The Update

Our washer has been on the fritz. We’ve been learning patience by using Caleb’s washer when we can and washing by hand betimes. Lucrecia helped this day.

We did finally go get the washer. It is still missing one part, but it works sometimes. If it rocks too violently in the spin cycle, it throws an error code and won’t work for a day or two until the computer clears. The tech said he ordered the part from Lima. I’ll need to keep on him to make sure we get it.

Caleb’s buckling became ill from an overload of parasites and died. This is something that can happen quickly with goats if you don’t keep an eye on them. I usually worm the goats in January and June.

Pauline had a kid at last! She had had troublesome times the breeding season of 2020, coming into heat every week, and I feared she would not be able to settle. But she was bred in off-season in 2021 and gave us a doeling. The girls love the new baby. Pauline will be the only doe in milk by the time the rest kid in March and April.

I’ve been working on planting pine and cypress trees. César planted a good number, the majority of the pines, when he was here. Caleb helped me finish the last fifty cypress. I think we’ve planted between 200-250. Some of them were eaten by wayward cows, but the majority are thriving.

Caleb tried planting some trees by himself but managed to crack himself in the head with the poky end of the pick. He had problem with focus, and his one eye was sore, so I assume he was concussed to some degree. He had blood all over himself, but he ended up living.

Caleb spent a day organizing the shop, putting tools in order and making it a bit easier to see everything.

The others watched the children Monday afternoon so I could take Steph out for a birthday lunch, just the two of us. That was fun. Steph’s friend Shana wanted to buy her coffee for her birthday, so we found a nice café with incredible coffee. Steph also found a recliner by coincidence, so we ordered one. The fellow said it would arrive, “the 30th of February,” so we’re slightly worried we’ll never see it. 😂

Rafael’s came late one night to share time with Steph for her birthday. We had eaten, but we sat with them while they ate. Afterward, they have Steph a pair of shoes that she really likes.

Walter had his Jeep leave him sitting in Alicia’s field near Ancahuasi about a week ago, so Caleb and I went and rescued him. I didn’t get pictures of that, but he shared with me that he lost his job a while ago, and they are without money. He asked if we’d have any work for him, so we’ve been praying about that. I called him and told him I’d like to talk about some options; he was on the way to Cusco with his vehicle, so we decided I would ride with him to talk.

It turned out the truck kept overheating, and the radiator blew a hole in the top. We used a sort of JB Weld to close that hole before going on to Izcuchaca to a welder. That took about an hour, during which I ran to Pucyura with Rafael to deliver rebar and bags of cement. Walter and I went on to the mechanic, not returning until about 10:00 that night, but the Jeep was running, and we had a very productive conversation.

I’ve not been in the garden in about two weeks, during which the weeds have been going wild. I spent yesterday morning doing some work. The radishes are taking off, but we don’t eat many of them, so no one is super excited about them. It’ll be a bit longer before we have squash to enjoy.

I had Rafael schedule a backhoe to work at removing grass from the driveway before putting on another 30 cubic metros, which I think it’s around 40 cubic yards of gravel on the driveway. We had planned to do this since we put the drive in, but we wanted to use it through a rainy season and let it settle. There were lots of holes and bumps that the machine smoothed out. Hopefully, this should last us a couple years with only maintenance.

You’ll remember that Percy and I had planted the upper field. It is coming in nicely. The yellow is wild mustard that we didn’t plant but came up on its own with the barley and wheat; it’s good feed for the animals, too.

Speaking of Percy, they’ve been rather worried about Lucrecia because she has either apendicitis or gall stones and has to have surgery, but they didn’t have money for it. She is in increasing severe pain. We are able to help her from our church fund because the tithes and offerings haven’t been needed for paying for a building the last more than a year. We offered that to them, and they both just cried and cried, bless their hearts. They said that God has heard the cries of His children and delivered them. Hopefully, that surgery will be soon.

Here is a friend I found in my garden. That made me think about Byron’s coming next Thursday, the 13th. Levi and Philip are coming with him, leaving D.C. in the evening of the 12th. Please pray for their travels.

Andrew Crider, Anson, and little Andrew are following them on the 20th. Ernest Martin’s family from Huaral plan to visit us the weekend of the 20th, as well. Rafael Roca and Marta and their Mom hope to be here that weekend, too. We will have a crowd.

We are planning to have a special service on the 23rd here that will include our friends from the community, too, so I’ve figured we will have over fifty people here that Sunday, perhaps. That should be a joy.