changes in latitudes, changes in attitudes

Prayer & Fasting at Shalom House

2009-12-22T08:10:00.004-05:00

Dear friends and fellow Peacemakers:

In this season of advent, of expectation, we at Shalom House are feeling the expectation of new community members. We are feeling the burden of the longing for Peacemaking efforts to be multiplied among us. Out of a house meeting several weeks ago, we decided a day of prayer and fasting would be appropriate. We would like to invite you to join us, today, in our efforts to continually focus on God, to wait for His leading and listen for His guidance.

We will be fasting from food, however if for health or other reasons you are unable, please feel free to chose another thing to fast from. Below we have included three meditations to use throughout the day. Times included are suggestions, but please feel free to pray as you are able. As we go throughout our separate activities that day, we hope that we will take time to be together in spirit, as the Church, to center on God and his continual provision.

Thank you for your love and your support.

Here is a note, courtesy of Rod White, one of the Pastor's of Circle of Hope and a member of the Shalom House Guidance Team, who will be joinin gus in our fast today.
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We had a great blessing-of-a-feast last night – turkey, all the accoutrements, Gwen’s famous (or should be) dessert punch, amazing friends and comrades. Now for the fast.

The people of Shalom House have called for a fast today. Our friends over in their West Philly outpost are proactive peacemakers who just seem to get more devoted, creative and assertive all the time! They bless me. At our feast last night, as we toasted 2009 in various ways, someone got us to raise our glasses to the great triumph of shutting down Colissimo’s Gun Shop. Mimi even went to jail over that! In an age where, somehow, the “right to bear arms” has been interpreted as the right to flood the street with weapons designed for personal “shoot outs” and spraying the neighbors with semi-automatics, thank God for young women who don’t take “no” for an answer.

I invite anyone reading this to fast, in some way, with the people of Shalom House and their partners. Don’t eat a Christmas cookie for a couple of hours or send them a check for $50,000 – whatever works for you. And PRAY! This is what they are doing: “In this season of advent, of expectation, we at Shalom House are feeling the expectation of new community members. We are feeling the burden of the longing for Peacemaking efforts to be multiplied among us.” They want to do more and get more house members to do it with them! Thank you, Lord!

As part of their suggestions for what to do as we all pray with them today, they offer a quote from a great peacemaker we should never forget, Oscar Romero: “I do not tire of telling everyone, especially young people who long for their people’s liberation, that I admire their social and political sensitivity, but it saddens me when they waste it by going on ways that are false. Let us, too, all take notice that the great leader of our liberation is the Lord’s Anointed One, who comes to announce good news to the poor, to give freedom to the captives, to give news of the missing, to give joy to so many homes in mourning, so that society may be renewed as in the sabbatical years of Israel.” Someone still longs for jubilee! Someone is not so worn down, defeated, overwhelmed by evil, discouraged by hope that ends up in increased troops to Afghanistan, that they can’t still apply themselves to the cause of redemption! Thank you Lord! That is also a feast, and a grat motivation to fast and pray.

A Labor of Love

2009-11-06T10:01:00.002-05:00

Originally posted as a Facebook Note on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2009.

Many of you know, or by now have noticed, that i have particularly strong feelings when it comes to workers' rights, organized labor, and issues of the sort. Those of you who live in Philadelphia know that the Transit Workers Union Local 234 went on strike this morning at 3am. I feel the need now to elaborate a bit on my own connection to organized labor, as well as on my convictions for the bigger picture that i believe labor represents.

To start, the history of organized labor in the US alone is astounding. From the late 1800's through the mid to late 1900's, workers of all walks of life worked, fought, and even died for better working conditions; For a place at the table in the grand money making machine, not to be squashed by the great leap forward. Here is a brief timeline that outlines some of the major events and accomplishments in the American labor movement. I hope that many of you are familiar with some of the gains earned through workers bargaining: a minimum wage, 8-hour work days, a weekend, child labor laws, etc.

I have heard complaints that SEPTA workers have good jobs, while others struggle. That they make decent money, while so many scrape by on meager minimum wages. They have been called greedy and selfish (as tends to be the prevalent assumption about unions today). And i ask: is this a reason for SEPTA workers to give up and stop fighting for what they feel they deserve? No. Infact, the SEPTA workers ought to be inspiration to other workers that they don't have to settle for poor working conditions and less than adequate pay. The fact is that we live in a land with a rich history of people working to make conditions better-- not only for themselves, but for the other workers around them. And that, my friends, is the key to this argument. There is so much disconnect from those on strike now and those inconvenienced by the strike. The corporate media says the strike hurts "working families", and it without a doubt does. But lets not forget that the 5,100 SEPTA employees on strike are some of those very same working families. We are not on different sides; They call it a "union" for a reason. If you and your co-workers are unhappy with your pay, your benefits, your working conditions, get yourselves together and make requests for change. A lot of negotiating goes on before any labor dispute ever gets to the point of a strike. And make no mistake, a strike is not a publicity stunt. It is not for the faint hearted. It involves forfeiting your pay indefinitely, and possibly losing your job altogether, among other things. If this seems like a lot to ask, just remember all of the workers who came before you, and the things they lost and sacrificed to get us where we are today. Striking is not a recreational activity, and for that reason, i have to believe that the SEPTA workers have something reasonable to stand on. I don't know the whole story, i don't know the details of their previous contract (which expired in March), i don't know who has offered what in the negotiations this far. But i also know that i won't find most of that information by reading the paper. I might just make my way out to Fern Rock or Frankford Transportation to talk to the strikers, and get their side of the story. (For a look at the other side of the story from 2005, check out this article

As with anything, abuses happen. Entities become too big and too powerful, and there need to be checks and balances. Organized labor is no exception. However, I'm not asking you to throw yourself blindly to the Labor side of every dispute. But i am asking for a little respect. Some recognition of the work that needs to be done, and the courage and commitment it takes to organize with your fellow workers, and make your requests known.

And now for my totally non-objective weigh in on how i came to believe the way i do. In 1986 my dad worked for Hammermill Paper, Co, in Lock Haven, PA. He was an active member and leader in the United Paper Workers Local 1787. My dad is also the son of a long line of labor union workers; he often tells stories about the coal miners' union of his grandfather, which was also eventually devastatingly broken. In 1986 International Paper bought out Hammermill Paper, and in moves of swift capitalist greed at it's finest, "The company, which had recently recorded near-record profits, demanded wage give-backs, high monthly payments for health and other insurance, an end to double-time pay for work on Sundays, and the elimination of all holidays (including Christmas). The company then locked out the strikers." The strike lasted for over a year. International Paper hired permanent replacement workers, and thousands of men and women lost their jobs (and their leverage when the replacement workers moved in). My dad was among those formerly employed, greatly betrayed. Incidentally, my dad continued to do organizing work with various unions across the east coast. In 1988 he made a trip to Philadelphia to speak to a room full of Transit Workers from the Local 234.

I hope you will forgive me if my arguments are too impassioned. My beliefs are rooted in personal experience, and have grown to include fair and just working conditions (including wages, prices, benefits and trade policies) locally and globally. It's about sticking together, and working for each other. If you are unhappy with this situation, may i suggest that pointing fingers is no answer at all. We need to connect, and learn, and work together.

American Stories American Solutions

2008-10-30T07:17:00.001-05:00

Why Barack Obama?

2008-10-28T15:40:00.002-05:00

Hello friends,

Briefly, i wanted to share this bit of information, that someone shared with me. This organization, in their support of Senator Obama, does a great deal to explain the reasons behind why I am able, in my faith, to support Barack Obama as our next president. Please take a moment to look at the Matthew 25 website.

love,
emily

North Carolina Blue

2008-10-07T11:16:00.003-05:00

greetings! you know... Jimmy Buffett is a real wise guy. You may have noticed my blog title... for a while i considered changing it for this new phase of updates.. the whole election campaigning stuff. And, well, the two best options that have come along, are also both Jimmy Buffett songs. The title will not be changed, just because, as it turns out, i won't have time to do that. In fact, this is my first attempt at a clandestine update! Hopefully it goes well. Back to Jimmy.. the first appropriate option, is Incommunicado. It is clear by now that working 100+ hours a week does not lend itself well to keeping in touch. Therefore, if your phone rings and you see its me, go ahead an answer it, i'm probably inline at the Pita Pit and have decided to use my 5 free minutes to talk to you. Incommunicado is a great song, and a great word to describe my state for the next 4 weeks.

The other option, which was increasingly confirmed throughout my first few weeks in this job, is The Good Fight. I've had lots of people tell me to keep up the fight, or way to fight the good fight, etc. That makes me happy. Now, i don't mean to imply that if you are not fighting on my side this time around you are morally bankrupt or unintelligent... but i think The Good Fight has more to do with working hard for a cause you believe in. So, thanks to all my cheerleaders out there.. and keep up your own good fight at home!

As for how the fight is going, i started out in Philadelphia, training on a fundraising campaign for the ACLU, it was a great office with great people, and i learned a lot. But i was really excited to find i was being moved to DC to work on a DNC fundraising campaign about a week and a half into my employment. I was in DC for 3-4 days, its a bustling office with great energy. I was then co-opted to the recruitment-swat-team for North Carolina. If you're paying attention to the polls, NC looks like it may be a swinger this year... and i'm part of the machine thats making it that way. We have registered, in NC alone, tens of thousands of voters in the past few weeks. 37,000 democrats were registered in NC last week, and our campaign did half of if. Its an exciting thing to be a part of. My new favorite mantra is, "We're kicking ass and taking names." :) Voter registration ends in NC friday, and by Saturday i'll be headed to some other strategic state to dig in there. Its a wild ride.

That's most of the news for now. I miss my friends and family a ton, as is to be expected, and i even miss Philadelphia. But i'll be back in November, so don't forget me! And, if you get really curious about the jimmy buffett songs, they're both on Coconut Telegraph.... the titles are great, but the parallels to my life end there, the content of the songs is completely unrelated.

take care!

SWF: PHL > BZN

2008-07-13T20:54:00.001-05:00

I took a trip to Montana. It happened to be the week of the fourth of july. I happened to go alone. It was my little Independence vacation. I loved every second of it. There were some major themes in the responses i got and the questions people asked when i told them about my trip (in Pennsylvania and Montana).. things like, wow, you're brave, or you're going by yourself? aren't you afraid? and what's in Montana? Do you know people there?

Now, i run the risk of sounding arrogant here and i'm not trying to toot my own horn. I sincerely believe that the answers to these questions aren't just about me... they are about us as people, and what we chose to believe about other people and other places. I believe that some places are so worth seeing, and some things so worth experiencing, that the chances you take to get there are inherently a little bigger. And the rewards end up being bigger than we could have imagined. So, i give to you my findings from big sky country.... curiously void of serial killers posing as 20-something folk fans waiting in the bushes to rape and pillage me, and feed me to their herd of wild mountain goats...

I spent Sunday afternoon through tuesday morning in and around Bozeman, with my new friend Amanda, who i connected with on CouchSurfing.com She is fantastic. She picked me up from the airport, and took me to a small italian bakery, owned by a family who relocated from New Orleans after Katrina. We got coffee (with chickoree) and fresh blackberry basket pastries, yumm! So messy but so worth it!

Amanda, her boyfriend Brian, their friend Ben (the outdoor journalist and photographer) and I went hiking at the natural bridge on the boulder river, south and east of Bozeman. The bridge structure actually collapsed a number of years ago. But a few weeks out of the year, when the water is high, the river creates a pretty massive waterfall, and it was wild. We hiked and climbed around the waterfall for most of the afternoon.

The following day Amanda and I decided it would be a wise use of our time to pack it up and hike to Fairy Lake in the Bridger Mountains. Sacajawea is the highest peak in the Bridger Mountains, and also happens to be situated above Fairy Lake.

Amanda and i trekked up to the lake, with every intention of setting up camp, and continuing up Sacajawea. Unfortunately, there is still a good bit of snow on the mountains, and about half-way up we lost the trail. So, being on a mostly snow-covered, unfamiliar mountain, with no map and limited resources, we did what Chris McCandless would not have, we turned around and went back to our camp on the lake.

Amanda had picked up a book on wildflowers at the library before we left town, so we spent a large part of the afternoon hunting, photographing, and sometimes tasting flowers and plants. Later i explained the mechanics of a good campfire, and we were blazing in no time. With a hot dinner of fire roasted potatoes, some cheese, carrots, and fresh beef jerky from the meat shop in town.

Tuesday morning, after folding up the tent, and hiking off the mountain, i said my thank yous and good byes to Amanda, and met up with Lisa. Lisa was my ride to Storyhill Fest (the initial prompting for this trip!) Lisa and i connected through the Storyhill message board, and she graciously offered me a ride in her rental car, from Bozeman to Hyalite Youth camp. I had a fantastic time at the Festival-- two days of fabulous music, great weather, delicious food, and camping! Really, does life get any better? I discovered some new artists to enjoy, and met all kinds of fun people. It is a rather intimate gathering, someone described it as having stumbled upon a large family reunion in the woods, except everyone forgot you are not actually family, and they let you stay anyway!

Among the fun people were J & J, skiiers who'd moved to MT about 4 years ago, and are now on the get-rich-quick scheme, pyramid marketing wonder-juice of some sort to support their skiing habit.

Then there was A & D, newlyweds, who had been given a timeshare in Mexico for their wedding (and will be going on that trip later in the fall) but considered this their real honeymoon. They were really sweet, had a great sense of humor, and tried to hook me up with the sound guy (who we actually ran into in Bozeman a few days later, and turns out to be a pretty alright guy).

There there was S & her mom. As it turns out, S went to college with my sister in Chicago. Go figure, what a small world.

There was a whole crew of 20+ folks i'll bet, from Kerrville, TX; they were a trip.

H. H is the reason behind my free night in a king-sized bed and fancy french toast at the Hilton. :) She's an in-flight coordinator for private jets or something, and ended up with a room for an extra night, which she gave to Emma and I (more to come on Emma in a bit) because she had to catch a flight out of Salt Lake City at 6am.

Emma is a total gypsy, and a great new friend. She's originally from Canada, but has been traveling/living out of her car for about 3 years now. She's a total free-spirit, with a huge heart and an unabashed sense of adventure. I spent the rest of my days after the festival hanging with Emma, as well as Liz & Annie.

