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!

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

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

Foot in the Mouth

Totally had a horrible “whoops!” moment last night!

We were at one of the chapels and like three sets of missionaries come in. They made the rounds, said hello and shook each of our hands.

Sidenote: For some reason, the white elders won’t talk to us! I mean they say “Hola” and shake our hands, but that’s it. They never want to talk about where we/they are from or anything in English. Is that normal? Brothers, were you like that around white girls? It doesn’t offend us or anything, it just caught us off guard.

So there is this one ethnic Elder named Elder Nicaragua. I said hello and asked him where he was from, of course….he said, Nicaragua, and then he turned away from us and began a discussion with another Elder. 

I turned to Brittany and Abigail and said (in English) “I think he’s lying to us…”

Without hesitation, Elder Nicaragua turns around and says (in English): “No, I’m not lying!”

Me: “You Speak ENGLISH?!?!”

Him: Yes :D

Oh boy did I feel silly. 

Lesson learned: Just because you’re in Peru don’t assume that every non-white person here doesn’t speak English.

A Bible, A Bible, We Have Got a Bible and We Need No More Bible

Church. In Peru. Always an adventure... even more so today than most Sundays.

In Sunday school we studied 1 Nephi 19-21 and were talking about how Nephi was commanded to make the two sets of plates to keep the record on and what not. Miguel is our awesome teacher who knows his stuff and does a great job teaching the lessons.

I was following along with the lesson pretty well until… the arguments broke out. (when Peruvians, and most other people I suppose, get riled up, they speak much quicker making it hard to follow). The high councilman (our 24ish year old single friend) and our Relief Society President started going at it! I couldn’t tell what they were arguing about, but other members were piping in their two cents as well. By this point, Miguel had kind of given up. He seemed to be in shock and a bit disgusted with his class.

Turns out that they were arguing over the importance of the Book Of Mormon!! Our Relief Society President straight up said that she has the bible and that’s all she reads because it’s all she needs. She says the Book of Mormon is a nice book, but she doesn’t read it. And guess what? A lot of the members were right there with her! Our high councilman beautifully explained what was taught by Tad R. Callister last General Conference with the dots on the chalk board. He explained that with just the bible there are endless amounts of interpretations, but when paired side by side with the Book Of Mormon, there is only one possible straight line of truth. I also heard the 8^th article of faith thrown out there and a couple of good scriptures that supported our cause.

But Ooof. Talk about crazy!

Afterwards in Relief Society, the RS President (Hermana Sephora) got up and said somethings that I didn’t quite understand. But then an AMAZING young sister in our ward (26ish years old, R.M. and Single… seriously boys, why have you not snatched this woman up??) got up and bore sweet witness of the Book Of Mormon. She is one of the fastest speakers in the ward, but her words spoke right to my heart and I knew that what she was saying was true.

So it seems that our ward is struggling a bit. Not to mention that we don’t really have a Bishop, because over a year ago he was called to be the Stake President and nobody has accepted the calling to be the bishop since then… and this man had a baby two days ago….

We've Got Work to Do!

So pray for our little Banos ward…there Is work to be done!

On a brighter note, the sister missionaries have asked us to come teach investigators with them! How cool is that? They just want one of us at a time, so on Thurxday I will be a mini- missionary and I’m rather excited to see how that all works out here!

I also have a new friend (27 year old, single, non-member Esthel) who we met on a bus ride home. I have a really good feeling about her and if I ever see her again (which I intend on making happen) I will invite her to church and ask her if she’d like to take the discussions in my home. That’s my plan, how cool would that be?!?

Ahhh…. In other news, I love Peru and I love life!

-Elia

Death By Way of Confession

If I happen to die during my time here, I blame it purely on our night of confessions.

I know I’ve mentioned this hundreds of times. But our house is covered in mold. Mainly our ceilings. Black mold, green mold, grey mold, fuzzy mold, And to be honest, it scares me to death! I’ve been reading up/studying it and have found that when you breathe in mold it begins to colonize in your lungs and grow there!  And then I’m sure, shortly after… you die. I also read that you are a bit safer if you don’t disrupt the mold by trying to scrape/scrub it off. Brittany however is just itching to get to work on the ceiling and take off that mold in any way that she can. So I have had to sit her down and make her PINKY PROMISE not to disturb the mold. And she has obliged, because she knows how much I would really love to not die!

