Traveling to A Home Away from Home

José's rabbit

Ruth and her parrot Cuchito

Cuchito the parrot and his quail friend

Flying over Niagara Falls, lower left corner!

When my son-in-law dropped me off at the airport, he said I looked like an excited teenager. I guess love will do that! But I won´t be joining Leví till the 28th.Well, uneventful is a good way for flights to be. All flights were on time. I took advantage of wheelchair service due to sometimes great distances between gates (especially Chicago!) Thanks to sis Deb´s love offering I was able to tip those who served. Especially when the gal in Chicago told me she gets only $5 per hour, plus tips, and she has a baby, and is going to college in the fall. (She was responding to my questions) But once there, I have them leave me, and I do local walks to stretch out a bit.  The longest layover was in Miami, so I did my first drawing. When I have more photos to download, I´ll put it on with an explanation.
My welcoming committee in Lima was a bit smaller than at other times - many WANTED to go, but having to BE there at 4:30 in the morning is daunting (it´s a good hour or so to Villa el Salvador from the airport) - especially for those who have to study for exams. But Jorge and Sabina came with two of my boys, Rónald and José, and they helped load the 2 heavy boxes into the taxi, the driver of which wanted 35 sols at first, but then 50 when we came to the end. That´s about $20, low by US standards, but high there. I covered it - the least I could do for robbing my friends of sleep! Note to self - next trip, get a later flight! Sabi, Rónald and José dozed in the cab on the way home - I  told Jorge he had to stay awake because no way could I give directions.
Sabi prepared me a breakfast of a hamburger as I showed her the herbs and spices Abi and I had gotten for her. She was eager to try them out. I gave José and Rónaald the little goodies I had acquired from my flight - some fancy chocolates a fellow traveler gave me from her business trip, and a couple of oatmeal cookies from the last flight´s"dessert" - and also their "gorras"- baseball caps: for the music team I had gotten some army grey ones that said "God´s Army", which go well with the "Soldado de Bendicion" shirts I gave them last year.
After breakfast I went next door to my hosts´ house, Irma and Wilfredo (José's parents) and had a nap to catch up a bit on lost sleep. I returned to the church at 12:30, where Sabi had lunch about ready, having used some of her new spices.
I've met José's pet white rabbit, and Ruth's little parrot and  pet quail. A nice quiet change from two hulking slobbery boxers fauning for attention! And now here I am. Son Jhon has arrived, so I have to give him his hat and bandana and peanut butter - he gets a little extra spoiling since his own mother passed away. And later I'll have Moisés help me load photos. Youth service is tonight, so I want to get in on that. Hasta luego!
 ... After blogging, son Jhon pops his head in to greet me - he knows I brought him his own jar of peanut butter. I came out of Moisés' room (where the computer is) to visit with him and another son, César. Poor Sabi was tired, so she took a nap while the 3 of us just chilled. Of course I tried to give some motherly advice - to Jhon," Share your peanut butter", to César, "if you want him to share, you contribute the jelly", to both, don't be unequally yoked, and reading to them from 2 Timothy 2 - Love my "Soldados de Barro"! I get back to the computer after they leave, and Sabi spoils me with tangerines, apricots, and fried dough!

Transitions

I am returning to Peru on Friday, for the 9th time. Each time has been different, and I think it's the Lord's way of keeping me from trying to "box" Him in or limit what He wants to do, where He'll do it, and how. I had my ideas of what I'd be doing this trip a few months ago, but the Lord let me know otherwise, bit by bit. One thing is certain - I am remarrying...uh...Right, Lord???

I actually met Levi Utia the first time I went in 1997, but I didn't really come to KNOW him know him until the summer of 2007. In hindsight I can see how the Lord was preparing the way for this union by first establishing a friendship and letting me get a glimpse of this man's character.

So anyway, the agenda goes SOMETHING like this. Leave Friday afternoon, via American Airlines, by way of Chicago and Miami, arriving in the early morning of the 23 in Lima, where I'll be greeted and picked up by my "family" - oh, they really are family! - from the church Voz de la Transformacion , pastored by Jorge Samelvino (brother to my late friend Hugo) and his wife my DEAR friend and considered little sister, Sabina Campos. At first I was going to go directly to Pucallpa, where Levi is, but I have a goddaughter, the niece of another pastor friend, and her birthday is the 26th. I want to have some time with her and the family. And I want to see if I can find either a keyboard or a guitar which I can afford to buy for my musical husband. And since my last trip, I have bonded very strongly with the church family there, so I really want to have a few days with them before I devote myself to my new husband. But I don't want to stay away TOO long. So...I will continue on to Pucallpa on the 28th of June.