Liz & Annie are a really funny story too... Liz is the sister of the girlfriend of a former co-worker of mine, here in Philly. :) We met once, a few months ago, over dinner. Freakishly Storyhill Fest came up then, and i discovered she was going. So, when the serendipitous news came that i, too, would be going, i made a mental note to keep an eye out for her. Liz & Annie pitched their tent next to mine, and we proceeded to enjoy the festival together.

Liz, Annie, Emma & I explored Bozeman and the surrounding area together for the few days following the festival. We went white water rafting on the Gallatin river; We had dinner at some fun restaurants; We visited some "hot springs" which ended up being really just a spa with some heated pools... oh well, it was relaxing. We also checked out the next town up the road, Livingston. We perused the local 4th of July Arts show, typical arts fest goodies.

And then we hit up the Livingston Roundup... the annual rodeo! wahoo! Now, you know how much i love rodeo, and this is no exception. I had a good time. The barrel racing was a little too short, and of all the go-rounds, there were only two full rides during the bull-riding; a little disappointing. (Elaine, thank you for being the only one who cares about that.) The other disappointing, but totally classic thing was that, of all the lovely micro-brews and regional beers there are to enjoy, the rodeo is still apparently only sponsored by Bud & Coors. So, when in Rome...

Annie & Liz hit the road the next day to head back to Portland via Seattle. We were sad to say goodbye, but it was a total blast getting to know them. Super great girls. Here we are looking like the female version of The Outsiders... we rocked Bozeman.

Emma and i spent the next day hanging around, doing some (unfruitful) dumpster diving and chatting it up with some traveler kids on the street. I learned that pan-handling and busking are different. Apparently, just hanging out asking for money is pan-handling. Busking is when you do something for money, like play your guitar, harmonica, or banjo... or make your dog/monkey/parakeet dance on a box or something. They were cool kids, total vagabonds, and very young. We hung out with them for the rest of the evening. Emma took me to the airport at o-dark-thirty sunday morning, and we said our goodbyes. Emma was sticking around in Bozeman for a while; she scored some work on Chris's (of storyhill) studio doing insulation and drywall, i believe.

I had a fantastic time in Montana. The geography (both physical and cultural) were the refreshment i needed. The people i met along the way made the stories great. I could move to Montana. I might actually subscribe to Montana Quarterly. I got a copy from the hotel, great little read.

Anyway... thanks for reading. Its been difficult putting this into some kind of coherent post... i probably should have just done a couple smaller ones. But here it is. I am posting the videos i took at the festival for your musical enjoyment.

peace, love, & folk.

Storyhill Fest Videos!

2008-07-12T11:08:00.001-05:00

Sacramento - Storyhill

Somewhere In Between - Storyhill

Full Circle - Storyhill

Fatima's Waltz (partial) - Justin Roth

There are some other videos from the festival posted on YouTube that i didn't do... but are amazing.
Danny Schmidt - Company of Friends
Justin Roth - Tremblin' Like a Train
Carrie Elkin - Did She Do Her Best
Justin Roth (Patty Griffin cover) - Rain
Storyhill (John Denver cover) - For the Children

A few notes:
- Carrie Elkin & Danny Schmidt will be doing a barn concert on July 22, in New Hope, PA (outside Philly.) You should come.

- Carrie Elkin opened the festival, and she was fantastic, despite some foreboding skies... being the sassy gal she is, she decided to tempt fate and continue with her cover of Bob Dylan's A Hard Rain's A'gonna Fall... and fall it did. In the middle of her song the skies opened up and poured! It was pretty classic, and everyone handled the change well. It only took about 20 minutes to get everyone herded inside, and for the show to go on.

PS - These videos look a lot better on my computer than they do on YouTube. If anyone can let me know if there is something i should do to them prior to uploading them, so they aren't as pixelated, i would appreciate it.

a DTR with Philly

2008-07-07T09:31:00.005-05:00

it will be a few days until a real Montana entry shows itself here. So in the meantime, the rare pleasure of a blog-for-blog's sake. This will appear on the Circle of Hope blog sometime this week. Comments welcome.

I have been feeling, recently, a certain uncertainty with life, my job, with Philadelphia.

My relationship with Philly has changed significantly since we met in the summer of 2006. I initially came to go to grad school. It was a means to an end, before i was to live hapily-ever-after, traipsing around the world. I finished grad school, but my vision of happily-ever-after changed. I wasn't sure where to go, or what to do, or even what my purpose was anymore. Philly was there then, saying, i'm here, i'll love and support you, stay with me. So i did, and Philly came through, with friends, community, love, coffee, a new bike, and a job that spoke to my gifts.

During this time my friendship with Philly grew. I came to know and appreciate more of its quirks, nuances, and idiosyncrasies. We developed an honest kind of friendship, that reveals each other's strengths and weaknesses; I told Philly it was stinky and dirty; Philly told me i was self-centered and had a lot to learn about loving people who i viewed as "flawed". I have greatly appreciated the growth i have experienced through my relationship with Philly.

Now that Philly and i have become much better friends, it has become apparent that we need to make our intentions clear. It is time for a DTR (define the relationship) with Philly.

It occurs to me that previously, i may have fallen into the category of "casual dater" with the other cities and towns i've lived in. I must be growing up, because i think it's time to be intentional about being in this relationship with Philly.

I no longer need to be here for grad school.

I no longer need the supportive crutch to rebuild my direction (tho it certainly can't hurt).

So it is time for me to decide why i am staying here. Where is this relationship going? Like any DTR, i don't need all the answers right away i suppose, but it is time to redefine our relationship, in some way. The answers to these questions don't need to mean it is time for me to move on, or that i should dig in for the long haul tomorrow. But either way, intentionality is high on my priority list. Passive decisions lead to discontentment in my life. And so, over the next few days, weeks, and months, i hope that all of you, who are represented in my personification of Philly, will continue to help me work through that.

Big Sky Country

2008-06-26T09:39:00.005-05:00

My next big adventure begins in a few short days! Possibly the most spontaneous, yet most anticipated, trip of my short existence! I'm going to Storyhill Fest in Montana! The festival is two days and falls in the middle of the week. As such, i will be taking full advantage of the time and location, checking out life in Bozeman, doing a day-hike or two while i'm there, checking their coffee for quality control, and meeting some folks. After the festival i plan on camping and day-hiking in a small corner of Yellowstone National Park. Stay tuned for stories and pictures of my Independence vacation!

(photo: Hyalite Lake/Resevoir, site of the festival)

¡sí, se puede!

2008-02-07T08:34:00.000-05:00

Welcome back, friends. It is that time again. I am old enough to vote and old enough to care. And just this year, i was crying the woes of the seemingly unfair Primary Election/Caucus system we've got running here. I've nothing against Iowa or New Hampshire, in fact i've heard great things about each, but it doesn't seem fair that they largely have determined the course of presidential nominations. And then, along came 2008. So, with Pennsylvania, with its primary in the second half of April, as one of the remaining key states, i encourage you all to Think. and then Vote.

Not Serving Humble Pie Today

2007-08-07T18:05:00.000-05:00

Hello to my blogger world readers. This post is a tribute to my dear friend, Lindsay. You can read about her life as a Peace Corps Volunteer by clicking on her link on the side-bar, or the title of this post. This post comes as a complement from Liz and Jeremy Hess, who recently visited Lindsay in Cameroon. They would like to offer these words of Love to and about Lindsay...

After spending 2 weeks with Lindsay in Cameroon, and having our minds blown at her amazingness my husband and I felt compelled to tell you some things about Lindsay that she is too humble to tell you herself.

The side of Lindsay Miesko that you’ve never seen….introducing (drumroll please) Akwi Mafor….

Words cannot accurately describe what it is like to see Lindsay in her village. If you were a Cameroonian from Guneku Village you would know Lindsay and you’d know this about her: she speaks your language and will make you feel comfortable, she’ll greet you by name when she walks by your home, she will not judge you (unless you are making yanga), she’ll eat the less-than-palatable food you offer her and thank you for it, she’ll hold your newborn baby and ask how you are feeling, when she sees you working in your field she will say “ashia” and stop to talk, she will try to learn from you, she will make you laugh out loud with her quick wit and in-depth understanding of your culture, she will sit in your smoke filled kitchen with you even though her eyes are burning and her lungs are blackening, she will try to understand your beliefs, She will ride in the same rusted sardine can (with 5 seats and 9 passengers) as you, she will not let you rip her off just because she is white, she boils her water to get it warm just like you do, she pounds her clothing and hangs it out to dry, while wearing a muumuu just like you do. If you were a Cameroonian in Guneku Village you’d know Lindsay Miesko as Akwi Mafor; your neighbor, your teacher, and your friend.

Seriously, my American friends, you cannot even begin to appreciate how tough Lindsay is! She flushes her toilet with a bucket, she pounds her clothing on the floor to clean it, she has no refrigerator, no TV, no computer, no iPod (Ashia), no AC, no fan, forget a microwave- she doesn’t even have an oven, no hairdryer, no make-up, and nothing reliable (electricity, internet, mail, phone connection, etc.). Despite all the things she is lacking she really has a lot…she has: an incredible ability to connect with people, a knack for making damp concrete walls into a warm welcoming place, a willingness to try new things…. lots of new things (like baking a cake on a gas hot plate), a cat, a resiliency unlike anything I have ever seen, a love of simple things (passion fruit juice), balls of steel that allow her to walk down a street full of men who are harassing her to marry them while maintaining her composure, unlimited patience to sit in a HOT (really hot), CROWDED (Seriously, I’m talking African-crowded), UNMOVING (maybe indefinitely) bus for hours, and of course a heart the size of the continent of Africa itself.She is not only living in Africa she is THRIVING! I wish you could see the things that she has accomplished and the relationships that she has established. I wish you could see her daily life and try to fathom the kind of personal strength it takes to live that life for 2 years. I wish you could see the impact that she is having in Cameroon. I wish she would give herself credit for the amazing, absolutely incredible job she is doing.

Hats off to the next Peace Corps Volunteer who will come to Lindsay’s village someday….they will have BIG (jelly) shoes to fill.

~ Liz & Jeremy

far East

2007-06-24T09:39:00.000-05:00

Three weeks in China. That is my latest adventure. I really never thought China would be in my passport list, but there it is, that happy little visa. I went to visit my friend Jenn, who teaches high school science at an international school there. I also did the obligatory tourist travel in Beijing, saw lots of sights-- accompanied by my gracious friend from high school, Jess. From there, Jess, Jenn, Molly (friend and co-worker of Jenn), and I headed west, across China, on a 47 hour train ride, to Tibet (affectionately know as the Tibet Autonomous Region--officially part of China, an entirely other topic of conversation, which i will not address here).

Tianjin - Jenn lives and works in Beijing's neighbor city. It is a bit smaller, but still has a population in the millions. I got a taste of the foreigner/expat life, and the Korean TCK life, as most of the students at Tianjin International School (TIS) are Korean, and most of the teachers American. It was all very interesting (even though Jenn was convinced i was bored to tears). Jenn and i talked a bit about how people still ask her when she's "coming home", and how China is "home" for now. Jenn has been in China 4 years, likes it there, is learning the language and culture, and has made a nice little place for herself in the world. I admire her. It was so good to go and see her life there, TIS, her friends, and just get a feel for whats going on. In the same way its great to know what you all are doing with your lives.

We went to Jenn's favorite restaurants, and did some shopping at her favorite markets and stores. We had street food-- and obligatory affair, akin to checking out the markets/grocery stores. The picture is of a husband and wife who sell fried dough.. the chinese generally don't include sugar on their fried dough like we do (think funnel cake, donuts, churros, etc.) But this pair is onto something with their brown sugar paste concoction. And i am convinced that they are using recycled motor oil in that heated vat... yumm! The street food philosophy is eat first, ask... well, just don't ask if you really care.

Beijing - A mystery in my mind. The Olympics are coming in 2008. Jess and i discussed how glad we are to be seeing pre-Olymic Beijing. Not that we think the entire Beijing-universe will change after the olympics... but it will be different. In Beijing i was spared the adventure of 6 consecutive nights in a youth hostel, and stayed with some friends of Jess. Beijing is huge. HUGE. There are condos on top of condos... aprartment after apartment. No one lives in a house. To take up that much space for one (or even three) families would be preposterous! And its funny, the culture and people-to-people interactions in China reflect the enormous population... this is a broad generalization, but there didn't seem to be quite the attitude of entitlement to personal space, at all. You have no more right to stand in that place in line, than i have to come stand in front of you. Or, i have no more right to drive through this intersection in my car than you do on your bike. It was interesting.

While in Beijing, Jess and i did the usual tourist stuff. Its a pretty important city in China's long and complex history. Here are a few pictures:

Jess and i went to see an acrobat show my first night in Beijing... we were glad we spent the 180 yuan ($24), tho it was clearly a tourist trap.

The next two are of The Great Wall of China.

The Yonghe Gong Temple, the largest buddhist lama temple in Beijing.

The Hutong, at Ho-Hai. Hutong are some "preserved" neighborhoods from days gone by. They may be classified as "slums" to some, but they are a quaint and novel sight, that attracts tourists, so they remain. I really did like them... but then again, that is probably because they weren't 30 stories of steel and glass.

The Summer Palace. Don't you wish your summer home looked like this? The place is enormous, and one could easily spend a whole weekend exploring.

Temple of Heaven -- Where the emperors went to pray for good harvests.

Tibet. We took the train across china, the railway into Tibet was finished officially in 2006-- a "miracle" of modern man, the Chinese informational recording will tell you. It was a great experience. Jenn, her friend and co-worker Molly, Jess, and I bought some groceries for the train ride, and headed to the train station, packs in tow. We were in a hard-sleeper car, which has 6 beds, we were lucky to have the bottom 4. The scenery along the way was magnificient. The Qinghi-Tibet railway is the highest in the world (another "miracle" by Chinese standards), and so we definitely passed through some snow and frozen tundra. Along with the occasional yurt and yak herd.

