Backtracking a little

It's hard to include everything that happens each day because so much was packed into each one, but there are a few important things I would like to include that were not in my journal for one reason or another- and also things I have pictures for :)

Hanging out, and playing soccer.


Pastor Chris speaking at the San Luis church on Sunday, and our Saturday night game time (lots of fun!)










Playing ping pong and watching puppet plays













On Monday, a bunch of us went for a long hike up the massive hills surrounding the valley, and I must say, it was a pretty incredible view. When we got the the top of the highest peak in our vicinity, we took a rest and just stared out onto what God had made. We also made a huddle and prayed as we felt compelled, for that land, the people there and all the surrounding area. It was an experience I will not forget.










Our last night in the valley, we had a huge camp fire and sang songs, roasted hot dogs and one man told his life story. It was very long and very good. There were lots of people from around and it was the largest "event" we'd had in total. Oh, and did I mention the fire was HUGE! We had trouble raosting our dogs because the sticks were not long enough and the heat of the fire was too hot for the hands and face. But, we all had a great time eating them!

Peru-August 15

"Today is Tuesday and we are all in Cuzco. We got up at 4am (the girls @ 4:30 b/c no one set the alarm!) and took our bags & got on our glorious yellow bus to Arequipa. A couple of people rode with us- my good friend Juana Rosa (seen here in the red), her esposo, Armando, & their two children, Gloria (whom Tanya had become best friends with) & Ivan (pronounced eeban) the baby. It was a little hard to say goodbye to Juana, but I'm going to send her a picture of us when I get it from Anton.

"Our flight left at 7:50 and we stopped at one other mountain town on the way so it was about 10am when we arrived. Sari had been badly sick & on the toilet this morning, but she took 2 Immodium just before the plane ride & has been much better ever since. Owen and Ann are essentially in charge & Owen had us all split into 3 groups to tour around Cuzco together. The group I'm in has Sari & Tanya, Andrew, Tyler & Liliana. We looked around shortly & then had some lunch (1pm) at a nice restaurant. Since Newman is so adventurous, he decided he needed to try something different, so he ordered an Alpacka dish and Tyler ordered a Guinea Pig dish. Us girls had other plans. We decided we needed something more familiar & maybe reminded us of home! So we all had pizza! It was good & when we were done, it came to 173 soles for all of us! Which converts to about $57 US. Then we went shopping!

"I bought a t-shirt for 23 soles, a charcoal painting for 20 soles and 3 fridge magnets for 6.5 soles. So I think so far I've spent about $16 U.S. Now, we have dropped off our things and are going back out! Good times! Good times! We have reservations for supper at 8, so that will take care of the day. I also bought a bright red colored poncho thing that seems to be a very nice cultured top that ladies would wear. Liz bought herself one (kind of tan in color) and Sarah also got her own (black with gray). I paid 25 soles (I think) for mine & I got Drake a hat! (another 20 soles). I hope he likes it. Newman was with me when I picked it out & said he would for sure... It's too big on me, so it will probably fit!

"Have I wrote yet that I miss the food back home a lot? I wouldn't have thought, but half way through last week, I really wanted a Mc Chicken and then I was telling people as soon as I get home, I'm gonna have a bologna sandwich with mac & cheese! I'm also looking forward to french toast & nachos with cheese and salsa, mmm. For supper we had everything- potatoes with that chili sauce everyone else seems to like, stuffed peppers (with ground beef and some stuff), tacoes with guacamoli, then the main course with Alpacka meat & fries, guinea pig again, grilled chicken, etc. and they all came with some kind of hot or cold vegetable & either rice or potatoes. It was a nice restaurant, but very small and we had the upstairs for our group. (You can only fit about 20 upthere.) If more than one of us were walking around at a time, you could feel it on the floor under your feet. Bill and Tyler joked that if we all jumped we would definitely land on those under us. I agree. And some of our eyes were bothering us- like they had peeled onions up there b/c they were burning. I guess scents rise like hot air too, and if they have nowhere to go, they don't. After we were all done, there was a large issue of the bill and Greg and Chris Horch hadn't even eaten yet b/c Greg forgot his epi-pen & had to go get it. Liz and Kirk stepped out for some reason, but anyways, we got the bill sorted out & went on our way. We could choose either to go to bed or look around more but I was tired, so me, Tyler, Liliana & Sari went back only to realize on the way that none of us had a key to our rooms! So we wandered around a little and then went back & sat on chouches until others returned. It was about 10 or 10:30 pm when we went to sleep."

