Grime and Impromptu Sermons

Today I decided to be a true missionary and by going two days without showering. Actually, I didn’t really have a choice in the matter. Early Sunday morning the power decided to go out. There were power outages all the way out to Pucallpa, which is 38 Km away from base camp. Apparently this is a once a month occurrence. I still haven’t  figured out why this happens--I think it has something to do with the power plant being overloaded, who knows.

So here I sit in my own filth, dreaming of cold water to drink, swim in, bath in, anything but dirt. But then again, it could be worse. Two days isn’t really bad. So to get my mind off my own grime I shall recollect on past happenings.

I’ve come to really love my Church in Santa Elvita. By “church” I mean a house with a few roughly made pews sitting next to it. I really enjoy the simplicity of the church, it’s pretty impromptu, from the special music to the sermons.  Which shouldn’t have made last Sabbath shocking for me.

As the kids were putting the finishing touches on their coloring pages, a church member informed us that one of the SM’s would be preaching. Stupidly, we thought that the members wouldn’t ask us to preach since it was our first Sabbath—never think that. I should have seen it coming. Caleb, an SM from La Sierra, was asked if he had a sermon prepared. Of course none of us had come prepared. Two other SM’s were asked before one of the summer workers approached me, “Jenessa, can you preach the sermon?” What else was I going to say? No one else was left. I heard myself reply, “Yeah sure, give me a minute.” What?! How in the world could I preach a sermon, I hadn’t even had a full conversation without picking up my dictionary and saying, “Como se dice…..?”

After being asked to preach, I frantically searched through my Bible, trying to think of what I had read for my devotionals that week. I prayed, “Please Lord, direct me to something!” A few seconds later I turned to Matthew chapter 5 (which  happens to be the chapter of my favorite verses). “Perfect, thanks Lord!” I jotted down a few thoughts about being salt and light to the world. I barely had time to find some supporting texts before it was time to file to the front.

All the SM’s and I made our way to the front to take our seats for the service. We nervously stood there singing hymns in Spanish. After some off tune singing and garbled pronunciations,  one of the girls was asked to come forward to recite a verse of her choice. I didn’t quite pick up all she said, but I did catch where the verse was found, Matthew 5:16! I leaned over to my translator and asked if the verse the girl just recited was indeed what I thought it was. She nodded yes. “I can’t believe it, that’s what I’m preaching on!” Coincidence? I don’t think so.

The program progressed and it was finally my turn. Ah! I was so nervous; I said a quick prayer asking God to bless my words. The sermon went pretty smoothly,  it was more like a sermonette. But I think God still blessed. Just having the little girl recite the verse I was preaching on was such a blessing. I didn´t really care how the rest of the sermon went after that, I knew God would do His thing. My sermon ended and I breathed a sigh of relief. As we stood at the back of the church the members thanked us, said, ¨Feliz Sabado,¨ and gave us cheek to cheek kisses (I really like that expression of affection here by the way). I realized that the members didn´t expect perfection, just willing spirits. Which is what God expects of me too. There´s no way I could ever be a perfect missionary, but all God wants is for me to be willing.

Well, the power is back on now. Time to go  wash this grime off. One thing I’ve learned from this power outage is to take a shower whenever you can. Cause you never know when you’ll be without water.

A is for Apple

First of all, I apologize to those of you who have been checking my blog only to discover that nothing has been posted. 1.) I am terrible at keeping any kind of journal/blog (but I am trying to overcome that). 2.) I have been quite busy adjusting to life here and teaching. Anyway, no more lame excuses.

Life in Peru has been an adventure. I think I've recovered from the shock of being here. For the first few days I kept thinking, "What am I doing here? I'm here for eight months? Am I capable of doing this?" But as the days and now two weeks have passed by, I've settled into this place that I will call home for the next eight months of my life. 

A lot has happened in just a couple of weeks. I preached my first sermon, I rode on the back of a motorcycle, I've used an outhouse (affectionately called the squat pot), seen a toad the size of a cantelope, and have been called "gringa" more times than I can count.

I think what I have enjoyed most is teaching, which I guess is good since that will be my primary job here at AMOR Projects. The kids have been great, with the exception of one rowdy class, but the Lord got me through that day--I think they just wanted attention and that was how they chose to beg for it.

I've been spending the majority of my mornings and afternoons with kids in three different schools--Yerbas Buenas, Santa Elvita, and Km 37. They range from ages 3 to 13, all cute and in need of lots of attention. The kids here have been picking up English quite quickly. Class time is spent teaching the kids various vocabulary and useful phrases. My favorite day was when we learned how to have a simple conversation on the phone. At this point in time my kids can say, "Hello, this is ___________, is Jennifer there?" So maybe we have a ways to go, but there are four more months left of classes. My students have also been helping me with my Spanish along the way. They tend to finish my sentences with the correct vocabulary.

While I've been out teaching, the rest of the SM team has been training for their first campaign. SM's have been practicing giving IV's, carbocaine, and stitching up pigs. On one afternoon after my classes, two of the SM's taught me how to suture a pig's head--it was pretty exciting. I don't know if I will ever use those skills while I'm here, but you never know.

Since I so conveniently chose to blog two weeks after my arrival, I have too much to tell and not enough stamina to type it all out. I'll attempt to get better at this blogging thing. Until then, thanks for your prayers and support.