Just Our Life!

So this post is coming a week late. I wrote it last week but never posted it, so just know when you are reading it that it's from 2 weeks ago. I'll post for last week in the next couple of days! Thanks for reading!

Happy October everybody!! It’s crazy that it’s already October and that we have been here in Peru for a month now. At times it seems like time passes so slow but then I look back and can’t believe it’s already been a month. We still aren’t crazy busy but things are picking up a little. Caleb and the girls are doing more visits on their own and now that they are more familiar with the schedule, are able to find more things to do to occupy their time… haha like go to the gym. Caleb and I joined this gym. I haven’t gone yet because I haven’t been feeling well but Caleb has been working out. It’s a pretty ghetto gym but they have personal trainers there everyday that come around and help you which is pretty awesome. Christi got a job coaching a swim team, and Steph writes for her blog the mormonbuzz. So I guess we are all adapting to the life here.

Playing a game with the kids

Monday I had a leadership meeting for La Communidad the non-profit org, to get feedback on how the program is going and to talk about what we as volunteers can do better. It gives me something to do on Monday nights and pushes me to keep studying Spanish because they do the meetings in Spanish and only translate if I need them to. On Wed. we took the kids to the Botanical Gardens to educate about the plants and flowers and livestock that they have here in Peru. It was kind of a crazy day, no kids showed up so we had to go around to all of their houses to round up kids and then fit 4 adults and 4 kids into a taxi to take them to the gardens. Super illegal in America, but pretty normal here. The kids are really fun and cute, there are a couple of them who are kind of like demon children, there was one who kept throwing big rocks at the fish, stomping on plants and being very destructive. He only will listen to Diego, and it’s only kind of listening when Diego talks to him. I’m getting more comfortable at speaking to them and trying to put myself out there to make connections with the kids.

Our Art!

On Thursday, at the other location for the program, we had some local artists come to teach them about painting with this stuff called earth dust, and inspired them to pursue their dreams in the arts if they want to. The kids were actually really into it. There is this girl who is usually pretty crazy, running around, screaming and such so I decided to challenge myself to try to get her to focus and be more calm, and it actually went really well. She sat and painted and did great. Thursday was also a holiday here in Peru so everybody had work off, and our ward held an activity. The problem with the activities here is, THEY ARE ALL DAY LONG! Literally 9 am til like 6 or 7 pm.

Caleb and Diego eating KFC

On Friday we tried to go to the beach, but we ended up not getting out of the house until pretty late, so we decided to postpone the beach to Saturday. So instead of going to the beach, Caleb, Diego and I went to the mall! The malls here are like a little America, we ordered steamers at Starbucks, and ate at KFC! The clothes and shoes at the mall are way more expensive though, so we didn’t really do any shopping. 

Mini America!

On Saturday we decided to go to the beach, but it was really windy so we just went there, ate at a restaurant and walked on the beach. Diego told us more about his family and the jungle where they live. He told us some crazy stories but I’ll have to tell you them when I get home. While we were at the beach we ran into 3 of the girls that I volunteer with. One of the girls had just got her iphone stolen on the bus!! Apparently a bunch of Peruvians got on the bus, crowded around her, passed her around and someone reached into her bag, grabbed her phone and then they all ran off the bus. Apparently Iphones are pretty hot items here, they sell for 7,000 soles which is over $2,000 American dollars. Good thing my bag I carry around has a zipper on it.

On Sunday we went to church, and right after the sacrament, the Bishop got up and announced that all of us were going to get up and bear our testimonies. So Christi, Steph and Caleb bore their testimonies in Spanish and I got up and bore my testimony in English. Even though no one could understand me, I was super nervous. The bishop also gave us a calling, (we had no idea until he called us in sacrament) for the facebook/social media people. So we are starting that, making sure that every organization has a page and that they are posting and inviting less active members to activities and such. Fabiola also came to church and brought her daughters. They didn’t come to sacrament meeting but they came to primary. It was a pretty big surprise cause the missionaries thought she wasn’t gonna be able to make it because of her schedule. She told us that Brenda her oldest daughter had been asking for me, and asking when she was gonna see me. The primary has their program next week so they were practicing in the chapel, so we sat by Fabiola as her daughters sat on the stand pretending to sing the songs. Brianna her youngest daughter is only 2 so she didn’t stay focused for long so they left before it was over but Fabiola invited Caleb and I to Brianna’s birthday party on the 21^st of October.

Caleb playing this unusual instrument
at Diego's house!

Then on Sunday night, Diego invited us over to his house for dinner. His brother Elliott is a chef so he made us Chinese food, and we got to meet him. He is super nice just like the rest of his family, and he served his mission in Argentina so Caleb and him had a blast talking all about Argentina. The Chinese food he made us was actually really good! 

Well that was basically all for the week, stay posted for more on our life here in Peru!