My Journal- Aug 6

Sunday, August 6th- Lima/Arequipa

I woke up "early (about 7 or 7:30) to go to the market with Anton and Vegas. She wanted to buy fruit for breakfast before we went to church. So, the 3 of us went and picked out many varieties. We had some familiar ones- red grapes, pineapple, small oranges and we had papaya and kiwi, some red stuff that perhaps was palmagranite, bananas and a fruit that was green , but then when peeled was white. It was sweet and had maybe only 10 large seeds, so they were easy to pick out... We also went to the actual grocery store after to get some buns (a variety again), yogurt, juice, and cheese. It was a large breakfast and then we all went off to church.

"I think it was a Calvary Baptist Church... and of course in Spanish. We arrived at 9 for the early service and were greeted warmly- a nice feeling. Actually, because so many of us did not speak Spanish, [the pastor] got a man to stand up beside him and interpret the sermon! It was good and the Pastor spoke very passionately and with much body language. It seemed long to me though, because all of us were still so tired. I really enjoyed the music and singing. They had nice harmony and I even recognized about 2 songs in English! It was great." Church ended about 11 and we all went and got our baggage "to head back to the airport for our 3rd and final flight!" Some of our team members were lucky enough to grab some food in the airport for lunch, but I wasn't one of them. "... but they did serve a small sub (turkey I think) on the plane with a drink so I was thankful for that.

"This time, I wasn't sitting close to anyone I knew, but at the end of the 1 hr flight, engaged in conversation with the gentleman on my right. He had the window seat, and knowing me, I wanted to share the view and took glances when I could. I found he spoke more English than I expected and we talked until we landed. I did catch his name- it was Luis and he works in a mine.

"The Arequipa airport is a very small one, but simple and not very crowded. We all got our bags and then waited about 1/2 hr for our bus to arrive, and what a bus it was! ... - very yellow/ orange, very old school. But it got us to where we wanted to go!"

We spent the rest of the afternoon visiting and joking a lot, did some planning and practiced our Spanish with other teammates. "Liliana is one of my new favorite additions to the team." She met up with us in Lima (where she's from) and gets to spend the next 2 weeks with all us crazy Canadians. "She is 22 and is in Seminary right now. She speaks a little English, but we've had some confusing discussions. But she keeps trying (maybe because I keep trying). It was a pleasure to be able to pray with her and Vegas (even though I didn't understand half of it) when we met together in our prayer partners."
The team was split up between 3 different places to sleep tonight and I was with Sari and Tanya and Sarah and Rob. "But we had supper all together at one house and stayed there until about 8- 8:30." On our way to our place to sleep, " we stopped at a cornerstore and had a hoot trying to communicate with the Peruvians working there. Sarah and Rob wanted to buy nuts (since they are vegetarians), but we could find none and getting their assistance wasn't working because, though they were eager, they simply didn't know what we wanted. The only thing we could find was a "drumstick" ice cream that had pieces of nuts on top." We pointed to them and asked what they were and the clerk would say something and we would continue to point and he would say the same thing and Rob was so funny because I think he thought the Peruvian was giving him the word for ice cream or something. He kept saying, "No, these" and point even harder to the nuts on top and the Peruvian probably got quite confused. But he just kept saying the same thing, like "Yes, that's nuts". "It's nuts. Peanuts." We laughed and they laughed- it was very humorous. The young man was so patient, and Rob finally decided that he was given the right word, but we still didn't get more nuts. "I bought the drumstick because I wanted ice cream anyway. Actually, each of us got something and then we continued on our way.
"Tomorrow, Rob and I will go back to the cornerstore and buy some bread for breakfast. We have los huevos y marmalada (eggs and jam) and everything. Then, we go to the camp!"