he took our luggage and threw it on the dock without even verbally responding. Nelton was a bit shocked. I really didn’t think that culture shock would be an issue for Nelton, because it’s another South American culture, but he went through it. It was his first time out of Peru.
Leticia Colombia is where we had to get my stamps in my passport and pay a fee for residency. This is the point where Brazil, Peru, and Colombia all come together. You can see the other two countries from whatever countries bank you are on. The change was indeed different between the three countries. Colombia and Brazil have very developed towns/cities with electricity, concrete buildings, paved streets, cars, motorcycles, busses, businesses, hotels, etc. Leticia, especially was my favorite. They have many laws about noise and litter, so the streets are clean and tranquil. It’s almost like a sweet little town from the 1950‘s, everyone is friendly and helpful, most people walk, and there is an overall sense of hospitality and community.
The Peruvian side, on the other hand, is a typical jungle village and feels a good 50-100 years behind the other two countries. Most buildings are huts, there is one sidewalk that runs through the middle of the village, it’s dirty with litter, and though there is electricity and running water, it’s still run by generators and both only work at certain hours of the day.
Before we even arrived, Nelton was set on staying in Peru and traveling back and forth between Colombia and Peru. In my mind, lets stay in Colombia and really experience the country (I love traveling!). I’d never been to Colombia, so to me we’d get a fuller experience if we slept, ate, played, and worked in Colombia. Plus, I had already made reservations at a mission house, recommended by other missionaries.
So back to the story, we ended up changing some soles for pesos in Peru, not even sure what the value of the money was, so we could get to Colombia. The exchange rate was something like $1,900 Colombian Pesos for $1, it made for crazy math between soles, USD, and Pesos so that we were both clear on how much stuff cost. It was even harder for me at first, because Nelton exchanged the money and couldn’t remember exactly what the rate was. Once I had a good rate in my head, I had no problem, but everything costs like $6,000 or $25,000 and stuff, so it took Nelton a while to figure it out. It was so fun! We would exchange money and he would be like “I’m so right I have THOUSANDS of pesos!” Then a taxi ride for an hour would be like $18,000 pesos. And so after one ride or one meal, we’d see ourselves getting poorer.
When we got to Colombia, we didn’t have enough pesos to get a taxi, so we walked over the whole city twice, looking for the mission house. When we couldn’t find it, we had to go to the internet to look up directions, then walked back across town and discovered, we had passed it twice, but there was no sign on the outside and it was locked up with chains. We had even knocked there once, with no answer. When we arrived at the same place, Nelton was ready to just go to another place, and I should have listened. But being the typical North American, I was like “No, I’ve already made arrangements, we can’t just not show up.” So I stood there knocking and yelling in the gate for like 10 minutes before a Colombian sheepishly came to the gate. Well, they knew nothing of our plans to stay. Apparently, the director was in the States, and while he said everything would be set up, he neglected to inform the staff in Colombia.
From the moment of our arrival, we felt like an inconvenience. As comical as the story goes, and as much as I enjoy telling the story, I will spare the details. In short, we had to walk between the two buildings several times, which are a few blocks apart (at which point I was EXHAUSTED and just wanted to REST!) to work out the details. They finally got a room set up for us. Throughout that time we learned that we had to observe curfew, didn’t have keys to the outside gate (meaning yelling and knocking would have been a regular occurrence), had a schedule for meal time, had to wash our own dishes after mealtime, and such. Not a problem, but along with doing all the paperwork, I was hoping to enjoy our time in Colombia.
When we finally got our room, I felt like the place would redeem itself with AC, but that ended up being broken, shattering my heart. It’s been FOREVER since I have had the relief of AC, and was looking forward to it. So I was not too happy when on top of everything else, that was broken too. The straw that broke the camels back was when the water ran out as Nelton was showering. When I told the staff we would probably look for another place, as the schedule didn’t really fit with the work we had to do (we thought we would be free to come and go as we pleased in order to get the work done), and that the water ran out. He told me I just had to go down and manually pump it, which was news to me.
