Hurrah For Israel

Have you ever wondered what you’re first instinct/reaction would be if you were to witness an accident? Are you a fighter or a flighter? Would you run to find help or respond to the scene yourself as fast as you could? I’ve often wondered this. I pass out at the sight of blood and even talking about accidents makes me queasy. I am not tough when it comes to this sort of thing. So I’ve often wondered what I’d do if I were to witness an accident of some sort.

Well, on Friday, I found out.

We had just had an awesome water fight to celebrate Carnaval with our kiddos. (If you haven’t yet, read about it here first, it might make this post make a bit more sense)

Well at three o clock, after much chasing, chucking, and ducking for cover, I was cold, wet, tired and ready to end this fiesta.  Of course the kids weren’t. I retreated upstairs and watched the kids continue to battle it out from the window on my second floor. Feliciana and Melchora were also watching from a window in a different room. 

Israel is an adorable kiddo with a big smile, a big heart and a little bit of mischief mixed in there. He was on Ricardo’s team for the water fight, determined to not leave a single dry square inch on my body.

This is my Fierce Israel

Israel (the lion in the middle) with his Camo brother Lazaro and his spiderman neighbor Reuban

I painted all of Israel's siblings faces. This is four of the 8 in their family

He had taken his shirt off and was standing on the ledge of our side walk, laughing in triumph at my retreat.  Ninos were cheering in agreement, and I watched in horror as Israel lost his balance on the ledge and fell backwards off of it and onto who knows what. I knew that there was a 6 or 7 foot drop off, but I wasn’t sure what was on the other side.  I just knew that he had gone straight back off of it.

So here we are. I just witnessed a crisis. My little boy was down. From what I could tell, there were no other adults around.  And…Here’s what I did.

I screamed! Just one, kind of short, scream.

Then I ran.

I sprinted down the hallway, literally flew down the stairs, taking 3 or 4 at a time, flung the door open, sprinted across the road and found a path down to where Israel had fallen, not knowing what I was going to find. It didn’t really pass through my mind that he could be unconscious or dead, I just knew I had to get down there and do something.

I found Israel on the ground, his body contorted, conscious and crying hysterically (THANK GOODNESS!). His legs were underneath him and he was holding his left arm in pain. I looked up to the group of people standing up on the ledge looking down on us.  All my ninos had gathered round and I found Melchora’s face in the crowd. Desperate for help, I yelled out, “What do I do?”. Of course, no one answered me (I spoke in English) and at that point Aleksi had rushed down and was by my side with Israel.

I knew that you weren’t supposed to move bodies when there was a chance of broken bones until there was a trained professional there, so I was hesitant. And then it hit me, “Hello Noelle. You are in the tiniest little city in Peru, and the closest hospital is 30+ minutes away, and even if we could get someone to help him, Israel comes from a family of 8 children. They are as poor as poor can be and could not afford the medical bills, doctor visit, let alone the bus ride up there. How on earth is this going to work out?”

Aleksi and I carefully lifted Israel out of the trench and carried him up the hill and back up to the sidewalk. Ricardo (who had been off with his devious team, plotting an extreme attack against me….) showed up right then and took Israel from us and brought him inside to lay him on the table.

At that point, Israel was still crying, the kids were following us in a little train and my mind was racing. Ok we have to check his entire body and see what’s hurt the worst, we have to get him warm and dry, we have to make him comfortable, we have to calm him down. I think at this point I got a little bossy (forgive me!) “Abby, can you get a towel and a shirt or jacket?” “Aleksi, Ice and a pillow!”  And then my American’s were gone and I was left in a room full of Peruvians, and a hurt Israel.

And then I witnessed a miracle. 

Ricardo (who speaks English and Spanish, wahoo!!!) was awesome! I knew what had to be done, but I haven’t gotten to the chapter in my Spanish book that talks about accidents or injuries so I had no idea how to express to Israel what I needed him to do or tell me. 

Luckily Ricardo was on the same page and knew exactly how to handle it. We went through Israel’s body, head to every last pinky toe and made sure that he could move it in every plausible direction and that it didn’t hurt.

 I cringed when we got to his legs, expecting the worst. He was scared too and hesitant to move them.  It took some coaxing to let him allow us to bend his knees, rotate his feet and twist his hips. His right hip was really sore and giving him lots of grief, I figure that must’ve hit the ground first. 

His knees: clear. His ankles: clear. His feet: clear. His toes: clear, each and every last little toe.

His tummy: fine His arms: a bit scratched up, but I cleaned those right up with my first aid kit (wahooo Nurse Noelle!). His shoulders: Good as gold. Elbows: working great. His one wrist was in a lot of pain, but from what we could tell, it wasn’t broken. Wahooooo!!!!

Next came the big test, can he walk? Again, he was hesitant to put his weight on his legs and walk by himself, but we were pretty adamant and guess what? He walked like a champ. Yes, it was slow and shaky, but one foot in front of the other, he propelled himself forward.

Oh my goodness, I couldn’t believe it. How was this little boy walking away with only a sore hip, wrist and a scratched up arm? I’ve replayed watching him fall from the window over and over again. From that very instant he fell, I knew that major damage was going to be done.