This picture does not do it justice. It was taken on our first day here. Since then, it has multiplied 100 fold. No joke.

Anyways, last night was a night to remember (and it will be, because we got it all on video). We were whipping egg whites (by hand) to try and make them into some sort of dessert, but we were not having very much success. So I whipped out my video camera and asked the other girls questions and what not about our time here. While we were talking, Abby let a confession slip. 

We were telling our video diary about the mold, and Brittany was telling it about how I would not let her touch the mold. Then Abby says, “We’ll blame it on Feliciana!” I didn’t really catch on to what was going on until the confession totally slipped out.

Here’s what it is: That morning, Abigail had run upstairs (where our bedrooms are) to grab something and found Feliciana, with a broom in hand, scraping mold off of the ceiling!!! AKA: Horribly disrupting the mold and sending it into the air where it could oh so easily find it’s way right into my lungs!!!!

Abigail was shocked when she saw this and needed to tell somebody, so she told Brittany and made her promise not to tell me. How sweet is that? She knew that I would be totally freaked out if I knew that Feliciana was taking a broom to the moldy ceiling every day! So she didn’t tell me, until it slipped out last night.  Brittany topped it off with her line of the night, “Yeah Noelle, you were going to be saved by ignorance, but now that you know… you’re going to die”

And it was downhill from there. As soon as Abigail’s confession slipped out, Brittany says, “Wait I have one! Yesterday, when I took the chicken out of our fridge for dinner… it dropped all over the floor! But we still ate it!”

Then Abigail replied, “Remember when Pedro gave us those chocolates? Well… I dropped those all over the floor!” And then went on and on from there (most confessions of which cannot be posted here J )

So we’re a bit worse off than I thought we were…but alas, we’re still up and kicking and having a great time!

Also, have I mentioned lately how great Abigail and Brittany are? Cause they are purely amazing. We are 3 COMPLETELY different people. The more we get to know each other and see each other in different situations the more we realize how opposite we are. But the compilation of the three of us is something beautiful. We truly complement each other so nicely.  And I love them!

I Shall Never Complain Again

The following is a list of things that I never thought twice about having my whole life. And now that I'm doing without, I have vowed to never take them for granted again.

Washer and Dryer- Have you ever tried to dry your clothes outside in a humid place where it rains EVERY SINGLE DAY? It’s pretty difficult, because your clothes never truly get dry, and they never truly smell the same ever again. It’s unfortunate.  Also, washing clothes in the sink was fun for the first… ohhh 12 or so articles of clothing. Try ringing out a pair of jeans. Followed by two jackets, a blanket and 6 BYU-Idaho T-shirts. It’s a work out.

Clean water- 

Making top ramen? Hot Cocoa? Soup? Brushing your teeth? Anything that you “Just add water” to? No big deal in the States. Big deal in Peru. The water isn’t clean and must be boiled before consumption. This was also kind of fun at the beginning, now it’s kind of a nuisance.

Children who speak the same language as you- 

Disciplining children is hard enough as it is. Try disciplining a child in a language you don’t really know. Even if you do find the right words to say, the child is going to say something back and while you’re frantically flipping through your Spanish/English dictionary trying to figure out what they just said, the child has already fled the scene of the crime and is beating up some other kid. Ooof. Help.

How do I get them off of me?!!?

Hot Showers- Last Friday Brittany went on an intense run uphill in the sunshine and finished it off with P90 Ab RipperX. I thought to myself, “ok I am dirty, I am sweaty, my blood is pumping, I’m warm, this is a perfect time to hop in the shower!” So I do, as soon as Tony said that we were done with our 335^th ab exercise, I bolted for the showers thinking that the ICE COLD water wouldn’t phase me as much. False.  I jumped in full force and the breath was literally knocked out of me. It took me a second to realize that the reason I couldn’t breathe was because I had sent my body into shock. Not fun, not fun. Ohhh what I wouldn’t give for the chance to sit in an oversized bathtub filled with scalding water and bubbles for several hours.

