The Adventure

Shhh....the house is quiet at this very moment....don't let the tea kettle whistle - you might wake someone up....creep through the hall and very carefully open the bedroom door - and don't let your pantuflas (slippers made from alpaca) scuff on the floor!!!  Better yet....sit very still and quiet at the computer with your cup of coffee and try to get caught up on your blog (which is exactly what I am doing at the moment!)
I am on vacation - woo hoo!!!!  Yes, for the next two weeks, I am on vacation from school - okay, okay - I will probably still have school with Martha, but all my other students and I are on vacation!  This past week I was talking with the school children about how we were going to spend our vacations.  I told them (as solemnly as I could) that I was going to spend my vacation hiding under my bed - after I clean under it first, of course!  The twinkle in my eye must have given me away, for not one of them believed me!
So....why "The Adventure"?  Because that's what life is - an Adventure - even more so on the Mission Field!  Let us consider the area of transportation...I don't have a picture of a combi or the train (more about the train soon!), but living about two hours from our church certainly has its challenges!  We are Americans - never doubt that - but we have become Peruvians in our mode of travel!  We take public transit, and for the most part...we love it...the only exception being hubby turning green from motion sickness - poor fellow!  The kids think it's great - especially when we see "our" gold robot (street performer that our children have claimed as their own personal possession)!  Are you starting to see "The Adventure"?
I got to thinking about "The Adventure" last Sunday while our combi was careening down the street at a break-neck speed of about 30-45 mph!  I have no idea how Interstate travel will horrify me in the future when we are on furlough!  Then again, I will expect everyone to drive like the Peruvians - He who arrives at the intersection first, goes first - unless the light is red and the traffic police are present!  I found myself laughing as the combi dodged in and out of traffic, performed abrupt starts and stops, and the cobrador (the guy/gal who collects the fare) hustled people on and off the combi just as fast as he could!  Woe to the person who takes too long getting on or off!
Never in my life could I have ever imagined living in a huge (doesn't quite describe it...) city - much less becoming accustomed to it!  My idea of bliss is quiet days in the middle of nowhere in the country - 20 miles from the nearest town!  Now my idea of bliss is a coveted seat on the train or the combi with my hubby and my children next to me, and not across the aisle!
Included in that idea of bliss is being able to take a little nap while riding from point A to point B.  When the kids and I first started going to Callao with Matt, I marveled at all the people I saw sleeping on the train and on the combis!  How could they sleep through something so exciting?!?!?  I have since learned why....it takes a long time to get from point A to point B - especially if traffic is bad.  You might as well spend your time doing something profitable - like sleeping!  I have started bringing my crochet projects with me - there are times when I can't sleep, and I can't bear to just sit still!  I finished a scarf for Martha in about 4 trips to Callao and back....now I am working on a "carf" for Ian - he forgets the "s"!
Another aspect of "The Adventure" is seeing people saved and lives changed!  How I love to see the Deaf in Callao growing in the Lord!  How I love to see my children have a part in the lives of others.  Do you remember me telling you about Martha praying for her friends Mateo and Benjamin to be saved?  Mateo asked Jesus to live in his heart this past Wednesday, July 24, 2013!
What an "Adventure" the Lord has entrusted to us!  I am so incredibly glad to be part of "The Adventure" God has given to me and my precious family!  What is "The Adventure" God has given you?

Woo Hoo - Shopping!!

Something that has always fascinated me since living on the mission field - both here in Peru and in the Philippines - is grocery shopping.  Now I can already hear some of you groaning at the thought of it!  And to be quite honest, I do my own fair share of groaning when I think about going to the store!

I have come to look at grocery shopping as an adventure.  You never know what wonderful bargain you will find, or what recently "imported item" you will find!  Now for those of you who read this and live in the States, finding something imported in the grocery store doesn't mean very much - unless you have lived on the Mission Field before!  For those of us living on the Mission Field, finding an "imported item" from the States is like finding a magnificent treasure!  And then there is the added fun of shopping in a foreign language!  I am finally starting to figure which spices I am actually buying!  Woo Hoo!!

I remember how exciting it was to find Dr. Pepper in the grocery store when I lived in the Philippines!  It is still just as exciting now when I go to Wong (one of the grocery stores here) and find Dr. Pepper!  Recently we found Muenster Cheese on one of our visits to Wong!  Have I died and gone to Heaven?  Not yet, but I AM sure there will be Muenster Cheese in Heaven!

While I was at the "Caja" (Check-out) the other day, I found myself gazing with admiration at the way the clerks pack my groceries into the plastic bags.  Here they put as much as is reasonable into one bag - none of this one item per bag (like Walmart).  I am still trying to figure out their system for scanning things, however.  Just when I think I have it all figured out, they toss me a curve ball and I have to start all over again!  I am very strict with myself about how I put my groceries on the conveyor belt - all the drinks (milk, juice, yogurt drink, etc.) together, all the meat and cold stuff together, etc., etc., etc.  Then I watch the clerk start rummaging through my neatly arranged stacks, and I think, "Hey, wait a minute....!!!!"  This happened a few times after we came, then I finally started paying attention to what they were doing - what items they were putting together - to ring up and to put in bags.  I have started trying to copy their system, and going through the check-out line goes a little faster and easier - that is when I have remembered to have all the fruits and vegetables weighed in the produce department!

Before you start thinking I am some extraordinary missionary wife, let me tell you something....there are times when I really dread going to the store!  There, I've said it....I feel better.  There are times when the loud music, the staring, and the crowds really get the better of me, and I just want to go home and forget that there are such wonderful things in the world as "Imported Items"!  But like every good missionary wife, I brave it all for the sake of my dear family (and their appetites - not to mention their need to eat meals for the week!)

Have a wonderful weekend....and may all your shopping trips be adventures!