I tried to count the number of silent and verbal prayers I offered from the moment he fell to the moment Ricardo and I dropped him and his siblings off at his home, but it was impossible. There were prayers offered out of urgency, from confusion, from the need for enlightenment. Countless, “Please let him be ok, please let him be ok.”.  Prayers asking Israel’s pain to subside. Prayers asking for him to be calm and at peace. And finally prayer after prayer of gratitude.

Israel and his brother Lazaro

Thank you so much for the prayers said on my behalf and that of my ninos. As I sat next to Israel while we were checking him for injury, my job was to mainly keep him calm and comfortable. I held him close while he sat up and stroked his head while he laid down. In that moment, I realized that I love these kids so much. I wished so badly that I could trade places with him. I knew that if I had broken an arm or leg, sure it’d stink big time, but I’d manage. I couldn’t stand the thought of one of my kids being seriously hurt. So thank you for keeping them in your prayers because I’d be a mess without them.

Oh I am so grateful that he is ok. Like I said before, these kids are poor, in a way that I don’t think you or I can fully comprehend (at least I know I can’t). I was so scared that he was going to need medical treatment that he simply would never have the opportunity to get.

But he’s safe, he’s well, he’s a little sore, but he’ll be alright. And for that word’s cannot express my joy and gratitude.

Hurrah for Israel, Hurrah for Israel.

P.S. Keep in mind that this was also the day of our Extreme Mold Crisis (blog post coming soon) where we were told we had to pack up and leave THIS instant. Talk about stress!

Attack of the Ninas

This week and next, all of Peru, and who know’s where else, is celebrating Carnval. Cajamarca happens to be the capital of Carnaval and it’s dangerous, so we decided to avoid the crowds and just have a mini celebration with our ninos.

IT WAS A BLAST!!!

We had an awesome lunch of….you guessed it, lentils and rice! (oh and we made some pink lemonade to share with the kids, they LOVED that and couldn’t figure out why it tasted like lemon, but it was pink ;)

We started off with face painting. For those of you who don’t know, you can take water color colored pencils, dip them in water and voila, they become instant face painting brushes. It’s beautiful.

It was so fun to paint their faces. I’m not artistic to say the least, but take a gander of some of our creations J

Spiderman was a popular request, I did the bottom one

Me pretending to know what the red power ranger looks like...I love being the adult!

I painted these three, spiderman a lion and camoflauge

Blue Power Ranger!

My little flower face

Next came the water fight. It was a surprise attack! I had spent the morning filling up water balloons and had them stashed away upstairs ready to whip out at the right moment.  I had rallied up all the ninas, loaded them all up with water balloons and gave strict instructions to get out there and attack the boys with…no mercy! Oh it was soooo fun!!! I loved every minute of it! Most of the little boys were absolutely intent on taking me down, but my girls were amazing and kept me as safe as they could (granted I still got soaked through and through).

Some of the stinker boys (you avid blog followers know exactly who I’m talking about J ) ran home and armed themselves with their heavy duty water guns and came back ready for war. When our balloons ran out, we armed ourselves with buckets and cups and anything that could hold water. 

Doesn't Allesandro look fierce with half his makeup washed off?

At one point, I could see that we were being over powered by the sheer number and ravenousness of the boys (compared to the sweet gentleness of all most of my girls). So I used my awesome war tactics and made a public announcement:

Hey boys! Who want’s to be on the winning team? Who wants to be on…MY TEAM!?!?

And then I began chanting, “No more Ricardo, Team Elia is going to win!” (haha sorry Ricardo!)

And partly to my surprise, and entirely to my enjoyment, a giant pack of little boys ran down the hill chanting along with me, ready to fight on my team! Oh it was awesome. They ditched their shirts and their smeared face paint looked like dramatic war paint. I had myself a little band of fierce Lamanites! 

Feliciana and Melchora even got in on the fun. One minute I was sittin pretty observing the water fight and the next thing I know, I'm being soaked and sprayed by water. I look up to find Feliciana and Melchora up on our roof with a hose laughing hysterically. They thought they were SO funny...but really, they were!

It was SO much fun and I know the kids loved it just as much as I did. We had awesome weather too! Tons of sunshine! 

Well I wish I could say the day ended on that good note, but I'm afraid THE SCARIEST part of my ENTIRE TIME IN PERU came just seconds after our amazing afternoon. 

Keep your eyes peeled for the next blog post about my dear friend Israel.

Ciao Ciao!

-Elia

My Memorable Missionary Moments

I had the amazing opportunity to go on splits with the missionaries here in Banos. I got a small 2.5 hour glimpse into the life of a missionary and I loved every second of it.  In that short two and a half hours I was able to experience a lot, including the ups and the downs.

 We started by walking to a home in Banos because they had an appointment set up with the family. We knocked and knocked and knocked. I couldn’t figure out why we didn’t just leave! Clearly there was no one home and the sisters were wasting their time by knocking. After about 12 minutes of knocking, calling out to the family and waiting, a little boy who lived there came home. We asked if his mom was home and sure enough….she had been their the whole time. She told the boy that she didn’t want to talk to us and we could come back another time.

So we left. Swing and a miss.