 Breathing- Have I ever mentioned that I am living at 9022 ft above sea level? That’s pretty high.. it doubles Rexburg’s altitude.  For the first two weeks, it was kind of hard to breathe…especially when walking up hill or up the stairs. I also got super light headed every single time I stood up.  I still do every once in a while, but it’s not nearly as bad.

Those are just a few that were on my mind today. I definitely have a new found appreciation for MANY things that I have taken for granted for years and years. To think.. just a few months ago, I thought it was such a pain to have to carry all my laundry down the hall to my apartment complexes' laundry room. Or when I complained about it being hard to run in Rexburg because of the altitude. My how things have changed.

-Elia

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.

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.

Who Says You Can't Have It All

I do.

Here's Why:

Yesterday (Monday) we had the most perfect day in the whole world….almost. At around 3 o clock, I was ready to pack my bags and leave Peru for good. I was done.

Here’s what happened. It was the perfect morning where we went on our run without being viciously terrorized by one single dog (see previous post). We got all our shopping done for the week and we sat outside and basked in the beautiful sun while we prepared the day’s lesson.  

Today’s lunch menu consisted of lentils AND a fried egg. My favorite lunch by far. Melchora even let me get two helpings of lentils! My favorite little boy Antony (who only comes on occasion) was there that morning, happy as ever.

 Life was so good!

Until one punk kid came and ruined everything. 

He was maybe 15 or 16 (it’s hard to tell ages cause lots of people are short). He had a leather jacket and a mohawk with stairsteps shaved on either side of his head. All he needed was gages and a tongue piercing. Anyways, some of my little boys were playing outside and before I knew it, that punk was chucking rocks and throwing punches at my ninos. Now, my little ninos were at fault as well I’m sure, they were spitting and trying to fight back. But I was so stinking mad at this punk kid (I think his name is Jose) and one of my older boys (Luis) who were just being big, fat bullies. I was super disappointed in Luis, because I really like him and he has potential.  Long story short after much loud talking at them and trying to hold back my kids and lock them in the center, I finally got the boys to leave. I was exhausted though. I had crying boys, I had yelling  boys, I had angry boys trying to get past me and find a way back outside. Keep in mind that all of this was going on in a different language.

Finally 3 o clock came and the kids left. I went upstairs and laid on my bed, so exhausted. We had plans to go see a waterfall with our friends at 3:30 and I just did not want to go. 

Well after about 15 minutes of wallowing and napping, I hopped out of bed and we headed down into Banos to meet up with our friends. We ended up going to Cajamarca and had an amazing time! We had our first red meat in a long, long time and ate some amazing hamburgers. Later that night (like at 8ish, our friends (Liz, Miguel, Pedro and Alecksi) came over for FHE or Hogar Noche.. (I think). It was so much fun, we did it half in English and half in Spanish. We played Nertz, ate popcorn, had an awesome discussion on the scriptures and Liz and Miguel brought us some awesome sweet bread that was SO good!
 

Cajamarca

Three of our AMAZING new friends

Cajamarca is an interesting city

We died and went to heaven whilst eating this burgers!

FHE!

After our friends left we just basked in how great that day had been. The three of us stayed up and told embarrassing stories and laughed all night long. Finally we popped in a chick flick and hit the hay.

It was a nearly perfect day. It had a fantastic beginning, an amazing ending and just a minor bump in the road somewhere down the middle.

Miracles: Just Call Me Daniel

I believe in miracles hands down. First I must record one that I forgot to do so earlier. Remember how sick I was last Friday? Like hit by a truck, never want to leave my bed ever again, sick? Well the next day was a big day for us. It was our first day in Cajamarca and our first day at the Aldea. Being sick while doing so would have been a disaster. Well I woke up the next morning feeling as good as I possibly could and had a great day sick free! Miracle.

Now this next miracle gets me every time I think about it (which is oft).

