Wednesday
I think it was that day that Maude had her kid. I walked down through the field in the morning because the cows were out again. The one heifer found a way to push through the fence in one place, and she lead all the others through. This is the way bad peer pressure works!
Maude had only one buckling, despite being very fat. That was surprising. He seemed to be doing fine, so I didn’t do anything with them. I had some office work to complete. We plan to sell him.
We wanted to pass out tracts, but there were a few things we had been wanting from Cusco. I knew, depending on how things go with the baby, we might not have another trip to Cusco soon, so I suggested we take our tracts to Cusco. Steph thought it was a good idea and made a list for us.
China and I took Dane. I told Rafael we were going, and he asked me to take Elisabet so that she could do some shopping. We dropped her off, took the truck to a cochera (coe-CHEH-dah, small parking garage), then walked over to Avenida del Sol and began handing out literature.
I noticed right away that most people were refusing the tracts, so I told the others to say the tracts were free as they handed them out. Ah, yes. That worked a lot better! Everyone is trying to sell you something in Cusco. People are used to refusing everything without even thinking, but they love free stuff!
We met several believers on the streets who were very encouraging. The one fellow had lived in Alexandria, Virginia for a few years but went back as a pastor in an Evangelical church in Cusco. He gave me his number to keep in contact.
A very small lady stopped us and told us that we didn’t need to tell her we were believers because she could just tell by looking at us. She then shouted at some ladies passing by, “Take these papers! It’s the Word of God! Jesus is the only Way! Take this into your home and be changed!” The poor ladies took it and hurried off.
“I’m so sorry. I’m terribly bombastic,” she said. She tried talking to China who couldn’t follow what she was saying. I explained that China didn’t yet know the language but was learning. The lady lifted her hands over China and very loudly prayed a blessing over her that she would know the language before the year is up. China watched wide-eyed. I explained the blessing later.
We walked up to Plaza de Armas and finished giving our tracts there. I told Dane if he finished his backpack before mine, we would get something special. I had seen the McDonald’s there was open. Dane took the challenge and nearly ran, not taking no for an answer as he gave out all his tracts in record time. “¿Algo para leer? ¡Es Luz de Vida! ¡Gratis!” He then walked with me and helped me finish my stack.
We got a hamburger and shared it among the three of us, saving a corner for Steph at home. They’re just too expensive to get one for everyone, but Dane deserved a prize. We let him eat his fill before we got our bites.
We caught a taxi to the supermercado and did our shopping, meeting Elisabet–and her sister! Not sure where she came from. We took them both home. We got home just after chores. The girls had done the milking all themselves, bless their hearts.
Thursday
I spent the morning working on office stuff. Nothing grand there. Percy came in the morning for a little while and put in a gate to keep the rebellious heifer in the lower field.
I received a phone call from a young Venezuelan man I’d met in Cusco the day before. I had told him if he needed anything, he should call me. He took me up on it. He wanted to take a bus to Lima where he had a contact that offered work to him.
He said he wasn’t sure if I meant it, but if I could cover a bus ticket for him, his sister, and her two children, they would be grateful. By the way, Venezuelan Spanish is its own accent, and I really have to follow along to know what they’re saying. I would compare Peruvian Spanish to Michigan English and Venezuelan Spanish to Tennessee English–they get the message across, but it’s a bit slurred. I find that intriguing.
Anyway, these folks are refugees, illegally in Peru to escape starvation in Venezuela. They are in tremendously hard times. I was able to send some money to an account via my phone. The young man then sent me photos of their tickets. He called me multiple times Thursday and Friday by borrowing other passengers’ phones. He has my number on the tract I gave him.
Please pray for Simón and his sister. I gave them info for finding the church in Huaral. Simón kept saying he couldn’t believe they’d finally found help. I encouraged him to seek God even in these hard times.
For supper, I made chicken and potato soup. We didn’t have chicken, so I walked out to the pen and grabbed our largest rooster and turned him into soup. He was delicious. I told Steph I’m going to try to make soup for supper each Thursday for awhile until she’s back on her feet after the baby.
While I chopped vegetables, I watched a gorgeous sunset. The sun dropped down between two mountains. The one on the left was clearly under a blizzard, the one on the right was clear. The colors were breathtaking. I didn’t think to take a picture until after I’d gotten everyone to come look. You can barely see the blizzard on the photo, and the colors were fading. God is so good to give us such beauty.
Friday
That was China’s birthday. I already wrote about that. We’re thankful for her beyond words. We’re also blessed that she is considering extending her stay. She had originally planned for leaving in July, but she’s looking at something longterm. There are some technical details that she is working on to make that possible. Please pray that the doors would open up for her to stay.
Besides her help in the house and in teaching school, her enthusiasm for serving others in the community, despite her limited grasp of the language, has been a challenge and encouragement to us.
That reminds me that I talked with Levi earlier this week, and he says the GCM board is working with a few families who are considering coming to help. He felt things were looking positive for us to have help soon.
Our specific prayer here has been that God would send three families before the end of the year. Is that a lot to ask of God? I know it’s not too much for Him to do, so we are asking in faith. You can pray with us about that.
We received the electric bill on Friday. They always leave the bill for both houses up at the other house. I went to get it and heard water spraying in the bodega. I didn’t have the key because Percy still had it, so I had to cut the padlock.
Water was everywhere. I shut off valves and left it. It was chore time, so I wasn’t going to attempt to change the cracked elbow. That would take hours I didn’t have. We’ll need to set stuff out to dry in the sun.
So, we are on mountain pressure for the weekend. We’re thankful that it isn’t July. There is still a good amount of pressure. A few spigots outside don’t work that well on mountain pressure, so we need to haul a bit of water for the animals, but it’s not bad. We praise the Lord for water!
Juan David 