Next the sisters needed to buy toilet paper, so we stopped at a little tienda. It just so happens that I know and love the owner of the tienda, Rosanna. We bought bread from her and keep coming back because she is so nice. So when we walked in, the sisters introduced themselves and went to introduce me, but before they could, I was over hugging and kissing Rosanna hello. They were pretty shocked that I knew this woman, but we had a nice chat with her and are coming back next week to discuss the church more in depth.

Next we were off to the home of another investigator, but while we were walking, we stopped and chatted with a woman who was sitting outside with her two kids. I’m not sure how it happened, but before I knew it, we were walking into her house and sharing a message about Jesus Christ. It was so cool! We had them read certain verses in the Bible and then some in the Book Of Mormon. It was a mom, her two kids (Natalie and Jhonny- ages…10 and 12?) and the grandma…. Who didn’t have any teeth. The house was really nice and I was so impressed with how well the kids were paying attention.

Sidenote: The toothless grandma directly all of her comments at me. Pretty much, she spent the whole time talking to me under her breath and didn’t seem to realize that I hadn’t a clue what she was saying. I have a really time hard understanding adults who speak really fast…let alone ones who don’t have any teeth! It was crazy!

I didn’t say much the whole time we were there, but I observed like crazy. One amazing thing that I saw happened when the kids were reading out  of the Book of Mormon. Their deep brown eyes were literally shining. It was so amazing! I looked into the eyes of the crazy grandma and the mom…still dark. There was such a difference alone in the eyes of the children.

A bit later we were getting ready to leave and we asked the mom when we could come again.  The mom was hesitant and gave us a date two weeks from now. In my head I was like, “Alright! She’s letting us come back in two weeks..” But the sister missionary was like, “No way, that’s too far away, how about tomorrow?”

Haha it blew my mind, clearly I haven’t learned the mentality of a missionary yet, but I’m picking up on it fast.

The little boy suggested sooner days but the mom had an excuse for all of them. Finally we found a time next Wednesday to come back and the little boy said he wanted to come to church with us this Sunday! Cool huH! We said we’d pick him up at 8:30 am and his mom said that was too early, but the boy said, no it’s ok I can do it!

Awesome little boy! Awesome experience! I had so much fun and could totally picture myself doing that kind of thing all day everyday… well at least for 18 months J

Valentine's Day in Peru

Valentine’s Day in Peru is probably up there in my top three all times Valentine’s days…possibly top 2 (Ok, so I can’t remember any SUPER great Valentine’s days, but I like to think that I’ve had good experiences with this lovely holiday).

Here’s how it happened:

The morning started beautifully. I got mucho amounts of laundry done and hung out, I did Ab Ripper X and I took a cold shower. So Far so Good!

Also, we got two sets of flowers :) Perfect!

Almost no kids showed up today.. maybe like 40 total, which is a lot less than usual. We made them each Valentine’s with really yummy suckers. Brit took the boys to go play futbol and a lot of the girls ended up going with them. Abby and I were left with just one little girl.

I was pretty tired, so I came upstairs, did some blogging and sacked out for a good 20 or so minutes. When I woke up, it was time to go to into Cajamarca. We had with us Alecksi and Ricardo and were going to meet up with Robert, Jorge and Daniel at the movie  theater in the Mall.

We watched a movie called Los Illusianauts. It was Peruvian made and only in Spanish (no subtitles). Even though I didn’t catch all of the dialogue, I know for a fact that it is a movie I will never have the desire to see again. Pretty much it was a cartoon about a boy with deadly flatulence and his friends. Super gross.

Our Movie theater snacks: We go into the Peruvian store and come out with all things American...lame

After the movies we walked over to Capilla Aueropuerto and met some of Ricardo’s family. We waited there until it was time to walk over to the Capilla Pueblo Libre for our first Peruvain YSA dance.

While waiting for the dance we delivered our Valentines to our friends (we gave them homemade chocolate chip cookies!) We also told them all about American Dancing customs….like how you dance in a big circle to the fast songs as opposed to with one partner and you know…just the other basic American customs: Dancing while combing our hair with forks, dancing on our knees at REALLY elegant dances,(girls wear knee length dresses to these dances, and boys cut off their tux pants at the knees) and the really cool kids dance without shoes. We are so bad.

And the dance began! With an opening prayer, spiritual thought and a hymn.

Latin music, Reggatone, Brasilian Music, Columbian Music and a bit of unedited “I Want to Be a Billionaire..” American music.

It was SO much fun! We pretty much got paired up with one partner for most of the night and they taught us the ways of latin dancing..Salsa, Merengue etc.  I asked my partmer where he learned and he said that pretty much everyone is born just knowing, “It’s in my latin blood”. And that’s when I got jealous because this girl has not an ounce of latin blood and even less rhythm so dancing does not come easily for me!

But our friends were more than willing to teach us and help us learn. The last hour of the dance is called “Hora Loca” and it started with confetti being thrown in our faces, balloons and streamers being thrown and an hour of upbeat music where you aren’t allowed to sit down!