Thing about Tibet is that, being at the altitude that it is (Lhasa, the capital, is above 3ooom) you need at least 4 or 5 days to acclimitize if you are going to do anything of real physical exertion. So, we didn't get to do any real "outdoorsy" things, another time. So, we saw a lot of the cultural sights of Tibet, namely, lots of temples and monasteries. Tibet is buddhism, and it was very intersting to see (and smell... incense and liquid yak butter.. mmm) but i don't feel as though i have much of a better understanding of Tibetan buddhism, and thats ok. We did get to bask in the truly glorious geography once. We went to Ganden monastery (see pictures below) and walked on the 1 mile pilgrimage trek around the mountain there the monastery was. We sat on the side of the mountain for a goo 30 minutes gazing out at the valleys and peaks and rivers, it was incredible.

Here are some pictures of Tibet:

Yak! Yak! Yak! Yak! Tibet!

Potala Palace, the former seat of the Tibetan Government, and home of the now exiled Dalai Lama

Monks outside the Potala... looking for a dry place to eat lunch. This particular group of young Monks got chased away by sprinklers three times that day.

Monks in the Barkhor Market, outside the Jokang Temple

The rooftop of Jokang Temple

En Route.

Prayer Wheels, outside the temple
Tibetan prayer flags

My favorite part of travel is seeing the lives of other people. I've said before that i've ben spoiled by so much of my travel abroad being living abroad, or working hand-in-hand with the locals, that i get frustrated with tourism. China is an immense country, with incredibly complex people groups and cultures. My "inside look" this time around was not into Chinese culture, it was into the foreigner/ex-pat culture. It was definitely an enjoyable one.

I leave you with with what is quite possibly my favorite picture from the trip, i took this from the train to tibet:

When in doubt...

2007-05-16T17:57:00.000-05:00

Ok, gang. Any of you who read/found/followed my blog as a result of your interest in Peru, Puerto Supe, or SAM (instead of, or in addition to an explicit interest in my life) should now direct your attention to the much more visually satisfying blog of Kyle Thayer. Kyle is the young man who has recently arrived in Puerto to work with the community in conjunction with the Cubases. He is there on a 2-year term. He's only been in Puerto a week, and already i'm so excited about how God is going to use him there. (And he's got great pictures.)

So, you should check on him every once in a while.

chau,
emily

on the streets of Philadelphia

2006-08-06T09:14:00.000-05:00

Well, i've moved from Peru to Central, PA, now to Philadelphia. We've been having somewhat of a heatwave lately... and row homes are like brick pizza ovens. Yikes! I go the job at Starbucks, and i am one happy girl! Grad school at Temple is fine.

I have officially decided that, barring some unforseen excitement in my life, i will not continue to regularly update the blog... well, clearly i made that decision a long time ago... i just thought it was time for an official notice. I won't delete it, incase you want to continue reviewing the archives of random fish in black plastic bags, and other phenomenons of the northern coastal desert of Peru.

In the meantime, do some researching on Philadelphia, its a neat place... start with Circle of Hope.

thanks for your faithful reading! And, stealing the thought from my sister, if you've been reading along and have never commented, please do so... then i know you're reading... and its not so much like stalking!

chau.

La Muñeca de Torta

2006-06-30T14:40:00.000-05:00

Well kids, as neglectful as i've been... here i am again. For those of you living under rocks, i am back in Pennsylvania, and it is as beautiful as i remembered. Its been two weeks since i returned from Peru, and surprisingly (or not so) i haven't dealt with much reverse culture shock and i am greatful for that. This might be because i haven't had time... i pretty much hit the ground running with the Hess/Dideon wedding festivities, getting ready for grad-school, moving to Philly, and catching up with the fam. There are still a few things i have yet to do: Write and send out a final Prayer Letter, find a job, and catch up with supporting churches/families. But i'm doing pretty good so far.

Some of the funniest adjustment things have been: sugar in my coffee. For about the first week i was home, i gawked in awe as i poured this fine white substance into my Cafe del Mono, it was so unreal to me that sugar still (and always did really) looked like this. The first week i was home i told my mom i was doing laundry, and she asked if i had gotten buckets out? I have never been so glad to see a washing machine. The roads here are so wide, and flat. I drive here, a lot. So, see... the cultural factors haven't been such big huge ones this time. Maybe i'm getting more and more used to this international transient life.

I am moving to philadelphia this monday, i am sure there will be more culture shock there than there was in Peru. I am going hiking wiht my friend Tara (see sidebar) in the Shenandoah National Park the following weekend, and am SO excited to get back in touch with nature. :o) Otherwise, life is how i left it. My sister has been so kind to leave the keys to her truck here while she's in the UK, so i've been driving Buster, her little black GMC Sonoma around (extremely helpful in hauling my junk to Philly). I even got the oil changed for her (by the way Elaine, the guys at jiffy lube said your transmission fluid is a little dirty... you'll wanna change that soon.)

Take care kids, i'm using the same cell phone number as before, call me!
chau!

Gone, like Frank Sinatra

2006-06-13T08:29:00.000-05:00

Well gang, this is it. Today is my last day in Puerto Supe. Early tomorrow morning i leave for Lima, and thursday is my flight to the states. Its really kind of insane. Of course i am still the queen of last minute packing (surprise face!) which doesn't make life a whole lot easier. The departure date kind of snuck up on me. Well, i knew it was coming... but its kind of like that on-coming car you see, and you really would rather it not crash into you, but there is also nothing you can do. Time marches on and as reluctant as we are, there is absolutely nothing we can do about it. Hows that for abstract thought early in the morning.

The House. I am packing up my house. The peruvian hippies, Kristel & Roko, are still hanging out (another surprise face, anyone?) They have until the end of the month to find a new house, please keep them, this process and their relationship in your prayers. As you may recall this was not intended to be a permanent "roommate" situation, just a temporary help. Now that i am leaving, my house is technically a SAM ministry house, and we can't really rent it out to other families. We have hopes that another young man will be coming to work with the Cubases in the fall, and he will take over my humble ball of sunshine. In the meantime, a cultural tid-bit you should be aware of: No house can safely be left alone for even one night. Families who travel out of town for the weekend, archeologists who go to Lima for classes, missionaries who go to conferences, all have to find someone to stay in the house, at least at night. It is important that people know knwo that there is someone in and out of the house regularly. So, we will find someone to sleep in my house, and thats about it.

The Girls. Yesterday was my last bible study with my girls. It went well, altho one girl did not come. I gave each of them a journal to write down notes and ideas from their personal bible study, to share when they get together each week now. Because i have encouraged them to continue meeting, even if its just to share what they each have been learning. Mili will be taking over leading a second group of girls (or guys) through the Navigators study that i just finished witht he girls, and when thats done, both groups will start the second part together. Please keep Mili and the rest of the girls in your prayers, leading a small group is not easy.

Tonight i am fairly positive that there are some festivities brewing, at the hands of my girls, along the lines of a good-bye party. I'm sure i will cry. I have met some wonderful people here, and have built some good relationships. I hope that somewhere down the road my girls realize that they have only fallen in love with the Jesus in me.

I am hoping to send out a final prayer letter when i get to the states, summarizing my time here, and where i go now. I hope you all are well. Please continue to keep Puerto Supe in your prayers. I'll see most of you soon!!

chau!

Travelogue

2006-06-01T09:38:00.000-05:00

Well, gang, we're back from Huaraz.

We arrived at 5:30am on thursday. Slept until 11, and then went for lunch. Most of the afternoon was spent resting, aclimitizing. When you got from sea level to 3,100m in five hours, your body needs time to catch up. Its worse than jetlag, by far. However, Huaraz is like Gringolandia, because it is the hub of hiking, trekking, climbing and all other adventure tourism for the Cordillera Blanca... so, we found a coffee shop- a real, honest-to-goodness coffee shop. Cafe Andino, highly recommended if you ever find yourself in Huaraz. I found a book to read and had two- TWO -cafe lattes, oh the evil of nescafe was wiped from my memory! Later we went to the Archeological Museum of the Department of Ancash, where we saw lots of artifacts from plenty of ancient civilizations. It was small, but interesting.

Friday morning we headed out like true tourists in a van full of 15 people, to Chavin. Chavin is Currently the oldest andean civilization. Unfortunately many of the ruins at Chavin have been covered by earthquake damage, and it is not so visually impressive. The highlight of my day there may have been the trout i had for lunch, or the scenery on the way. To the left is a picture of one of the valleys we drove thru to get to Chavin... made the 4 hours journey a little better.

Saturday we had breakfast in the market in Huaraz. Market breakfasts are something every visitor to Peru should do... make sure your stomach is well prepared, but really, i haven't had any problems yet. After breakfast, again quite the tourists, we filled up a bus to go to Pasto Ruri, the most accesible snow-cap, aka glacier. After the long drive there, the bus parks, and you do a 40minute trek up to the glacier. At 5,240m above sea level, Pasto Ruri was the highest we went the whole week. At that altitude, even a leisurely stroll makes you feel like you just went biking with Lance Armstrong. But it was enjoyable.

Sunday was a little different. Instead of heading out with the tour bus and the tour guides, we hired a taxi to take us to Portachuelo. Portachuelo is the mountain pass that takes you from the Callejon de Huaylas (the valley Huaraz is in) over the Cordillera Blanca, into the next valley. This is also the south american continental divide. To your right you will see: ME! Standing on the road at Portachuelo (4,7667m), in the Cordillera Blanca. Behind me the two highest peaks are Pisco (R 5,752m) and Huandoy (L 6,160m). You can do the math, converstion factor for meters to feet it 3.28. The air is pretty thin up there.

The regularly organized tours up this route only take you as far as Lake Llanganuco, which is pretty stinking impressive, however, from the lake you can really only see two or three of the peaks. The road continues, and it goes up and up and up and up. The countryside is beautiful, looks like something out of Rumple Stiltskin. And with every switchback, the view gets better and better, and it is unbelievable. I could live in the Andes, for sure.

On the way to Llanganuco and Portachuelo, you pass thru the town of Yungay. On May 31, 1970 was one of south america's worst earthquakes in recent history. It measure 7.5 on the richter scale, and lasted 45 seconds. This created an avalance from the Huascaran mountain that sits behind Yungay. In 3 minutes the entire town was covered. They have created a wort of memorial park where the town used to be. Its peaceful, and has huge flower gardens. An occasional cross or sign makrs where specific houses or businesses were formerly located. As the ground there settles, more things come to the surface, like an old petrol storage tank. Its kind of strang walking around in what looks lieka lovely garden, and seeing peices of old rusted metal protruding from the ground. There were some survivors, one included the father of our guide. The town has been rebuilt, about 2 miles up the road.

Those are the highlights of our trip to the andes. Its COLD at night, but beautiful and sunny during the day. There is lots of good food. I could definitely spend more time there. On my list of things to do before i die is to do atleast a week trek thru the cordillera blanca, with some of my best hiking buddies (you know who you are!). That would be amazing.

I officially leave Peru in two weeks. Time is flying. Thanks for all your encouragement and joy!

our Guest Speaker

2006-05-24T19:21:00.000-05:00

well, folks, we are headed to Huaraz tonight for a 5 day trip, very exciting. Do a Google-Image search for it. In leiu, i am leaving you with a story from our guest speaker, Liz Dideon, aka, bridezilla. (i have her express written permisison to share this.) Enjoy!

My girls, my girls,I have to share a funny/somewhat traumatic story with you. So once upon a time I said "a haircut is a haircut" and so I went to Wal-Mart thinking that they could do just as good of a job with a trim as my $40.00 a cut girl...always looking for a bargain you know....well we all know how that ended up (I had more layers than jennifer aniston) but STILL i do not learn....

So in preparing for us to all get our hair styled i think "an updo is an updo" and sign us all up for the lancaster school of cosmotology for june 24th....they say that they give you senior styllists for weddings--i mean these girls a moments from getting their license or diploma or whathaveyou...plus there are teachers on site and tons of other students with ideas...i mean this is like BEST CASE SCENARIO i'm thinking...so last sat i had my trial run updo....it did not go quite like i envisioned.

The first problem was that all of their hair magazines were from the 70s. So i could pick from a plethora of bobs, but no helpful updos. Then I am introduced to lauren, who looks as shocked by her wedding updo assignment as i am at the hair mag. selection. She is obviously tentative and could it be possible that I am the first updo that she has ever done....i mean she grabbed like 3 bobbypins to start with...?

i'll admit, im a fool and never brought a picture of what I am thinking, but I did assume they would have a slightly better mag. selection from which I could guide lauren with...at one point one of the other student went to a local turkey hill to buy a wedding mag to help out!

I tell lauren that I would like a classic look, no big curls, no spikey busy things, simple, sleek (but not too sleek, you know if its too tight I start looking like a school marm). She seems enthusiasitc enough, but still only has 3 bobbypins. She send another student for a hair band and puts my hair in a pony tail....interesting? Its all down hill from here, danielle arrives to keep me company and watch the freakshow develop. I suggest that maybe poofing my hair up in the back would give me a little height, so Lauren grabs 4 strands of my hair and teases them up and bobbypins them (think mohawlk). Those three bobby pins were not doing the job (SURPISE SUPRISE) and at one poine several other students are hovering around hem hawing about what could be done to make this updo work (the 3 bobby pins was quite a challenge, i'm sure you can imagine) at one point I started screaming in my mind "GET A TEACHER! FOR THE LOVE! A TEACHER!"

After a few more painful moments, and thankfully a few (a precious few: think:7) more bobby pins, a teacher finally meanders over...she starts assisting lauren who seems to be making some progress with the extra bobby pins. The teacher, noticing the mohawlk for the first time, says "you shouldn't have these bobby pins sticking out like this." (HELLO!? did lauren sleep thru her "updos 101" class!?) At one point danielle says "thats promising!" But promising was about as good as it got...after a few more moments the teacher says "this looks aweful" and begins to rip out all 10 of the bobbypins (while they were working, i was thinking that they were making a lot of twirly things--think: not sleek or classic) so I say, remeber that I want sleek and simple. "OH" says the teacher who clearly did not understand why Lauren was making a basketweave out of my hair.