Remember how when we go running each morning, at least 30 dogs a day come chasing us down, baring their teeth, barking visciously and trying to bite us, making me want to cry? If you don’t, that story  can be found under the Saftey First post. 

Ok so yesterday morning we get up and did the same routine we do every morning.
Alarm goes off. Apartment prayer is said. Clothes are put on. Ponytails up. Money hidden in secret spots. Out the door and on our run down the same hill at the same time passing the same dogs.

Get this: NOT ONE SINGLE DOG barked at us. NOT ONE SINGLE DOG chased us. NOT ONE SINGLE DOG bared it’s teeth at us. NOT ONE SINGLE DOG even got up from their guard post to even question our presence. 

Coincidence? I think not. Miracle? Yes! I felt like Daniel in the lion's den as we ran by those dogs who didn’t even seem to know that we were there! It was one of the coolest things I’d ever experienced. Thanks for the prayers! They’re working!

Sickness Strikes

So as we were contemplating the fact that we had spent one whole week in Peru, we were so amazed that none of us had gotten even the slightest bit sick yet! They told us that within 2 or 3 days our systems would freak out and get us down, but we were all feeling strong… until we said that.

We’ve had a contest going on to see who could go the longest with out getting sick. I must regretfully inform you that I was the first to go.

Last night as we were story swapping I began to notice that my throat was really sore and my nose was stuffed up. I woke up the next morning feeling like I had been hit by a truck, but decided to try and shake it off. We went on our usual morning run down into Banos and that was quite the mistake. I was ready to collapse/throw up/ cough up a lung/have my head explode/shiver to death/die… you name it, I was feeling it. But, not wanting to be the weak link, I kept trying to shake it off and suggested that instead of taking the bus up the very incredibly steep hill home, we should climb up it. What were you thinking Elia?!? 

One foot in front of the other. Just keep moving. You’re almost there.

 And finally, we did make it back to El Bichito. I staggered up the stairs and made it half way onto my bed before I collapsed and slept for who knows how long. I woke up to find that the kids were here and lunch was almost ready. Not wanting to miss a day with the kids (especially since it’s Friday and I won’t get to see them til MONDAY!!!) I decided that I was feeling well enough to go down and play with them. Mistake number three. It was soooo good to see them and have them tease me and hug me and beg me to read to them, but the chaos and moving around did me in. I ate my lunch of rice, arvejas and a deep fried egg and then headed back up to bed. 

How could I not want to spend the day with these kids??

They even do my hair for me!

 I’m feeling pretty good now, except for the fact that I have zippo energy.  Abbi and Brit are in Banos getting some groceries and I miss them already! I haven’t done hardly anything productive today, although I did make my bed and I uploaded a lot of new posts and pictures to facebook. Enjoy!

Peruvian Truck Driver Causes American Woes

Soooo, you haven’t heard from any of us for quite some time because of one reason.

It seems that it is quite impossible for our home to have water, electricity and the phone lines all working at the same time.

On Wednesday, while we were reading outside with some children, a giant truck came up the road and knocked down our phone line. From thence on, we’ve been without phone or internet or anyway to contact the outside world or google the difference between haber and tener.  Google is our best friend and being without it has caused us serious angst. I’ve compiled a whole list of questions that we have that only google can anwer for us. Like the nutrition value of garlic or lentils, or how far we run every morning… things of great importance like such. We’ve kept great journals during the time that the internet was down and we haven’t been able to blog, so expect a plethora of blog posts to follow hereafter!

We're A Lot Smarter Than We Sound

Ripped Off on the Bus!

We went on our morning run down the hill into Banos to get some groceries and save money on the bus. Our lungs haven’t quite acclimatized well enough to be able to run back up the hill, and we had groceries, so we took a bus back up. We’ve ridden the bus enough times to know exactly how much it costs (1.5 soles for the three of us) but we only had two soles, so we gave it to him and expected our change. The money taker took our soles and then resumed his position on the bus. I said, “oh no you di’int!” (under my breath and in English). 

