February 7
Yesterday I (Sue) had an interesting conversation with the tour guide at the catacombs. She asked me if Rebekah was my daughter and I replied that she was. She asked about the other kids and wondered if any of them were adopted. I said no and then she asked if it is the same with her as it is with the others and I said yes. She looked a little surprised by that. Most of the time, I don't even think about Rebekah being adopted except when we get stares which we do more here than we do in the USA. I hope that it is a witness to people in Peru in some small way.
We continue to enjoy the church we attend in Lima. We were in row 4 today and have our eye on row 3. HaHa. The church is getting a new pastor at the end of the month and he just got here yesterday and was there for the first time this Sunday. He doesn't know Spanish, poor guy, but I bet he learns quickly! The sermon was about plateauing in your relationships with God and your spouse and how that the next step is decline. We were encouraged to be like Joshua and Caleb who loved God wholeheartedly. It gave Eric and I a lot to think about.
We are watching the Super Bowl as I write this and I started to cry during the singing of the National Anthem. You forget how much you love and appreciate your country. The Colts are currently losing and there are some anxious folks here:)
Well now it's Monday and we were bummed about the Colts losing but if anyone had to beat them, we were glad it was the Saints.
We learned some interesting things about Eric's trip to Iquitos that aren't on his college blog. He visited a manatee rescue and rehabilitation place and got to feed one of the mantees a bottle. He said they are so gentle. He also told us about a soup that was served for breakfast that had fish, vegetables and a big chunk of paca meat. (look it up) He said it comes under the heading of "eat first and ask questions later."
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Downtown Lima
close-up of the San Francisco church
near the Municipal building
one sole, please...
the presidential palace
San Francisco church & catacombsFebruary 6
We are so thankful to have Eric back home with us! He had a very exciting and interesting trip to the rainforest. I think it is every biologist's dream to go there as it is so diverse. If you want to read more about it you can visit his blog on the Wabash website (when he gets the recent stuff posted).
We decided to go to downtown Lima this afternoon and see some of the interesting buildings and sites there. Our taxi driver dropped us off near the President's home. It was built by Pizarro for his home after he conquered this part of the world (1600's) and he lived there for many years. There was an official-looking marching band playing out in front of the gates and they marched through the gates and into the palace when they were done. An army band of sorts. We had visited this area with the first mission trip and noticed that there were many more guards with many more weapons than last time. Could be we were there on a Sunday before, or that the President was in residence. Right after we got out of the taxi we were approached by 2 girls selling pins. We kept walking and saying "no, gracias". They were so persistent and so cute and kept saying, "please, 1 sole for one or 3 for a dollar." Eric and I decided the "sandpaper treatment" was effective and I said to him that we could buy 3 from each girl. Well, the one started telling us ok these three from me and those 3 from her. Eric said now wait a minute, do you understand English? She just smiled and tried not to answer, but the cat was out of the bag. Both of the girls answered in english when we asked them -- at least they knew enough to get gringoes to buy their stuff! We walked to the San Francisco church and catacombs about 2 blocks away. It is a 17th century monastary of the Franciscan order where they had built catacombs under the church ala European custom. It was a beautiful and interesting place. We, unfortunately, were not allowed to take pictures (go to http://www.go2peru.com/Lim_foto02.htm if you want to see some). There was amazing art work all over the place and a dome ceiling made out of cedar. The tour guide, in English, told us that all of the materials were brought in from other places. The library was just incredible with a collection of 25,000 volumes all of which looked as if they would disintegrate if you touched them, which you could not. The place where they ate was so cool with a large painting of the last supper. Interestingly, the artist painted it with traditional Peruvian food on the table including potatoes and even cuy (guinea pig). Behind Judas the devil is painted breathing into his ear. Sound familiar BSF ladies? The choir room had beautifully carved seats for every monk. The catacombs were creepy. We walked down stairs and had to duck to get into the crypt area. They had some of the crypts filled with similar sized bones and one with skulls. We were told that they used to treat the bodies with lime to keep down the smell and to prevent disease. You could see up into the church as various places. They also had pits where the remains of unidentified people were thrown. Wealthy Spanish patrons bought crypts up in the main part of the monastary. It was a good tour and all of the kids (and parents) enjoyed it.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Clarification and More Zoo
February 5
From Sue
We skyped with my parents last night (what a blessing it is!) and they told me that my nephew, Matt, was horrified to read on the blog that I left the kids here by themselves, so I thought I should explain the situation. We live in a gated apartment building with a doorman working 24/7. We also have many locks on the door. Our neighborhood is pretty nice so we feel safe here. I just wanted to reassure people that the kids were safe without me:)
The kids wanted to chime in about the zoo, so here are their accounts:
Maggie: It was hot, and the taxi driver got lost, but the rest of the trip was fun! We saw some cool animals like teeny-tiny monkeys, little ocelots, and big parrots. The zoo was pretty crowded; everyone decided to spend a sunny day at the city zoo. It's really big and was organized into zones and "streets" like Galapagos, International, and Jungle sections. I was a little hesitant about the heat and large number of people, but I had fun hanging with my family. Elijah was a little whiny for the first part, but made up for it with his great enthusiasm for the big cats and exotic animals. It was a good adventure to do while Dad is away. :)
Rebekah: It was fun there. I saw peacocks. I also saw black jaguars. I had studied the rainforest in school, and I got to see a bunch of animals that we studied about. We saw monkeys and tapirs. One snuck up on Maggie. And Mom. I liked the tapirs. We saw an ocelot as well. We saw giraffes, some water buffaloes, and a baby water buffalo, some goats, and two ostriches. One was dirty and one was clean. Me and my sisters and my brother and my mom had a great time at the zoo.
Elijah: I got to see lions and tigers and bears. They were cool. A goat sneaked up on me. It was a goat with a beard and some big fat horns. The lions and tigers and bears were sleeping all the time. I think that they're party poopers. I had a good time with my family.
From Sue
We skyped with my parents last night (what a blessing it is!) and they told me that my nephew, Matt, was horrified to read on the blog that I left the kids here by themselves, so I thought I should explain the situation. We live in a gated apartment building with a doorman working 24/7. We also have many locks on the door. Our neighborhood is pretty nice so we feel safe here. I just wanted to reassure people that the kids were safe without me:)
The kids wanted to chime in about the zoo, so here are their accounts:
Maggie: It was hot, and the taxi driver got lost, but the rest of the trip was fun! We saw some cool animals like teeny-tiny monkeys, little ocelots, and big parrots. The zoo was pretty crowded; everyone decided to spend a sunny day at the city zoo. It's really big and was organized into zones and "streets" like Galapagos, International, and Jungle sections. I was a little hesitant about the heat and large number of people, but I had fun hanging with my family. Elijah was a little whiny for the first part, but made up for it with his great enthusiasm for the big cats and exotic animals. It was a good adventure to do while Dad is away. :)
Rebekah: It was fun there. I saw peacocks. I also saw black jaguars. I had studied the rainforest in school, and I got to see a bunch of animals that we studied about. We saw monkeys and tapirs. One snuck up on Maggie. And Mom. I liked the tapirs. We saw an ocelot as well. We saw giraffes, some water buffaloes, and a baby water buffalo, some goats, and two ostriches. One was dirty and one was clean. Me and my sisters and my brother and my mom had a great time at the zoo.
Elijah: I got to see lions and tigers and bears. They were cool. A goat sneaked up on me. It was a goat with a beard and some big fat horns. The lions and tigers and bears were sleeping all the time. I think that they're party poopers. I had a good time with my family.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
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!
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
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.
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.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
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:(
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:(
Monday, February 1, 2010
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.
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.
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