Settlers

This week is has been very busy. We are putting together bunk beds, painting, cleaning rooms, and trying our best to get ready for the team that is coming this Saturday. However...we have managed to find time to play many rounds of Settlers of Catan in the evenings! I have yet to win a game!!! Oy.

It looks like we are going to have to spend a few late nights here at Hannah's so we can get everything done. Might be a rough week, but we'll try to get through it. It seems like it's been a little uneventful here lately. With teams coming, I'm sure it will pick up the pace!! I am looking forward to meeting the teams and getting to know them, but I'm a little nervous that I'm not ready to lead anybody! I guess that just gets better with time.

This week we are also starting to read a couple of books as a group. One is called "Becoming the Answer to Our Prayers" and the other one is called "Unexpected News". I'm not sure what the first one is about, but Unexpected News is about looking at the Bible through third world eyes. I think that they will both be very interesting to read as we live in a third world country.

It is kind of crazy to me how people live here. I don't think that I could live that way forever. For example, there are no grocery stores nearby, except in Lima. Everything is only sold at the local open market, and it closes late afternoon. No peanut butter to be found here either. Not too many people have cars, so a lot of them take the bus or ride in a "moto" (I think I explained those in an earlier blog??). I don't know how to explain it...but it makes me miss home and realize how fortunate we all are in the States. We have the convenience to run down to Wal-Mart (even though I hate Wal-Mart...) to grab whatever food that we need or whatever else. We all have access to a car to get around and visit friends who are far away or go wherever. We can take a hot shower every day and have homes with finished floors instead of dirt. We have photo identification...some people who have come from the mountains here can't own property or get a job without ID, and they can't get ID because their papers are back in their hometown, and they can't afford to go back or it is much to difficult to get there. So it is a recurring cycle of disparity in many cases. I haven't traveled the world a whole lot, but after being in several different places (Mexico, Spain, Puerto Rico, Portugal, and now Peru) I realize how extremely privileged we are to even live in the United States. In my opinion, the States are the nicest place to live in the world. Of course, I'm probably biased because I'm from there...but I still think it's so nice. Even in the some of the worst places in any city you can think of you can see that in America we are blessed.

Ok, I think I have rambled enough. Not sure what is for dinner tonight...hodge podge of things maybe?? I'm thinking sweet potato fries :)