Week 7

Last week was pretty relaxing for me actually. I worked on planning out the playground and garden and did VBS. Life as usual here in Peru! I met Brett and Daniel (one of the Peruvian manual labor guys) in Pucallpa on Tuesday and we bought all the supplies for the playground--wood, rope, metal, clamps, screws, etc. Things are a lot harder to find here than in the States. Unfortunately there is no Home Depot where you can get everything you need in one place. Finding the supplies for the playground was an all day affair. We probably went to 20 different stores looking for various things. To make things even more difficult, we weren't even sure exactly what we were looking for. Luckily Daniel had an idea of what he wanted. I don't know what we would have done without him! We'd probably still be looking for supplies right now.

We went to a menú for lunch that day and a meal for three people ended up costing us about $3. Unfortunately it cost me about 5 lbs. as well since I got sick from the food. I was sick for the rest of the week and still have not recovered completely from it. In fact I'm waiting for lab results right now as I'm writing this. The results were supposed to be ready this morning but now they're saying it won't be until this afternoon, leaving me with quite a bit of time to kill in town. Hopefully it's something relatively easy to get rid of. Being sick did have its advantages though. I got to go back to 38 on Friday afternoon and then slept all day Saturday.

Brett's week was a little more eventful. I don't remember exactly what he did on Monday...I think he may have helped Juanito in the jungle cutting down trees. Then on Wednesday and Thursday he helped Daniel build one of the swingsets. I got to see it when I went back to 38 this weekend and it looks really good! I can't wait to see everything when it's finished. We're doing two swingsets with 3 swings each, monkey bars, and a see-saw. They're building everything at 38 and then taking it apart and bringing it to where I live sometime next week I think.

On Friday Brett let one of the other manual labor guys help out with the swingset because he felt guilty that he had an "easy job." Instead he worked on dragging the trees out of the jungle from 8 am until 2 pm, with no lunch break! I don't know how the manual labor guys do it... It's so hot and humid here it's a miracle they don't pass out. I can barely stand running around after the kids for 3 hours every day and they're out there all day!

Saturdays in Peru are not at all restful (unless you're sick, then you get to sleep all day without feeling guilty!). The church that Brett goes to keeps him especially busy. First he goes to Sabbath school, then church, then at 3:00 he visits people and give Bible studies to people who haven't been coming to church recently and tries to bring them back to church, and finally at 4:00 there is a meeting for the youth with games and a short sermon. Saturdays where I am are just as busy. I do Sabbath school with about 75 kids, then sit in church with the kids and try and keep them quiet. After church we go back to the house and make lunch and have a little down time before the youth meeting at 4:30. Then to top it all off we have social games after sundown. Normally you would think that social games would be fun, but I don't think they are. The games pretty much involve running around in circles to music and then doing the chicken dance. And I wish that were an exaggeration. The Peruvians here seem to enjoy it though so that's what matters. By the time Sabbath is over you need another day of rest to recover from your day of "rest".

Luckily Sundays are restful in general. We get to go into town, get internet, eat, walk around, and pretty much chill. Definitely a good time to recover from the week and get ready for the next. Well, I think that pretty much sums up our week. Thanks for reading!