The teacher says, well lets start again (at this point I am ready to run away, danielle is giving me the eye message of "oh hell no!"). "first," says the helpful teacher, "I would never start with a pony tail, try to fold it like this and this and this...she begins to do the updo herself (praise the lord) but it is obvious that Lauren is annoyed and wants to do this thing herself. Teacher finally steps away after doing about half of it and lauren gets to take over....well friends, i'm sure you saw this one coming, she ran out of bobby pins again, at just about the same time that I finally lost my patience and offered to just finish is up at home (this is 2+ hours after starting mind yourself). Suprisingly, lauren agrees and lets me get up. Suprising because the half of my head that she has been working on doesnt even look remotely similar to the side that her teacher did. Suprising because large chunks of my hair are still hanging down (think edward scissors hands). suprising that she would not have more pride than to let this freakdhow hairdo leave, knowing full well that my fiance, mother, and friends will surely want to see the updo as soon as I get home...

No sooner had I got in the car, than I was on the phone with my regular hair girl begging her to fit us in on june 24th. At one point, danielle said, let me know if you want me to find my own girl :) Nothing short of miraculous, she did have some slots, altho I may need to go in at 7am on the 24th, anything would be better than lauren and the school of cosmotology!

So rest assured that our hair will be placed in good hands on june 24th!

- Liz Dideon

you have a webpage for a reason!

2006-05-19T16:05:00.000-05:00

hi gang!! i want to say thanks to all the faithful readers who have been hounding me for updates, and all those who are living vicariously thru me who've been close to death the past month or so, as my updates have been sparse. Thanks for your patience! I am still alive, and still in Peru.

I will start with today, and see how motivated i am to continue typing after that. An hour or so ago i got back from the first anniversary celebration of the Archeological Site: El Aspero. This is the northernmost site of 18 archeological sites in the Supe Valley, and is on the edge of town. Caral-Supe is the main site and has been in excavation for 10 years already. We took a trip last weekend, which was quite impressive. This civilization dates back approximately 5,000 years, is pre-Inca, pre-ceramic, and pre-something else important. The sites are pretty impressive. The archeological team from San Marcos University in Lima has only just begun excavation here. For the last 20 years, the site has been home to the district's garbage dump. They have worked hard at cleaning it up, and i am impressed. They have found artifacts such as reed bags used for carrying rocks, cotton nets and dresses, as well as un-baked clay dolls. Its very interseting to see the whole excavation project. (I keep thinking about Aunt Linda & Uncle Lane, and my friend Lars...)

We (really Cesar) have built quite a relationship with the Archeologists, and they seem to be all around good people. The Communidad Cristiana (our association here) and the Archeologists have coordinated and agree on some similar goals for Puerto. For instnace, all the laborers at the site are locals. People have come from other towns looking for work, and the archeological team has turned them down. They want the people of Puerto to benefit from this, which is fantastic. They have also been working with the group of young people here that meet on sundays to discuss local tourism possibilities, and how El Aspero contributes to that. As i said, today was the 1st Anniversary celebration, complete with guided tours, a few dance numbers from local school kiddos, a toast, and a reception with a criollo band... and a lot of sun and dust.

Last weekend was of course mother's day, and the latin american people never miss an opportunity to celebrate. If ever there were a place to be a mother, this is it. Saturday was a fun-filled evening with the Alcaldia (the Mayors office) hosting a concert and gift-basket giveaway for mothers on the Malecon (which is like out main plaza). Followed by a lively dance down by the Muelle (pier). We danced and danced (salsa!) until about 5am... and all of the porteños were surprised to see the missionary dancing, because, of course all the evangelicals (protestants) they know, would never dance. It was a heck of a good time. My girlfriends and i had a fabulous time. We dance with some of the archeologists, some of the the young Apristas (current political party in power in Puerto) and ate tamales on our way home at 5am.

My young women's Bible study is going well. The weeks are winding down, and i was surprised when they told me that a few of them had discussed it, and would like to meet twice a week, from now until i leave. sweet! (and, i am confident this is not just so they can spend more time with me, we hang out all the time anyway). We had some good conversation during last week's study, and i got a better idea of how much they are actually learning fromthe Bible study. My plan is to have my friend Mili co-lead the group with me for the next 3 or 4 weeks, and she will then be able to take over when i am gone. Please pray that she will follow-thru with this desire, and that these girls will keep growing in their enthusiam to learn about the Lord.

The Communidad Crisitana continues pursuing the goals of spiritual, social, and economic development here in Puerto. The bible studies are the biggest focus of the spiritual development right now, aside from disciplship thru everday relationships.

Social, we continue to have as one of our board members, my dear social worker friend from the health post, Azucena, who coordinates most of our social efforts. However, recently we had a re-evaluation of how we are helping the people in a social context. My Sex Respect courses in the school would technically fall into this category, but otherwise, it looked like it was turning into handouts for whoever could write their letter of request first. True, there are many many needs, many poor and sick families, and unfortunately, there will always be. You are surely familiar with the saying "Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime." Well, we were busy giving fish. I'm convinced that "giving fish" is not all bad all the time, but we are not reaching any of the bigger problems that way. I think in the months to come, we will take a look at the bigegr issues, and hopefully start to chip away at them. The other social aspect involves my hippiee roommate Kristel. She is one of the small group leaders in Grace's Bible study, and after two weeks discovered that one of the women in her small group is illitierate. Not only did she dedicate herself to going to the woman's house twice a week to help her work on the lessons, but she has started a small adult literacy course too. It is amazing to see how excited and genuinely dedicated she is. A small reprieve back to the Sex Respect course- it is over now... it has been for two weeks. I made it out alive, and with a lot more insight. The course itself, materialwise, definitely needs improvement. I think some kids got something out of what i presented, and i'm sure some kids got nothing but a few good laughs. But when it was all over, i wished there were more. As important as i think good sex education is, more importantly for me, was the opporunity to interact with the kids. If i come back to Puerto Supe, i will gladly present courses in the school, and i'm sure i could do it on a range of important social topics. But again, the highlight would be building relationships with kids, and going from there!

The economic development end of the quest is multi-faceted. Cesar has been working for a number of weeks with a group of young people and a man from Lima, to do a tourism evaluation, to do research on the area, and see what can be useful resources to promote culture and tourism in Puerto Supe. It has been a great thing to motiviate some of the young people. Otherwise, tomorow Grace has her kick-off meeting for a Savings Club program she is hoping to start, with a model she got from an on-line economic development course she recently finished thru Chalmers. The savings clubs will take a lot of work, and will depend on the investment of the people, not just financially but with their time, energy, and dedication too. After many hours of conversation with Grace, i've come to agree that economic development cannot happen if the people don't believe they can save. Poor people tend to have a very "pay check to pay check" (for lack of a better term) way of life. But the key is that even if you make 300 soles a month, you can still save something. Anyway, that was a bit of a tangent, but thats the rundown of what the Communidad Crisitana is doing.

As for me, well, i leave here June 15, and arrive in PA a few days later. Grad school starts in Philly on July 5th or 6th. The strange roller-coaster of leaving and going back, or here and there, now and then, has begun. In less than a month i will move back to the United States of Convenience. I will be glad to have ice cold sodas, and observe universal traffic laws. I will miss the dirt, and the market, and spanish. And somewhere in the midst of it, i will try to make sense of it all... of the five months i just spent here, and the road that lies ahead.

thanks again for all of your patience. I can't wait to see those of you that i will see when i get home! I'll be in Clinton County for a little less than two weeks, then its moving off to Philly for Grad School... anyone interested in helping me move, inquire within.

chau!

my humble abode

2006-05-02T11:24:00.000-05:00

yes, many of you have wondered and commented about the dubious nature of my move to a "third world country"... yes, i have regular access to high-speed internet, and as you are about to see, my house almost definitely beats the ghetto apartment in Erie. Its taken a while, but i finally have some pictures of where i live to share with you.

This is the outside view of my house, from across the street:

Two shots of my living room: On the wall is a tapestry, handpainted by the Shipibo, one of the indigenous amazonian tribes.

(Right) this is the view from my livingroom into my diningroom. See, Daddy, there's no problem with hammocks in the house.

(Left) This is, of course, my bed- in my bedroom. Grace once told me it reminded her of a bedroom see saw in a convent once. haha.

Below is a shot of one side of my kitchen, it's not very big, and the other side is just a stove and a dilapidated sink.

So, that is my humble abode, folks. Its enjoyable. Its Peruvian. Its where i live, with my Peruvian hippiee roommate family. (no pics of them yet, sorry).

Hope you enjoy the pictures... it was like a cursed game of tetris trying to get it all to look right!!

a learning expereince

2006-04-22T10:54:00.000-05:00

Having learning experiences means either admitting that you do not know it all, or that you were wrong, or possibly both. Admitting that you were wrong, publicly, to a crowd of people who support you emotionally, spiritually, and especially financially, is not a praticularly attractive idea (maybe thats why politicians do it so infrequently). However, i want to share with you my learning rollercoaster that has been the past week.

Teaching Sex Respect in the the high schools, while one of my original plans, was not my most treasured prospect while here in the Mission Field. I am not a teacher, i have never been, nor do i ever wish to be. I am a bit of a perfectionist, as well as a procrastinator-- you can imagine that this creates some pretty stressful last minutes. I was not entirely satisfied with the Sex Respect materials we have here, and continually wondering if this was going to be an effective course. This, among other thigns, made me dread getting up and going to school every morning. In addition the almost absolute refusal on the part of the students to say anything out loud in class that might be appropriate for the topic, that made life difficult too.

About half way thru the week, i had some students talk to me- briefly, and i do mean briefly- after class. Walking out of the building that day my head was racing, with that one little peek into possible relationship building with these kids, and oh! the possibilites!! And then it dawned on me: this is what Grace and Cesar had been planning on the whole time. They know that i'm not a teacher, but they also know that there is no better place to get in touch with the students than at school. I realized what an injustice and waste i had made by dragging my feet on the Sex Respect course. If i had been preparing (really preparing) the first month and a half i was here, and had been ready to go the first weeks of school, i might have had more time to get some other things going with the kids outside of school, in small social sort of groups... my atmosphere- so much more than the classroom. Wow. So now my reponsibility will be to make sure i make the absolute best effort these last two months.

The day all of this realization took place was wednesday, and i had chosen to walk home from Leticia, about a half hour walk back to my house, and a stellar time to think. My first week course is over, and i made it out alive. Clearly room for improvement, but not a total flop. I have started thinking abotu how i might beable to condense the course and present a modified version to the 3rd and 4th year students as well-- the school has expressed interest in all three years having some sort of instruction on the matter. My brain also got to thinking about the possibilites of doing some sort of survey/assessment of the neighborhood, and looking at what these kids need most. During the week and some of our discussion it became evident that i had made some pretty big cultural assumptions that are just not true here. The social worker (soon to be Grad student again) in me realized that we need to figure out where we're starting from, before we can start.

My next round of Sex Respect will be split up differently, it will be one session a week, for a few weeks, not ideal, but do-able. Tuesdays and Wednesdays will be my school days for the next few weeks. My young ladies' Bible study is going well, we meet again tomorrow. They are doing well, are excited about their homework, and we have good conversation! Yay!

One of my little gals, Yiomira, she was one of the 10-year-old chocolate culprits from a month or so ago... anyway, i want to ask for your prayers for her. She's had some health problems the past few weeks, and is getting better but slowly. This week shes been basically on bedrest. I've gone to visit her a few times, and her spirits are high, but her body is still pretty weak-- she was a skinny little kid to begin with, and these few weeks have not been easy on her.

Again, i apologize for the overdue-ness of this post.. i will try to do another one in a few days! take care everyone!

the excitement never ends!!

2006-04-22T10:50:00.000-05:00

ok folks, just when you thought life could not get anymore exciting... you now have the pleasure and privilegde to trace the wild and rare species Taraus Gettigus, a species that has migrated to many locations however native only to Central Pennsylvania, through her adventures in the Shenadoah National Park at http://tarahikes.blogspot.com

enjoy!

He Lives!

2006-04-16T09:15:00.000-05:00

Today is Easter, and Priase the Lord!! Christ has Risen from the dead! I wanted to remind you all to take some time today and be JOYFUL. Christ paid a sentence He didn't deserve, because He wanted us with Him for eternity! The gavel went down guilty for him, and we walk free for all the terrible things we do to ourselves and each other. That rocks, because then he beat death and satan, and he is alive today!!

Take care, all!!

politik

2006-04-09T13:21:00.000-05:00

so kids, another week goes by in Puerto Supe. Today is Palm Sunday, and (apparently more importantly) Election Day: bars have been closed since friday, there are no classes tomorrow, no work today... Voting (in your registered town) is mandatory here. If you don't vote, you get a fine- of about USD$100, which no one can afford. There are about 26 pesidential candidates, there is no limit as to how many people can run, and the parties that range from Left to Right number about the same as shades of gray. Politics here are ... something. Its hard to grasp the amount of hopelessness there is when there is no trust, in your government, in your neighbors, in your families. I don't think i am qualified to give an assessment of the political situation here, or how it might be remedied, all i know is that the government- on all levels- suffers from years of corruption in its various forms.

All of this has made me reflect a bit on the American situation. We have a huge tendentcy to criticize our government, people on the outside (and on the inside as well) see US as the bad guys. And, well, here's what i think-- (i apologize if this is a re-run for any of you) The current "active" government has clearly done some things that i don't agree with. However, the basis of our government, our laws and rights, are pretty stinking good. Yes, the men who made them may have been WASP's who drank and stole and cheated on their wives, but somewhere between Benjamin, John, Thomas, Samuel..., and GW, We The People have done somehting right. You do not get to the place we are by being complete imbecils. I am glad that i was born in America. As a country we have not "arrived" and still have far to go, but we come a long way already.

Well, back today, Palm Sunday. The official beginning of Semana Santa: Holy Week. I'm excited. The Catholic Parish has activities of some sort planned for every day this week. Tuesday they are showing the Passion of Christ, i will probably try to get some of my friends to come see it along with me. It will be interesting approaching Easter without any regular church attendance, but i'm sure that it will be a time full of great opportunities to share... it is the most exciting time of the year, afterall. (oh, and there is no easter bunny here, hallelujia!)