While we dance, people come around offering you small treats on silver platters and if you sit down, you are lazy. Towards the end of the dance, the DJ started playing a slew of popular American music. We of course were rocking out to these songs and singing them at the top of our lungs. The DJ thought it was super hilarious to blast the music and then turn the volume off so that it was just us singing. He did that multiple times. While we were dancing to this English stuff I looked around and found that we were the ONLY ones on the dance floor. Everyone else was sitting and just watching us…laughing of course J But we’re used to that and continued with our interpretive/crazy dancing.

Oh it was sooo fun! We took lots of videos, but alas, they would take forever to upload here, so if you’re curious, find me when I get home and I will show you Stake Dances, Peruvian style.

Also, there is a really formal YSA dance next week…it’s a big deal, and translated into English it’s called Prom!!! And it just so happens that I got asked to it during this dance! At first I didn’t really realize what was going on, but it looks like I’ve got myself a date to the fancy dance!

We came home that night exhausted but happy. It’s how we’ve been ending most of our days recently. I think it means that they day was a grand success!

Hope yours was too!

-Elia

Noche De Hogar

Oh my goodness,  FHE in Peru is the greatest. I thought I would miss having my Rexburg FHE groups and the friends and fun that come with that , but I’m pretty sure my Peru FHE’s have topped a great deal of my college FHE’s.

So we went to a family in the ward’s home. Dirt floors, tin roof, make-shift walls and couch. We had an opening song and prayer and then we all went around and shared our favorite scripture and why. Ever since our little “We don’t need the Book of Mormon” fiasco that happened on Sunday, I’d been studying specifically about the Book of Mormon and shared a verse about that and bore my testimony. I decided that talking about the church in Spanish is a lot easier than trying to talk about anything else in Spanish, so I totally don’t mind doing stuff like this.

After we all shared our thoughts, we had a closing song and then I said the closing prayer. The man of the house called on me to pray, and then it was time for activity.

We played the funnest game of hot potato I have ever been a part of! Ohhhhh goodness. We sat in a circle passing around a little kids toy ball while one person stood with their eyes clothes chanting “Papas secema, papas secama”  and then when they wanted to stop, they say, “papa secemO” and whoever is holding the ball at that point is the loser. If you lose three times, you get a punishment. Alecksi’s punishment was that he had to go outside and yell at the top of his lungs that his pig died. The older man of the house lost too, so his punishment was “Poor Kitty” so he had to get down on his hands and knees and try to make someone laugh by meowing and pawing at their leg. Ohhh it was hilarious to see this old Peruvain man do this.

We also played, Habla Chanco Habla. That’s where one person is blindfolded in the middle and they spin and whoever they landed on had to honk like a pig and the person in the middle has to guess who it is. Holy cow, it is the most hilarious thing in the world to listen to a 60ish year old Peruvian woman who is missing major teeth, snort like a pig.

Oh good times.

Here’s what else is great, even though FHE didn’t get over til like 9:30, it’s Peruvian custom to feed the guests. So after our games, out came the food! We had yummy popcorn and really good buttered bread along with some AMAZING tea that just warmed our souls. It was called herba lousia I believe and we loooved it dearly.

Noche de Hogar with Peruvian families in their homes, totally one of the things I’ll miss most about Peru.

Picture Perfect Sweet Revenge

This morning I had one of those moments where I just wanted to freeze everything and make that moment last for forever. It was a simple setting, not too exciting but I was just so content. Allow me to paint a picture for you.

I was sitting on the sidewalk outside our front doors, reading my scriptures. It was about 9:15 am and the sun was behaving rather nicely. I had on my shorts and my chacos and was loving basking under the blue skies and inviting sunlight. Occasionally, I would look out into the distance and have my breath taken away by the sheer beauty of the sights that I have seen countless times before. The clouds, the hills, the mountains, the little shack-like homes that were scattered along the mountain side. Ah I live in the most beautiful place.

As if things couldn’t get better, while I sat there studying, I’d hear my name shouted out from the distance. “Elia!” “Elia!” Only to see two of my favorite ninos (Rodrigo y Antony) going about their morning business, but not before they had shouted their good mornings to me.

It was a picture perfect scene…until….

All of a sudden, the 2^nd Nephi Chapter 9 that I was studying right in front of me took a beating with a strong, consistent stream of water pouring onto it. Horrified at the fact that my new scriptures now looked like they had gone for a swim, I looked up to see the little stinker Alvierri standing there with his MegaSquirt Gun 3000X (or something like that).

This is the demon in question.

He looked like he had just gotten up for the morning and was on a mission, his first target being my 2^nd Nephi Chapter 9 and all the surrounding chapters. Ooooo I could have killed that boy (I have a bit of a hard time loving this one) but his father was right there, so I asked him to please stop because this book was special to me and he had just gotten it all wet.

I then gathered my things, and as I was walking through the door, I turned back and said, “Gracias Alvierri”….right before I pelted him with my secret waterballoon. .. not my most mature moment

 He cried, his father laughed.

Although Each time I turn to 2^nd Nephi I will have a constant reminder of that little stinker…. but the  revenge was sweet.

-Elia

Just Another One Of The Locals

You know that feeling when you think you’ve had the greatest day ever….and then the next day is just as good if not better? Well, here’s the thing. That has pretty much happened every day here in Peru. It just gets better and better and better. Remember how awesome our Friday was? Well Saturday may have topped it.