Long story short, Nelton was NOT excited about Colombia. Culture shock was rapid and harsh to him. He missed Peru and was ready to pack it up and head home after 2 hours in Colombia. I just laughed, we both really laughed our way through the miscommunication with the mission house. They were gracious and understood when we did end up looking for other accommodations.
So, we set out by foot, again, to look for a new hotel. Most were full because of a Colombian holiday the following day. But we ended up finding a good one, and it only cost a few dollars more than the Mission House.
When we finally settled into our new accommodations, it was getting late, but Nelton was starting to enjoy the adventure of a new culture. So we hit the streets, Nelton’s idea. I was exhausted, but we just walked up and down main street to see what the place was like. The following day we had to go back to Peru to stamp out at immigrations. As the small fishing boat was pulling up to Peru, Nelton looked at his country, in comparison to the beautiful town we had just come from and said, “This is so embarrassing. I hate my country! It’s so disgusting.” He started seeing all the litter and trash and was like “Why do they do that?” I laughed so hard and only said, “Reverse culture shocks 100 times worse.” Then I lovingly reminded him he wanted to stay in Peru, he was like “NO way! We are going back to Colombia as soon as we can. It was a good eye opener for him. I can only imagine his trip to the States.
We enjoyed the bakeries (it’s been FOREVER since I’ve had good bread!), and just the simplicity of the town. Running around, getting the visa stuff done went smoothly and we completed our mission for my residency in Colombia. Now, come to find out I have to go to Lima, more about that in the next post.
The big adventure is that we ran out of money, we had no idea how much Colombia would cost, and it was a little more pricey than Peru. I think because it is a more touristy place, and if not touristy, several people have to go there to complete that step for residency. I didn’t think it was a problem, because I had an ATM card, only, I ended up being locked out of my ATM in Colombia. So, yeah, mom came to the rescue via facebook (thanks those who saw our 911 and responded) and we got our money. We didn’t go to Brazil until the last day, when all our paperwork was done, and it’s probably a good thing, because I’m sure it would have been overwhelming for Nelton. Brazil, of course, is not only a different currency, but a whole different language too. It did have a distinct feel to it, but I could still see a lot of South America in it. We only a little bit of money, and we needed to save some of it for our boat ride back to Peru, so we walked most of the town and didn’t buy anything, except for supper. By this time, Nelton was loving other cultures and surprised me when he whipped out some Portuguese, he had picked some up on TV and sounded native to me. Of course, what would I know?
It ended up being a wonderful trip. Aside from getting all the paperwork done, we enjoyed our first get-a-way as a married couple. To me, it was more of a honeymoon than our honeymoon because we were away from everyone we knew. Our after the wedding honeymoon was spent in Iquitos, and we had phone calls, Nelton ended up needing to run errends for the ministry, and we even had a few guests show up to see our honeymoon suite. Needless-to-say, it was not just us.
At least in Colombia, we knew when we could work, because Colombian Immigrations and Peruvian Consulate had hours of operation. So we worked during those times, and enjoyed ourselves the rest of the time.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
The Move
About ten minutes before Kelsey left, we found out an apartment 2 doors down had opened up, for only $24 more a month. We checked it out and said “yes!” 2 rooms, a kitchen with a sink and counters, a living room, and bathroom! All that or a room 3 times smaller than my dorm at school!? YES PLEASE!