There is no way that I was going to let that boy think that he could rip off we three white girls that easily. So Abigail and I marched up to him on our way off the bus and Abigail said, “We need our change please.” 

The boy then said: No it’s two soles for three. (which doesn’t make sense at all!)

I said, “No, it’s 50 centimoles per person, 50 plus 50 plus 50 is 1.50. We need 50 centimoles back. Please.”

He sighed deeply and rolled his eyes, but gave us our 50 centimoles! P.S. all of this dialogue was of course in Castellano.
I high fived Abby when we got off, because I was very proud of us!

Sometimes When We Don’t Know a Word… We Try and Act it Out

And let me tell you, it is quite the show.

Three Prong Adaptor

We went into town to buy a three-prong adaptor thingy for Abigail’s laptop and for our BRAND NEW fridge. We had no idea what it’s called in Spanish (or English really for that matter) so we put on quite the show as we tried to act out what it was:

 We held up three fingers on one hand, two fingers on the other and the smerged them together with a “CHHHH” sound that was supposed to be electricity. Sheesh, who wouldn’t get what we were talking about from that great description? 

 We went to several different tiendas to try and find it, but to no avail. They all directed us to a store down the road. So we went there and knocked… and waited. And knocked and waited…. Nothing. We went home empty handed. It turns out that the place where we knocked and waited for so long was actually a Polloria, a restaurant that I guess sells mostly chicken. We saw the sign and knew what it said, but for some reason we believed that we could get our adapter there… I’m really glad they didn’t answer cause they would have had a hayday watching us act out a three-prong adapter at a restaurant.

Honey

Today we went to Cajamarca with Hermano Sandro (we think that’s his name… but we might be off). He took us to the Metro (a big supermarket that looks a lot more like America than anything else we’ve seen thus far). We wanted to buy some honey for our bread, but had no idea how to say honey. So we started “BZZZZZZ”ing and flapping our wings around the grocery store in hopes that he would get the idea. He said, “Oh Si, SI!” (I think that was just to get us to stop buzzing and embarrassing him.) And then told me that he knew where the bug spray was. 

I said, “No, no, para comer!”(No, to eat!)

He gave me a disgusted/confused look and said, “Quieres comer insectos?”  (You want to eat insects?)

At that point, I had no idea what to do, our BZZZing clearly hadn’t worked. Then I said, “No, es dulce!”

It finally clicked for Hermano Sandro and he laughed at our little charade.

To Grow

Today we were sorting out bugs, rocks and grass from our lunch of lentils today. Brittany wanted to know where the lentils were grown. (Brittany always has great questions, but they sure are difficult to put into words sometimes.) So we said, Los Lentejos, donde fueron….. (The Lentils, where were they….?) We didn’t know how to say grown or planted or anything of that sort so we did the following:

 (luckily Abby was close by and snapped a picture of us struggling to communicate)

After realizing what we were asking, Feliciana said: “El Suelo” or The ground.
And she thought she was hilarious.
Mornings sorting bugs out of our food are our favorite because Feliciana and Melchora just laugh and laugh and laugh at us! It's so funny, mainly because we have no idea what we did wrong. But oh how we love it here!

“Look at us”

Every once in a while (ohh probably like 4 or 5 times a week) one of us will burst out laughing hysterically for no apparent reason. As soon as the laughing chica catches her breath she simply says, “Just look at us!"

Our eyes instantly drop to see our mismatched clothing that has been haphazardly thrown on in hopes to keep us warm  and then at each other’s dirt smeared, make-up free faces and oily, scraggly hair. We instantly join in with the hysterical laughter. We really need to learn to say “Look at us!” in Spanish, cause we use that often. We are QUITE the sight to see. 

But can I just say that it is so nice! Our electricity and power were off today, so even if we had a decent mirror, we wouldn’t have the light to see ourselves in it. We really do forget what we look like and forget to care. This is so awesome! It takes no time at all to throw on some clean..ish clothes in the morning and get right to work on the important things instead of having to waste time fussing with hair, make-up or ourselves in general.

