Day 10: Mama We Made It

Unfortunately, on our very last day in Peru we had to wake up very early. But, we got to do one final VBS in the inner city of Lima, a very poor area. The air had a rancid smell and smog was visible in the sky. It was clear that we were no longer in Yungay or Miraflores. However, there was a school amidst all of this – a school full of happy and eager children ready to learn about Jesus. Once we made it through the two security gates at the school, we congregated in a long rectangular room with speakers and a computer without a monitor. Without a monitor, we could not navigate the CD to “Sumergido” and “Burbujea” thankfully, my laptop had the videos already downloaded on it, so with a quick trip down to the stairs and past the gates, Mr. Bas and I returned to the bus were I quickly grabbed the laptop and returned to the VBS room. (On a side note, quickly going to fix something brought me back fond memories of SouthLake – I even ended up running the sound system there, which Mr. Bas described as “straight out of the 80s.”) The rest of the VBS went off without a hitch – we didn’t miss (more than) a beat when performing the songs, a skit performed with(out) Blumey Award winning skill, and the close to 200 hundred 3^rd and 4^th graders actively participated throughout the entire program.

After we finished, we returned to our bus and made our way over to Scripture Union Peru’s HQ. Besides being the place of Billy and Kate’s offices, it is also the home to the deaf school that Scripture Union runs. We had the opportunity to meet 6 of the 8 deaf students today. The students were between the ages of 13 and 23, and prior to their time at the school here this year, no one had ever taught them how sign language. They each introduced themselves and showed us their unique sign (I learned that rather than spelling out their name every time, deaf people will make a unique sign usually involving one or two letters of their name and then a specific trait about them. For example, one of the girl’s name was Catherina and she had long, wavy hair, so her sign was a “C” that she made while moving her hand in a wavy motion down her hair.)  Once we were all properly introduced, we played various games that went beyond our language barrier – including Jenga, charades, and ring toss. Then we all had lunch (chicken, rice, and potatoes – per usual) together, which was when I learned a few signs (like how to sign “me gusta” and “pollo”). We ended our visit at the deaf school by performing our Zacchaeus skit for them, which of course was translated into Peruvian Sign Language (at some points during the day, we had to people translate from Peruvian Sign Language to Spanish and then to English!).

               - Danny

Now Speaking Preston Smith:

I honestly think I would enjoy the monastic life for an extended period of time. Especially, if I had a cool library. It is very interesting how revered St. Francis Assisi, founder of the Franciscan order, was and if I can make the judgement maybe followed/worshiped a little too dogmatically for my reformed taste. Anyways, the monastery was incredible! In fact, it is no longer a monastery but was converted into catacombs for many of the people who were killed by the Spanish inquisition in Peru. There were thousands upon thousands of bones that lent it to a very somber and sobering atmosphere when we ventured under the earth to see them (at 6’4 I found myself ducking more often than not…). Another side note, while they said no pictures I am very proud of the 46 shots I sneaked when the tour guide was not looking… yes, I know that may not have been the honorable thing to do, but it was too cool not to capture and nearly everyone was doing it, so she kind of gave up. The monastery may have been my favorite part of our time as tourists (although the waterpark I’m about to tell you about rivals it intensely) because of the history we learned about and witnessed. The Peruvian culture is steeped in Catholicism and take pride in the monastery and catacombs. They still hold a daily mass in the sanctuary of the monastery.

The waterpark was insanely fun! I think Billy mentioned something about it being like the largest public waterpark display in the world. Regardless, it was impressive. It is not a waterpark like you’d picture at Carowinds, but rather, countless fountains with only two of them having any level of interaction. As breathtaking as the fountains were, we spent half our time at the food carts J. Many of us ate some hamburgers that couldn’t have been good for our blood pressure and washing it down with some chocolate cake (back at it again with the healthy food choices). When the sun started to go down the waterpark only got more spectacular, enhanced with awesome lights!

-        -  Preston

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end.  After exiting the Water Park, we said our good-byes to Bill, Kate, and Mrs. Smith (who stayed behind to work on the scholarship program for the boys in Kusi) and made our way back onto the bus. About forty minutes later through Lima traffic, we arrived at the airport, checked our bags (mine was 10 pounds lighter), had dinner (McDonald’s and Papa John’s were popular choices), went through security (painlessly, except for Mrs. Carter’s Peruvian sauce was confiscated), and through Peruvian customs (which also went painlessly). We were all a little disappointed when our water purchased past security was confiscated at the gate - apparently it is not legal to bring water outside of the US into the US.

This trip has truly been life changing. It has been my pleasure to share this journey along with you all at home. As much as I look forward to returning to Yunguy and saying “Hola” to all my new friends, I am very thankful to be back en los Estados Unidos.

