Owen arranged 3 hot meals from one place & we handed them out- the first one to a young lady who had been crying and she looked very hungry (making a motion to her mouth with her hand). She wanted and was asking for something to eat just as Kirk lowered his warm plate to give to her. She was thankful & we said "Jesus te ama" & continued on. (I handed mine out but I don't remember to whom) And we also bought 3 meat sticks (that's what I call them). They are cow heart shishkabobs with a potato on the top & are cooked by other street vendors on BBQ-like things with an open flame & grill. These we wanted to give to children & succeeded. One Anton gave to a young child on a mother's back (who also got a plate of food) and another he gave to a boy who was curled up sleeping in a large "shelf" in the stone wall down one street. The boy was thankful to have the food. And each time, we told them "God bless you" or "Jesus loves you".After all our food was gone, Owen had to meet Ann, so the rest of us decided to go eat b/c we were hungry too! We picked a fairly nice restaurant & sat upstairs. The waitress seemed extremely busy & was hurrying & her forehead was glistening with sweat but she was polite & patient when we were trying to communicate what we wanted using both English and Spanish. We finally got our food (I had ravioli with meat sauce- it seemed to have something like cheese and spinach inside) and it was good. I had only eaten about half of it though and was stuffed! I was learning that in Cusco, you really don't need to eat that much. It's weird. You don't feel hungry barely at all and if you do, it doesn't take much to feel full again. It must be because of the altitude. You can make yourself sick if you eat too much- that's what Jim warned us about.
We paid & Kirk & Liz went back to the monastery where we were staying & Anton and I decided to keep going. He wanted to buy more food to gave away, so we did! First, I gave away the rest of my pasta dish & then we went to a grocery store & bought 3 yogurts & a whole bunch of cookie/cracker things. Anton went all out & had about 8-10 packs with like 6 packs in each of 6 crackers, but he thought that was pretty good- only paying 30-40 soles for it all (which is only $10-13) and we went around looking for people to give it to. I thought it was going pretty well until, after seeing us hand out food to someone on the street, 2 girls came up to me begging me for food too. I instinctively said no to them (about 12-14 yrs?) and told them they were fine b/c I wanted to give it to the really needy people & these girls had clean clothes on & were walking around able to work, but they said, "No, not fine" and followed me explaining in broken English that they had made no sales that day b/c the police took away their finger puppets they
were selling. I thought it was a bit ironic b/c they shouldn't be doing it against the police, but then thought that could be their only way of making some kind of money, but my thoughts were cut off by their insistent pleading and I told them, "Ok, just one (uno)" and pulled one pack of flavoured cookie/crackers from my bag. I handed it to the older girl and said they had to share but the other girl said "No, not share." But I said yes and walked away (catching up to Anton again).(this is not the actual girl, this is another "finger puppet" girl)
Afterward, I felt bad about that situation b/c we headed back to the monastery & I had one pack left in my bag and found no one else to give it to. I thought about the 2 girls & knew I could have given them each one, but why didn't I? I realized & admitted to myself that the only reason I even gave them one was to get them off my back b/c they were hounding me & I didn't like that. I felt pressured and I shouldn't have acted like that.
Spirit, please work in me. Help me to be more sensitive to your leading . More discerning in hard situations so I can act appropriately & lovingly. I want to be like Rob & Anton and am greatly encouraged by the way they love others. Help me to learn & grow, Lord, that I may do your will always. Amen.
But I have to say that while all this was going on, it was raining pretty good & the streets were flooded trying to drain, so Anton & I returned quite wet and when we got back, not everyone had returned (as they were supposed to by 9:30) and Sari, Hose, Tyler? & some others were there waiting (in a lounge in the hallway) for the person who had the key to their room. Anton & I joined them since neither of us had a key either and we all waited. Tired & wet & cold & bored (b/c you can't make any noise otherwise it resonates very loudly in the hallway and disturbs everyone else).
Finally, the stragglers with keys arrived & we were all happy to change out of our wet clothes & get warm again. We met again that night & had devotions (Hose did it) and I shared Isaiah 55 with the rest of the team since it was in my encouragement book & I really found it appropriate. It said for the hungry & weary to go to God & he would feed them. Come without money & I will give you food & drink, and I thought of the valley people. Toward the end it said that God's work will be done and nothing he sends out to complete will come back empty or fruitless. I was very encouraged by that because that is one of the things our team wanted, so I hope they were encouraged. And (it also said) the desert would be replaced by lush plants & the hills of the mountains will echo God's praise & shout aloud & the trees will clap their hands, and I just saw a vision of new love & new life & revival & I really, literally want to see that happen. That you God, that your thoughts are higher than my thoughts & your plans, my plans. You are so good! Amen.
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