So the day after Kels left, we were picking paint and for the next few days the boys were painting. It is amazing. After our trip to Colombia, we moved in and I settled things as much as I could over the weekend. Then we had a week long trip to the jungle and have been back for a little over a week now. We have really been settling into the place and getting some furniture made. We probably have spent a little over $200 on furniture, but it’s bought us a large book shelf, 2 sofas (which are still being made and I haven’t seen. Nelton designed them), a table, four chairs, and a TV shelf/stand. In months ahead, I’d like to get a desk and potentially some other small items/shelves. But for now it’s all more than I have had for the past 6 months and I am enjoying it like crazy! Plus, the space we have for a kitchen! We did have like a 2-3 foot space to stand in and cook, (ha, it was a joke!) and we did dishes in the shower. Now I have counter space and a kitchen sink! Our small fridge and stovetop are our appliances, in addition to our “house warming treats” I bought on our first day in the house. There was an offer for a coffeepot and toaster together for like $14 less than normal, and as there are never deals here, it was the best I could get. In the future it’d be nice to have an oven, blender, microwave, and possibly a mixer, but for now I’m just thankful for the counters and kitchen sink. NOT TO MENTION A TABLE AND CHAIRS! It feels like a home, instead of picnicing on the floor or bed, as there was no other space in our room for anything else. It’s funny how thankful you are for the small things after living without them for so long.
So the day after Kels left, we were picking paint and for the next few days the boys were painting. It is amazing. After our trip to Colombia, we moved in and I settled things as much as I could over the weekend. Then we had a week long trip to the jungle and have been back for a little over a week now. We have really been settling into the place and getting some furniture made. We probably have spent a little over $200 on furniture, but it’s bought us a large book shelf, 2 sofas (which are still being made and I haven’t seen. Nelton designed them), a table, four chairs, and a TV shelf/stand. In months ahead, I’d like to get a desk and potentially some other small items/shelves. But for now it’s all more than I have had for the past 6 months and I am enjoying it like crazy! Plus, the space we have for a kitchen! We did have like a 2-3 foot space to stand in and cook, (ha, it was a joke!) and we did dishes in the shower. Now I have counter space and a kitchen sink! Our small fridge and stovetop are our appliances, in addition to our “house warming treats” I bought on our first day in the house. There was an offer for a coffeepot and toaster together for like $14 less than normal, and as there are never deals here, it was the best I could get. In the future it’d be nice to have an oven, blender, microwave, and possibly a mixer, but for now I’m just thankful for the counters and kitchen sink. NOT TO MENTION A TABLE AND CHAIRS! It feels like a home, instead of picnicing on the floor or bed, as there was no other space in our room for anything else. It’s funny how thankful you are for the small things after living without them for so long.
Kelsey Cameron’s Trip: Feliz Navidad 2009 and Bringing in 2010
When Kelsey Cameron arrived, we weren’t really sure what the next few weeks would look like. Our plan was to go out to the jungle for a week or so to meet up with the team and for her to meet Nelton (DUH!) and to spend the holidays with him. However, she flew through Mexico and her suitcase never made it to Peru, which wouldn’t really have been a problem, except my malaria pills were in there and I couldn’t go to the jungle without them.
In addition, immigrations had called me into the office to let me know my paperwork was ready to travel. I had to go to Colombia before Jan. 6th (Kelsey would be leaving the 7th) for the next step in my residency. The 6th was when my tourist visa expired. If I couldn’t go by then, I needed to go back to immigrations and get my extension. At that point, we were toying with the idea of going to Colombia together, but really didn’t want to go without Nelton, and weren’t sure if he would be able to leave the jungle. So in the next 18 hours, we did what others told us couldn’t be done. We tracked down her suitcase and recovered it, cleared everything with immigrations so that I could travel, and boarded a launcha and started our voyage to the jungle.
The trip to the jungle in the launcha was interesting. It was my first time really traveling since being pregnant and the only launcha leaving was the smallest one, and it was PACKED! In addition, due to the pregnancy I’ve had to go to the bathroom more than often and the conditions on the boat were less than desirable. Everytime I went to the bathroom, the stench caused a stomache reaction leaving me wanting to or actually vomiting. So it was a battle between the lesser of two evils for the whole 48 hours on board.
In addition, the older man in the hammock next to me, who we affectionately named “Jillian,” seemed to find the only comfortable way to sleep was with his knee bulging out of his hammock into my back or over my hammock (I adjusted my own hammock a couple of times to find a comfortable way to sleep). At one point Kelsey let me use her hammock for a couple hours to take a nice uninterrupted nap, which ironically was the only time during the whole trip Jillian decided to rest himself on a bench rather than in the hammock. Oh, Jillian, how I will never forget you. Both on the launcha and the other boat trip, Kelsey wasted no time in bonding with the kids. Nearly all the girls on the Launcha were braiding there hair like Kelsey by the end of the trip, and she had quite the little fan club that would huddle around her hammock to learn all about the United States... and Michael Jackson. HA!
