I thought I would do a short post on some travel that various ones from here have enjoyed the past several months.
Caleb and Belinda took Anita to Ollantaytambo, which is about forty-five minutes away, as a bit of a thank-you for her time of service here.
Tanner, Anne, Abbey, and Gabriela visited Rainbow Mountain or the Mountain of Seven Colors one day. Rainbow mountain is around 17,000 feet elevation. The trip was an all-day thing, leaving before sunrise and returning that evening. It was cold and lots of hiking. Tanner was pretty ill afterward, but the ladies seemed to avoid altitude sickness.
We had a church trip to Quillabamba, which is a about five hours from here. It is lower elevation and sub-tropical. We found a lodge that had more than enough space to host us for the weekend. We enjoyed the fellowship and the warm days together. Since we had access to the kitchen there, we made all our own meals. Alicia was the only one who couldn’t go along.
Steph and I went to the States for a week in August. I was invited to a business event with PCBE, which I edit for. While we were up, we enjoyed taking time to meet with the ministry couples from Strasburg and also with a couple board members. We squeezed in a few other visits besides, making our days completely full. The Strites hosted us while we in the area and took excellent care of us; it’s always refreshing to be with them.
Just last week, our family and Tanner and Robyn traveled to Huaral. We took the van, all of fitting in pretty well. Steph and the children are prone to carsickness, so the many, many curves aren’t exactly friendly to them, but we went prepared with dramamine and buckets! I thought Tanner and Robyn were brave to travel with us that far, but I guess once they were stuck in the van with us, there was no turning back.
It took us twenty-three hours there and twenty-three back again. We stopped every two hours for a break. I drove the whole way there, but Tanner took a couple hours on the way back to let me have a nap. We were in Huaral a week and enjoyed getting a number of visits in with various families. We were especially going for a last hurrah with the Slabaugh family who is moving to the States later this year after about fifteen years in Peru, I think. They have been dear friends to us, and we will miss them.
We’re looking forward to a visit from the Ernest Martin family in a couple weeks. Ernest is coming to have weekend meetings for us, which I’m especially eager for. And we’ll be glad to see their family even if it is so soon after seeing them in Huaral last week.
We don’t have any more travel planned for the remainder of the year (I hope!). I’m really happy to be home for a while, but we’re thankful for the privileges we’ve had for travel this year. We wanted to make some memories to carry forward, and I’m glad we did.
I was surprised when I realized that we haven’t had any visitors from the States this year (unless you came, and I forgot about you). My oldest brother came on a whirlwind trip to bring Tanner, but I’m not sure that counts. 😉 We are looking forward to my sister China and her new husband coming to visit us over the time of the birth, Lord willing. It feels like China is coming home. ☺️
Juan David 