I met with the principal of one of the high schools last week, and we arranged my first week of presenting the Sex Respect course... finally. I know you've all been wondering what the heck i've been doing down here, but no worries, i am finally going to the schools. I will be presenting to all the 5th year students next week, the 17th - 21st. And i will most likely schedule the other (bigger) high school for the week or two after that.

Tomorrow i have my 3rd bible study with our young lady group- its going super great, and i'm very excited to have it under way. All the girls seem interested and open, tomorrow we will go over the homework they had from last week, and talk about the reading they've been doing (we've collectively decided to read Mark for daily personal reading). Its good.

oh! and some very good news, you may recall my social worker friend, Azucena, from a post in January. Well, Friday she got the news that she got a promotion of sorts, a transfer to the Central Health Post in Puerto, complete with Salary and Contract-- and she didn't get it by paying anyone off, or being good good friends with a doctor- she got it because she is good, and they noticed, and that is a Landmark. Grace and i bought a cake last night an took it ot her house to celebrate! Yay!

So, 3 good things God has done/is doing: New job for Azucena, Bible study with the young ladies, and dates for the School project.

2 things to pray about: Government, specifically presidential elections, in Peru, opportunities to share God and his Love with the folks here during Semana Santa.

feliz cumpleaños

2006-04-04T10:11:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was a wonderful birthday, and in light of the last post, let me start with the end of the day first: We had Pizza for dinner!!! wahooo! See, i knew there was something to this pocket knife theory. Apparently there's a pizza place in Barranca, and aparently they have green olives for their pizza, i was so excited.

Yes, i had many happy birthday wishes, from friends and family at home, as well as my fabulous friends here. It was indeed a spcial day, so thanks to all for the cards, e-mails, phone calls, and prayers!

Special shout out to my friend Kelly: http://kellyinperu.blogspot.com She is teaching at the SAM academy in Peru, and wears Chacos too!

Hope you are all very well. Keep me updated!

Because you never know when you might have to cut a pizza

2006-03-30T08:25:00.000-05:00

Tuesday night Grace and i were invited to a birthday party. Martin, from the corner, turned 9. I imagine it was very exciting for him to have two old Gringas hanging out for the festivities. And we were, it was us, and about 13 kiddos. Now, gentlemen, a word of advice: If you are at a party, and you want to dance, i don't suggest you use the method these boys chose-- grabbing the arm of the girl and dragging her off the bench, despite her numerous and vocal protests. It didn't work too well for them, and i suspect it won't for you either. But it was really funny to see how the tables are turned here... we had 7 little Don Juans out on the dance floor, groovin' it up, and all the little girls, sitting along the benches, not moving for anyone- no way no how... well, except for when grace started taking pictures, then they were all dancing fools. I really had to laugh, as i watched Martin enjoy the his party. He sat on the bench next to me for a while, and i watched him eat his cheese puffs: one by one, skewering them with his lollipop stick, like shrimps with a toothpick. tooo cute! Grace and i recognized the severe lack of organized fun for these kiddos, so we introduced them to some good old fashined camp games. They enjoyed them.

Wednesday morning was an adventure that spread into the whole day. As i was leaving my house in the AM to head to Grace and Cesar's, i encountered Kristel & Roko (the peruvian hippies) coming to visit me! Roko had to go see about something at La Lancha (the boat) and so Kristel and Dourga (her daughter) stayed and chatted with me. Meanwhile, Kristel filled me in on what was happening with them right now. Apparently, the night before, the Guardian who was hired to watch the boat at night, down in the port, never showed, and someone stole 40 gallons of diesel fuel from the boat.. this had been the story for a few weeks. They had worked and worked to get the boat sea-worthy, and everytime they get things fixed, something else goes wrong. Well, long story short: the boat doesn't go out, fish don't get caught, Roko doesn't get paid. Ont op of this, K & R had been living in a small apartment along side of a car park, rent free, with the agreement that they would watch over the cars. well, landlord has asked them to leave. By the time they'd saved enough money to rent another apartment, the place they were hoping for was rented.

Grace, Cesar, and i talked about it, and i offered to let K&R move into my house with me, afterall, i do have the 2nd bedroom thats not really in use. So friday afternoon, Kristel, Roko, and Dourga became my 3 roomies. It's been good, and interesting. Having a baby live in your house is kind of crazy. but she's adorable and generally agreeable. They also have a big white dog, Candunga, he's fine, stays in the street most of the day- but has discovered the toilet. haha.

The day they moved in, the fishing boat finally went out for its first test run!! Wahoo, priase God! Roko brought home a (little black plastic) bag full of little fish that day. Kristel and i cleaned them.. and, i realised that my big kitchen knife has disappeard. My kitchen here has less stuff than my kitchen in Erie did, and thats something... so we used my pocket knife to clean the fish... we have since also used it to cut vegetables, and put together a bookshelf. Maybe if i keep carrying it around, we'll find a pizza somewhere.

Wedesnday was my first small group meeting with my young lady friends (including Kristel) and it went very well. This afternoon will be my second. I'm so excited, and glad to haev a group of girls and somehting to do with them. Keep praying for ideas of things to do with the rest of the kids i know! I've got the relationships... now just what to do with them.

thanks for reading... i promise to try and get some pics soon!

Leave Normal Behind

2006-03-28T14:28:00.000-05:00

i would not normally do something like this, but, the tagline is Leave Normal Behind. I have recently discovered that Cesar in his vast, highly pirated, DVD collection... indeed has a few movies i might enjoy. So, Grace and i watched one last night, and you all are going to love it. Well, maybe not all of you... but those of you who share my joy in finding the bottom-shelf-only-two-copies-at-Blockbuster movies... you will certainly appreciate this: Everything is Illuminated is one heck of a movie. Its about a young jewish american guy, who heads the Ukraine to do some family history digging. I could never do it just, so i won't try to... just go rent it, and let me know what you think.

cheers!

Motorcycles, River Water, and Pucallpa

2006-03-26T09:58:00.000-05:00

"8 of every 10 vehicles in Pucallpa is a motorcycle. What's a missionary to do?"

We had a crew of 21 men women and children make the trek across the Andes mountians from Pucallpa to the coast for our Motocross Espectaculo march 10-11 (it seems so long ago now). Julio Chiang is a former national motorcross champion, and currently SAM missionary in Pucallpa. The two other men who came to ride are Craig Gahagen, our current chairman of the Field Committee and SAM Air pilot, and Tom Mitchell, one of the SAM Air aviation mechanics. And there were 5 kiddos who rode too-- one boy and 4 girls! (I was so proud! hehe) A 5 person drama team, Las Tabas, also came up from Lima to do some performances during the 2-day event.

Friday and Saturday there were motocross races- adults and kiddos, and Julio did some jumps on the ramp the menfolk constructed the days before.. he jumped 5 cars. It was impressive. Between the events Las Tabas performed a few short skits. It was encouraging to see the children who were standing by come running down the hills to grab a seat front and center for the action. At the end of each day Julio gave a short message-- he's an incredibly gifted speaker, and the people stayed and listened. He talked about true Freedom, the freedom that we have in Christ, as well as the fact that Christianity is not so much about being religious... rather having a relationship with Christ. This was a new message for the people of Puerto, and many came up to us afterward and said that they really liked what Julio had to say. Praise God for planting seeds. Just a few short weeks ago Grace and I were having a doubts about this particular event... questioning our motives and what we hoped to accomplish by bringing all of this to town... afterwards, it is easy to see that it is the most effective ministry event that we have held yet. Lots of doors have been open for questions and conversations.

After the motocross event, we all headed down the coast to Lunahuana, to a hotel/resort tucked into one of the green valleys between the beginning foot hills of the Andes- whose peaks were still barren on the coastal desert. The conference was a nice retreat from normal life in Puerto. It was the first of a two week stint in Gringo-land. It was nice to be with Americans (mostly), and it was really truly exciting to get to know all the other SAM missionaries from the rest of Peru. There were morning and afternoon sessions with speakers and reports on the various ministries. By the end of the week we'd been split into teams and given our assignments to complete for Fun Night. My 15 seconds of fame came during the dance segment, when my teammate Kelly Mitchell and I did our interpretation of traditional Lunahuana dance... in the pool!! We of course won the dance segment... possibly out of pity for our subsequent resemblance to wet rats.

Lunahuana was a fabulous place for our conference- every 2 or 3 years the conference is held in an exciting place like this, otherwise its in Pucallpa (which would be equally exciting for me). We went horseback riding one afternoon, and I had the slowest dumbest horse on the trail, the poor thing. I thought I was going to have to get off and help it up the hill at one point. Another day we went white water rafting. Kelly (not my pool-dancing partner) and I were sporting the Chacos, and realized that one of our rafting guides also wore chacos!! The ride was great, within the first 15 minutes we were soaked, and I have only been reaffirmed in my belief that river water is 100 times better than ocean water! NO SALT!! No Sand!! The scenery was gorgeous, and I think I'd like to take up river kayaking some day. (Side note on the hotel... if you ever find yourself staying at the Embassy Hotel in Lunahuna, request room 409 of the garden building.. it was like the presidential suite!! And I say that because it is on the 4th floor, fairly free of mosquitos, has an entire 3 walls of windows, with an incredible view and even better breeze!)

Following the week at conference, I returned to Pucallpa with the other SAM missionaries. return to the Jungle!! It was so exciting! Pucallpa was overall quite similar to Iquitos, altho not quite as big, and a little closer the the larger bodies of water: Yarinacocha and the Ucyali River. SAM has an MK (missionary kid) school there, and they serve the SAM missionaries as well as the Wycliff Bible Translators and the Swiss Mission folks. There are 4 full time teachers who live at the compound, very very fabulous girls, talented teachers, and charming hostesses (Thanks Sarah, Kelly, Kristina, and Heidi!). I stayed in one of the old dorm rooms down the hall from their apartment. 3 missionaries who are currently in Language school were also there visiting with me-- it was a little different for them, as this is where they will be serving when they finish with language school. Our mornings and afternoons were filled with trips to see different ministries and to get to know the different parts of missionary life in Pucallpa. Lunch and dinner each night were with a different SAM family, and all of them have wonderful stories to share- and good cooking. (And God Bless missionaries from Alabama who bring the good ol' taste of Sweet Tea the the southern hemispehre!) This trip to the jungle I did not hold any exotic animals, nor did I contract malaria. But we did go on a river trip one day, and saw at least 10 river dolphins, including one of the famous (big) pink dolphins, that was a special treat.

Well, back in Puerto, life continues as usual. Its good to be back. I hadn't so much as gotten out of the Taxi and kids were running down the street to greet me-- that felt good. I felt like I had forgotten some of my spanish after so long, ha. but fear not, i'm back in the game now. Classes have started and i'm sure my contact with the kids will change now, i'll keep you updated.

Thanks so much for your thoughts and prayers. And especially thanks to all who have taken the time to send cards, letters, even packages (Sarah Danner...err Spealler!)! It means so much to me, thanks again!

Lunahuaná

2006-03-18T11:22:00.000-05:00

Hey gang! Well, sorry its been a while. Last weekend we had teh Motorcycle Spectacular in Puerto, wuth the crew from Pucallpa, and as soon as we got them shipped off, it was time to pack and head to Field Conference. We´ve just arrived into Lima from the conference-- nothing like getting up at 5.45 am to ride a bus 4 hours. I´m in an internet café and its hard to tell how much i´ll get writen before my time runs out. But, i wanted to let the worl know that i am still alive and well. I leave tomorrow mid'day to visit the field in Pucallpa (read - Jungle!) and will probably be back to Puerto on Thursday.

I´ll try to write up a real post soon, fun things to say!!

chau!

who doesn't like a few dirty hippies in their living room?

2006-03-07T11:46:00.000-05:00

a few random things i'd like to share with you first:

- i really love on-line radio. its fabulous. I am listening to some old-school Weezer.
- i have managed to convince Mama that the hiccups are from the Rice, not the Coffee, how about that one? :)
- You have to interrupt here. You might very well end up standing in the corner store for 20 minutes receiving no attention at all, until you just butt-right-in with your plea for laundry detergent above the squaks for 2 kilos of potatos or half a chicken. Yes, that is how it works.

Now, for the biggest news of the week: i got a letter in the mail, the first line was: Welcome to Temple!!! That's right!! I have officially been accepted to Temple University for my Master's in Social Work (Liz, please, try to contain your contempt). So, the plans that i have been making for Post-Peru can actually be plans, and not just speculation. Ross, i officially call dibs on the back bedroom at the Fussaro's. So, really, this is pretty exciting.

I have a busy couple of weeks coming up. As i mentioned in the last post, this weekend is the Motorcross event, and the number of people coming just keeps going up. There are now 21 missionaries and various family members coming from Pucallpa, and 5 from the Lima theatre team. Thats a total of 26 (yes, i can even add!) and the Hostel across the street from my house, can hold 19. So, where does that put the other 7? In my house! :) Kind of exciting. We're busy planning for that. As soon as we're done with that, its off to a week of Field Conference, outside of Lima, and after Conference i plan on returning to Pucallpa with the SAM missionaries so i can get a feel for the ministry happening there. (yay the Jungle!!!) As soon as i get back from Pucallpa, i should be starting my Sex Respect course in the high school here.

Speaking of which, last week i didn't say a whole lot about the school course... well, here's the "more later" part... Its been a pretty non-productive few weeks as far as the sex respect course goes... that translates into: I have done essentially nothing on it for about 4 weeks. The problem is that i got about as far as i could on developing the course, and burned out... and i was too nervous? proud? to ask Grace for help. Classes start the 13th, and at this point, i had no idea what to do about it- i had nothing to present to the school district, much less to the students. So, when Cesar asked me last friday if i was doing it or not, well, needless to say i had myself a little breakdown, and assured Grace and Cesar that i was still not opposed to the idea of doing the course, but that i had no idea what i was doing. At this point, i have put it off far too long, and its quite possible that the school district will say no, and this is entirely my fault... i recognize that. But, over the weekend Grace and i developed a proposal to sent to the school district, i got myself all cleaned up, and we took our proposals to the appropriate authorities... none of which were in their offices, but at least they have the proposal now. I'll keep you updated.

