Monday, May 30, 2016

Howdy partner welcome to the wild west- Part 2

Our excitement to return home from Nuevo Chanchomayo ended at about 3:00am with the sound of rain. When I heard the rain my heart sank. I knew at that moment that there was a chance we would not be able to leave Chanchomayo for a week. The worst part was that we had only planned on staying for one night which meant we only had enough clothes for one day. How was I going to keep my kids clean? How am I going to walk on the road without falling down? What were we going to do?

We learned very quickly that a two story house is very important. The bottom floor is the kitchen and eating area and the top floor is the living area. How do you contain six kids to an upper floor? Let's just say it was an interesting morning. The kids enjoyed making creations out of the mud. Surprisingly they stayed relatively clean until we had to walk to another house for lunch. We walked through the drizzle to the house of the other animator, Almandro. He was so generous with lunch and coffee. The warm coffee helped with the chills. Almandro invited us to stay at his house that evening.  We spoke with the family who was hosting us and they said it was better for us since he had a larger house. We moved our bags to Almandro's house and started to prepare for the evening. We decided to continue with our daily ministries there since we were unable to leave. I led a class with the kids of the community and Taylor prepared for another talk that evening while our children rested.
Stuck inside

As we looked out over the town from the second story balcony Taylor and I laughed. Horses were tied up around the plaza, some were walking around. The houses are wood two story buildings. People were walking around with boots. At that point it hit us, this place looks like the depiction of the wild west in the movies.

That evening for dinner we headed to the house of Almandro's daughter. She was so wonderful. She had prepared tallarin, spaghetti noodles, with sweet plantains and meat. Taylor told her that he had prayed to God this morning asking for spaghetti. It was such a blessing since we had eaten rice at every meal. The kids were not interested in eating though. They saw all of the cuy, guinea pigs, on the floor and they wanted to play with them. People raise cuy in their kitchens. That way they can easily catch them when they want to serve them for dinner. We explained to our generous hostess that people do not eat cuy in the US. She was surprised by this since they are very delicious. I admit that they are very delicious. She is hoping to have some big enough to serve us next time.
Almandro our gracious host

Leo also received his first birthday gift that night. When they learned that his birthday was in two days they gave him a chicken for his birthday dinner. Taylor and I laughed because we knew that Leo was not going to let us butcher this chicken. Instantly Leo looked at us and said that she was a pet and we can't eat her. We translated this and the whole room started laughing. We tied up the chickens legs, so she wouldn't be able to escape, and headed back to the house to grab our Bibles before our next meeting.

We quickly trudged through the mud to church. Ok maybe it was- We slowly trudged through the mud to church. We rang the bell and prepared for the talk. When everyone arrived we opened with a song. Our kids love the song "Jesús esta pasando." It was the first song that we learned in spanish and it has a lot of fun hand motions. Naturally this was the song Taylor taught the community in January so they excitedly exclaimed that they wanted to sing this song. With everyone off of their feet we joyously began our lesson praising the Lord. Taylor spoke on the Holy Spirit that evening. How perfect since we were going to be celebrating Pentecost on Sunday.

Stuck inside some more
Our walk back to the house was much slower this time. Carrying four sleeping kids through mud is a little tricky but we made it without falling. Taylor and I were able to pray for the kids and tuck them in by ourselves. Just as we were heading off to bed Almandro handed me a chamber pot. A chamber pot?? I didn't think anyone uses them anymore. He said that I was should use it during the middle of the night. Taylor, Faustina, Adele, and I headed to bed. This time we were able to tuck ourselves in.

When we awoke the next morning we were overjoyed to find that it had been over 12 hours without rain. Breakfast was once again rice with chicken parts and coffee. After pitching the contents of the chamber pot out the window, Taylor quickly started searching around town for a truck to take us out. After a little convincing a man agreed to take us. In less than five minutes we were able to pack all of our things and we loaded into the cab of the truck including Leo's chicken. Leo cradled the chicken the whole ride. Normally live chickens are tied to the side of the truck but Leo did not like the thought of that.
The road doesn't look bad yet. But just past the curve it got fun!

Our ride out was more exciting than the ride in. The mud was deeper and a little more slippery. We ended up getting stuck five times. The driver and a young man who was riding in the back had to dig us out with shovels. They through more mud into the tracks so the truck would have better traction. They also rocked the truck from sided to side instead of front to back. All the while in the cab of the truck you could here us praying. The kids were going back and forth from English and Spanish. We invoked our guardian angels multiple times. Five hours later we were back in Picota. Praise the Lord because the rain started once again as we were driving out.

Please pray for our family as we will be heading back at the end of June for three days. Please pray that these communities will receive the spiritual help they need.

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