Peru Aug 14

This is an email I got to send home on Monday, and I know some of you have read it, and it's a little redundant, butI thought I'd include it for those who didn't get to read it before.

Subject: hello from Peru! Date: Mon, 14 Aug 2006 09:36:29 -0600
Hello everyone! It is Monday, Aug 14 and we are on our last day in the valley before we leave for Cuzco tomorrow. I didn't think I'd be able to communicate with you at all while I am here, so this may be the only letter you get until I return. About 10 of us just drove to the next town (Vitor) in the valley today because there are no locals to hang out with today since they are working and we are not. Here is a type of internet cafe, so we are all emailing at once! It's great! The past week has been challenging and most of us have gotten sick, but most of us are all better now, which is an answer to prayer. We have had a wonderful time being with the people here and trying to communicate with them in Spanish. Many of them just smile or laugh at us when we try to say something, but they have had great patience and want to know what we mean. The children's VBS was less organized than we had intended, but nonetheless, was successful, and I think all of the kids had a really good time! They simply want anybody who will be with them and have fun because many of their parents don't since they are always working to put food on the table. The ladies night was powerful for me because one of the Peruvian women shared her testimony and it was a hard one for her to tell and she needed to stop because she was crying. I was choking it back, since you all know me and how much of a crier I am. After she finished, I gave her a huge hug and she said ´God bless you´ and I was thinking, ´No, God bless you!´ The movie night was also really great and I hope and pray that it touched some hearts of those watching who had not yet recieved the Lord as their Saviour. Saturday, work was done early, so many of the men went swimming in the pool, and they made a good time of it with Canadians throwing in Peruvians and Peruvians doing the same to us! We all had a good laugh over that. It is not hard to see the relatiionships developing, and already, some are asking if we are coming back and when. I praise the Lord for this. Yesterday, pastor Chris preached twice- once in Arequipa (and we were very well received there), and then last night in San Luis (which is in the valley, in walking distance of the camp where we've been staying). Chris shared a big part of his heart last night with the people and his desire for the entire valley to be reached for the Gospel. He had such a longing and deep passion for them that I don't even fully understand after only a week here, but what he was saying was what God was saying to me, because I sat and cried (again, I know) for this same thing. What an incredible thing it is for people to be able to tell of God's incredible love to others. Minister to your neighbours and your neighbours' neighbours, he said. I can't fully describe the burden of love on some of our hearts here, but I'm going to carry this with me home. The world is a dark place and we ARE light who know God, so why shall the world remain dark? It shall not indeed, I say! The Word says, ´they will know we are Christians by our love´, and this has definitely spoken loudly this past week. God has already been working in the hearts of these people and we want to continue to see his work done here. Pray for the young church here that it will grow to maturity; that it will be unified and not torn apart by the Devil; that more would be added to it; that trained Peruvians will take responsibility and leadership roles to help with the minstry and discipleship. I don't know if we have ministred to the Peruvians more, or if they have minstered to us more! It's an incredible thing, this fellowship. They love us with no reason, except that we came here, leaving behind everything else in North America. They bless us in ways they don't even know, but maybe this goes both ways. :) Onto a lighter topic, all our hard work is done and the next 3 days will be for fun! Touring around and shopping. I have learned that all of us Canadians suck at bartering! They say a price, and we say ´Ok!´ The Dargatz's shake their heads... I guess we are just too polite! In Canada, the price simply isn't negotiable, but in Cuzco, it is very negotiable, and Vegas warned us that we may have to be rude, because some many people want to sell you so much stuff! I guess we'll see how it goes. Thank you for all your prayers. I could say much more, but this is long as it is. And thank you to those who wrote in my Encouragement book from HLAC. You don't know how appropriate many of the entries have been so far. God bless you all! In Christ, Carmen PS: I love and miss you Drake!

Peru- August 12- End of the week

Friday swimming fun!


























