Get thee back, Satan!

Forgive me Father, for I am dirty. It has been 7 days since my last shower. Ok, that was my weak stab at Catholic humor. But seriously, it has been. My hair will almost hold itself in a ponytail. Taking a shower here is such an ordeal. Our hostel boasts hot showers. Sure you can get a little hot water to come out of the shower head, but as soon as you finish washing one body part and move onto another, that clean part gets cold very quickly. Being clean is just too much trouble. It is much easier to just change clothes every now and then and use a little extra deodorant. The climate here in the Andes is cold and dry, so we never really sweat. Stench isn´t much of a problem, with us gringos anyway. However, I have smelled a few Peruvians who were in dire need of a shower. My father is one whose day isn´t complete without having had at least two showers. Sorry, Dad. I hope I haven´t broken your heart with my uncleanliness. I promise I´ll bathe before I come home.

Yesterday, we biked out to Moquegache to have our first adult Bible study. No one was there when we arrived, but since Peruvian time is different from American time, we weren´t worried. While we waited, we played frisbee, which I am terrible at. Finally some people started congregating near the road and we went over to talk to them. The president of Moquegache was there and he told us that no one was going to come to our Bible study today because they were all in Lampa, or at the Catholic church, or simply they couldn´t come because they were Catholics. Just excuses. It was very discouraging for me because several people had said they would come at the town meeting. But next Saturday is a mother´s club meeting, and if all else fails, we are going to crash that. Surely they will be willing to give us a few minutes. If not, I´m sure we can find a way to take a few.

On colonial point bridge, on out way back to the hostel, Wade tried to give a guy a tract. This sparked a huge discussion between us and him about the merits of Christianity, and what benefits it has in this life. The man told us that Christianity was a European and American religion, and had no benefit to him. He was more concerned about the current plight of his people, and asked us, why would he want to practice a religion of people that had persecuted his ancestors centuries before? It was a valid point. He also went on to criticize America and its foreign policies, especially the current situation in Iraq. I tried to tell him that, yes we were from the United States, but we didn´t agree with everything that our government did. He wouldn´t listen, and so finally we left him with the tract, thanked him for his time, and left. That is the first anti-American sentiment we have run into yet, and it made me very sad. Please pray for this man, and that we will have the oportunity to talk to him again.

Last night, we traveled to Juliaca to meet the Martinez family for dinner at our favorite little pizza place. They brought all the kids with them, as well as my new debit card that had somehow arrived at their house in Huancané by Fed-Ex. So now I have money! Wade treated me and Dave to dinner because he wanted to celebrate his future mother-in-law´s blessings over his and Amy´s marriage. I´m sure if you have checked Wade´s blog, you already know all about Amy. Anyway, it was good to see Rick and Kelly and the kids again. And the pizza was a welcome change from sopa, rice, potatoes, and alpaca meat. When we left, Kelly gave us some bread she had made. It is absolutely the best bread I have ever eaten. It smells like doughnuts too. I went to the ATM and withdrew my own money and finally paid Dave back for all he has lent me the past month. We took a motorcycle-taxi to the Lampa combi stop, and then climbed into the back seat of a 15-passenger combi that would eventually hold 22 people, with 2 others riding on top. Thankfully I was between Wade and Dave, and didn´t have to get all up next to the Peruvian man that Wade said kept trying to hold his hand. I really thought the combi was going to come apart. It kept cracking and popping everytime we hit a bump, but somehow we made it back to Lampa. The trip took 30 minutes longer than it usually does, but in the spirit of adventure, it was fun.

We showed up this morning at the church we attended last week at 9:00, like the pastor had told us. Again, we were the first ones there. The pastor finally came at around 10:00. I guess we must have misunderstood the time. We all waited around for 40 more minutes and finally one other lady appeared. We decided to go ahead and start church, just the five of us, and over the next hour, 4 more people trickled in. The pastor again asked Wade to bring a short message, and this time I got to participate. Wade preached in English, and I translated his words into Castellano. It was very cool, and Wade felt like he got his message across more effectively. He called it tag-team preaching. I hope we will get the chance to do that again. I think the people liked hearing English also. Three languages in one service: English, Spanish, and Quechua. I was in hog heaven.

Wade and Dave are now in the middle of a heated game of Monopolio that has so far lasted 3 hours. Neither one will give up. Wade had to make 1,000 dollar bills from the 1´s because he broke the bank. No telling what he´s up to now. Tomorrow we are leaving for our vacation time in Juliaca and Puno. We are going to get to the hotel early so we can take showers indoors!

Even though we have had a few setbacks these past two days, we can still feel God working with us and our people. I am confident that once we get them to realize that we are going to keep coming back and trying to hold Bible studies with them, they will comply and attend. Rick gave us a few techniques that we could use to get people to come. Hear that, you dirty old devil? You haven´t beaten us yet! Friends, please keep praying for our Bible study in Moquegache, and for all our efforts to bring the Lampans and surrounding people to Christ. Thanks to all for the prayers and thoughts. Chau!