They could care less about me or what I had to say, which became clear when one girl asked if it snowed in the USofA, I replied that “yes, indeed it does.” She quickly looked at me and said, “NO! ASK HER!”
Among those we hung out with in the jungle, Kelsey quickly took the reputation as “the Brittney Spears of the jungle,” for her fame surpassed what we ever imagined. If Kelsey was the famous one, within 2 seconds it was clear that I became the “backstage help” or “props department.” At one point I was trying to relax a bit, the girls would go on with Kelsey in Spanish, and though she picked up a word here and there, she didn’t understand nearly as much as they thought she did. During the rambling, they asked her a question and when she didn’t respond one of the girls said, “No. You have to ask her translator.” We got the biggest kick out of what our duo was seen as on that launcha.
We arrived in Union to an overjoyed husband awaiting my arrival. We spent the night in Union and then headed to Estreno.
In Estreno, what became known as “Camp Estreno” started for Kels and I. It felt like we were at camp, because we slept in different “cabins,” ate at “the mess hall” at the same time together, played lots of games, and scheduled our “shower house” visits (river baths) at the same time. In addition, everyone on the team had their jobs, but Kels and I were just there and everyone wanted us to just enjoy our time. Which we did.
The jobs given to us quickly became known as our activities, which were sewing the covers over all the mattresses used for mission trips. In the heat of the day, it was an “activity” that drug on. What would have taken one Peruvian an afternoon to complete, we stretched out over three days or more, but it’s not like we had a whole other list of things to do. We did make our way to the farm from time to time to help Nelton. We were responsible to feed the 30 some rabbits, and all the chickens and ducks. We did enjoy that activity, we named all the rabbits, though we could probably only recall half of the names to this day.
We also had at least two days that we did laundry down at the river. The first day we went at it on our own, with the help of some of the little girls in the village, until they tired out and decided playing was a better option. The next day, we had “Counselor Nelton” as our teacher, and boy did we get a lesson in river laundry, that boy knows his stuff.
We also pulled of some fun activities with Nelton and “Captain Jaime,” such as our “Feliz Navidad 2009 Christmas Canoe Trip.” It was amazing as they took us back through a side river which had been swamped with all the rain, so we basically canoed through the jungle. Had we been alone, we would have never found our way out. But thankfully, Captain Jaime is no amateur. He was a professional fisherman before deciding to follow Christ and serve him, therefore he became known as our “Modern day Peter (or Pedro).”
We also had a photo shoot one night where Kelsey whipped out her photography skills and wowed us all. The boys really got into it and put our enthusiasm to shame. Another night, new years maybe?, we had a bonfire complete with marshmallows, which Kelsey taught the boys how to make perfectly. And what would the trip be without Nelton putting to use his culinary skills with french toast and homemade late night french fries.
As we got closer to “Feliz Navidad,” Kelsey and I both began thinking about Christmas in a way we had never thought before, the sacrifice of Christmas. It was our first Christmas in a foreign land without family, friends, and the normal trimmings, we were struck by the simplicity of the first Christmas as it was that day that God in the form of man left glory to be with us. Who even knew? Mary, Joseph, the heavenly hosts, and a few shepherds, but the rest of the world slept on in silence. Even though we had a Christmas eve service with the whole village, we still found ourselves finally enjoying the simpler and more significant side of Christmas.
As the simple side of Christmas was enjoyed, we were surprised by being asked to speak at the villages Christmas Eve service, probably an hour before the service. So we simply shared what God had been teaching us. Kelsey spoke, I translated, then I spoke a bit in Spanish, but we kept it short and simple. The night preceded with Eric (“activities director”) leading us all in several games, which, might I add, Nelton and I won the gaseosa (pop) for the married couple game! Then we all watched the movie “Fire Proof.”
