My first week in Trujillo

The church at Arevalo

the rooves of houses tend to be unfinished for future upward expansion

A little girl we met at Arevalo, she fell oops

Two boys at Wichanzao who have befriended the missionaries over the past 2 years

The courtyard at SALI

Here is Gillian and Fabian at the Office

Hello Loved ones,

I am here in my apartment in Trujillo with my 4 current roommates and colleagues getting ready to watch a movie on my laptop after a long day of orientation in Culture Shock, Evangelism, and History and Philosophy of SALI and Peru Mission. Oh and I forgot to mention that we went to the all new Peruvian equivalent to Wal-mart: Plaza Vea. I’d like to recap some of the highlights from this past week:

My flights from Tulsa to Lima went smoothly. I arrived in Lima expecting to be greeted by my now friend and colleague Heather Campbell, however her flight was late and I was instead greeted by the hotel shuttle man with a sign in his hand bearing my name. I would then wait another 2 hours for my friend suffering from extreme thirst until I made friends with the other Hotel cabbies who offered me drink and company. Heather arrived and our stay in Lima was short lived, lasting from 1am to 6:30 am when we received the wretched news of our impending return to the airport for our national flight to Trujillo. Navigating through the airport was interesting as we thirsted yet again waiting in “line” if you can call it that, to pick up our tickets. We did not realize the importance of potable water until we were forced to purchase bottled water. This is not always convenient when you are carrying 150 pounds of baggage. Finally we made it on to the plane to Trujillo where we were greeted by a fine crew of interns.

Our first day we rested and ventured out into the town for amazing chicken, cheese and basil sandwiches with aji, a hot-pepper spread used on everything. We later joined our Director Caleb Sutton at his temporary home at the Missionary family the Smith’s for Black bean soup and red pepper cornbread. This house is amazing folks. Houses in Peru tend to have gates that open in to an indoor/outdoor garage area, with tile suitable for the indoors and very tidy perhaps with a yard or plants. The Smiths Home has 3 split levels, arched windows and doorways, and Peruvian Mahogany furniture. The backyard is a beautiful place to read a book or in our case play cards, while the birds chirp in the background. The neighborhood where the Missionary families live is the safest and most affluent part of town. There is a park on every block and everything is well groomed. This is not true for all of Trujillo, however. Outside of SALI there are vendors from all over selling their wares, juicing every fruit, imaginable, and you can buy just about any pirated DVD you want for under 2 bucks.

My first evening in Trujillo, we went to Youth Group where we played many games. Peruvians love playing games whether it is at Church or birthday parties. This is how they mingle. This was hard for me, as I do not yet understand their fast speaking and ambiguous pronunciation. I had to pay much attention during these games. One game asked me to assume the name of my neighbor, switch seats and when my new name was called state “I Esteve, have no stripes on my face.” Each time I failed to recognize my assumed name or how many lines I had drawn on my face I received a mark right on the cheek. I ended up with one line on my face. Pretty good I thought. Also a wonderful way to learn names.

The Church experience on Sunday was interesting, considering the building was in the process of being renovated. It IS winter, mind you and the huge semi circle window over the altar was shielded only by a sheet. The Pastor’s voice was drowned out by the sounds of cars passing by and roosters crowing. Each Sunday afternoon we dine with a different missionary family and Sunday evenings we listen to a sermon in English at the home of John and Heather Ferguson.

This past week, the other interns and I have been in orientation. Here we have learned how to teach reading, writing, listening, and speaking in English. We also learned how to plan lessons and take our jobs one step further into evangelism. We pray at the opening and closing of each class. This helps us to get to know the needs of each student and keeps us all mindful of God’s presence in our lives each day, several times a day. We invite and encourage our students to attend Sociedad San Agustin/ RUF, the college ministry here on Fridays evenings and our Parish Church la Iglesia Larco.

Orientation has also allowed us to tour the National University, other parish churches and clinics that are supported by the mission at Arevalo and Wichanzao, and an orphanage Hogar de Esperanza nearby with which we are closely associated. The people we have met are very warm and inviting. They greet with a kiss on the cheek and are genuinely interested in our presence there. This is refreshing.

Well there is so much more I could say about my first week here but I will have many more stories to share later. I am going to love it here! I miss you all very much and I am praying for you.

Love,

Katie