Saturday Morning

"Everyone got up early again @ 6:30 for breakfast and the men were working by 7am. Me, Vegas, Ann, Mary Beth & Liliana went staining picnic tables & the roof again until lunch. We almost finished what we had planned to do, but we ran out of stain! It was hard work and it was hot and I was ready to be done anyways. In fact, I was ready to be done long before we were. "



The Story

"See, Liliana & I had done one picnic table and then Ann began moving things off the last picnic table so it could be done but they asked us if we'd rather do another table or the deck around the pool. We choose the deck..." but quickly discovered it was dirty, so we got brooms to sweep it off, but to no avail. The dirt "was dried on from the children's wet feet the day before when the pool was finally open & they all got to swim. (They were very excited about that since some of them had brought their swimsuits with them everyday!) We realized we would have to wash it b4 we could stain it again, but Jim said to wait b/c after the men's work was done that morning they would be swimming. Ok, so Liliana & I" returned to "where the other ladies were still varnishing and were asked if we wanted to help Mary Beth & Ann with the table. I didn't really want to & felt as though I could use a nap but we went and helped. The thing was, I seemed to be the only person who had painted a picnic table before. They had it upside down, to reach the underside, (very good) but did all of the outermost boards first so that to get the farther boards, you would have to reach over the painted boards to get to the inner ones. Well, I can say I had a bad attitude b/c I thought to myself, I'll just paint the side & other boards and let the first two fix their own mistake- Why should I have to do it? But as us 4 went on, Ann left to do something else & then Mary Beth switched to painting the roof (as she had been doing earlier that morning) which left me & Liliana to finish the table by ourselves. This made my mood worse! The nerve! They both just left! And guess who gets to fix thier mistake- Me! I was mad! But I knew that's not what God wanted. He reminded me of what I read in my HLAC Encouragement book the day before "Never tire of doing good..."


The Men at Work





















After work fun!












The Afternoon

"We had lunch & I was going to have a shower (since we had water b/c there was an annoncement a day or two earlier that we had no more water for showering or laundry), but lunch was at 12:30 today instead of 12, so by the time we were done washing dishes, it was around 1 and I had a meeting at 2 for singing in church on Sunday with Bill & whoever else wanted to. So, I took out my Bible (I needed to actually prepare for my devotional that night b/c this way my day I had signed up for), but mostly because I just needed God to work in my heart. I suppose in a way, I was loosing my own vision of why I was here. It was good, and our music practice was- ah, challenging. Not very many of us were very musical, but we could hold a melody. The men did much better than the women. Bill wanted to do an old hymn with harmony, but he gave up on that and we sang 'We Wanna See Jesus Lifted High' instead.

Random pics of mealtimes


Me and my Bible

Peru- August 11

On Friday, "...I felt fine! We had been praying for all of us to get well again, so we all have. Praise you, Lord! I don't ever want to be sick like that again. We did our last day of VBS (since we cancelled Sat. b/c many of us are still tired or sick a little) and it went well." We made little tic tac containers into "Jesus shakers" and put a cross on one side and a Jesus fish sticker with the initial of our names on the other side, and of course, candy inside- good for making sound and eating! They enjoyed it.







"Yolanda and Carlos are doing the dental clinic again today & on Sat (thankfully they haven't gotten sick!)










... Tanya & I went for a walk after lunch down to the river at the bottom of the valley. It was very cool! We found this one spot where the river was rushing over the rocks and then curved around the bend & disappeared. We climbed onto a large rock in the water and sat there for a long time just admiring the view. Admiring God. We talked for probably 40 mins and then decided we really should head back, so we did.

Tanya was going to paint picnic tables, etc again with Vegas, but Vegas said I wasn't allowed b/c I was still recuperating so I rested until supper. Most meals, I have noticed, are very flavourful- nothing is bland- and sometimes the smells and flavours agree with me and sometimes they don't. We have had a good share of rice and chicken in different ways. They are good cooks. We even had cake for dessert twice! One was like a coffee cake & one was like a banana (plantano) cake. We had jello too & chicken soup one lunch when many of us were sick.
"Friday night was a movie night and there were a lot of people. First (while everyone was coming) they played a Spanish cartoon for the children & it was cute. Then, they showed the movie "The Climb" and it had a really good message about God and Salvation. (but wasn't cheesy like many 'religious' movies). After it was over, we passed around hot chocolate and snack. Then it was bed! I hope the movie made some people think."