You're supposed to eat the peel….

So below is a video I shot of me trying a new fruit. They gave it to me without any instructions but said it was really good. For some reason I thought..."Hey, I'm going to video myself trying this fruit because, in the past the fruit has been really good. So, after watching them cut up and cook various fruit and veggies; I knew you were supposed to wash and peel pretty much everything. So after washing the fruit I hit record...and well this happened.

 

 So afterwards... I was told that you are supposed to scrape the skin of the fruit off with your teeth, it is tangy and sweet. The actual fruit itself is bitter. Oh now you tell me.....LOL!

A day in the life.......Peru edition

October 26, it’s been 26 days since we left our house to start our lives as full time missionaries. We woke this morning and Amy asked me “what is the plan for today” my reply was I am scared to make a plan due to the fact that I had made plans for 26 days so far and not one seems to have come through. After probably the most epic of frustrating days being yesterday I could hardly even think about getting out of bed knowing that if I did things might continue from yesterday. Amy suggested maybe we should just take today off and spend it catching up on some communications with home. GREAT IDEA NO PLANS FOR TODAY.

I write this knowing that God has blessed us greatly through this time but I would be lying if I wrote this talking about how great we were doing when in actuality I’m not. Amy and Carmen seem to be taking all this a bit better that me. Maybe it’s the weight of being responsible for my family. It feels like every thing I do gets us no where or even further backwards. I’ll write a bit about yesterday just to give an example. Yes yesterday was an extremely frustrating day and I know that someday (maybe some year] we will look back on this and laugh.

I needed to put more time on my phone so we could continue to use it as a modem for internet this is how we are able to communicate with home. I gave the lady my money wrote my phone number down she did her thing and I didn’t receive a text, which is how you know you received the minutes. I questioned her and she shows me the number that she put the money towards and it happened to be one number off. This has happened to me before so I knew there is nothing you can do just pay the money again and hope she gets it right. Now off to the house to make a list of things we need to get. When we get there I discover there is something wrong with the lock on the door of the front gate and it won’t unlock. No problem I will pry some fence boards apart and Carmen can squeeze through and open from the inside. As I am doing this and Carmen is squeezing through I notice we have gathered quite a crowd of neighbors across the street watching us. I start getting real nervous knowing what they are probably thinking and knowing I have no way of explaining to them that we live there and are not thieves. Luckily our neighbor Miguel showed up at that time and helped me and sat the other neighbors’ minds at ease. Next step go to the bank and get money so I can purchase mattresses and mosquito netting and now a new lock for the gate so we can stay in our house and quit living in a hotel. Oh the ATM machine is broke and this is the only one in Nauta. I ask how long until its fixed “we don’t know, it hasn’t worked for a week”. A slight panic starts to set in because I’m not out of money yet but I don’t have enough money to buy mattresses and the stuff we need to start living in the house. I find out though that the banks in Iquitos are open and I should be able to get money there. This is like driving to Seattle to get money! I decide to leave Amy and Carmen at the house have the neighbor Miguel install the new lock and take Eric a Peruvian I have hired to help me in Iquitos. We catch a cab to Iquitos get there 1 ½ hrs later and head to the bank insert my card enter my pin and the machine reads bank will not accept this card. Then off to another bank; same thing. By this time my cell phone battery has died and I need to talk to Tom so he can maybe figure out what is going on. I ask Eric if I can borrow his phone and he says yes but I have no minutes on it. Off to phone recharge store put minutes on his phone call Tom found out there is an issue with the card and its not going to be able to be fixed until Monday. I now need to race back to Nauta because I am worried it is going to get dark and In my rush to get to Iquitos I failed to show Amy how to wire in the one and only light we have in the house. On my way back to Nauta I decide there is no way we can stay at the house tonight and that we need to go back to the hotel. I get back to the house in Nauta and explain to Amy that I had been gone for four hours spent 50 sole in cab fares (this is what I mean by going back wards at times] and I am still empty handed. I than tell her I think we should go back to the hotel for the night. She is such a trooper! She says “why we can all squeeze into the one man mosquito net tent for one night”. This is when I lay down the law and say NO WE CAN’T! So as we head off to get to the hotel we had been staying in I try and lock the new lock Miguel installed to discover the keys they had sold us with the lock were wrong and wont lock it. We secured the gate as best we could and left for the hotel. Guess what? Yeah that’s right there is a festival going on in Nauta and they are sold out of rooms. We spend the next while checking every hotel in Nauta (which surprisingly has a lot of hotels] for a room discovering they are all sold out. Luckily we found one. Got checked in and went to get something to eat. Got back to the hotel and I don’t even remember going to bed. These kind of days make it hard for me to even get out of bed the next day for fear I am going to have a repeat. Amy, next to the Lord you know me best. What a great idea. Maybe we should take two off.

