The Zoo

Elijah with the tiger in the background. Carolyn apparently was not feeling well...

Carolyn with the water buffalos. Los bufalos de agua. :)

I (Maggie) was stalked by these things. Tapirs are WEIRD AND CREEPY.

Black jaguars playing in the water.

Toucan--through the glass...Mom took a great picture! (from Maggie)

It was quite warm. Rebekah seems to be droopy.

February 4

From Sue

Since it was a sunny day and Elijah is feeling better, we decided it would be a good day to go to Parque de las Leyendas, the zoo. I don't always like zoos because it is kind of sad to see the animals cooped up and all, so a zoo in SA was a risk. We got a taxi and after about 20 minutes it was pretty obvious that the cabbie didn't know where he was going. They never admit that they don't know where they are going when you negotiate the transaction. Eric has learned this and always looks at the map before we go somewhere in case the taxi driver doesn't know where it is. This was actually the first time I was glad I couldn't speak Spanish so that I could maintain my Christian witness. If the neighborhood hadn't been so bad, I would've gotten us out and found another taxi. I was sitting there praying hard that we would get there. We did but some of the kids were car sick. We navigated our way through the entrance and at first all we saw were birds and alpacas. The kids were less than impressed. We got to the jungle area and saw a bunch of other birds and some monkeys. I told the kids I wish we could stand behind glass and charge 2 soles to look at us. There were not many foreigners there. When one little girl heard me speak English, she just stared and then followed us to the next exhibit where she said, "Hello" to us!

We also saw a bunch of vultures sitting on a hill (not an exhibit) where Maggie thought they were waiting for us to die from heat exhaustion so they could prey on our lifeless bodies. It was hot. We got some good looks at black jaguars and tapirs which are the size of a hog and really kind of creepy. We finally got to the area Elijah had been waiting for-lions and tigers and bears (yes, we said "oh my" everytime he mentioned it). There was a black bear and Emily said she could relate to it-taken out of its home, in the heat, being stared at all the time. The lion and tiger habitats were the worst with the animals in relatively small cages. Maggie said she was surprised that animal rights people didn't protest but I reminded her that many people here live in worse conditions. On the way, kids were in the traffic at stop lights performing acrobats to get money.

The gardens there were beautiful but with 5 sweaty kids, we just walked by them. Overall, it was a good, confidence-building experience and worthwhile. It cost about $13.50 for all of us to get in so a good bargain. Our taxi ride home was only 20 minutes with a nice driver who spoke about as much English as I do Spanish, but we managed with Emily acting as a translator of sorts. She even directed him to our apartment! Whew!

Absentee spouse emerges from jungle

February 3
From Sue
We skyped with Eric this afternoon and he is safe and sound (if not a little sunburned) in Iquitos. He enjoyed his time on the river and will have many stories to tell as you can imagine. Tomorrow he meets with folks at a university and presents a talk or two at another university.
Elijah is feeling better and the reason we know that is that he is tormenting his sisters again.
We are managing ok. We had a picnic in the park and got some ice cream. There are people selling ice cream from their bicylces all over the place here. I guess now is a good time to talk about the food in Peru. (I am a Reigle after all!) It is a good thing that our family likes carbs because it is a carb rich diet here. There are many kinds of potatoes; rice and pasta are also popular. The national dish is ceviche which is raw fish treated in a lemon/lime juice which sort of makes it safe to eat. I have tried it once and don't intend to again. The bread is awesome and we buy a lot of it fresh-as in still warm. It is also inexpensive. The desserts and baked goods look fantastic but we have not yet, the key word being yet, splurged. We have been creative in our cooking using the ingredients that we recognize and can find. A major discovery this week was cheddar cheese; we looked all over and couldn't find it. It is labeled Cheddar Ingles aka gringo cheese.
Thanks for all of your prayers. We feel God's hand on us. We are still homesick but knowing that so many of you are praying helps a lot.

current happenings

February 2

From Sue

Yesterday I got to go to BSF again. The kids bolted the door behind me and stayed by themselves. It is good to be studying the life of Jesus with those women. We may look and speak differently but, when it comes to prayer requests, I see how similar we all really are. We care about and struggle with the same kinds of issues. When I got home, the girls told me they thought Elijah had a fever and he did. We wrestled with whether or not to go to Reina de la Paz today and the older girls prayed for and with me. In the end, they volunteered to stay at home, while I went on by myself. Raul, God bless him, drove me there and home.

Guili and I had met last week to talk about the next 8 weeks that we are here and we came up with a schedule of topics. I told Guili that I want the girls to understand that what they do with their babies today, makes a difference in the long-term. The positive interactions they have now, will help to produce secure and loving adults. It is hard, however, for teens to be able to view things in a long-term perspective so Guili came up with the idea of planting seeds to illustrate that what they do for the seeds will affect the way the seeds grow. Water it and they grow, ignore it and they don't grow. They seemed to enjoy planting the seeds and there was a light of understanding in many of the girls. In many cases, they want to do the right things for their child but aren't quite sure how to go about it. Or they are tired and don't have the energy. Some have apathy as well. I mean think about the teenagers you know:) We then talked to the girls about talking to their children and had them go outside with them and walk just talking to their child and describing what they see. Some of them felt silly but many of the girls did a great job and I think liked doing it. We gathered again to reinforce the message. Those who have been on the mission trip know the drill: I say two words and Guili does her thing turning the 2 words I said into a fun and interesting five minute discourse. She is very gifted! Then we had the girls each take a paint brush and cup of water and go outside with their children to "paint" and interact. Guili told me that the workers were amazed; they would not have thought of doing that. She thanked me so much for coming. I guess our prayers for guidance were answered. There was one young girl whose baby is only 7 months or so and was fussy for the paint thing. I took the baby and Guili talked to Andrea, the mom. Guili said you need to tell your baby you love her and her response was that she doesn't love her. I just wanted to take that baby and her mother home with me. Lydia is a sweet little thing. Guili asked her if she could tell me this so that I could ask my church to pray for her and she said yes. It is difficult to understand but Andrea was raped and she herself was abandoned. Not very many people have shown her love. Please, if you are a praying person, pray for Andrea and all the moms at Reina de la Paz that God would give them love for their children. We can't do that but He can. I forgot my camera today so no pictures:(

A victory, small, but still a victory!

