We should make a movie

WEDNESDAY

After this long extended retreat to Huancane that turned into a puking party, we were determined to return to Conima today and praying that God would provide the means. The early morning was spent packing our things and cleaning once again. That routine was getting really old. Them Jeremy Stanley went down to the bus stop with his stuff & one of our cell phones. The plan was to call us as soon as a bus to Conima arrived. So while Jeremy waited out in the cold, we finished up all the last minute cleaning. At 7:45am our cell phone rang. We knew whaqt that meant. A bus! All the girls jumped up & frantically ran around grabbing our bags & yelling to Heather that it was time to leave. I collected all the ipods & the pot that had contained Sonia´s chicken soup from the night before. Emily & Alison grabbed the trash bags running down the stairs, and Heather followed quickly behind hauling bags of children´s supplies. I knocked on the Grady´s door and returned the ipods, soup pot, and hostel key while quickly explaining that there was a bus waiting for us. Alison threw the trash inside their gate where John had told us and took off for the us ahead of us. Alsion got on the bus, and Jeremy tried to explain that there were still other girls coming. ¨Tres mas gringas!!¨he yelled pointing down the road where Alison had come from as he was shewd on the bus by the driver. The Aymaran man saw us come up over the hill and waited as we hurried to the bus juggling all our bags and praying that there would be open seats. We made it to the bus, and it pulled away as soon as I stepped on. I walked to the back of the bus where the rest of the team was already sitting in the back row of 5 seats. Perfect! We all had seats & plenty of room. Praise the Lord we were on our way back to Conima!

The bus arrived at the plaza in Conima by 10am, and we all 5 piled off the bus with no car sickness or plastic bags filled with stomach content. Once again praise the Lord! I have never been so happy to see that beautiful little yellow house sitting at the corner of the paza as I was this morning. Everyone is thankful & excited to be back. If for no other reason than this, God kept us in Huancane in that cold, frigid hostel so as to be all the more elated upon our return to Conima. I now realize how comfortable this house feels to me and how much I missed our work here. This is home for the next two & a half weeks. That brings a smile to my face as I write.

Havig missed 2 days of work and with the added preparations for the team joining us on Tuesday, life will be busy in the days to come. After arriving back at the house, everyone immediately went to work unpacking, gathering laundry, doing dishes, sweeping, cleaning. There is so much to be done. After the cleaning, Alison, Jeremy, & I made some sandwiches and packed up our backpacks for a hike. Despite the wary words from Momma, Daddy, & Pawpaw, we had our sights set on doing some rock climbing. This time with an increased confidence we set out past the first peninsula which we had already climbed and went even another mile to a second peninsula which towered higher above the lake waters. The thrill of relying on your own strength & skill to climb those rocks with no harness or safety net is one that can only be experienced, not described. Many aprayer are sent up to the Lord while scaling those rocks only to come back down & do it once again in a more difficult spot. For those skeptics back home, I am sure to remain responsible & reasonable in these adventures. After a picnic lunch of canned peaches, peanut butter Oreos, a granola bar, & a turkey sandwich and several hours of rock climbing & exploring, we turned back and headed home only stopping for each of us to fill a potato sack with small firewood. I´m sure we are a sight to see always trekking back with wood, this time with a large potato sack slung over my shoulder and Jeremy & Alison with theirs tied up for an easier haul. Even the llamas & sheep stare at us as we pass by.

The afternoon was filled with errands to run & people to see. Emily went to give the school director a formal notice asking permission to use the school next week for our 3-day Bible school. We were kindly granted permission & even asked to hang up posters in the school advertising what we weill be doing. After the school we went to talk with the policemen who we were supposed to story with on Monday when we were gone. They were happy to see us and invited us back tomorrow at 4pm to tell the next story. The woman at the hostel that Alison would like to garden with was not there once again although this time the hostel door was open and were were able to walk into the courtyard where the garden is. Susana & Lucian were not in their bogeda when we went to visit. Their daughter said they were at the island & will be back tomorrow. So we said ¨Hasta luega¨and returned home to prepare for our storying appointments. Sophia told us that she was very tired and wanted to hear the next story tomorrow night instead. So that left only a 6pm English lesson & story. Emily, Heather, & Jeremy left to meet Armando for his English lesson and returned banging on the door 15 minutes later. Armando wasn´t home & never showed up for the lesson. We will try to contact him tomorrow. We spent the rest f the evening upstairs around the fire discussing plans for next week - the Bible school, the team joining us, the evening storying. It felt nice to get most of the details set.

What an encouraging day it has been - truly an answer to many prayers. Thank you to all those who have been praying for our team & the Lord´s work here.

P.S. Funny story of the day: This evening while Alison & I prepared dinner we managed to catch the cardboard box behind the gas stove top on fire. No worries though. All was okay, and noone was hurt. I slammed the flaming box against the pantry door (probably not the smartest move) and blew frantically while we were all yelling ¨fire!¨ Heather came running down the stairs right as all the commotion ended and I blew the flames out. Oh, the memories we will have! Truly, with all the crazy things that happen here, we should make a movie.

*Updates from Thursday & today to come soon, but that is all for now.*