Saturday

I wish I could sleep like that

Lost puzzle pieces are a global issue

Today we went out to a Saturday program for kids, in one of the worst neighborhoods in Arequipa. We had a short time of songs and games, then we played some futbol for about an hour. After that all had a meal together. It was awesome. For the kids this Saturday time is really special. Many can not afford the books they need to go to school. So these Saturday gatherings at the nazarene mission are really the highlight of their week.

This week prayer would be appreciated for Chadwick, he is struggling with dehydration and a constantly upset stomach.

Thanks,

Ryan

Peru Education: Midterm

HOLA! Chadwick and I just passed the halfway point in our language studies today. Tomorrow marks the beging of the downhill. Life is good here, today we had a very tropical lunch of salad, diomante fish, which we later found out was acutally shark, and is quite delicious. We finished with watermelon and then washed it all down with fresh squeezed mango juice. Our street smart education is also coming along. Monday we tried to make our first solo trip on the combi and micro system here. A combi is a small bus and micro is most easily described as a 20 year old minivan. We made it to the extreme office without much excitement. On the way back we boarded another micro that clearly said Venezuala avenue on the front, which is near where we live. The micro then proceeded to take us in the exact opposite direction that we needed to go. We took a LONG detour! A good example would be if you were in downtown boise and boarded a bus that took you to Kuna, while making 45 stops. When we got to the end of the line the drivers assitant politely told us we needed to get off. Chadwick and I looked at each other, shrugged, and did what anyone would do, we started walking. Literally five seconds later we heard the same lady calling out Venezuala Ave. We ran to catch the bus and got back on in time to ride the same bus all the way back. Back to the example; we had now taken the same bus all the way to Kuna, walked a block, and then rode it all the way back to the north end of Boise, which is where we really needed to go anyway. In all, it took about an hour and a half to make a ten minute trip. On the bright side, we got to enjoy the cramped micro for an hour and a half and Chadwick got to sit between a man who apparently annointed himself in aftershave and an aspiring singer. Life is good here, thanks for all your prayers and support hope all is well back home.

Ryan and Chadwick

¡Weekend Numero Dos!

This entry will be the first of Ryan and my ¨double-team¨ posts. I told him that I got to write the blog for this weekend but he insisted that he write the portion for Sunday. I have been religated to speaking about Friday afternoon and Saturday. I guess it could be worse. Here we go...

Earlier in the week the Linnells invited us on a trip to the beach. The Linnells are a couple who are down here as part of the Extreme Nazarene team. Their daughter Dawn (who attends NNU with us) is also down here to teach one of the local pastors and his family English. Ryan and I gladly accepted the invite. We left on Friday at around 4 and got to Majia (a costal town) at around 6:30. The bus ride was made more interesting by the fact that we also had 2 children with us. The Linnells had told another one of the couple´s that are working here that they would watch their kids for the weekend. 2 year old Landon and 5 year old Isaiah are 2 of the most energetic little kids that I have ever met and they added to the fun of the weekend. When we got into Mejia we went to the house that we were renting for the night. Upon arrival we found that the block that our house was on was without electricity. When we found the landlord all he said was ¨maybe it will be back in the morning.¨ I´m begining to see that things like that aren´t all that uncommon here. I´m learning to just shrug it off and move on. We wandered around until we found a little hole-in-the-wall resturaunt. We ordered the ¨menu del dia¨ which was chicken noodle soup and roast beef with rice. The ¨menu del dia¨ is the daily special and it is for sale for a bargain price of 5 soles daily (which equates to less than $2 American). We have quickly become big fans of it. As I started to eat my soup I thought to myself ¨this is just like soup at home¨ until I found that here in Peru they serve it with the chicken heart and lungs in the soup. I love all the surprises here!

The next day we spent the entire mornig sitting on the beach, flying the boy´s kite, building sand castles, and taking turns getting burried in the sand. It was a great getaway and much needed after a long hard week of language school. We took the bus back to our house here in Arequipa and ended the night with a little taste of home in the form of game 3 of the NBA playoff series between LA and Denver.

Sunday was a nice day for us to get some extra rest. We tried to sleep in since church starts at ten here, but since the sun comes up at five thirty it seems our bodies just naturally turn on around 7.

If church was a race then this service would have been a marathon, nay maybe the ironman. We had a 50 minute worship session (all standing up) and an hour and twenty minute sermon. Now if you think an hour and twenty minute sermon is long now think about trying to follow an excited Peruvian preacher when your spanish is not quite up to speed. I was amazed at the passion of the people in this small congregation though and I was informed that this type of service is more the rule than the exception so I guess we will adapt.

