I feel like we hit the ground running when we got back. Last Friday was a very busy day with lots of things needing attention. Then Saturday, China returned from Puno. Caleb went to pick her up in Cusco, saving me the run, for which I was grateful; I stayed home and worked on a sermon about gratitude and rejoicing always.
Then China was here and discovered that she had forgotten her suitcase. Isn’t it funny how when you forget something, it just makes sense because you know the circumstances that led to you forgetting, but when someone else forgets something, all you can do is stare at them and blink? Since I was preparing to preach about gratitude and continual joy, I knew I couldn’t complain, so I offered to go get the suitcase myself. China went along, which gave us a chance to catch up.
By the end of the day, my body informed me that I had not given it a proper chance to acclimate to the elevation. So, I went to bed early with a roaring headache and a racing heart. By the next morning, I felt pretty good again.
Percy’s were not at church, nor was Alicia. We learned later that Alicia had tested positive for Covid and was home sick. Steph had made cake for Percy’s, so we stopped at their place on the way home. They were just home, working. I gave the cake to Lucrecia who was very embarrassed that I was there; she would hardly look at me. Percy told Caleb that they had to work on Sunday because their homeowner demanded it, but that they told her she couldn’t demand it in the future. Not sure how that works. Pray that the Spirit will speak to them about prioritizing spiritual things.
We had instruction class in the afternoon on the subject of the Christian woman’s veiling. I used two dolls, one shaven and one with long hair, to clearly explain the passage. Esmeralda still is not wearing a veil; she says she is just too embarrassed to do it because people will look at her and laugh at her in town. But she did say that the Bible is very clear and that she knows she will have to in order to obey God. She has been miserable and sad ever since then. Pray that she will have the courage to do what she knows is right.
Monday I spent working on various writing and editing projects that I had neglected while we were away. It felt good to get everything caught up with that. I have two projects I need to get to this week yet, but they are not urgent.
Yesterday, I took Leonela and Esmeralda into town to sell baked goods. I then took a little time driving around to look at locations for a potential store. Caleb plans to go in with me tomorrow, Lord willing, to talk with some people if we can actually reach them for a conversation.
Awhile back, we had moved our prayer meeting to Thursday night at the request of Percy. He had hoped that his oldest daughter would then start coming. It didn’t work out, and now they as a family haven’t been attending for over a month. So, we decided to move it back to Wednesday in the afternoon. I had told Percy that we would hold it on Thursday only if they could faithfully attend. We do not plan to flip-flop but to maintain it on Wednesday henceforth, yea, even forevermore.
I need to take a bit of time today to finish studying for the group study we want to have this afternoon. We’re all looking forward to having an earlier service again.
Alicia’s project is pretty close to complete. There are only a few details left, including glass for the windows. Caleb got that ordered today and should be able to collect it tomorrow. Alicia is pretty pleased with it and is excited to move into the new area. You can pray that she can be back to full health again soon so that she can come back to church.
While all of these things were happening, Willow decided she would now walk. She took her first few steps and was very pleased with herself and with all the cheering, so she decided she would just make it her new normal. Sadly, all the squealing and clapping has long since stopped. I don’t know if she’s disappointed or not.
The children are back in school. We had a school board meeting on Monday, and it looks like things are still going pretty well over all. They have all fallen behind to some degree in their Spanish studies for one reason or another, but we put a plan in place to get back on track. We still do not have a teacher for next school year. Please pray that God would lead us to the right person. If you know who that might be, please send me an email.
Garralina disappeared sometime while we were gone and did show up when we got back. We were sad because she was a nice cat. Then yesterday morning after breakfast, she ran into the house to her food bowl–without even saying hello! We were happy to see her, and after she was done eating, she was happy to see us. She pestered Steph all day, demanding to be petted.
Juan David 