-       -  Danny

Day 9: Tourism at Its Finest (Preston's Perspective)

It was a miracle from the Lord to be able to sleep in past 6:30 this morning – for the first time all week it felt like I wasn’t waking up for a school day J. Not only were we able to sleep in but when I flicked on the TV I was joyfully greeted by the French Open (I had been very sport deprived and love watching all of the tennis majors)! The hotel rooms were pretty impressive and we were also greeted by a wonderful breakfast buffet on a beautiful third floor terrace. The spread was great and having Wi-Fi while eating breakfast was something I never thought I’d see again.

After our wonderful daily devotion delivered by the great Reverend Eric Bartel, we set off on foot through the hectic streets of well-advertised Lima. After a quaint yet noisy and hustled hike, we made it to Pardos Chicken where we had lunch. It is Billy’s favorite chicken chain and they did have some pretty good rotisserie chicken. After that we had free roam around the mall! We had an hour and a half and I was convinced that Starbucks would make my slightly upset stomach feel better! Much to Danny and Joshua’s surprise, the Starbucks did a miracle (which I knew it would and was not mental) and I was back on my feet running! The rest of the time we spent window shopping in ridiculously expensive American-style stores (because the prices were even more intimidating in Soles). After regrouping - and ensuring that we hadn’t lost Jared - we were on our way to market!

The market was fascinating! However, it contained about 500 repeat items… After a lot of haggling, finagling, and jinangaling some of us worked our way down to comfortable prices J. Scouring row after row to find gifts for family, and in many cases ourselves, we stumbled upon many Alpaca products, extensive silver jewelry, and - in Hamilton Rothwell’s case - a hammock… which ended up taking the entire space of his suitcase.

Next, after a quick pit stop by the hotel to drop off our goods, we were on to the top of a double-decker bus for a tour around Lima. First, I have to mention that there was much ducking beneath telephone wires which became a fun game in and of itselfJ. It was very difficult to hear the man over the old, crackling speaker (not to mention his broken English) so it became more of a sightseeing tour as I grilled Billy on the economic position of Peru and its stake in equities. We saw some old Incan ruins, awesome clay tennis courts (which made Lauren Greene and I both jealous and salty that we did not bring our tennis rackets), and several people attempting to hang-glide off the cliffs that bordered the ocean. Also on the trip we passed by numerous public parks which are well maintained in Lima. A fun fact Billy told us was that since Lima is in a desert region in the country every single green thing in the city is watered by water trucks every day! It really was a gorgeous tour and gave us a cool appreciation for the quarters of Lima.

Our final stop was dinner and a show! The buffet was… interesting and definitely Peruvian… but good none the less. David and I both battled upset stomachs, something I have been all too familiar with on this trip, but we survived. Once, settled in we were treated to about six different styles of Peruvian dance, many of which became interactive! Besides this wonderful spectacle, the other highlight of dinner was Andrew Bansek and Thomas Carter getting turned away from an “all you can eat” dessert spread after taking about 30 of the miniature brownies each! And I must say the brownies helped my stomach too… once again proving to myself that sugar works very medicinally.

Peru has been a phenomenal experience, yet spiritually and physically draining, and I can’t wait to get back to tell you all more about it in person!

     ~ Preston Smith

 The view from the mall court.

 Our tour bus.

Day 08: Maddie and Lauren’s Perspective

Hola amigos!!!!!! Today we woke up insanely sad, because we knew it was our last day in Kusi. We got to eat breakfast with the boys and spend one last morning with them. After breakfast, we walked to the café we had lunch at on Thursday and Friday for church. Not going to lie, the walk was a lot longer than expected. We struggled with some lumpy hills and rocks. We (Maddie Frazier and Lauren Greene) both hurt our ankles on Saturday. Maddie twisted her ankle during the walk at glacier lake. I accidently kicked a boy’s knee cap with my ankle while playing soccer, so walking to church was not our best idea.

               From first glance the café is unusually small - we did not know how everyone would fit in. It was a bit cramped, but the love of God overpowered our physical needs. One song that we sang throughout the week was “Todo Poderoso.” The cool thing about this song is that when we were in 10^Th grade Mr. Molina taught it to us, so we were all able to sing along. Mr. Bas preached a powerful sermon from the book of Philemon, talking about how the love of Jesus conquers the language barrier. Overall, it was amazing to see the love of God that was felt in that small café despite the close quarters and heat.

               Thankfully, on the way back to Kusi we got to ride in taxis. Our last meal with the boys was lunch. We ate this delicious rice and chicken. (On a side note, the food in Peru is amazing! They have this genius concept of carbs on carbs. We ate this one meal that was French fries on rice PURE GENIUS!!! One boy that Maddie and I became extremely close to was Jose. Jose was a little, lovable boy who ate everything. During this specific meal he made this French fry and rice sandwich which we found very funny. He also ate our left overs at every meal.) It was a very sad lunch, because it was our last time with the boys.