In other news, i don't remember if i've mentioned the Peruvian Hippies yet... but Grace and Cesar have a nephew, Roko, his wife Kristel, and thier 9 month old baby girl, Dourga. They are so fun, definitely hippies... spent the last couple of years traveling (read: hitch hiking) around S. America, making and selling jewelry, and hanging out... until they got pregnant, and here they are living in Barranca. They came over to visit sunday afternoon, we made some yogurt/jell-o desert that Roko had brought from Ecuador... we made it at my house becasue they don't have a refrigerator. They brought a friend along, who is traveling in his VW (of course) and is camped out in the car-park where Kristel and Roko live. This guy's name is Filbert, but they call him Niña Chai.. i'm telling you, he is the Peruvian Travis Myers. ( From here he's going North on the coast some, into Ecudaro, back thru Brasil, across Bolivia, and back into Peru to Cuzco) He comes in with his guitar in tow, and later plays us a few songs... and he has a home-made version of one of those harmonica holders, and he has a highland pan-flute on it. So he plays, and sings, and we burn some nag champa and make the jello. all very fun. I was excited to have such company at my house!!

While the guys went out to buy some milk for the jello, Kristel and i put Dourga in the hammock and watched her swing. I asked Kristel if she would be interested in coming to a weekly bible study that i want to start after conference. She was very excited and said she'd love to. I think she has a friend she's going to invite. I'm also thinking of inviting Millie, my other girlfriend- young mother. These two girls are the ones i have had the most conversation with about their faith, and they both seem eager to learn more, and really- to have some real fellowship, and talk to real people about it all. I'm planning on using the first of the Navigators 2:7 series (based on Colosians 2:7) with them. Its a 10-week course for deepening your faith, and i think it will be great. Millie has a strong Catholic background, and has been to a few envangelical churches. She reads her Bible regularly and prays with her son daily. Kristel... i don't know how she was raised, but i know that in recent years she has had a lot of Hindu (and Indian in general) influence in her life. But she also has been reading the Bible, and used to talk with Grace a lot about Christianity. So, i would appreciate your prayers in getting this group started.

Only a few more weeks of good solid beach-going. Neighborhood dynamics will change a bit when classes start. I actually had to put a longsleeve t-shirt on the other day.. life is getting rough. :)

Well, thats about enough for now i think... i will try to write once more again before i head off to conference! take care!

not kidding

2006-02-26T12:03:00.000-05:00

so, i have acquired this hiccup thing... or maybe i just have people around to tell me about it now. Its not the kind of hiccups that drive you crazy for an hour at a time so you can't breath or sit still or anything, just one random hiccup now and then. (Statia, believe me, they are hiccups, not burps, thankyouverymuch) Anyway, Mama has figured out the cause, and how to cure them: Coffee, and i should not drink any for two weeks. She tells me this at breakfast this morning. I look at Grace with a "she's got to be kidding" look. She's not. She really thinks i'm going to abstain from coffee for two weeks, so see if it cures the random hiccup syndrome. I am not bothered at all by the hiccups, nor by the fact that everyone thinks i have always just gotten in from the Cantina... even at 9:00 in the morning. Not drinking coffee for two weeks -- when it's perfectly readily available -- would bother me. Good thing i bought my own coffee pot... and 3 kilos of freshly grown, roasted, and ground Cafe del Mono, from Pucallpa-- the jungles of Peru. yumm.

Water. You'd be amazed at what a difference it can make. No, no, i'm not talking about the desert terrain i live in. I'm talking about chocolate. For all you bakers and candymakers, you will know what i'm talking about. I took on the adventure of making candy with 3 10-year-olds (Yomira, Carmela, & Brigit) this week. One night we're sitting around chatting about how easy it would be to make and sell these typical Peruvian chocolates, Chocotejas, and the very next day we're off to the market to buy the molds and the ingedients. Back in the kitchen, the first step was to melt the chocolate. Now, nevermind that i have stepped into the world of modern technology and have a microwave in my kitchen, i decide we should use the traditional double-boiler method to melt the chocolate. When they say, make sure not even one drop of water gets in the chocolate, they mean it! Do you have any idea what a drop of water (not big enough to wet your toohbrush) will do to an entire bowl of lovely dark chocolate... it is not pretty. We went on with the candy, they were not very pretty, but it still tasted fabulous. As we finished i sent the 3 girls into the living room to wait until i cleaned up some of the kitchen... and i gave them the bowl with the remains of the chocolate. Yes, now i understand why mothers don't let their daughters run around the house like wild animals with bownie covered beaters. they had chocolate up to their eyebrows and elbows!

It is Sunday today, and i will probaby head to the beach this afternoon with the girls, as usual. Grace, Cesar, Mama & I went to Barranca to hunt down a church service this morning. We don't attend church regularly here. There are a couple of "evangelical" churches in Puerto, each with probably an average of 7 regular attenders. The Catholic Parish is here, and probably has the most attenders of any, but still not an abundance. There are also 7th day Adventists and Mormons around town ( i see the mormons walking around in their ties and "elder" name plates, and i think of Lyman... one of these fellows is tall and blonde, clearly a gringo). Usually on sundays, after breakfast or lunch, we sit in the living room and listen to a taped service of one of Grace & Cesar's supporting churches from Florida. I'm pretty sure it would be qualified as a "mega-church" but i really enjoy their Pastor's preaching, and they switch up the music a lot, very fun. Grace and i were talking a few weeks ago, and i made an analogy, between the geography and the spirituality of Puerto. Both are pretty parched. If there were a torrential downpour, there would be all kinds of destruction. The only productive way of watering anything, is slowly. I think thats what ministry is going to have to be like here.

Coming up:
March 13th- school starts. the school aspect of my work here, is not going as well as most would hope, more details on that later.
March 10-11- Motorcross spectacular! A team of 8 SAM missionaries are coming to put on a motorcross demonstration, one of which is Julio Chiang, former Latin American champion. It should be a good time. The main purpose is to create awareness of the Communidad Cristiana, and its goals here in Puerto. There will be info tables for some of the programs the Communidad Cristiana is organizing, as well as tables of other community organizations, including the archeologists from el Aspero which is the site they are excavating just over the hill from the beaches we go to. (by the way, one of the Taxi drivers asked me the other night, if i was one of the archeologists working at el Aspero, i said no... but it was fun that he thought i looked arecheologist-like... maybe he just thought i was dirty... haha)
March 13-18- SAM Field Conference, just outside of Lima. With all the SAM missionaries from Peru. Should be fun and exciting getting to know some of the missionaries, and all of whatever goes on at conference. After the conference, i hope to be able to return to Pucallpa with the missionaries, to get to know thier ministry there a bit. fun fun fun.

ok, thats about all for now.

La Cucaracha

2006-02-22T15:05:00.000-05:00

I am once again an independant woman... well, sort of. I moved into my house this week. About an hour into my first night there, i was unpacking some things, and managed to blow the electricity in the whole place! Great, fabulous. Now i'm in this completely dark, strange house, and i have no idea where i packed away my flash light, and can't find my house keys. After a few minutes of fumbling in the dark, i found my keys and made my way back over to see Grace and Cesar. The problem was easily fixed, and Cesar laughed at me, but that was enough adventure for one evening--i went to bed. Unfortunately, all night long i tossed and turned, dreaming about the jumbo-sized cockroach Grace had graciously disposed of for me earlier that day. I have since learned how to fix the electricty on my own, and i killed a cockroach of my own... a mini-sized one, but we have to start somewhere.

One of my frustrations through the process of repairing and furnishing the house was that Someone always had a Better way to do it. Mama (Cesar's mother), God Bless her, i really like her, but she was about driving me crazy. She was not happy about how the masons had bult the rataining wall around the shower area in the bathroom. Not happy at all, but whats done is done. When we started talking about the bar and the shower curtain, she was absolutely convinced that it should be an "L" shape (like the retaining wall should have been) and no other way was conceivable. Everytime the house came up in conversation, Mama took the time to make sure we knew how the shower bar should be installed. I didn't care what the darn thing looked like, as long as too... and, well, admittedly, he was right... but i was on a roll on the Bitter-Bus. Then, to top it all off... (this should not surprise you) The Curtains. I bought some fabric and had planned on making them myself, but realized that this would have taken 3 weeks by hand, and i needed curtains NOW. So, i took the fabric to the lady up the street to have them made. We talked a bit, and i explained what i wanted. She suggested that she put a ruffle (yes, a ruffle) on the top, for some decoration, plus this would allow her to add a little length to the curtains, as they would have been a bit too short (as Mama pointed out) otherwise- i conceeded to this. Then she asked if i wanted her to sew them together at the top, i said no, please make them two separate panels. I picked them up the next day, ruffle and all, and about 10 inces of the top of the curtains we sewn together!!! What made matters worse was that the seem in the curtain and the seem in the ruffle didn't line up, so it wasn't like i could easily fix them myself, either. This made me particularly irritated as we had specifically discussed this. Well, i took the curtains back, and she fixed them, and they are good now -- i'm getting used to the ruffle. I know that this last little venting session will be of virtually no interest to anyone except maybe my Mom and Mandy... but the point of it all, is that I Clearly do not know what i am talking about, and Everyone always has a Better Idea. I'm over it now, really.

I am excited to have a place of my own. I have already had several visitors, and i think it is going to open good opportunities for ministry and fellowship. The house will also be sort of a general minsitry house. We will likely use it for the weekly Communidad Cristiana meetings, as well as a few other small groups and Bible studies.

Yesterday i had a visit from one of the young women, my friend Milie (Milagros) who is 28, and has two little ones. She is a super nice girl, very sociable and talkative. We chatted for about 2 hours, she told me of her life for the past ten years or so, her involvement with the father of her childern, and where she is now. It was a sad story, but also encouraging because it sounds like through the whole process she has grown and learned a lot- and thats what matters now. Looking ahead i think that she could be a good mentor/leader for the younger kiddos. She is depending on God and eager to learn, and she has a good rapport with many of the neighborhood kiddos already.

Otherwise, things are going well. Classes start for the kiddos in about 3 weeks, which means shortly i will be teaching courses on Sex Respect and Sexuality. I'm still a little nervous about that. Lately i've also been thinking about (and have been frustrated by) the amount of time i will be here. 5 months is really no time at all... especially to get to know a community, to build relationships, and develop some strong fellowship groups. This has made me consider even closer the idea of coming back here after grad school. It is definitely something i will have to be praying about.

February Prayer Letter

2006-02-19T20:04:00.000-05:00

Incase you are not on my mailing list, here is a copy of my most recent Prayer Letter. Sorry, no pictures-- i'm not quite technologically advanced enough yet to figure put how to post them.

Greetings from Puerto Supe, Peru!! I officially began my 5 months of service with South America Mission (SAM) on January 16, and I received a very warm welcome—literally!!

I’d like to give you a quick snapshot of where I will be living and working while I am here. It is summer in South America, and I am in the coastal desert region of Peru. It almost never rains. Puerto is a small fishing town, with a population of about 12,000. I am currently living with Cesar and Grace Cubas, in the home of Cesar’s mother. Less than half of the streets in Puerto are paved and we are lucky enough to live on one that is. Water is pumped into homes by the municipality for about an hour or two every day. For families who do not have a water holding tank in their homes, this is the only time during the day that they get water. There is a small market in town, and various corner shops. Most all of the food we eat is fresh, just bought that morning at the market. The houses here in town are small, made of brick or concrete, and built right up against one another. Front and back, side to side. The town is surrounded by sand dunes, and the further up the sand dunes you go, the more houses you encounter with corrugated metal roofs, cane and mud-plaster walls, and even woven-reed sheets for walls and ceilings. Job prospects here in Puerto are grim, and many of the younger people are moving to the larger towns and cities in the region to find work.

I have become a small part of something very big that God is doing in this town! La Communidad Cristiana Supe Puerto, which translates to the Puerto Supe Christian Community, is the group that the Cubases have initiated as their vehicle for change here. The Cubases are not here to plant a church, at least not now. La Communidad’s goal is spiritual, social, and economic development. La Communidad is made up of community friends and neighbors, has a board of directors, and is a recognized community organization.

Their main project running right now is a Summer Olympics program. This week and next they are running a soccer tournament for boys and volleyball for girls. I have been stationed on the sidelines, painting faces of those who are not on the field. The kids have enjoyed it, and we have some very dedicated neighbors who are coordinating their teams, based on streets and neighborhoods. There are also several weekly meetings that Cesar leads in the home of La Communidad members. Cesar is currently basing his lessons on Rick Warren’s book, The Purpose Driven Life, altering the lessons to apply to life in Puerto. When the school year begins in March, Grace plans on beginning a Bible study group for women. There are also several projects on La Communidad’s agenda, focusing around tourism and artisan crafts as economic opportunities.

The beginning of a ministry is usually slow, and this has been no different. I have had lots of time in the past two weeks to gain my bearings, and also be preparing materials for the months to come. I am currently working on a Sexuality/Sex Respect program proposal to take to the high school, to get approval for the coming school year. The plan is to run a 1-2 week program that consists of daily one-hour sessions. Our goal is to do at least three of these. This will serve two purposes: to help develop a healthy view of sex and sexuality in the young people, as well as help to create contacts and form relationships with the teenagers here.

The second and largest part of my ministry will be relational ministry with the high school kids, outside of school, investing my time and energy in their lives. My strategy is to teach by being a living example of Christ’s mercy and grace in our lives. It is my hope to plant seeds in the lives of young people that will someday flourish into a joy that only a liberating relationship with Christ can bring.

Ministry, whether it is in your hometown, the next big city, or half a world away is a stretching and growing experience. I have never depended on God so much as I am now, and it is a fabulous feeling. I still believe that God has called me here, and that he has planned the work I will do, and the lives he will touch through me. I know that there will be times of doubt and resistance, but I am confident that God will lead us through.

Please continue to check my on-line journal for weekly updates: http://emhead.blogspot.com

You can send me mail at:

(post a comment or e-mail to get this info)

Please continue to pray for me and the ministry being done through South America Mission.

Specific prayer requests are:
- Open hearts in the people of Puerto Supe
- Open doors to relationships with the kiddos
- Peace about teaching in the schools
- Encouragement
- A person to continue this ministry after I leave

Thanks to each of you for your friendship and support!!