I believe it was the 2nd or 3rd of Jan. that we all headed back to Iquitos. We made the trip in a day I think, it’s kinda a blur.
Needless to say, we had a few days to enjoy Iquitos, which included shopping, the zoo, frozen lemonade, the Peruvain “theme park” you might be able to call it, an ultrasound (to see if we could find the sex of the baby), and just loving life. Even though I’ve focused on the details and we did have a blast, her trip for me was hallmarked by all our deep discussions and encouraging talks. It was an incredible time with KJ and I’m so thankful for her visit.
In addition, immigrations had called me into the office to let me know my paperwork was ready to travel. I had to go to Colombia before Jan. 6th (Kelsey would be leaving the 7th) for the next step in my residency. The 6th was when my tourist visa expired. If I couldn’t go by then, I needed to go back to immigrations and get my extension. At that point, we were toying with the idea of going to Colombia together, but really didn’t want to go without Nelton, and weren’t sure if he would be able to leave the jungle. So in the next 18 hours, we did what others told us couldn’t be done. We tracked down her suitcase and recovered it, cleared everything with immigrations so that I could travel, and boarded a launcha and started our voyage to the jungle.
The trip to the jungle in the launcha was interesting. It was my first time really traveling since being pregnant and the only launcha leaving was the smallest one, and it was PACKED! In addition, due to the pregnancy I’ve had to go to the bathroom more than often and the conditions on the boat were less than desirable. Everytime I went to the bathroom, the stench caused a stomache reaction leaving me wanting to or actually vomiting. So it was a battle between the lesser of two evils for the whole 48 hours on board.
In addition, the older man in the hammock next to me, who we affectionately named “Jillian,” seemed to find the only comfortable way to sleep was with his knee bulging out of his hammock into my back or over my hammock (I adjusted my own hammock a couple of times to find a comfortable way to sleep). At one point Kelsey let me use her hammock for a couple hours to take a nice uninterrupted nap, which ironically was the only time during the whole trip Jillian decided to rest himself on a bench rather than in the hammock. Oh, Jillian, how I will never forget you. Both on the launcha and the other boat trip, Kelsey wasted no time in bonding with the kids. Nearly all the girls on the Launcha were braiding there hair like Kelsey by the end of the trip, and she had quite the little fan club that would huddle around her hammock to learn all about the United States... and Michael Jackson. HA!
They could care less about me or what I had to say, which became clear when one girl asked if it snowed in the USofA, I replied that “yes, indeed it does.” She quickly looked at me and said, “NO! ASK HER!”
Among those we hung out with in the jungle, Kelsey quickly took the reputation as “the Brittney Spears of the jungle,” for her fame surpassed what we ever imagined. If Kelsey was the famous one, within 2 seconds it was clear that I became the “backstage help” or “props department.” At one point I was trying to relax a bit, the girls would go on with Kelsey in Spanish, and though she picked up a word here and there, she didn’t understand nearly as much as they thought she did. During the rambling, they asked her a question and when she didn’t respond one of the girls said, “No. You have to ask her translator.” We got the biggest kick out of what our duo was seen as on that launcha.
We arrived in Union to an overjoyed husband awaiting my arrival. We spent the night in Union and then headed to Estreno.
In Estreno, what became known as “Camp Estreno” started for Kels and I. It felt like we were at camp, because we slept in different “cabins,” ate at “the mess hall” at the same time together, played lots of games, and scheduled our “shower house” visits (river baths) at the same time. In addition, everyone on the team had their jobs, but Kels and I were just there and everyone wanted us to just enjoy our time. Which we did.
The jobs given to us quickly became known as our activities, which were sewing the covers over all the mattresses used for mission trips. In the heat of the day, it was an “activity” that drug on. What would have taken one Peruvian an afternoon to complete, we stretched out over three days or more, but it’s not like we had a whole other list of things to do. We did make our way to the farm from time to time to help Nelton. We were responsible to feed the 30 some rabbits, and all the chickens and ducks. We did enjoy that activity, we named all the rabbits, though we could probably only recall half of the names to this day.
