40 Day Fast

It starts today. Click here to learn about it. Click here to see a roster of the bloggers. Click here to read the first entry, “Where God Lives”.

Why I Go

The reasons are many and somewhat profound. If I tried to explain it, I don’t think I could find the right words… they may not even exist. There are those who just get it and need no explanation, and there are those who don’t and never will, even if I could create all the right words.

Honestly, I’m not even sure that I completely understand it. But today I stumbled across this quote that put words to just one of the many reasons that I go.

The soul is healed by being with children.

- Fyodor Dostoevsky

Especially since children host an extremely contagious, quick to appear, symptom rich condition: JOY!

And then there’s this picture…

Again, there are no words.

Peruvian Bus Ride

[I never got the opportunity to post this while in Peru so I'll do it now. Couple of updates about this post: We learned that the bus line that we rode to Huaraz, Cavassa Tours, was considered to be a little shady even by the locals. Lots of, "Oh... really, so you rode Cavassa?" with sympathetic glances flashed around. Total trip was 10 hrs instead of the expected 7 1/2 - 8. I did end up having an upset stomach for a few days. Probably not related to the restaurant stop, but maybe. There's so many other things that it could have been. And the bus line that we rode back to Lima, Movil Tours, had a new, very nice depot in Huaraz. Not seedy at all. The one in Lima... well, that's a different story.]

I’m writing from my bus seat… the one I’ve been riding in since 10:30 this morning. It’s now about 3;00 in the afternoon on 06/02/08, and we’ve still got about 4 hrs. to go before we arrive in Huaraz. I don’t think this ride will ever end!! We’re just now hitting the mountains, so the rest of the ride is super CuRzY.

Even though we’ve spent most of the day on a bus, we’ve still managed to have a couple of adventures.

Is it a universal truth that a bus station has to be in the seediest part of town? That was the 3rd one I’ve been to here in Peru, and they’ve been very consistent - I’ve felt nervous at everyone. Lots of eyes watching the gringos.Funny thing though, a couple of the Spanish speakers with us struck up a conversation with a couple there and it turned out that he was an engineer and she was a teacher. They are very well off and offered their home for future groups to stay in. Went so far as to give their address and contact info.I guess you can’t judge a book by it’s cover… place still seems a little seedy to me though!

Lunch was our next adventure. The bus stopped at a “restaurant” on the side of the road and gave us 30 mins. to eat. We were all wishy-washy about whether or not to eat except the group leader, Jason. He was OUT! No way for him! But the food actually looked and smelled pretty good, so Joseph and I agreed to try it if the other one would. Years of sizing me up probably played into his decision, and I definitely wasn’t going to be one up-ed. Before it was all said and done, Ethan had joined us. We enjoyed the meal of chicken and rice, especially the rice… remains to be seen if will feel the same way in a few hours. Not to worry. After last year, I know all the symptoms of intestinal parasites. I won’t hesitate to call a doctor for a round of anti-biotics.

Finally, there’s the ever present adventure of using the bathroom on a tossing, turning, stopping and starting bus… glad I’m a guy!! What a ride - Peruvian style.

Hello from Peru

I don´t have much time, but wanted to let everyone know that we survived the first trek… BARELY for some of us!! I´ll give details later. Right now I´m going to wash 4 days of filth off of myself!!

- Hasta Luego

First of Many

We’re sitting in the Tallahassee Regional Airport waiting for our flight to leave for the ATL. After a 2hr. lay over there,  we’ll leave for Peru. We should arrive in Lima around 11pm. A 30 min bus ride later and we’ll finally be at our hotel for a good night’s rest.

First of  many long days!!

Peru or Bust

We’re headed out this morning. I don’t toss this term around lightly, but please be throwing out some prayers for everyone involved - the people we’ll meet, the team, and the family that we’re leaving at home. Hope to be able to update some from Peru. Until then…

ADIOS.

FREAKING THE **bleep** OUT

It’s official - I’m FReaKiNg out now!!! We spent the entire afternoon getting everything together, and there’s still plenty to do. Just 2 more days to get it all done!

So far we have bought: underwear - who has 15 pair of underwear -, [too much] candy for the kids in Peru, snacks for us, electrical plug adapters, sunscreen, wet wipes, travel size TP (just in case…), and a lot more that I can’t remember. Daughter #1 still has some things to get, so there will be at least one more Wally World trip… probably 2 more. The last one to get all the stuff we remember at the absolute last minute!!

The skype accounts have been set up and Wife’s been trained, so we should be able to video conference… when we have internet connections that is. Which we will the few nights that we sleep in the hotel and not a tent pitched in some remote Quechua village. I remember how recharging it was last year just to talk to her. I’m super excited about being able to *SEE* and talk to her while we’re there!! TOO COOL!!

Everything is sorted into big piles and we’ll spent much of the day tomorrow stuffing suitcases. There’s still some team packing to do, plus we want to see everyone before we leave. So the next couple of days should be a warm-up for the pace that we’ll be keeping in Peru… I’m getting tired just thinking about it!

HASTA LUEGO MUCHACHOS!!

ECTO Test

I’m trying out ECTO. It’s a program that allows you to edit your post off-line. I’m hoping it works. This way I can edit updates while in Peru and then post when I get internet access. Keep your fingers crossed. Of course, if you’re reading this, it worked.

Question

Is it a product of our me-my-mine, individualistic culture to think that God has a specific will - where to live, who to marry, what car to buy - for “MY” life?

Could it be as simple as: God has a general will, or plan for this world, that we just need to plug ourselves into and build our everyday life around meeting his over-all goal?

Quote of the Day

I’ve just started reading Come Be My Light, the Private Writings of the “Saint of Calcutta” [Mother Teresa]. I’m only about 30 pages in, but I found this powerful statement, written by a childhood friend describing Mother Teresa.

…but I think God has chosen her for great things. Admittedly, her deeds are entirely simple, but the perfection with which she does them, is just what Jesus asks of us.

One of Jesus’ most powerful witnesses, and she did it with “entirely simple deeds”.

I think we try too hard sometimes.