Here’s why:

We started our morning off with a run into Cajamarca. We’ve come to love the stretch of land from Banos to Cajamarca and were set with our tunes and our tennis’ to take it on on this sunny, Saturday morning. We didn’t have much planned for the day, so we thought we’d stroll through Cajamarca to see what we could find. We found sweet after treat after sweet. Cajamarca is dusted with dozens of quaint little bakeries and panaderias. Each filled to the brim with fresh bread, empanadas, and sweet treats I couldn’t pronounce or prepare if I tried all day. We decided to do a cake walk of our own and stop at every single panaderia that we passed to buy one treat to split. It was so much fun and we tried all sorts of yummy new treats! None of which were very close to the treats we’d find in American bakeries.

After that, we got a nasty bite from the shopping bug and went up to Santa Appolonia to do some shopping in the little shops filled with cool Peruvian things. At this point we were on a time crunch because Liz and Miguel and Alecksi had invited us over for a homemade Peruvain lunch! (Wahoo!) Well, right as we were walking out of our last little shop, guess who we saw!? Our friend Robert (who we had gone out for Pizza with the previous Wednessday). We couldn’t believe that we actually ran into somebody that we knew in Cajamarca!! Awesome. For sure. After chatting with him for a bit, he invited us to come back into Cajamarca that night so that he and Jorge could treat us to one of their favorite Peruvian meals at a really good restaurant. Of course we were down for that, so we rushed off to the Quinde to do some rapid shopping (we needed ingredients to make chocolate chip cookies, and a chicken ) and then bused home.

The second we got home, Brit hopped in the cold shower while Abby and I gathered our things to take a hot shower in Banos (a Saturday tradition, anddd since we were going out that night, we needed to smell about 100 percent better than we smelled at the moment).

On our way down to Liz’s for lunch, a white guy on a bike passed us and said, “Hey, hows it going? You look lost.” I think that would have offended me if I hadn’t been so shocked that a white man in Puylucana was speaking ENGLISH to us. After chatting with him for a bit, we learned that he and his wife are from New Hampshire and that he works in the mines. His wife needs white friends, so stay updated on our new friends Danielle and Charlie.

Meanwhile, lunch at Liz and Miguel’s was incredible!! We had Lomos Saltaba (sp?) and I just about died and went to heaven. So delicious!  Have I mentioned lately how great Liz and her family are? Because we truly love them. Liz then went through and helped us plan our wild adventure into the Amazon jungle and into Cuzco. Let’s just say that we are a little bit more than SO EXCITED for that little adventure of a lifetime!

Since we were supposed to meet up with Robert and Jorje in Cajamarca at 5, we split up to get work done from here. Abby and I went to go shower while Brit went to buy water. We met up with perfect timing and we were Cajamarca bound in no time.

At this point, (and for the past 4 hours) the rain had not stopped pouring on us. So we were wet and quite the sight to see. But Jorge and Robert easily spotted the wet, gringas with brightly colored umbrellas, so we didn’t even have to wait long for them in the giant park.

We took a Taxi down to San Martin and were pleasantly surprised and treated to a wonderful meal at a comparatively fancy restaurant. We had Papas Fritas, ensalada y Pollo a la brazza (sp?) and we loved every bite of it. 

We had an awesome conversation with our Peruvian friends and it is helping our Spanish improve leaps and bounds. Since we can only communicate with them in Spanish, and awkward silences are not my thing, this forces me to work extra hard on speaking and understanding what they’re saying. By the end of the night I truly felt like we were speaking the same language and that it came so easily. At one point, I completely just asked them a question in English because I had forgotten that they spoke something different from my native tongue. It wasn’t hard or difficult any  more, it was almost (ALMOST) like speaking English to my American friends.

Our lovely new gentleman friends helped us get a bus (and paid for it) and accompanied us all the way to our front door (even though it’s 30+ minutes away from their homes, what gentleman!) We were talking outside for quite some time and we accidently made them miss the bus to take them back to Cajamarca….actually we made them miss it three times!!! By this point, it was too late and no more buses were coming, so we bid our friends adieu as we watched them walk home on a cold, dark night. We felt kind of bad about that J

We came home, made some popcorn and continued planning and preparing our amazing Amazon adventure, and I got to talk to my Pops and Beebs on the phone, always a pleasure.

SO it was a fabulous, fantastic, awesome day! We have big plans for this week too, with our kids, ourselves and our new friends! P.S. It’s Carnaval this week too, pray that we don’t die!

-Elia

A Lesson In Photography

I’ve taken my fair share of pictures while here. Thousands. Of the people. Of places. Of everything. It’s expected right? I am in Peru after all.

Here’s what’s not expected:

People here LOVE taking pictures of us! One day we were walking home from the store when a van full of men pulled over. We thought they were offering us a ride, so we waved them along their way, but they all pulled out their camera phones and were taking pictures of us! So, we followed our immediate instincts and posed for them.

Another day, we were walking home from an art studio when we passed a group of teenagers. One girl ran out with her camera phone and took a picture of us, and then asked to take a picture with us! We felt like celebrities.

