Follow You...to Chincha

(Aleah, Tamara, Dani and Emily at the clinic)

Saludos!

Where did we leave off… ahh yes, we were about to be reunited with our Peruvian family. After a few hours of sleep, we packed ourselves back up and headed to church. Our excitement mounted as we rounded the familiar hill revealing Esperanza Viva. As expected, we were welcomed with shouts of joy, giant smiles and numerous hugs.

Service was full of life and people. One can’t help but smile when Lucho, the pastor of the church, belts out a hearty rendition of “Tu y Yo.” The song’s lyrics proclaim how a Christian is called by God to engage in the battle of faith and to share God’s greatness to the world. Here are the words to the chorus:

Tu y yo, somos un pueblo [You and I, are a people]
Tu y yo preparados [You and I, are prepared]
Para mostrar las grandezas del Senor [To show God’s greatness to the world]
Para tomar la tierra que El nos entrego [To take the world that he has handed us]

The service finished up and many sweet reunions continued to take place. What a privilege it is to step into church and be the recipients of such love and hospitality!

Next up on the agenda was the bus ride to Chincha. Kay, one of our host missionaries, reminded us that Peruvians don’t do activities by time but by event. By this she meant that the arrival of the bus was the next big event of the day but we didn’t know exactly when that would happen. So to pass the time, a few team members went to visit our previous “water boy” Manuel and a few soaked up the 85 degree sun in the park.

It was an AHOD event upon the bus’s arrival (all hands on deck). We successfully packed 14 Americans, 33 Peruvians, the Panaggios, 14 action packers, everyone’s luggage, band equipment, and food for everyone on the bus. What an opportunity to bond!

(Our bus to Chincha)

After the 3 hour ride, we arrived in Chincha and got our first few glimpses of how the town has recovered since the earthquake in 2007. Many building had been rebuilt but many piles of rubble still remained. The clinic will take place in a enclosed school building (students are on summer vacation) that is clearly the crowning jewel of the area.

The next few hours were filled with clinic preparations by sorting action packers and putting final touches on the flow or direction people will take tomorrow. Also during this time, many of us remembered how much fun it is to be a kid as we tested out the teeter-toters, swings and slide. And of course, the highlight of the afternoon was finding out the PACKERS ARE GOING TO THE SUPERBOWL! In order to find out the results, we had to call Jim’s son to look up the score online. Let’s just say there was some dancing, hooting and hollering that made the Peruvians laugh at us…

(Doug and Terry waiting to hear the results. Terry had false hope and yes, yes that is a Reggie White jersey that Doug is wearing)

The last event of the day was another worship service for the people of Chincha. As the sun dipped below the horizon, we turned on some floodlights and praised the Lord once again. Doug Galuk gave his testimony for the group (using mostly Spanish-wow!) and another message was given and then it was time to head to the hotel.

Due to complications in bus contracts, each member of our 50 person team had to take a 15 minute taxi ride to our hotel. Now, if you’ve been in a taxi in any other country (or sometimes our own), you know the thought process of, “Umm, are you going to stop? That bus is way bigger than us… No. Okay, we’ll just weave our way around them. Yep, almost got hit but not quite. Close call. Umm there’s a car coming right at us! I’m just going to close my eyes. Whew! We made it past, not sure quite how, but we made it. And- pothole! Boom! Sure didn’t miss that one.” And the dialogue could continue.

Needless to say, there are very few accidents here because everyone drives like this. And, everyone on the team made it safely. At this point, we were exhausted. We could have easily gone straight to bed with out any dinner. As it neared 9:30 pm, we checked into our rooms and met in the lobby to walk to the restaurant for dinner.

We ate family style at a Chinese restaurant about 6 blocks away. If you want to picture some irony, just think of 14 Americans and 30 some Peruvians mixed together eating vegetables and rice with chop sticks. Love it!

We didn’t realize how hungry we were until we started gorging ourselves on the multiple food options. With full bellies, we walked back to the hotel and hit the hay. Despite the sounds and smells of the city, no one had any problems zonking out.

Tomorrow, our first day of clinic. Bring it on!