We also had at least two days that we did laundry down at the river. The first day we went at it on our own, with the help of some of the little girls in the village, until they tired out and decided playing was a better option. The next day, we had “Counselor Nelton” as our teacher, and boy did we get a lesson in river laundry, that boy knows his stuff.
We also pulled of some fun activities with Nelton and “Captain Jaime,” such as our “Feliz Navidad 2009 Christmas Canoe Trip.” It was amazing as they took us back through a side river which had been swamped with all the rain, so we basically canoed through the jungle. Had we been alone, we would have never found our way out. But thankfully, Captain Jaime is no amateur. He was a professional fisherman before deciding to follow Christ and serve him, therefore he became known as our “Modern day Peter (or Pedro).”
We also had a photo shoot one night where Kelsey whipped out her photography skills and wowed us all. The boys really got into it and put our enthusiasm to shame. Another night, new years maybe?, we had a bonfire complete with marshmallows, which Kelsey taught the boys how to make perfectly. And what would the trip be without Nelton putting to use his culinary skills with french toast and homemade late night french fries.
As we got closer to “Feliz Navidad,” Kelsey and I both began thinking about Christmas in a way we had never thought before, the sacrifice of Christmas. It was our first Christmas in a foreign land without family, friends, and the normal trimmings, we were struck by the simplicity of the first Christmas as it was that day that God in the form of man left glory to be with us. Who even knew? Mary, Joseph, the heavenly hosts, and a few shepherds, but the rest of the world slept on in silence. Even though we had a Christmas eve service with the whole village, we still found ourselves finally enjoying the simpler and more significant side of Christmas.
As the simple side of Christmas was enjoyed, we were surprised by being asked to speak at the villages Christmas Eve service, probably an hour before the service. So we simply shared what God had been teaching us. Kelsey spoke, I translated, then I spoke a bit in Spanish, but we kept it short and simple. The night preceded with Eric (“activities director”) leading us all in several games, which, might I add, Nelton and I won the gaseosa (pop) for the married couple game! Then we all watched the movie “Fire Proof.”
I believe it was the 2nd or 3rd of Jan. that we all headed back to Iquitos. We made the trip in a day I think, it’s kinda a blur.
Needless to say, we had a few days to enjoy Iquitos, which included shopping, the zoo, frozen lemonade, the Peruvain “theme park” you might be able to call it, an ultrasound (to see if we could find the sex of the baby), and just loving life. Even though I’ve focused on the details and we did have a blast, her trip for me was hallmarked by all our deep discussions and encouraging talks. It was an incredible time with KJ and I’m so thankful for her visit.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
The short version of the long news
The first thing is that my visit with Kelsey Cameron for 2 1/2 weeks was AMAZING!!
Second is that the last day Kelsey was here an apartment opened up 2 doors down from us. So we moved from a one bed-room room with a bathroom to a 2-bedroom, 1- bathroom, kitchen, and living room apartment for only $25 more a month! Actually, we got it painted in 2 days, then...
We went to Colombia for 4 days to get my residency and visa to live in Peru! They send you to Colombia.
THEN... we got home and the last two days were moving and unpacking.
NOW, we are heading back to the jungle tomorrow.
I'll bring my computer and get the good stories typed up on this trip in the jungle and post them when I see the internet again.
It's been a whirlwind, but I love it!!
Second is that the last day Kelsey was here an apartment opened up 2 doors down from us. So we moved from a one bed-room room with a bathroom to a 2-bedroom, 1- bathroom, kitchen, and living room apartment for only $25 more a month! Actually, we got it painted in 2 days, then...
We went to Colombia for 4 days to get my residency and visa to live in Peru! They send you to Colombia.
THEN... we got home and the last two days were moving and unpacking.
NOW, we are heading back to the jungle tomorrow.
I'll bring my computer and get the good stories typed up on this trip in the jungle and post them when I see the internet again.
It's been a whirlwind, but I love it!!
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