After church we started another Peruvian tradition we have been learning, the 3 hour sunday lunch. Our Peruvian parents invited us to the birthday party of our madres brother in law. The first salad was served around 1 pm followed by roasted potatoes and a bbqed chicken breast. next we ate a second course of bbqed pork ribs that challenged the chicken for tasties dish. Unfortunetly do to allergies Chad missed out on these fantastic ribs. After the ribs came the steak. By this point we were ready to tap out, but we did not want to ruin Americas reputation as eating champions so we toughed it out through about a 12 ounce t-bone. (note to moms we are not starving here) Cake and ice cream was the the only way to finish the celebration with happy birthday sung first in english then in spanish.

So now as we write this we are digesting way too much food and nursing our sunburns. Continue to pray for us in our language studies as we start a new week of classes.

Thank you for your prayers and emails

Ryan and Chadwick

school

Here is a picture of where Chad and I go to school everyday. we go one on one with an instructor for about four hours every morning. This week Extreme Nazarene sent out the first set of 40/40 missionaries for church planting training in Iquitos. It is cool to think that someday they will be using the informaiton Chad and I gather to plant churches all over the jungle.

¡Weekend Numero Uno!

I gave ryan the weekend off and so this post will be my first of the summer.

Disclaimer: I am a horrible speller and this thing doesn´t have spell check so bear with me.

We began our weekend at 6:00 AM Saturday with a game of futbol sala (a mixture of indoor soccer and futsal) with some locals and other members of our Extreme Nazarene family. On our way home from playing, we had an unexpected adventure. The first taxi driver picked us up and dropped us off in the wrong neighborhood, the second taxi driver told us he knew where to go but then had to ask 2 other people for directions to our house. The kicker was that the second taxi driver also feeced us for 15 soles when the rate is 3-4 soles. After it was all said and done we had used 2 cab drivers and spent 20 soles to get home. I guess it is just part of the learning process of being a foriegner in a different country. That afternoon Ryan and I walked to the market. We are starting to figure out were things are so we don´t feel lost all the time. Before dinner our family took us to La Plaza de Armas (the city center). We walked through a bunch of little tourist shops and visited 2 beautiful old cathedrals.

Today we decided to try something new and sleep-in a little bit. We had church from 10-12:30. After church we talked with the other missionaries and members of the congregation so that we could give the taxi drivers better directions to our house. We left church feeling good about our chances of getting home now that we were equiped with a hand drawn map to our house complete with street names. We hailed a cab and asked him if he knew how to get us home. He said that he knew where we were going and could take us there but I am begining to think that if I asked a taxi if he could drive me to Europe that he would still respond with an enthusiastic ¨Si¨. It was no surprise when he had to ask for directions at a gas station and then we finally told him that we had reached our destination when we recognized that he had driven past where we were supposed to go. We decided to walk home using a stadium near our house as our guide. We have now taken more taxis to no where than we have to where we intended. We are learning though because this time our ride to no where only cost us 4 soles (what a bargin) and we were at least close enough that we could find our way home on foot. For lunch we went with our family to our Peruvian Mamama´s house (apparently in Peru Mamama = Grandmother). We had dinner with our families aunts and cousins. We enjoyed a wonderful 4 course meal of tuna salad, noodle soup, beef and rice, and fresh fruit with ice cream for dessert.

We are not looking forward to starting language school at 9 AM tomorrow but we are willing to take the good with the bad. If you ask me, language school started when the plane landed in Lima. Our family is very patient with us and try to help us all they can with our Spanish. We speak only Spanish unless we are totally lost and then they stop and explain to us in English.

Well that´s probably more than any of you wanted to know about our weekend. Ryan has just declared that I am now an ¨official blogger¨ after spending 20 minutes on this update. Oh well, I guess I am what I am.

--- Chadwick

Arrival!

After 17 hours of layovers and over 30 hours of travel Chad and I arrived in Arequipa Peru at 530 this morning. We went to the school were we will be studying for the next 3 weeks and also got to meet our host family for those 3 weeks. Our host mom is named Ursula and she will be takin good care of us and making sure we adjust to our new surroundings. We are both exctited at the idea of settling into the neighborhood and not seeing an airport or anything with wings for a few weeks. Thanks for all of you who made this trip possible.
Ryan

Preparation

Hey Guys,

Welcome to the travel blog. Chad and I are enjoying our last few days in the states right now stuffing down all the home cooking and focusing on a few finals (tougher than then ever) before we leave. Thank you to all the people who have supported us and made this trip possible. We will be trying to keep this updated as much as possible during our trip so check back often.

Thanks,

Ryan