               After lunch, we had about two hours to get our stuff together and say our final goodbyes to the boys. It was a sad time because as each day went on, we became closer to the boys. Everyone was hanging out in the plaza together, avoiding the fact that in a couple hours we would not be seeing each other again. Out of denial, Maddie and I avoided packing. Eventually we broke down and got our bags (against our will). The boys sweetly offered to carry our bags for us. Richard carried Maddie’s and Josmel carried mine. Before we left, Cayla Metzger and Madi Black presented portraits of the boys that they drew. This was special to them because a lot of them do not have many pictures of themselves.

               The saddest hour was before us as we gave our last hugs to the boys. It literally took everything within us to keep from crying. It was an emotional time because we can confidently say that those boys changed all of our lives. The love we felt from boys who do not know us, live completely different from us, and speak a different language than us, was absolutely amazing. Words cannot describe how much love overflowed from their hearts into ours. It is awesome to see the love in Kusi and how amazing God is as we saw Him working there. I personally have never felt the presence of God this close to me during the time we spent there. We all grew close to different boys and each had an inseparable bond. Basically, the parents dragged us into the vans to leave. At least we gave the boys a good laugh when Avery Bolen tripped on the curb on the way to the vans. As we drove up the large hill Kusi sits on, one of the Kusi boys, Richard, climbed to the top to wave goodbye once more. It was both awesome and sad at the same time. This is when Maddie started crying a lot.

               The vans took us to a bus that would take us back to Lima. It was about a 7 hour trip down the mountain. Honestly, the trip down was a blur because we were too sad and we slept most the time (once again, everyone took Dramamine). Although we did see a full double rainbow over a sunset that was awesome. Another side note- the land in Peru is AMAZING!!! We saw a rainbow about everyday which in a way made us feel closer to God. Here is a quote from Maddie, “God’s promise was a rainbow so this rainbow is my promise that I will come back to Kusi.” After a long nap, we woke at the hotel around 11:30 and went straight to bed.

               From reading this, I hope you realize how much we love Peru and the love we have for Kusi boys. We thank all of you who have contributed to this mission. It was amazing to see what your contributions went to and how they changed so many lives. Gracias, ciao, y adios amigos!

-Tus Amigas, Lauren Greene and Maddie Frazier

PS. A shout out to Avery Bolen who was in almost all of these situations. 

Day 07: Glacier Lake and Dancing Through the Night

After a quick breakfast we all piled in the bus and made our way further up the mountain to Glacier Lake. The change in altitude was definitely noticeable as we were then 12500 feet above sea level. I would try to describe the way the lake looked, but a picture is worth a hundred words (so see the attached pictures). After some of the boys (and two women’s rights fighters) jumped into the very cold lake, we all proceeded to hike down the mountain. It was a very beautiful hike with rivers, creeks, mountain views, and a creepy forest – it legitimately could have been a drawing from a Grimm Fairy Tale book. Once we made it down the mountain, we proceeded to take an hour drive back to the boy’s home.

We all had a special lunch with boys upon our arrival. Pachamanca is a BBQ type deal, except better and not really like a BBQ at all. It begins by digging a large pit in the ground, filling it with food wrapped in leaves, and then buried and left to cook for a while. The meal consisted of beef, chicken, pork, potatoes, sweet bread, and corn. We all ate it with our hands with the boys and enjoyed getting a little bit messy. In fact, a pregnant pig was next to us squealing throughout the whole meal – it was pretty comical for me, but most people were annoyed and were about to shoot it. 

Some people went to play soccer with the boys while the rest of began to pack. I was told that the gringos lost 5 to 2, as to be expected. Later after a light dinner of chicken soup, we all went to have a final celebration with the boys. The celebration kicked off with a game of hot potato with one major modification – the loser had to dance in the middle of the group. Mrs. Bas and Mrs. Carter were the first to be sent in the middle and dance to “Cotton Eye Joe.” Mrs. Bas later said that if they had played Latin music she would have danced a lot better, regardless I think they did a pretty good job and provided a lot of laughter for everyone else (at their expense, but I’d like to think we were laughing with them, not at them). Later, Angel and Rosa’s oldest son’s dance group performed a dance local to the region and then taught us how to do it as well. We danced for another half hour and finished dancing to a song about how we would all see each other again one day, whether in person or in heaven.  The night was finished by Angel (the house father) praying over all of us and saying “Buenos noches” and hugging each boy before going to bed.

 Aerial view of Kusi