A Mother's Thoughts

So I know we need to do an update on our journey...two weeks in and a lot to tell. Next post. This morning I woke up and had some thoughts to jot down. I will probably mess them up and even forget out half of what I want to say but,  here we go....
It's pride.....not because of anything I have done, not because I am even responsible; just pure pride for the fact that my Father in heaven decided that I was worthy of one of His angels. She is absolutely amazing!! Everyday I am in awe of who she is and how she navigates the world. Especially since we have embarked on this journey I am even more impressed with her.
Proverbs 22:6 says : "Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it." We do live by this but, right now I think that applies more to me as a parent. Because she is showing me how to be; not the other way around I think. I am so proud and impressed in the way that she is whole-heartedly involved in this whole process. She is not complaining or gripping or arguing or anything. She is all heart and soul and thoroughly experiencing the whole adventure.
What kid would go on a 4 hour, sit-in-your seat, do-not-move, one-bottle-of-water, a-few-snacks,  bumpy, hot, sweaty, hole-in-the-floor-bathroom-at-the-back-of-the-boat, boring, no-kids, cargo-leaing-against-you, not-comfy-seats, and more boat ride and not complain once. In fact she seemed to enjoy the quiet time.This all after spending from 11pm to 4am throwing up from some stomach bacteria she picked up in the village. Not one complaint!!!! REALLY?!!? Not me!
And, we had nothing to do with this...this is all the heart and soul of God. He has brought this amazing, inspiring girl into our world so that those who are blessed enough to watch her can learn what it truly means to live. What I am learning about her is that when we are complacent she gets bored, she sort of loses herself.. she becomes bossy, reactionary, hyper, and a little negative. She can be precocious and headstrong. But, this is just because she is meant to do....she is an action girl, she is organized, she is an idea person, and she needs to be doing something with her life. She is constantly looking for a new way to forge the world and she won't settle for the same old same old way it has always been done. She wants to do it a better way, she wants to find a way to do it better  for everyone. She still believes in the good of mankind. She believes everyone is good and just and kind. Even when she learns different she still believes they are a good person deep down and she can help them find it. Wether it is through being a friend or just lots of prayers. She loves the Lord with all her heart and wants to share His love. She is totally compassionate, fair, loving, loyal, smart as a whip, generous, full of joy and laughter. But, she knows herself. She is no doormat and will not back down from what she believes in. She is strong and self assured and self motivated. She is very internal and not afraid of her emotions.
I am so on-the-edge-of-my-seat, riveted, and excited to see what God has in store for her life. I only hope I don't get in the way too much and mess it up. Thank you, Lord for blessing me with the gift to watch her and learn from her. Bless her footsteps, Lord, as she continues to navigate the world, watch over her as she makes choices, fill her Holy Spirit and help her to know the path to travel, steady her heart Jesus as she takes on this life you have given her. Amen

And the adventure begins.......

So after several extremely emotional days we finally took off early Wed morning. In the still of the early morning as many were just waking up we said a few last tearful goodbyes and as we were driving out of town we watched the sunrise on our new adventure. Little did we know just how that adventure would unfold......
After a pretty uneventful flight from Vancouver, B.C. to Dallas, TX we met my mom at our gate. Since she flew in from Little Rock, AR she was able to meet us as we departed the plane. It was a great gift for Carmen to get to experience the joy of seeing a loved one's smiles as she came off the plane. I remember this being one of the best parts for me when I traveled as a kid. Most of our kids will never experience this joy because of the security issues we face. So, I was grateful that God allowed this small moment for Carmen and my Mom.
We spent the night in Dallas getting to spend time with Mom before we left the US. The next day we arrived at the airport and headed to drop Mom off at her gate. At this point the weather took a turn for the worse...Mom's flight was cancelled. The Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma areas were hit by horrible storms and tornados. We proceeded to all go to our gate as Mom headed off to wait on Standby to get out that night. Joel, Carmen and I settled in for the wait to board. Finally four hours later our flight was cancelled. Now here is where we truly see God's love and mercy in our whole situation......
Before the flight was cancelled Mom ended up being grounded in Dallas until Friday morning so she headed back to us to wait things out. As she was watching Carmen, Joel and I walked to the ticket counter to ask about how we could rearrange our tickets because the delay was going to cause us to miss our connecting flight from Lima to Iquitos. We were the 3rd person in line just wanting to ask a quick question. While waiting the airline cancelled our flight. You can imagine the pandemonium that ensued after the announcement was made! But, God knew this and already had us established in line! We were one of the first people to get flights booked out on the exact same flight just for the next evening as many other had to be re-routed through several airports or fly standby. This normally would have caused us to be quite stressed but we felt a peace in the situation that was only God. I immediately started to call hotels but everyone was booked because all the flights that night were cancelled. Again, God stepped in.... As the ticket agent was getting us booked another lady approached the counter and was being very hostile. the agent helping her ended up having to call security to talk the customer down. While trying to help the customer; the agent found a hotel room but the customer refused the room because she expected the airline to pay. (which they don't do for weather issues) The agent helping us was very nice and since we were being very understandable and accommodating (because it wasn't their fault!!) so he immediately asked us if we wanted that room! Again, God took care of us!! It even had a shuttle which was also a blessing because many people were having to pay cab fare to their hotels. Although we weren't expecting to have to pay for a hotel we took the blessing offered and knew God would take care of us. We were able then to spend a little more time with Mom and get a good nights rest! God is good, All the time.....And All the time, God is good!! As our adventure begins with blessings we are excited to see where God is going to take us and the blessings to come....