It's The Little Things In Life

Yesterday, I went to San Antonio's for the first time in a week. I was supposed to go last friday, but I ended up at home sick. I'm not going to lie though, I really didn't want to go on Friday. I was almost relieved to be sick.

I went to mass on Sunday at the Catholic church on Sunday, San Miguel Arcangel. This was the second time I have been able to make it to mass at this church, and the third time while I've been in Lima. It was the first time that I took my Magnificat with me to read along during mass. Having the Magnificat with all the Mass parts, psalm, and reading, and gospel in English made Mass much more meaningful and enjoyable for me. I realized just how much I miss Christ the King and all my SEARCH friends. But, being in church made me feel very much at peace, and remember the reason why I am here.

I ended up here because of a series of complications with the whole college process. My mom thought a few of them were too "perfect" to be coincidences and had to be "God things." I came to believe this as the time to travel to Peru neared. It really did all work out just a little too perfectly to just have happened.

Going to mass made me remember that I'm here to do God's will, and that some of the things I'm going to be doing will not always be fun and exciting for me. On Wednesday, I went to San Antonio's with a new outlook. Yes, it may be tiring and boring at times to sit in a room with 15 two year olds, but they need to be loved. I remembered all the love and attention that my parents, grandparents, friends, and family gave me growing up and realized that these kids get about 1/10th the love that I got. Me just being there, holding them, talking to them, and trying to get them to be nice to each other, no matter how fruitless it may seem, makes a difference to them.

On Wednesday, something happened that made me want to keep coming back. We have two babies with down syndrome in the 2 year old room. I think that they must be older, but have been held back because they are under developed. Neither of them can walk, but one is starting to learn. Yesterday, he was in the back of the room by himself trying to stand up and take a few steps. When he finally managed, no one really noticed because they were busy with all the other kids. I was sitting on the floor holding two kids and watching him from across the room, when one little boy, who is usually quite a bully, came up to me and made me get up and go watch the baby with down syndrome walk. He was so excited for him, clapping and patting him on the back. I started clapping too, and you could just see the boys face light up as he was being encourage. He became much more determined to take those steps. I loved seeing one of the boys peers celebrate for him, it made me appreciate God's love and purpose for putting me here.

For you SEARCH people out there, the Bryan Adams song "Everything I Do" came on today in the bus home from Pachacutec. I was in the middle of grading papers that weren't getting very good grades and was really frustrated. We have spent a month learning what was on the test, and most of the kids still got a "C." The song made me stop and take a few deep breaths and realize that it will all be ok…gotta love SEARCH memories!

I have been looking for something concrete to give money to since I've been here. Today, I met with one of the 6th grade teachers. I am going to sponsor their graduation, which I will unfortunately just miss (December 16th). I think I will end up getting them food for the reception, graduation gifts, and someone to film the ceremony!

Thanks for all the love and support back home!

Out In The Wild

This weekend we were given the opportunity to go on a trip, guided by three guys who are starting a tour company. We paid for our expenses, but they got us good deals with the people they knew, and we didn't have to pay them for their "guiding skills." The trip, which was estimated at around 150 soles, was a steal so pretty much everyone in the house decided to go.

We left on Friday, and headed for Canta. A small town in the mountains that doesn't see many tourists. We got to Canta, in about 4 hours which included a few stops. One of which was to see a Saint Rose of Lima Wishing well. When we arrived in Canta, we are a light dinner and headed to bed. We woke up at 5:30 on Saturday morning and walked 45 minutes to a local farm, where we got to milk cows. It was nothing like I expected, but wasn't actually that hard! Then a van took us back into town, where we ate sandwiches for breakfast and got ready to go horseback riding. I somehow ended up with the biggest horse, and was a head taller than everyone else. We rode for about five hours, to the top of a mountain to see some pre Inca ruins. The rid was a ton of fun, because we weren't on a path, so we actually told the horses where to go. It wasn't one of those rides where the horses know the path so well you could ride with your eyes closed. You definitely wanted to watch where you were going, because we were on the edge of a mountain, going straight up for most of the way!

Once we got to the top, we ate lunch and explored the ruins. Then, we got to watch a shamanic ritual, giving thanks to Mother Earth. After this was over, we very carefully headed down the mountain to the car that was waiting to take us back, since riding horses in the pitch black would be rather difficult.

We got up the next morning, to leave bright and early, and in typical Peruvian liking, we were told the man who was going to drive us back had to do something else in the morning and couldn't actually come until 1:00. So, we had a few hours to walk around and soak up the sun (which we never see in Lima thanks to the covering of smog/clouds). We ended up going to a waterfall and just laying out in the sun, and had a lot of fun!

We got back just in time on Sunday for dinner, and then I hit the sack rather early to get ready for volunteering the next day.

Today, I went to Pachacutec to teach my 6th graders. This is the first time I wrote out my own lesson plan and taught it. It went really well! I think that they are starting to retains some information, because most of them remembered what I taught them last week without much reviewing. I introduced simple present verbs, and suing them in simple sentences (I run. You run….very simple). But, they were writing them themselves by the end of class, so we're making progress! One of the teachers would only let us teach for 30 minutes today instead of 45, because they were working on math, so I guess I need to keep working on them to have their full support. She almost wouldn't let us in at all. I'm trying to think of a kind of "peace offering" to bring to the teachers for the lass room, but I don't know what they might need…any suggestions would be awesome!