Love in Christ,

Emily Kephart

South America Mission
5217 S. Military Tr.
Lake Worth, FL 33463
561-965-1833
www.southamericamission.org

The Great Divide

2006-02-15T16:28:00.000-05:00

We went to Lima last weekend, a 3 1/2 hour bus ride from Barranca (the town 5k north on the PanAm Hwy). For those of you who have heard me describe the northern coast of Peru as "a barren wasteland"-- that is decidedly an unjust description of my new home. I highly enjoyed the landscape on the ride down, looking east over the hugh open sanddunes that lead up to the Andes. And the ride home, looking down over the cliffs onto the Pacific. It may not be the Amazon, but it is vast, and it is beautiful.

I have been to Lima before, and have spent time working with neighborhood churches. I felt like I had a prety good picture of what Lima was about. I could not have been more mistaken. The Lima i saw this weekend only demonstrated further the great divide betweent he have's and the have-not's here. I enjoyed Lima immensly- but at the same time felt pretty conflicted.

My first reaction to the "new Lima" friday was: "They Call This A Developing Nation?" People, they have a two story super store (envision a Target and Grocery store in one) Instead of escalators, they have an inclined moving sidewalk, so you can take your shopping cart on it, and the sidewalk is magnetized so you don't have to support the weight of your now-inclined, loaded shopping cart. genius. We went to Chili's for dinner saturday, and then (hold onto your hats) STARBUCKS after dinner! Sunday, before we returned home, we went to the grocery store-- one of my all time favorite activities in foreign countires... this trip was no dissappointment! Did you know you can buy the following at the Wong Grocery Store in Lima: Philadelphia Cream Cheese, Heintz ketsup, Hagen Daas ice cream, Quaker Oatmeal, Tahini, Ramen Noodles, Special K (no red berries, tho), Dunkin Donuts (and their coffee), Toblerone, Kinder Bueno, just to name a few... ?!?! wow. Don't worry, i didn't buy any of these... ok, well, maybe i bought a package of Kinder Buenos, but can you blame me?!

So, all of this got me thinking, and i said to Grace: "You could live in Lima and forget you were in Peru." To which she replied, "Most people who live here think this is Peru." Hmm. I got to thinking about the town i live in, the towns i saw one the busride, and the parts of Lima i had stayed and worked in previously. The Limeños (people who live in Lima) don't even have to come out into the Provinces to see what the rest of their country is like... just head to the outskirts of town! I don't know if this makes me sad, or frustrated, or perplexed, or all of the above. The contrast is just unreal. The ethnocentrism of the Limeños makes me think of the ethnocentrism around the world-- people who don't know how the rest live. Usually the geographic distance that separates us is a fraction of the lifestyle difference, and we still don't see it.

I guess all of this just makes me hope that we take the time to see and know the people around us, and what their lives look like. Once we have that down, we can work on making a a bit more of a balance. :o)

Otherwise, life goes on. My sunburn has moved onto the peeling stage, incredibly itchy, and incredibly reptile-like. My house is almost ready. I hope to start small groups of my own with some kiddos once i get into my house-- Keep that in your prayers. Thats about all for now.

Aloe-Vera

2006-02-09T17:04:00.000-05:00

time and time again, i refuse to listen to the good advice around me... i spent 5 mid-day hours in the equatorial sun yesterday, with one application of SPF 15... needless to say, i am a fool, and my skin is reminding me. I don't remember the last time i had sunburn this painful. I finally tracked down som ealoe-vera gel... got home, and read the list of ingedients. well, my bottle at home says Ingredients: Aloe-Vera, the bottle here states Ingredients: water, 17 kinds of rubbung alcohol, aloe vera, and blue17. great. fabulous. so, this is me, wallowing in my stupidity.

Onto other news, my house is almost ready! Thats right, we finally found a house for me to live in, and it should be ready for me to move in on sunday or monday. All week the guys have been doing repairs, installing an elevated water tank, and now we've moved onto the painting! what fun. And, we're installing two sets of Hammock Hooks, thats right! I'll be able to swing in the breeze in my living room! The real excitement for the apartment is that it will give me space to run my own thing. I hope to start having some regular meetings with some girls-- groups or individuals, once my house is available. La Communidad Cristiana (see most recent Prayer Letter) will probably begin to meet in my living room, as opposed to Mama's house. The house really is a blessing, and an answer to many many of Grace & Cesar's prayers. (now if they could only get a house of thier own!)

In addition to small groups, i hope to try my hand at a Youth Group/Club social activity once a week as well. Now, i have little experience in actually pulling this off, but i know plenty of you who do it on a regular basis-- so, feel free to e-mail me. (ship YL gang... i don't think that cricket-spitting is going to go over well here, so don't even try it.. unless one of you want to come demonstrate!) Basically, just keep those efforts in your prayers, as well as the Kiddos.

Grace and I will be attending a seminar in Lima this saturday, on small group Bible studies. Its through an organization Estudios Biblicos en Communidad, the Peruvian equivalent of Bible Study Fellowship- if you're famliar with it in the States. I think the area director is a little concerned about Grace's plans to run small groups. Basically, the situation is a severe lack of mature christians to serve as small group leaders. As such, the women will be more like discussion leaders than "teachers", who will meet weekly with Grace as well, to go over the week's materials beforehand. Please keep these efforts in your prayers as well-- i believe we have a hanful of women who are seeking and would make competent small group leaders. It may seem like the blind leading the blind... but that's what Grace is here for. We have to start somewhere. I plan on attending the gropus, but will probably not have a leadership role.

also... i was pleased to hear that the Steelers won the super bowl, and excited to explain some of the finer points of PA to Grace as she read an article onthe "Steeler Nation"... BUT, i was even more excited to read today's front page: U2 won 5 Grammys!!!!! wahoooo!!!

that's about all for now. take care, keep in touch!

Something's Fishy

2006-02-01T21:39:00.000-05:00

So... seafood shows up randomly here. Last week Jamie, Cesar's brother, comes home with a plastic bag (oh! the infamous black plastic bag) with about 4 kilos of squid, fresh from port. so we promplty had battered and fried squid for lunch. It was really quite good. Then a nephew came by to visit on his way home from work. Where does he work you ask? The docks. So, of course, he brings us half a fish, Perico. again, in a black plastic bag. This fish got cleaned and put in the fridge for a later day's lunch. Lo and behold, the next day, Grace goes out to buy some bread, and comes home with two boys trailing. Picture an 8 year old boy, carrying a fish (also Perico) 3/4 of his body length, by the tail. yup, that showed up at our door too. And we bought it, for 5 s/. (about $1.50) And, as an extra special prize, the boy's cohort had- you guessed it, a black plastic bag. Cesar promptly bought the 3 kilo of sea-fare: huevera-- fish eggs. Now... we have a sink full of fish and fish eggs. what the heck!! The fish is good... we had some today for lunch. It doesn't have many spines, this is always a good quality for a fish to have. And, yesterday for breakfast i tried some of the huevera, floured and fried... i don't think that will be on my request list for another day-- but alteast i tried it.

other food news: we eat rice, a lot of rice. we eat potatoes and yuka too. Garlic... so, you're familiar with a recipie or two that call for a clove of minced garlic... maybe 3 cloves of garlic of its a real winner. Well, let me tell you... i have watched Elvia (our housekeeper) whack up a whole bundle, like the whole bulb, like 8 cloves, of garlic for our food. And this is the best part, take note cooks: she places them on the wooden cutting board, and then gets a smooth stone off the shelf, and goes to town, really whacks it apart, until its all smushed up. I think this particular method is ingenious! Move over pamperd chef, here comes wilma fintstone.

Today finished the kiddo's summer olympics. there will be a closing ceremony on saturday i belive. The kiddos still have a whole month of summer vacation. I am enjoying getting to know more of the faces i see walking along the street- even tho they continue to ask me if i'm going to paint their faces. I recognize more people, kids and adults, on the street, and am able to greet them, and ask about their lives, work or family. its good.

thats all for now!! take care kiddos.

Pictures!!

2006-01-27T22:26:00.000-05:00

Here is a link to some pictures from Puerto Supe, Peru. They were taken last fall by Dan Beams, a missionary in Bolivia with World Concern. He came to visit the Cubases, and has captured a good bit of Puerto.

For your visual enjoyment:
http://www.pbase.com/beamsclan/supeperu

(note: "Old man of the sea" is taken on our street. our house would be just out of the frame on the right.)

thanks, dan!

Seismic Action

2006-01-27T09:15:00.000-05:00

I was awakend last night, around 2am... i'm not sure if it was the dogs barking, or the violent shaking of my bed. We had an earth tremor here in Puerto last night, and i've serached, but i can't find anything telling me if it was a bigger earth quake somewhere, or just a tremor... i suppose it must not have been too big, or there would be news. Anyway, for those of you who have not had the pleasure of living on the edge of a continental plate, an earth tremor is a bit of an adrenaline rush. Its pretty wild to feel like you are on a carnival ride, but know that you are in your bed. Gracias a Dios, thats all it was. My bed shook back and forth four or five times, and it was over. Rest at ease, friends and family, there has been no significant seismic activity since the middle of the last century.

its friday already, and i don't know where the week has gone! Well, yes i do. I painted faces again tuesday... it's fun, but i don't know if my butt will ever recover from being planted on 90 degree concrete for a number of hours, one can only hope. Wednesday, i had a particulalry nice opportunity to accompany my frined Azucena to her work. She is a social worker for two of the local health posts. We spent some time in her office in the morning, then around 10:30 headed out to the field- el campo- to do home visits. Homevisits aren't all that different here than they were in the states, the principle is the same: they won't come to you, you go to them. Azucena's job is to get families signed up for the government health coverage for children that is offered here, all but free for families who qualify. So we went, basically door to door and thru the neighborhoods, asking who had un seguro and who didn't. We (Azucena) did 3 or 4 evaluations that day, which will go back to the central office for processing and be returned in a week, with a big red category stamped on it:

A- "not poor", generally have a house made of decent material, have basic commodities, running water, electricity, etc. Don't qualify.
B- "poor", houses made of questionable material, possibly roof of cane-poles and plastic tarp, cane and mud plaster walls, only some of the basic commodities. Qualify.
C- "extreme poor", houses with dirt floors, no interior or exterior water source, houses constructed of poor material. definitely qualify.

Other factors such as family income, number of children, and rooms in the house are taken into account as well.

There are huge social problems here, and very little structured supports. Azucena is a social worker, but by our standars: a super hero. She has been working for the health post for the last year without a contract, and mostly without pay. The government has set unreasonable quotas on how many families she has to enroll in the program (i.e. 150/month) and if she doesn't, well then she doesn't get paid. Walking thru the neighborhoood it is evident that Azucena does her job, and does it well. She knows every person, at least by family name, that she comes across, and remembers their situation. She does not reach her quotas, because there are not 150 uninsured families left in the neighborhood. I pray that the Ministry of Health recognizes that as a social worker, she is necessary at the health post, regardless of quotas.

An update on the apartment front... the one i last spoke about did not work out. There were far too many repairs that needed to be made before the house would be inhabitable. However, we have found and setteled on another. It is about a block and a half from Mama's. Remember the girls who play volleyball in the evening, yeah, thats right out my front door!! Talk about God opening doors to ministry. The house has two small bedrooms (read: come visit!) and has a medium sized living room and dining room in the front of the house. It needs to be cleaned and painted, then i can move in. I don't expect it to take more than a week or so.

The girls down the street are less afraid of me of me now, i'd even bet they like me some! Its good, and i'm happy to be building relationships! Thanks for all the prayers that i know are behind me!

there is so much to tell, but i'm afraid your eyes will bug out of your heads... and my fingeres will break. Take care for now!

¡cuarenta y cinco! ¡cuarenta y cinco!

2006-01-23T15:00:00.000-05:00

Life in Puerto goes on. Saturday evening, Grace and i talked about ways i could meet some kids (or friends) around town. Clearly i just need to be visible... which i what i tried to accomplish the last couple evenings i took a walk. But it's tricky striking up conversation on the street corner as a lone Gringa. So, Grace and i went out, she needed to buy laundry detergent and i was going to get some much needed chocolate before heading to la cancha (soccer court) up our street. Well, i never made it to la cancha. On our way we stopped and chatted with a lady who was crocheting hand bags, Araceli. SHe has 3 daughters and a neighbor girl was around. Struck up a nice little conversation, and got an invite to the beach sunday- which i accepted. Around the corner and up to the store we went, only to fine a pile of girls, and a few others, playing volleyball in the street. They say they play every day... and they must, b/c they are good! But, i think the rules are a little different here, because amidst the chants and cheers, i caught hold of the score... 45! They must play to 50, b/c the game was over shortly thereafter. I figure if i head up there a couple times a week i'm bound to meet some girls.

Yesterday i went to la Isla with Araceli and her daughters. La Isla used to be an island, but is now a peninsula. The Ocean has done one of two things: it has receeded a good bit, or has continually dumped sand on the shore. The Pacific is salty! Being the hill-billy that i am, this always surprises me about the ocean... and i never realized how much water gets in my mouth when i swim... unless of course it feels like you could cure a whole hame with the salt you just swallowed. The girls that kept me company in the ocean were Pilar, 15, Yomira, 10, and Carmela, 11. Yomira had trouble hiding her smile when it came time to get in the water and the Great White stripped off her shorts and tank top. I was clearly the whitest thing in sight. Miraculously, i didn't burn yesterday, thats a good sign. I told them to just give me a few weeks, and i'd tan right up.

I am busily preparing material for the Seuality/Sex Respect course that i will present to the school administration in a week or so. If you have any experince in teaching such a topic, feel free to pass along and good activities.

Today began the summer Olympiadas, that Cesar and the committee are running. Fulbito (half court soccer) for boys, and volley ball for the girls. They started aroun 9 this morning and ended around 1:00. My job during this time was to paint the faces of those who were not actively playing. So, i grabbed a seat on teh concrete and started the face painting. It was less chaos than i anticipated. But the end of the 3 hours that i must have sat there, i was so covered in dust and sand, i could taste it. But the kids were all very good sports, they didn't mind my lack of artistic ability or simple designs. In fact... i could hear them whispering in little groups behind me... viene de Estados Unidos... es dibujadora... Pedro Picasso... !! I'm not kidding!

