We’ve had a good few days here. The rain has increased, bringing the temperatures down a bit. With the moisture, we feel more cold at times than we had in winter, but then the sun comes out. I love the sun.
I’ve been diligently getting into the garden and loving it. The weeds are rather pesky, but I’m getting lots of sprouts. Something keeps destroying my lettuce and spinach bed, digging out the seedlings. Why would it attack only that patch and no other plants? I suspect it’s the cat.
Friday, we enjoyed surprising Rafael with a cake from Steph and a gift from me. His birthday had been the week before, so we invited them for hamburgers to celebrate–he chose the meal. He wasn’t expecting the cake and was rather tickled by it. Caleb’s joined us for the evening.
Saturday, Caleb and I spent a good part of the day in Cusco looking for a recliner for Steph’s birthday, but there were none to be found, so she will definitely be surprised to ever get one.
Sunday morning, we enjoyed calling into the States. The message was talking about how necessary it is to have a heart change and not merely to add rules. Though rules are useful and necessary, they are worthless for us without a changed heart.
I went to Alicia’s to see if she still wanted us to come for a service. She did, but she asked if we could come in the evening because she was working in her field during the day.
We decided to take supper with us, and I think we enjoyed that. I made way too much soup, but I had thought Walter’s were going to be there, too.
We sang, and I preached, with Alicia interrupting occasionally. There were lots of distractions and noises, and I’m afraid it really got to me by the time the evening was over. I needed to apologize for sharp words to my family later.
I expect we will do it again–the service, not the sharp words. I need to learn not to be so up tight and to accept circumstances. Our main goal is to share the truth, not to have a perfect ceremony.
Speaking of accepting circumstances, it seems that the Peruvian government has passed regulation requiring full vaccination (two doses) of everyone in the country or coming into the country in order to travel or to enter closed spaces. Closed spaces include, but are not limited to, airplanes, taxis, stores, caskets, and my closet.
China is still in Huaral, and there she may ever remain if we do not either get her ticket moved from Friday (the day the rule goes into effect) to before Friday (when the rule hasn’t yet gone into effect) or have her receive her second dose there before flying.
The thing with the second dose is that she would need to wait TWO MORE WEEKS… Excuse me. …two more weeks to fly. I asked the children if we should pray about it, and Dane said, “No, let’s just go get her.” We went ahead and prayed.
The thing about changing the date is that we specifically chose the Super Saver ticket because “what could go wrong” with such a short trip in-country? The Super Saver says we cannot change the date.
Someone encouraged me to call LatAm directly and negotiate with them. I feel this person does not know me well enough to understand how there is nothing about negotiation on the phone with an airline that sounds encouraging to me.
Another aspect is that we were anticipating a group of visitors in January. It is easy for me to imagine that this latest development will throw the proverbial wrench into the gears for that trip. That puts a bit of a lump in my throat, but I want to remember that God is loving and has taken good care of us. I’ll work at casting all my cares on Him.
Thus, I am well in body, but considerably rumpled in spirit. There wasn’t anything startling in that, was there?
Thank you for praying with us.
Juan David 