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 10Th 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.
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