This is not an uncommon occurrence. Well today, while I was eating my lunch on top of Santa Apolonia overlooking the beautiful Cajamarca, four of my little ninas ran up to me waving a camera phone in my face, saying that they needed a picture of me. It turns out that a Peruvian boy, also on the mountain had seen me and wanted a picture, so he had given his phone to my ninas with the orders to go get a picture of me. Now this might have been flattering if this were the first time something like this had happened, but I’m starting to get smarter. So I did, what my dear friend Liz taught me and I told my ninas to tell the boy that sure he can have a picture, but it’d cost him one Sol.

Not bad eh? He agreed, but I felt bad taking his money, so he got his picture of the sunburnt, dirty, blonde gringa.

 Update: The night after I typed up this blog, we went out to eat with our new friends and sure enough, before we left the restaurant the waitress and the cook had asked our friends if it was ok for them to get a picture with them. Of course we said yes and made two more new friends. We’re ALL about making friends.

We’ve also been teaching Peruvians the art of picture taking. No, not the rule of thirds or the lighting/composition/contrast etc. We’re teaching them that 1^st you take a nice cute picture and then you MUST take un foto loco! They get really confused and then we demonstrate how to take a silly/goofy/crazy picture. Sometimes they will imitate exactly what we do, while other times they will just stand there looking confused.

Our Fabulous Fast Sunday

Today was our first Fast Sunday in Peru. It was awesome! Saturday afternoon we had a nice lunch of egg sandwiches and we broke our fast today with a nice pot of Almost Pasta Faju.

I woke up surprisingly early (6:50am) Sunday morning and I decided that since I had the time, I was going to try and look nice. So for the first time since I’ve been here, I broke out the curling iron and the blush and got to work. I listened to a John Bytheway talk (The Best Three Hours of the Week) while I got ready and church hymns were playing in the other room. The sun was shining and we even had time to walk (30 min) down the hill into Banos for church. 

I can't figure out how to turn the picture...sorry!

   Creeper SideNote: I was singing church hymns while we were walking to church and I was so caught up in what a great morning I was having that I almost didn’t notice the 3 creeper men who were driving super slowly beside us while we were walking. We said hello and I went back to singing my hymns, and the men kept driving right next to us calling to us and saying who knows what. It was rather unnerving and I wasn’t a fan…after a few silent prayers and what seemed like forever, the creepy men drove off and left us alone. But on the other hand.... we looked super cute, can you blame them? Just kidding :)

My mom made this dress for me before I left!

So we get to church and have a lovely meeting. The three of us had talked about whether or not we’d bear our testimonies and in what language we’d do so. We decided to make it a goal to be prepared to bear it by next month’s Testimony meeting. Well guess what. I have sort of a confession that you musn’t judge me for. I don’t believe I’ve ever borne my testimony in Sacrament meeting. Like ever. And if I have, I sure can’t remember it. Sure I’ve given dozens of talks that have all ended with my testimony and when I was Relief Society president I bore my testimony hundreds of times for different occasions. I’ve also done so at Girls Camps, Youth Conferences, small social settings etc. Just never during Fast and Testimony meeting. Weird huh? Last night I was trying to figure out why I hadn’t done so yet. I’m not terribly afraid of speaking in public, so that didn’t really add up.

But I did realize a subconscious fear I had. All those other occasions I had borne my testimony gave me something to base my testimony off of, a starting point for it if you will. So I knew how to start, what to testify of etc. I had always heard that your testimony shouldn’t be a “Thank-imony”, or a story time, or a confession, the list goes on and on. I think that I’ve always been afraid that if I did get up during Fast and Testimony meeting, I’d do one of the aforementioned “No-No’s” and be judged for it. Which isn’t a good excuse at all, but it’s the best I could come up with.

Well then it’s a good thing that my Spanish is still so basic that I couldn’t do any of those if I tried. All I know how to say are the basic, simple truths that I know to be true.

So, when there was an awkward lull (after the whole bishopric and both sets of missionaries had already gone), I hopped up and took my way to the stand. I bore my simple testimony and sat down. Not sure exactly what I had said, or if any of it made any sense, but I felt good. A little ironic that the first time I bore my testimony in Fast and Testimony meeting, and I didn’t even do it in my own language? Yes, definitely. But I think it was exactly what I needed. I was able to bear testimony of the basic, simple truths that I knew with all my heart to be true. Going home and bearing testimony in English sounds like a BREEEZE. I don’t think I’ll ever have a problem with that again.

As soon as I sat down, several others made their way to the stand and there wasn’t a single other awkward lull from that point on!

I had noticed that Miguel (who speaks English and Spanish) was smiling/laughing the whole time while I was up there, so I was anxious to ask him afterwards if what I said made any sense and why he was laughing.

He told me that he understood me perfectly and that I “spoke like a real Peruvian” and that he was smiling/laughing because he was in shock. He said he had no idea I could speak Spanish like that! That was pretty comforting to hear. Although I’m pretty positive that I didn’t speak perfectly.

