Makeshift 4th of July

This is my first American Independence day away from home, and we three tried to celebrate as best we could, but seeing as we´re in South America, things were a little different than normal. The morning of the 4th, we got up and biked out to Puca Cuesta. Some days are just harder than others, and this was a hard day for me. The road to Puca Cuesta is very hilly, and I almost died a couple of times, but eventually made it. The kids of this community are little heathens, especially since the teachers put the two classes together, younger and older, which makes it so hard to keep anyone´s attention. There is this one kid, named Ricardo, who likes to cause trouble whenever he can. He takes other kids´ attention away, and even hit me in the arm when I walked by him. I almost hit him back. He´s a pain, and I am always glad when we finish with that school and can fly down the hill back toward Lampa.

When we got back to our hostel, we put our bikes up and went to lunch. Our town has been invaded these past two days with loads of professional-looking people carrying around briefcases and such, and so Señora Delia´s restaurant was a little more crowded than usual, to the point of it taking me five minutes to get past people to leave when we were done eating. Then I took a shower and got ready to go to Juliaca for our 4th of July celebration. When we got there, we walked to the food market and asked around for a watermelon, but I guess they aren´t in season right now. Then we went to Tupac, the everything market, and bought a children´s story Bible at the same place I got the Quechua Bibles. The lady gave us a deal, because we had bought so much from her already, but it was still expensive. 60 soles. That´s like 20 dollars. Sheesh. But we needed it because the stories we have been using aren´t meant for children, and if they are, the person who wrote them was smoking something. The pictures are very vivid and the stories are short and easy to read. We each pitched in a 20 sol bill, and then headed off to find something to eat. We eventually decided on returning to our favorite pizza joint, Golosa, and stuffed ourselves with pepperoni pizza while we watched ER, in English! I have never actually seen an episode of this show before, but I enjoyed it because it was American, and I only had a little trouble swallowing my pizza during the gory parts. We went to Meli Melo for dessert, and I bought an apple pie to take home. Yes, an apple pie. Wonder of wonders. I then went to the phone place and called my boyfriend, Robert, to wish him a happy 4th. He was in the middle of a game of Shanghai (a really fun card game) with his friends, and the poor boy was losing terribly when I called. I think I may have cheered him up a little. I hope so anyway.

After I got off the phone, we walked around Juliaca for about 20 minutes, asking anyone who looked even slightly mischievious where we might be able to buy some "bombas por el cielo" I thought "bombas" was the generic word for anything that blows up, and so we added the "por el cielo" part to help explain. We visited several party stores, but none had anything. So we went back to Lampa a little sad, but knowing that we tried. When we got off the combi in the plaza in Lampa, Wade headed off to the Internet cafe (go figure). On a whim, Dave and I stopped by the libreria (which also doubles as a liquor store) and asked about fireworks. At first the lady brought out balloons, but after much waving of the hands and making of explosion sounds on our part, lo and behold, she reached beneath the counter and brought out some firecrackers! We bought two packs, grabbed Wade, and headed off the the colonial bridge to shoot them. It was pitch black and cold, and my Explorer House lighter was being stubborn, but we eventually lit them all and enjoyed the loud popping and flashing like little kids. Dave recorded it on his camera, and so we have a few pictures of our ghetto fireworks display. It was fun, and when we returned to the hostel, we sang some classic American songs, like "American Pie" which we only knew the chorus to, and a very soulful version of "America the Beautiful." So that was our makeshift 4th of July celebration. I missed hanging out on the lake with my family, eating barbeque ribs, baked beans, and I even missed the potato salad. But this Independence Day is one I´ll never forget, and one whose memories won´t get mixed in with all the others.

Today, the 5th, we biked out to Moquegache, and when the kids saw us coming, they got all excited, and even came in from playing to hear what we had to say. We used the story Bible and I told the story of Jonah and the Big Fish. I think they liked it, and afterwards we sang "Cristo Me Ama" with all the motions. They remembered everything from the past times, and really listened to us, unlike the stinkin Puca Cuesta kids. We had fun, gave them John 3:16 to memorize for next time, and they all asked when we were going to come back. We talked to the teacher and decided that Tuesdays are going to be our Moquegache school days. After we left the classroom, all the kids came out and we went to play. The boys played soccer and I went with the girls to play volleyball and basketball. I am actually getting better at volleyball for some reason, not that I care to. Next Tuesday, I think I am going to play soccer with the boys. At one point today, I stole the soccer ball from some kid who wasn´t expecting me to, and passed it to another kid. They got a "kick" (ha, ha) out of that, and it really made me want to play more.

Oh yeah, about Sunday. We went to Maranatha church again, the same one that we had attended with Kevin and Tom from Lithia Springs. This time, the pastor, Brother Bartolomé, was there. Of course, when we arrived at 10:00, we were the first ones, but about 10 minutes later people started trickling in. Ok, so we got there at 10:00, right? There is an order of worship on the wall, and it lists times next to each part of the service. According to the schedule, the service is supposed to end at noon. Well, the Peruvians ignore the times completely. I checked my watch at 1:00, and there was no sign of the service winding down. We took part in our first Peruvian Lord´s Supper, and although we had no way of knowing how many dirty hands had touched the bread, or what the heck we drank that represented Jesus´ blood, it was nice. After the service ended, they started up some sort of business meeting. We three gringos kept shooting each other worried looks because we wondered if we were ever going to leave. We had just decided to slip out, (yeah, right. We were sitting on the front bench.) and Dave barely got the words, "Tenemos que..." out of his mouth, until Bro. Bartolomé saw what we were about to do, and motioned us to wait. Sigh. He finally wrapped things up, and we walked out of the church at 2:30, four and a half hours after we first entered it. We went to lunch with him and two other elders. We talked about what we are here for and taught them a few English phrases. It was kinda fun, but I was glad when we finally said goodbye. We are still not sure if we are going to go back next Sunday. We know we ought to, but really.

I just really want to thank Gethsemane for the money they have given my team. Those 25 Quechua Bibles we bought are really needed. Also, thanks for your prayers. Even though is seems like the whole Moquegache Bible study thing will never pan out, we still have hope. The kids love us, and who knows? Maybe God will use the kids to bring the adults. Please keep praying. We only have one month left. It seems like a long time, but I know that it really isn´t. Just keep praying. Chau!