I'd THOUGHT we were going to have the civil ceremony - this is the only one Peru recognizes - on June 30th, but it has been in Levi's court to make arrangements, and he has been working 7 days a week. So I don't know the exact date - I expect it will be in July. And I ask the Lord, what may be the significance of the date HE has chosen for us to wed. Because I've learned he DOES things like that.

So, I have an IDEA of what's going to transpire and the rough outline of the time frame. But the details will unfold before me - and Levi - as we walk into this new life together. So, for now, I'm happily counting the days till I'm reunited with the family in Lima, and will enjoy them while I'm with them...and the days till I'm back in Levi's arms!

New Year, New Beginnings, New Life

I need Christ. I need the grace of God. And having received it, I want to express my gratitude to Him in everything I do. I want to share out that same grace - and LOVE - of which I have been the undeserving recipient. And so - I am a missionary.
A little background on how I got my start in missions -
I first really became aware of the concept of foreign missions when I was in college during my first year, and at a friend's recommendation I attended a Wycliffe Bible Translators' dinner. I was excited about what I learned, and I thought that I, too, would like to "GO" and make disciples. When Ansel (my first husband) and I began our courtship via correspondence, we discussed the possibilities of being missionaries together. In one letter I even did a little cartoony sketch of us among an African tribe.
This desire to go on missions never abated in ME, although I think it did in Ansel. Whenever there were visiting missionaries at the church, sharing about their experiences, I longed to do likewise. But while I could not go physically, I participated through special offerings, and occasionally wrote letters to those missionaries our church supported. This was especially so when our church sent a medical missionary to Iquitos, Peru.
I had begun to study Spanish at the time, so when I wrote to our missionary, I also practiced my Spanish by writing to the congregation in general. I began to get replies from some of the natives - Pastor Hugo Samelvino and Marleni Saurin especially. We became friends through our correspondence, and the longing to "GO" increased. For a few years when our tax return was pretty good, I would ask Ansel about the possibility of going to Peru, and he'd scrunch up his face and say no each time. But finally one year, when I got this reply once again and decided a missionary trip would just have to wait until I was a widow, my oldest daughter Abi interceded for me to her father, and he relented.
Our younger daughter Cass had just come out confinement imposed on her by a body cast and physical therapy and she wanted to come with me. So it was in 1997 that we went together, guests at the mission where our church's missionary had been stationed, although she was no longer there. I already had good friends there in Hugo and Marleni and a couple of other brethren who had written. And now that I was there in person, with Marleni's guidance, I made more friends. I met a lot of people, including Levi Utia. Some I remembered, some I did not. Jose Choquehuanca, a youth who came to the English lessons I gave while there, I remembered and we corresponded. He told me about how he lost his mother when he was 5, and the hardships he faced growing up under the influence of witchcraft. He became the first of my many spiritual "sons." Levi told me later that when the English lessons were offered after church, he opted rather to go play futbol with other guys. So I did not remember him, having little contact with him.
Once, Pastor Hugo was preaching about spiritual gifts, and focused on the gift of helps. I was jotting notes in Spanglish, when suddenly he said that I had that gift. Eventually it made sense to me. Prayer and intercession, encouragement - these ARE helps. And these are what the Lord has used through me on subsequent missions.
We were there for three weeks. During that time, Pastor Hugo or Marleni would take me to visit different members of the church, and I'd be invited to pray for them. And I was also invited to speak at the Ladies' Society anniversary dinner. It was my first speaking engagement in Spanish, and I had to write everything out in English first, then translate it, and then read from what I'd written. I've come a long way from those days!
Well, I tearfully left Peru, but with a prophetic promise that I would be coming back in the Lord's time. Meanwhile, I maintained correspondence - with even more people than before (but Levi was not one of them!). Eventually, Hugo no longer pastored at that mission, so I wrote to him at an alternate address. In 2003, we got our first computer : our son Ben had gotten a scholarship for one college course while he was in high school, and the homework was given online at a website. So, having this thing in the house, I decided to enter the Twenty-First Century, and Ben set me up with an e-mail address. I wrote to Pastor Hugo, giving it to him, because I was aware there were public computers there. He told me he was getting married that year, much to my delight. And oh, how I longed to be able to attend the wedding. And God in His goodness allowed and enabled me! But I'll get to THAT at another time.