Sunday was a pretty easy-going day until evening rolled around. Our team decided that Sundays are our market, cleaning, and laundry days. For dinner Jeremy & I made chicken & dumplings with macaroni & cheese. Things got a little crazy when Jeremy L called us and said, ¨Hey, I´m on my way to Conima with 2 friends. We will be there in about 30 minutes.¨ That caught us off guard! And who were these 2 friends? We didn´t know. So Jeremy S & I continued in our dinner preparations now wondering if we would have enough food for 9 people.
About half an hour later we hear a bang on the door, and Jeremy S goes downstairs to answer it. As I continue cooking dinner upstairs I´m able to pick up parts of the conversation at the door. After several minutes Jeremy S comes back up to the kitchen with a somewhat panicked look on his face. ¨Jeremy L brought 2 French hikers that are backpacking across Peru & Bolivia. I don´t know what we´re supposed to do because we´ve been told not to invite people into the house.¨ Jeremy L had taken his 2 new French friends up to the lookout to see the sunset, and they would be back soon. After several minutes of confusion & discussion, I decided to call John. I explained to him what little I knew of the situation, and he said he would call Jeremy L. A few minutes later we receive another call from John telling us that Jeremy L had invited the backpackers to stay the night with us but that John had made it clear they would have to stay at one of the hostels in Conima. That was a relief to hear. I went on cooking dinner as I heard lots happening in the house. The backpackers returned with Jeremy L, introduced themselvse to me as I was de-boning a chicken & rolling dough balls, and then were directed downstairs where they could take hot showers. They seemed extremely nice & thankful for out hospitality. The young woman was named Jane, and the young man was named Thomas. They looked to be about 26 years old, and although they weren´t married they told us they´ve been together for 6 years.
It was really interesting to hear about all their travels & their stories. Every day after they settle in for the night, they write about their experiences that day. Their hope is to make it all into a book and have it edited & published when they finish their journey and return to France. Not only was it great to hear about them, buit we got a chance to pour into them & bless them. After dinner they came up to the living room with us. We sang a few worship songs and talked for a long time. At one point Jeremy L asked if they wanted to see an example of our storying that we had told them about. They agreed and eagerly listened as Jeremy shared with them the story of Peter & the Ethiopian unic that we had heard during orientation. They they proceeded to ask us more questions about out storying & our purpose in being here. It was just a really neat, God-appointed meeting.
The next morning (Monday) Thomas & Jane returned at 7am upon our invitiation to eat breakfast with us before they continued on their journey. Thomas was especially excited that Jeremy L made crepes for everyone. He & Jane said they haven´t had crepes since they were in France years ago. Before they left we all got some pictures together, and Heather gave them some hand warmers that they were so grateful to receive.
Monday was filled with divine appointments and God-given opportunities. Jeremy S was hiking up a mountainside praying when a man invited him into his home for lunch. Jeremy amazingly understood all that the man was saying in spanish and was few a very big, interesting lunch of eggs, fried cheese, peaches, oranges, some finger-looking purplish green-brown potatoe things, & a big yellow fruit that remains unknown. The ironic part is that he was hiking up the mountain to pray & fast all day. After eating lunch, he & the man shared scripture with one another for a while, and the man even sang Jeremy a psalm in spanish. He is a seventh day adventist.
For lunch, all the girls went to eat at Luis & Gumericinda´s restaurant. After we ate & paid, we gave Gumericinda the photos that Les had sent with me, and Emily explained in spanish that they were for her from our friends that came in May. She told us they want us to tell them more stories so next week we will hopefully begin storying with her & Luis.
Sara spent the afternoon reading in the plaza, and a young woman began talking with her. They spent some time talking, and when Sara asked if she would want to hear a story, the young woman said yes. So we have a storying date with her next Wednesday afternoon.
We promised the kids we would play with them at 3 this afternoon so we all went out to the plaza at 3pm, and sure enough there was a small crowd of kids waiting. That crowd grew as we chased them around laughing & tickling, rolling them on the longboard, doing handstands & kartwheels. Today we played ¨Duck, duck, goose¨with all the kids and then changed the words to ¨Pollo, pollo, pavo¨(Chicken, chicken, turkey). The kids really enjoyed that game, and it got everyone involved & playing. Playing with the kids in the plaza also drew a crowd of older adults that sat on the benches & watched. Tomorrow some of us are going to make a point to begin conversations with those adults.
It has been pretty exhausting lately with things feeling up sometimes & down other times. It changes as the days go on. Sometimes I´m excited & encouraged but others I´m struggling to keep my focus & remain optimistic. I´m tired of up & down, up & down all the time. So after worship Monday morning I went out on the balcony and sepnt a good while talking with God. I prayed for a passioante desire to seek God alone, to be totally consumed with Christ, to spent my thoughts on nothing else, to know my purpse here and focus solely on how God wants to use me. I prayed that God would reveal Himself in mighty & unique ways to each of our team and that He would do immeasurably more than I could ever ask or imagine. And I have already begun to see God answering that prayer.
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