We have found an apartment (well, a whole house really) for me to rent. There are a few catches. The thing hasn't been lived in for years. The last folks the lady rented it to, practically destroyed a lot of stuff. But, we've struck up a deal, and made a list of all the repairs that would be necessary, and if it comes out to less than one year's rent, we'll take it. So, we would then pay for the repairs, and see that they get done (the landlady lives in Lima), and i will live there in the meantime. Afterwards, Grace & Cesar will continue to have a place for some of their bigger meetings. The roommate situation is still up in the air, we are hoping to find one for me, but who knows. The house is on the same street as Mama's, and is next door to the back entrace of la Parroquia (the Catholic Church! See, statia, i really am a faux catholic... be sure to let Ross know!)

Thats about all for now. Keep e-mailing, thanks for all your thoughts and prayers!! Write me a letter!!

PS- i have done a little research on phone calls. The number i have is a cell phone number, and therefore might be a little more costly, but here are the links to the best two options i've found so far. Look at teh pages and the fine print, and see which works better for you.

a phone card:
http://www.zscomm.com/perucell.htm (calling card) $0.076/minute

a 10-10-deal:
http://www.1010565.com/index.php?show=rates&id=158 (10-10-565) $0.249/minute

new pic

2006-01-21T10:49:00.000-05:00

Barranca

2006-01-19T11:22:00.000-05:00

well, my new acquaintence, Maleska, and i have journeyd to Barranca by Micro, to run some errands, one included finding a computer that will read USB, wahhooo!! The Micro is a small bus, (read: ancient VW micro-bus ...eleven long-haired friends of Jesus in a chatreuse microbus.... any body? anybody?) with its doors falling off, but it only costs 1 sol ($.30) and it gets you where you want to go.

Not much to add since the 17th, but i´ll be in contact again shortly! Take care, send me letters!

chau, emily

Liz, i had mango for breakfast!!

2006-01-19T11:19:00.000-05:00

(post from 17 Enero 2006)

Hello all, I have arrived and am sitting in Puerto Supe, (or Supe Puerto, or just plain ol’ Puerto) I arrived on-time and without incident in Lima at 6:30 am on Monday. Grace Cubas and her brother-in-law met me at the airport. We spent the morning in Lima running errands, and had breakfast. Fruit, bread, cheese, yogurt, and strong hot coffee!! Grace and I took a bus 3 hours up to coast to home, Puerto. (It’s about 190 km north of Lima) We took the Pan American Highway, which has some pretty scenic points. About halfway home we were looking left, straight down a cliff into the Pacific, and right, straight up sand dunes. It was pretty wild. And, when they say costal desert, they mean it. Very little vegetation, other than irrigated agricultural fields. So far we have corn, potatoes, garlic, and sugar cane.

The bus ride was good, uneventful. Grace and I chatted about the 8 million doors of opportunity that are here, and where I fit, and what God is calling them and equipping them to work on at the moment. Their general aim is Spiritual, Social, and Economic (small scale) improvement. One of the Cubas’s supporting churches raised money to help the poorer children at Christmas. Grace explained to me the programs they were able to do for the poor, “middle poor” and “extreme poor” (more on those distinctions later). Currently the kiddos are on Summer Vacation, which began just before Christmas, and will go thru the end of February. Cesar has organized a sort of summer sports camp. This week they are in the process of refurbishing 5 soccer courts (lines, goal posts, etc.) and next week will begin, with games and practices each day. Every day will be in a different location, there are 5 neighborhood courts they are working with. There will be soccer for the boys and volley ball for the girls, and they are split up into age groups. At the end of the summer (March) they are going to have some sort of tournament and celebration. When the school year begins, Grace will begin running a women’s bible study group. In addition to various other projects that are currently going on.

Grace and I have discussed a number of possibilities for my ministry. There are quite a few, and at this point we just need to narrow it down, so we don’t run me ragged. Teaching short courses in the schools is still an idea, possibly Team Teaching with a Peruvian teacher, b/c well, I have no experience in front of the classroom. At the present, it would depend on what we have material for, which is sex education. So, maybe it would only be one course, which is really ok by me. Also running a small group/bible study for adolescent girls, this is the most definite. There would also be opportunities if I wanted to do music or activities for children’s worship, other activities with children, accompanying a social worker on some home visits, etc. I will sit down with Grace & Cesar in the coming days and talk about a definite ministry plan.

My living situation. Well, the hunt for housing has not been good so far for the Cubases or for an apartment for me. We fully intend on continuing the hunt for an apartment that I can rent. For the time being, we all live in the house with Mama. I have a room at the back of the house, it’s a room, it has a bed, and a dresser, and a couch, and now a bookshelf and that’s about it. It’s plenty. The food is good, that water is hot (if you turn the water heater on before your shower), and I’m getting acclimated.
I have an address and a phone number. (we got me a cell phone, I cannot call internationally on it, but I can receive calls, at no charge.) E-mail me if you want them, I’m not going to post them on the website.

I hope you are all very well! Please, keep me and this ministry in your prayers! The adventure has just begun.

All my love

I Really Dislike Packing

2006-01-14T23:11:00.000-05:00

The countdown has begun... heck, it's darn well over! I fly out of Baltimore tomorrow night at 7:00. Would you like to know when i started packing? About 1:00 this afternoon... which, frankly, has got to be a record time. Usually i wait until about 7 or 8 the night before.

So, we are all entitled to a few brain-farts every now and then. I certainly had one today while i was packing: So, i know that i am allowed two checked bags, weighing max. 50lbs each. After a tiring packing session, i go into the living room, and begin explaining the situation to my dad, that i feel like i'm doing well, all my stuff is packed, and i even have some extra room. However, i'm really having a hard time weighing my bags. You know, its hard to get a 30" duffel bag or a 70litre pack onto a bathroom scale, it ends up flopping off the edges and sitting on the ground, and then you can't see the display... so i try turning it on its end, i'm having a heck of a time. My dad says to me, why dont you weigh yourself and then pick up the bag, and weigh yourself again. I look at my dad like he has just explained the meaning of life, he is a GENIUS!!

I arrive in Lima 6:AM on Monday. I really don't know what to expect out of all of this. I expect warm weather, and to speak spanish. I expect to be stretched, and challenged. I expect to be excited and disappointed. I expect to learn a lot about myself, the kids i'll be working with, and God. I don't expect too much Starbucks. I think i'm partly in denial that this is actually happening. I'm actually moving to another country (again!) and i'm going to do mission work. Wow.

Well, please keep me in your prayers. I will keep you all updated. If you think i don't have your e-mail address, send it to me. (b/c i think there are quite a few i'm not up-to-date on)

thanks kids!
All my love

Here's to the New Year!!

2006-01-01T16:39:00.000-05:00

first and very foremost: THANK YOU!!

Last tuesday i got the fabulous news that my support for SAM is at 100%... we busily set at making travel arrangements, and my departure date is January 15. God has been SO faithful through all of you who have and are supporting and encouraging me in this journey. Thank you for taking the work South America Mission does seriously, and my call to join them. I feel like i have reached such a milestone, but i know that this means it is all just beginning!!

I have spent the holidays at home with my parents (after moving out of my apartment in Erie... i drove a 26' U-Haul Truck... it was impressive!) It has been wonderful to see many of you, and to catch up with others! For the next two weeks i will be at my parents' houses, you should be able to find me there. I will be trying to send out another letter to you all, updating on contact info for Peru, etc. I will also be finishing up my Graduate School application, which i have put off far too long.

In the coming weeks, please keep the following things in your prayers:
- Safe travel and good health
- Living arrangements in Peru for myself as well as Grace & Cesar Cubas (my "hosting" missionaries)
- Preparation for my Heart and Mind for the work we'll be doing in Puerto Supe.
- Praise for God's faithful provision

all my love

FAQ -- Round 1

2005-11-28T17:42:00.000-05:00

here are some of the most frequent questions i've been asked about donating so far:

-- Why do we send our money to Florida? --
South America Mission will be my Employer for the time that i am serving in Peru. They will make my travel arrangements, room & board, health care coverage, monthly stipends, and ministry expenses. As such, they handle all the finances, so i don't have to. A percentage of my budget is raised to cover overhead and administrative costs at SAM, however its is a modest 12%, you can be assured that your money really is going to Puerto Supe, Peru, and our ministry there.

-- Do i have to remember to write a check every month, or will i get a reminder? --
After your frist donation is recieved, you will recieve a recipt and enclosed will be another donation envelope, this will serve as your "reminder" to give again.

-- Are there other ways to donate? --
Aside from writing checks, you can also give by automatic monthly draft (EFT) from your bank account. To do this, you will need to submit a form to the SAM office. You can download and print the form here.

Again, thanks for your support and patience. Please, feel free to call or write with any questions. I will hopefully have more specifics on what my responsibilities will be in the coming weeks!! Stay tuned...

It's been one week...

2005-11-21T21:49:00.000-05:00

Since i handed in my Resignation Letter... what an exciting day that was-- for me anyway. My last day as a caseworker at Erie County Child Protective Services (formerly know as Office of Children & Youth) will be December 16. I'll stick around Erie for a few days, hanging out and packing, then head home to good ol' Clinton County for the holidays. It's wild to be quitting my job. I like it. Its been a good 18 months, it's been a learning and growing expereince. And it's been experience- thats enough.

Folks have all been incredibly supportive. When i tell my co-workers and clients that i'll be leaving in december, they ask to where? and expect to thear some nearby town or state... they are pretty surprised to hear South America, but most all have wished me well, and think that this will be a great opportunity for me (i tend to agree).

No news on a departure date for Peru. I'm ready to get going, but of course it's a process. Thanks again for all your support, thoughts and prayers, and encouragement most of all. Who knows if i would have had the courage to follow this call without you folks telling me i could! thanks!

Feel free to write or call with questions, i love talking about all of this. :o)

Mail Call!!

2005-11-15T07:56:00.000-05:00

[note: this is my first Prayer/Support letter, send out to...well, you know, my whole address book.]

Saludos!

I hope that this finds you very well, enjoying your families, and the changing of seasons! I apologize for a rather impersonal letter, but I want to include you all in some exciting plans for my life, and to ask for your continued support.

I have been interested in life and travel abroad since my first taste of it as an exchange student to Mexico. I had a phenomenal experience, and it opened many doorways in my life. Since then I have been able to utilize my Spanish language skills both in school and in my current job as a County Caseworker. During college I was also given the opportunity to be part of a group from Southern PA on short-term mission trips to Peru, largely due to my fluency in the language. I have returned to Peru for three consecutive summers.

While considering my future goals and aspirations, I realized what a strong desire I have to live and serve abroad. After a lengthy search of service and mission organizations, I found South America Mission (SAM), an inter-denominational organization that sends missionaries, teams and individuals, to countries throughout South America. SAM believes that all South Americans should have the opportunity to hear the gospel message, and that the message should come from within their own culture, language and community. SAM works to train leaders and develop communities to help make this happen. If you have internet access their website provides great information on who they are, what they believe, and what they are doing. Click on the “About SAM” link at the top of the page. http://www.southamericamission.org/

I have been officially appointed as a missionary with SAM. After prayer and discussion with the folks at SAM, it looks like a good match all around. I will be serving in Puerto Supe, Peru, on the coast two hours north of Lima (LEE-ma), the capital. During my most recent trip to Peru I had the opportunity to meet Grace & Cesar Cubas, long-time missionaries, with whom I will be living and working while I am in Peru. The Cubases are working in the areas of social growth and community development. We spoke of the projects they are working on and hope to have in full swing shortly including small business initiatives, school programming such as drug & alcohol education, family violence education, etc.

I believe in the Mission of the Church, for all people to know and accept the gift of salvation. My social work training reminds
me that the best and most healthy way for this to happen, is for people to accept it for themselves, and to have it presented to them from within their own culture and community. I also believe that God has been preparing me for these opportunities, from the traveling and language, to the schooling and work experience I have had, and the incredible support and encouragement from friends and family all along the way. I believe that God has equipped me with the desires and skills to go and do this work.

My service with SAM at this time is as Special Service Personnel (SSP). My initial term in Peru will be for about 6 months. Afterward I plan to return to the States to attend Candidate Orientation with SAM to consider additional longer term service with SAM, as well as attend Graduate School for my Masters degree in Social Work. SAM has encouraged me to pursue the degree as a way to better prepare for future service. I’ll be praying with them along the way about how I might apply the new training.

Before me is an unparalleled opportunity for personal, spiritual and professional growth, as well as service, work, and learning. I cannot begin to explain how excited I am about serving in South America, even as I write this. I have not come this far on my own, and I don’t intend to continue on my own.

I would like to take this time to ask you to consider how you can be part of this next chapter of my life. I will continue to need the emotional support and encouragement that you all have given so generously throughout my life, as well as your continued prayers for me, my work, and the people God puts in my path. Your prayer support will be crucial to my life and ministry in Peru.

As a missionary with SAM, I am also responsible for raising my own financial support. My current goal is $9000 for a 5-month assignment; which works out to about $1800 per month. This will cover initial outgoing costs, my travel expenses, insurance coverage, salary, and ministry costs among other things. God has been continually faithful in providing for me financially in the past through the generosity of others. I trust that He will meet these needs again, and it is my prayer that you would be able to help make this happen. I hope to have everything in order to leave in January 2006, the biggest part of which will be raising my support. I would ask you to consider supporting my ministry on a monthly basis for the 6 months I will be serving in Peru. If you cannot do this, please consider giving a one-time gift. Either way, I would love to involve you in this ministry opportunity. I realize that not everyone is called to go and do missionary work in developing nations, but supporters back home are just as important, because those of us who are called to Go must be Sent. Please consider what your role in this mission can be.

If you are able to support me financially, please use the enclosed form and envelope. Donations to South America Mission are tax-deductible and cannot be refunded. These funds will be used to cover the costs of my ministries. You may make checks payable to South American Mission, please use the enclosed form to designate the money to my ministry, and not the memo line on your check.

I sincerely thank you for taking an interest in this ministry opportunity with me. If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact me using any of the information at the top of the letter. Thank you again for your support. I pray that you will be blessed by the work God is doing in Peru as much as I’m sure to be!!

5217 S. Military Trail
Lake Worth, FL 33463