Also, after church, the bishop asked if we’d like callings in the church. I told him that I’d love one…but I don’t really speak Spanish. He said, not to worry, we’ll put you with the ninos. Haha so stay tuned for updates on that. Also, the Relief Society President wants us to go visiting teaching. Awesome, no? I’m so excited for all of these and other recent developments that I simply don’t have time to write about now.

Ahhh such an awesome day. Doesn’t get much better than that.

Hope yours was too!

-Elia

Also, so I don’t forget I’ll try and remember what I said here. (Is it bad to do that?)

Buenas Dias Hermanos y Hermanos!
Mi espanol no es Bueno… pero quiero compartir con Uds las cosas de mi Corazon y yo se que puedo hacerlo con la ayuda del espiritu.

Creo en Dios, mi Padre Eterno y en su hijo JesuCristo. Yo se que JesuCristo es mi hermano y mi amigo. Yo se que me conoce. El sabe mi nombre y las ganas de mi corazon. Sabe cuando tengo miedo y cuando tengo gozo. 

Yo se que el Libro de Mormon es la palabra de dios y puedo estar cerca de Dios cuando lo leo.  Yo se  que mi familia puede estar juntos para siempre. Creo en el Espiritu Santo.
En el nombre de JesuCristo..Amen.

And I think that’s about the jist of it! Feel free to help with my grammar and sentence structure, because the people here are too nice to correct me when I say something wrong...so I'm afraid I'll never learn!

My Peruvian Nightmare

For some reason in Peru, I have and remember my dreams every night.

It's practically the same dream every night with slight variations as to the setting, characters and time frame.

Setting:

I am all of a sudden home from my Peruvian ventures. (Home is a term I use loosely to describe practically anywhere in the USA.)

I'm with friends/family/old acquaintances answering questions about my time in Peru.

It all of a sudden hits me that I didn't do anything in Peru! I didn't make a difference in anybody's lives, I didn't teach anybody anything, I still can't speak Spanish, I didn't see the sites I wanted to see. Heck, I didn't even bring home one single Peruvian anything! It's almost as if I never even went.

At this point I am frantic. What was I thinking? Why did I waste so much time and money? Why didn't I just stay in America and get married? Etc. Etc.

Enter [stage left] all the people (you know who you are :) who discouraged me (seriously or in jest)  from coming to Peru in one way or another. Those who said I wouldn't last two weeks. Those who said I'd never learn the language. Those who said "Wait... does this even have anything to do with your major?" Those who said I'd come back too old and too career driven to find a husband. Yada, yada, yada the list goes on. These people are all there, rubbing these facts/opinions in my face, smothered with 1000 "I told you so's".

Are you getting depressed yet? Because I sure do each time (every night) I dream about this. 

The upside to this nightmare is that I wake up. 

I wake up SO relieved to find myself in my little Peruvian bed under my Peruvian mold with my Peruvian bug bites and 100x more motivated to make the most of my time here. 

I count everyday that I wake up here a blessing because it means that I have yet another opportunity to make a difference.

 Whether it be by sitting with 13-year-old Luis during lunch and asking him about his hopes and dreams, his fears and his concerns. Or maybe it's by letting 3-year-old Antony chase me all around the room, laughing hysterically the whole time until he finally catches up with me and throws his arms around my neck and plants a kiss on my cheek. 

   Iknow they're just little things. But in my heart of hearts, I know that I'm making a difference here, and will continue to do so, little by little and with big things as well. Speaking of which, we've planned our first field trip with the kids. Stay tuned for more on that.

To top it off, can I just say that I am SO happy? I love my little ninos so much more than I ever thought possible. The shy ones, the outgoing ones. The chubby ones, the loud ones, the smart ones, the ones who write me sweet notes or make me cute bracelets, the ones who teach me bad words and bad hand gestures, the ones who have nothing, the ones without families, the ones who smell like they haven't seen water in months, the ones who kiss me hello and goodbye every time they see me. Ahhhhh yes. I am indeed  SO happy.

-Elia

P.S. Have I mentioned lately how awesome my parents are for 150% supporting me on my adventures from day one? Because they have and they are. For which I am eternally grateful.

Crafty Children

Hello friends!

 First of all, thanks for all the love you’ve been showing the blog! I love your comments/emails/tips/words of encouragement. Thanks so much!!!

This post is to announce a new project we’re working on here at El Bichito. Read carefully, because YOU are a big part of this.

We’ve recently taught the dearest ninas how to crochet! 

Right now they are learning to make these cute headbands that have been the only reason I have been able to stay warm here. They’re awesome because:

1.       They keep your ears and head snug and warm

2.       They are cute!

3.       They hide any greasy bangs you might have

4.       They’ve been handmade in PERU

Aurora was the first one to complete hers. How cute is she??

Awesome, no?

Here’s where you come in! We want to set up an Etsy shop and sell these (as well as other crafty things we teach the girls to make), to our dear friends in the states. They would be made of authentic yarn handmade here in Puylucana. Cool huh? We would help the girls make them (thus they’d be learning a new skill) and the proceeds would go to the children.

Abigail sporting hers

It’s just an idea we have right now, but let me know if you have any suggestions/comments/orders J

Have a great day, I know we will!