Please Don't Judge us :)

On that note, we do still brush our teeth, don’t worry. But we do so with bottled water. Grandpa Skousen told us to never let the tap water pass our lips and we’ve been working really hard on following that with exactness. However, it’s just so natural to go in the bathroom and turn on the sink to brush your teeth. We’ve each had at least one mishap with that, but I’m sure we’ll be alright J

Fake It 'Til You Make It

"Tonight, Tonight" by Hot Chelle Rae has become our theme song!

"We’re going at it tonight tonight
There’s a party on the rooftop top of the world (because there are often parties on our rooftop with people that probably aren't supposed to be there)
Tonight tonight and were dancing on the edge of the Cajamarca sign
I don’t know if I’ll make it but watch how good I’ll fake it
Its all right, all right, tonight, tonight

I woke up with a strange bug bite
Not sure how I got it, only soles in my pocket.

La la la, whatever, la la la, it doesn’t matter, la la la, oh well, la la la"

 I sing the two bold lines often because... they are so true. We've been faking it quite a bit here. There has been lots of the following:

Native Speaker: a;ldfjdal;jdl a;lfjdk;ajfdk ;;afjfjkad Entonces, k;jfadl jasdklfj; (at a million miles an hour)
Me: Ahhh, si si! Esta bien!
Native Speaker: No...a;dkfjad;lfj a;kdfja;d Entonces a;fjkadfjad;f
Me: Ahhh, no no?
Native Speaker: ....

Alexandro

Ok so maybe we're not faking it very well. But it doesn't matter because we're here and we're learning and we're loving it!

Some things that I've said that have sent the natives rolling in laughter:

1. "Manana tendre' hipos" Which means tomorrow I will have hiccups" I was just practicing my future tense conjugation (because I never got that far in Spanish class) and so I said that, and HOLY COW they were dying with laughter!"

2. We call Abigail "Abbi" and it sounded like they said that it was a type of bird, so I turned to Abbi and said "Tu eres un pajaro!" (You are a bird!) Again... the old ladies practically had tears streaming out of their eyes. Why? I don't really know.

3. I was telling the story of the Pata Fea (Ugly Duckling), but I kept saying Plata Fea (The Ugly Dish), the ninas haven't let me forget that one.

There are other words that I say thinking that they are correct, but the kids just laugh at me. One that I can't figure out is proxima. I thought it meant next, and I looked it up in the dictionary... sure enough it says next, but apparently the kids don't think so.

First Day of Work

January 14, 2012

The kids arrived at about 12:15pm yesterday. Keep in mind that we had only gotten 2-3 hours of sleep that night and were running purely on adrenaline. I guess we didn’t really comprehend that we’d actually working that day. But we did.

When the kids came, it seemed like every single ounce of Spanish drained right out of my brain and flowed right into my heart. It started to pound as I searched my brain for something logical to say and found nothing. I knew that we couldn’t spend the next three hours in silence. So I just started talking. I started with asking their names and how old they were and then it just went up from there. I’m sure that 85% of what I said that day wasn’t grammatically correct in the least, but I truly did speak with my heart and I listened with it too. I was able to remember words that I had studying 5-6 years ago in my Spanish class. With that combination, I was able to communicate with the kids just fine. It was so much fun! 

The kids were so good about helping us too. We played Simon Says, Red Light Green light, a name game, an animal guessing game, did puzzles, colored, and more! I was in absolute heaven the first… 2.5 hours. And then exhaustion set in. OH MY GOODNESS, my body was completely zapped of every ounce of energy.

This is Antony. He has adorable!!!

 There were a group of 4-5 boys who were constantly yelling “Bellia” (That’s what they call me), wanting me to come play with them or wanting me to talk with them. Whenever I’d ignore them, they’d all run over to me and just start tickling me. Oh goodness it was awful. I couldn’t stop laughing long enough to figure out how to say anything along the lines of “Stop! Get off! Leave me alone” Every once in a while I’d summon up an exasperated, “Por favor ninos!”. It was so fun but by the time 2:30 rolled around, I couldn’t even do that! The kids finally left (after much kicking them out) We sat outside with Feliciana for a little bit and chatted until we went back upstairs to get our belongings situated.