February 1
From Sue
Eric left yesterday for his trip to the rainforest. We have not heard anything from him yet and we don't know if we will. He is spending the first few days on a boat on tributaries of the Amazon so I doubt if there is wireless:) Please pray for his safety this week.
I actually managed to get the crew to church, to the Wong and back home again with my infantile Spanish. That was the victory. I am very glad we did as we finished the sermon series on Jonah. It was preached from the perspective of the Ninevites and how they did a complete turn-around in their relationship with God, repenting and getting a second chance. It reminded me that God gave me a second chance by grace through faith and that I would much rather be in a strange city with the Lord than be anywhere else without Him. This has all been very challenging to us and to me in particular. I am not really the adventurous type. (I am a Wise for pete's sake!) I like my routine, my schedule and my lists. I have felt very overwhelmed with all of the change and not being able to communicate even the simplest things. I know that is my fault for not studying the language and it is hard not to feel as if I not only let my family down but also the Lord. It is good to know that God can redeem any situation and can work through my weaknesses.

Saturday and the next 2 weeks

January 30

from Sue

We decided to venture to a new part of the city recommended by friends at Buckner. It is called Barranco and is supposedly the "Bohemian" part of the city. We got dropped off at a cute little park and discovered that it was really warm. We were trying to find a pizza place that we had visited on the first mission trip and we walked around and never did find it. We were all tired, sweaty and hungry and probably were quite a sight standing out on the street arguing amongst ourselves about what we should do. The Wetzels (at least these Wetzels) aren't very good with making decisions. We were accosted by folks from another restaurant. The restaurants have workers whose sole job is to recruit customers. I think they should have grabbed some of them to wait tables because 2 hours later, we were finished. We did, however, sit outside on a porch and had a view of the Pacific plus pop was free. All was not lost.

Eric leaves in the morning for 6 days on a trip to the rainforest and then leaves again on the 9th to go Huaraz in the mountains. He is taking Emily and Maggie to Huaraz and they will be gone 3 days. Please pray for us as we go it alone this week and try to keep safe and busy.

Reina and the beach--pictures too!

January 27

From Sue

This is a terrible picture of me but I wanted to show how Francisco Javier is thriving. My sore arms today testify to that! He is happy and healthy; if you had seen him last June, you would know why I am talking about him again. God is good! We were talking to Elijah about how well he helped with the babies and how he waited for the babies under the trampoline and he said, "I told her vaminos and she came out." Ok the 5 year old uses his Spanish better than I. There is also a picture of Rebekah and Nashelli.

This morning when I was out running, I checked out a new park and saw that there was a beach access. We decided to go there this morning. The words "forced march" come to mind. It was a bit farther than I thought and A LOT of steps. It was also quite hot (I will get no sympathy on that front, I'm sure!). The beach was less crowded there but pretty dirty. Elijah had a blast and we saw some neat tide pool critters. I don't know if it was worth the exertion. We had a little discussion about the Isrealites (and complaining:)) and how thankful we are that we don't have to wander around the desert(or Peru) for 4o years.

BSF and Reina de la Paz

January 26
From Sue
Those of you who know me well, know that I have been a class member of BSF for several years and that is has meant a great deal to me in my Christian life. God has used BSF and the women I have met there, to change my life and my relationship with Christ. When we decided to move here temporarily, one of the first things I did was check to see if there was a class in Lima and to my delight there was. BSF is international but all of the studies are done in English-praise the Lord! Last night was their first class since Christmas as it is also summer here. Because the class is held in another district which is not close by, and it is held at night, Eric asked around at church and hired a driver to take me there. My driver (it feels kind of cool so say that!) is Raul and he is a wonderful Christian man(so is my husband). Traffic was terrible and I was 30 minutes late (it took 50 min. to get there) so I broke rule numero uno:) The ladies were very gracious and it was so good to be back in a discussion group. I met several Americans and a Canadian and the teaching leader is from Chambersburg, PA which is very close to where my brother-in-law and his family live! It all felt very different yet somehow the same. The class here in Lima is small (about 50) considering the size of the city (8 million) so please pray that their numbers would grow. Raul waited for me and brought me back home and he is trying to teach me some Spanish. (good luck with that!) I really felt God's hand in the entire situation from getting a Christian driver to providing women with whom I can fellowship and learn about Christ.
We again traveled to Reina de la Paz to minister to the girls. As is often the case at places where you minister, satan is ready to attack after a spiritual "high". The girls were distracted and their babies uncooperative. It was still fun, but different from last week. They did not ask questions like they did last week but we played volleyball and had fun with their kids. Rebekah has become very attached to one little girl in particular that she calls Shirley. Her name is actually Naschelli (sp?) and she is normally very shy but she really enjoys Rebekah. Before we left today, Elijah was sitting under the trampoline, which is broken. When I called him, he didn't come out. It turns out, he was keeping an eye on a little one and was coaxing her out before he would leave himself. Five year olds watching toddlers; that is the way it is for many sometimes.