-Elia

Once My Pet, Now On My Plate

Have I ever mentioned that Hannah (My little sister) got two sweet little guinea pigs for Christmas? They have names. They have personalities. I loved them before I left them to come to Peru.

Have I also ever mentioned that Peruvians are famous for eating these little rodents?

 Confession: I ate a guinea pig today! Even Bigger Confession: I liked it!

 That’s right. I ate Cuy Frito or Fried Guinea Pig. There wasn’t a whole lot of meat on there and it wasn’t amazing, but it was just fun to experience something crazy. Their little feet and claws were still perfectly in tact and some still had the heads on. I’m not sure if we were supposed to eat the skin or not… so at first I did… and I ate quite a bit of it. Then I realized that none of the natives around me had eaten theirs and then I felt silly. Whoops!

Peruvian Nights

I am about at that point where I have been in Peru long enough to see and do crazy things and not even think twice about them. Things that SHOCKED me the first time I experienced them. So I’m going to try and recount those and post them here before I become desensitized to it all.

So I just put on two pairs of pants (leggings and sweatpants), two pairs of socks (long wool ones and short normal ones), one shirt, one USA sweater, and a knitted headband to keep my ears warm. Where am I going so bundled up? Out to face a Rexburg Winter? No.  Just to bed. Yes, this is what I wear every night to bed for two very important reasons.

    1.We freeze at night. Our house is made of cement walls, floors and ceiling with absolutely NO insulation and no carpet. Also, the window panes are a bit too small for the windows, so there is a constant cold breeze coming through our window cracks.

2.       2.We live with all manner of things that we shouldn’t. Namely: Mold, fleas, spiders, mosquitos, bed bugs, mice and other creatures we have yet to discover. The layers not only keep us warm, but they keep our skin (most of it) safe from unwanted friends crawling into bed and biting us. Alas, we still wake up each morning with at least 3 or 4 new strange bug bites…. But it could be worse.

Also, it still takes me just as long to get ready for bed as it does in the states, but it’s a whole different routine. I shall walk you through it.
 

1.   1.  PJ’s on. This in itself takes some time to find all of the elements of aforementioned nighttime attire.

2.       2. Contacts out (same as in states)

3.       3. Face washed (the next step in the states is to remove my makeup, but this is entirely unnecessary here, simply because we only wear make up on Sundays. So, I wash my face, not to remove my makeup, but to remove dirt and germs that have been caked on throughout the day. This is where I also realize that I’m not as tan as I thought I was…it’s just dirt)

Ready for bed!

4. No acne cream (Our faces have been surprisingly clear here, so acne is not even a bother at all. Perhaps it’s the lack of makeup or perhaps it’s just Peru’s awesomeness)

5.       5. Teeth brushed. This is only different in the fact that we have to brush our teeth with bottled water. Super hard to get used to at first.

6.       6. Hair brushed…frowned at, then put back in a bun. My hair is atrocious. Mainly because we can only afford to wash it twice a week and because it hasn’t come in contact with a straightener, blow dryer or curling iron this whole trip. So it’s healthy! But it’s not very pretty :)

7.       7. Feet soaked in water. Our feet get atrocious and super dirty. This is necessary.

8.        8. Back in the bedroom to shake out the sheets. Sheets and blankets must be shaken out every night before bed to remove any unwanted guests.

9.       9 Roommate Prayer, get into bed and try and make pictures out of the thousands of mold spores that cover our ceiling. (Today, while I was skyping with my family, a large chunk of moldy ceiling dispatched itself from my ceiling and straight onto my pillow! I died laughing.)

10.   10. Shiver until you fall asleep. It hasn’t actually been too bad lately, because Brittany has ditched her bed and crawls into bed with me and Abigail every night. 3 girls in two beds equals a lot warmer than usual.

11.   Wake up at like 2 in the morning to Brittany’s elbow in your face. Say, (while you’re half awake, half asleep)  “Que es esto!?”(What is this) as Brittany replies “Lo siento”(I’m sorry)

12.   I think that last story (#11) was hard to follow, but essentially, we woke up in the middle of the night for half a second and communicated solely in Spanish. How cool is that??

13.   Wake up at 7:30, Pray and head out on our morning run.

Have I mentioned lately how much I love being here? Because I do. So. So. Much.

Ring, Ring Part 2!

Guess what I did last night?

I shall tell you. We arrived home from a Stake Talent Show in Cajamarca at around 10 pm. (It was the latest we’ve ever been out and it’s a big no, no, but we figured it was for a church function and we were good J And our dear friend Pedro was kind enough to accompany us the whole way home.) As we were trying to find our keys for our house, we could hear the phone ringing inside. We got the door open just as the ringing stopped. Luckily, a few moments later it started ringing again.  I ran downstairs anxious to answer it, because I had just had a great day and was hoping so badly that it was my poppo’s voice that I’d hear on the other end. But it wasn’t. It was Hermano Sandro, our Spanish Speaking area coordinator. 

And here’s what I did. I had a whole conversation on the phone with him! I only had to ask him to slow down once and to repeat himself one other time. I hung up feeling very accomplished! Granted, he did speak slow and he did use basic words  and I only caught half of what he said… but still! 

Reason to celebrate!