We put the three beds into one room so that we could all sleep in the same room. Abigail and I put on some sheets and that’s about as far as we got before we conked out. We woke up about an hour later FREEZING! It had gotten so cold!

It was about 7:00 pm and the electricity was still down. It was kind of scary alone in that center on our first night with no electricity! We went downstairs to explore our kitchen and found oh… maybe 600,003 health code violations. It seriously would blow your mind (ok well maybe not those of you who’ve served in South America before). But our minds were blown and we immediately got to work on thinking of ways to … pretty much not die of strange diseases during our time here. Pictures to come. Speaking of which, when I lay down to sleep at night the last thing I see before I sleep  is a ceiling covered with constellations of black mold spores. It’s fantastic :) But you know what, I’m just super glad I even have a ceiling, because I’d surely freeze without that moldy celling!

Life is good ... and dirty, but good :)

We Made It!

January 14, 2012

Can you say CULTURE SHOCK? I can… but only in English.

We got to the Cajamarca bus stop at about 8:20 am. A wonderful Peruvian woman named Lady who teaches English in a school helped us to  collect all our bags. We were supposed to be greeted there by a man named Herman Sandro, but he was nowhere to be found. There were tons of Peruvian men wanting to give us a Taxi ride and I think they were frustrated that we wouldn’t go with them. They were probably thinking, “Stupid Americans.” But we were told to wait for Hermano Sandro, so we did.

Pretty soon we were the only ones left in the bus station. Three American white girls with 12 huge pieces of luggage. We had no idea what to do so we said a prayer and sure enough within 3 or 4 minutes of our prayer Hermano Sandro showed up and helped us take our luggage out to the street where we waited for a bus or a taxi to take us to our new home.

Also, keep in mind that at this point, we three white girls are the ONLY English speakers in our town. Ever since Lady left us at the bus stop, we’ve done nothing but communicate with others in Spanish. Hermano Sandro tried to explain how things worked to us the best he could, but he only knows a handful of English words.

We caught a taxi, loaded it up with our belongings and squished in the back seat and began our 10-15 minute ride from Cajamarca to Puyallcana. The taxi dropped us off at what looked like a run down shack made of cardboard and old tin. Hermano Sandro pointed to it and said, “El Bichito”, meaning  that that run down shack would be our home for the next three months. I was seriously shocked. It was not what I was expecting AT ALL.  To be honest, from the moment we left America there has been NOTHING even close to what I was expecting. My mind is consistently blown.

Hermano Sandro showed us around the center and then we caught a bus into Banos del Inca to get money and groceries. He showed where we go to church and he showed us the hot springs that we could bathe in. Will we remember where any of that is when we try to go by ourselves? Not a chance :) We bought a palta (avocado), mango, a few nectarines, bananas and some Clorox.  We also bought a big thing of bottled water, some Clorox wipes, soap and toilet paper.

We came back to the center and met Feliciana and  Merchola. They are the two ladies who come to the center at 10 am and begin preparing a meal for the children who eat at 1. Neither of them speak a lick of English…naturally. I asked her what I could do to help with the meal, so she put me to work on pealing potatoes…with a knife. As soon as she handed me the knife, the lights completely went out. There is contruction going on around our house and apparently they have to turn our electricity off quite often. (it was off until about 10pm).

So Feliciana and I sat there and pealed potatoes in the dark. In silence. Just kidding! I can’t stand awkward silences, so I went to town with this woman and chatted up a storm. I became really confident in my Spanish speaking abilities and we were able to communicate just fine! In a little bit Brittany and Abigail came down and joined us with some flash lights. We each pealed 2-3 potatoes in the time that Feliciana pealed oh…. 30 or so. We were so slow! Next came rice sorting.  There is just a big pile of rice on the table and it has insects, grass and rocks mixed in with it. So we sit there and pick out what we don’t want to eat in our rice. All five of us were doing this and at one point one of us Gringas said something and Feliciana and Merchola just busted up laughing. So of course we started laughing and we all spent a good minute laughing sooo hard. At what? We have no idea.