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