Photos!

We were bored. Kevin kept running into the street, so I tried to distract him.

Marcos now wants to do the exact same thing...

Kelly thought she had taken a cool, live shot of a wiley gecko. She later found out it was dead. It crawled out of the ceiling, stopped on our window, and then died in this exact position. Weird.

We have had a lot of fog lately in the early mornings. Then it quickly burns off to 95 degrees.

Rosany and Ermelinda performing a special musica at church.

This is Walter. He is our favorite motocar driver.

Here we are all walking to church. Bobbi too.

This guy and his wife made this awesome boat. Now they are just waiting for the water to rise so they can get it going.

A group from Florida posing with their ¨manly¨ tools. They helped us with our library.

This lady devoted some incredible time with one of our girls, Meri, helping her learn how to read.

Here the group is putting in the ceiling skeleton in our library.

Here Marcos was asked to smile...

Here is our little church´s choir. They performed marvelously.

Here we were able to get a family shot with Wilson and Danika. Sweet.

Here is baby Vivian. She is adorable.

Sarah and Mama T with the little kids.

And finally, a snake eating a frog. Cool, huh? Ironically, soon after this photo was taken we killed the snake as well...

Week of prayer at Mama T´s

Last week was week of prayer. Each night we went over to Mother Teresa’s house for songs, bible study and just communicating with each other. We made it optional for the girls, and it was so cool to see just about every girl going, and even participating. Our group already meets every Sunday and Wednesday, and it seems to be growing. There seem to be quite a few more boys attending. I am not sure whether I am happy (because I am always the only male present), excited (because they are interested in God), or frustrated (because now they are interested in my girls). I suppose I will just wait and see.

No gas in Iquitos

The last week we had a problem finding gas. The propane tank that we had was empty, and we could not find any more in Iquitos. Technically there were a few tanks left, but they were selling for really high prices. Everything we do involving the kitchen is performed with propane. We were able to cut down a few trees and tear apart some old tables in order to have firewood, so everything worked out –although a little inconvenient.

The first rumor was that the businesses selling propane were not selling in order to form a strike against the oil companies. Then we found out the real reason was that the river was too low. Apparently gas comes by barge from Lima to Iquitos via Pucallpa. Pucallpa is on the river, and the river was so low that the barges could not make it up to deliver the gas in Iquitos. The barges were running aground. The gas shortage lasted only a couple of days thank goodness. We are now back on track.

Check out the water level now

For those of you who have been here, or who have seen some of our earlier blogs, you would understand the photos. The water is extremely low currently. I would venture a guess that the water is roughly 20 ft. lower than it is during high season –which is a huge difference. When you walk down to the river, you see a nice green film covering the water. The locals love the water level due to the ability to catch fish easier.

Here are some photos:

We usually take the girls swimming the the right of this photo. This is all under water normally. It is really low right now.

The water is nasty and green. There is a pig farm up river. The water shows the results.

Special Music at Church

My sister has been working with the little kids since her arrival the first of June. Monday through Friday she has been going over words, numbers, activities and songs in both English and Spanish. They had been practicing for the first and only performance which happened to be at church. They sand three songs, I have peace like a river, When you are happy and you know it, and Deep and wide. The kids actually performed rather well.

Here are some photos:

Rain, rain, rain

This last Saturday, we walked to church with the preconceived notion that it would not dare to rain. I do believe even Kelly ventured to say, “I do not think that it has EVER rained on us going to church,” which were some famous last words. Church started out normal. The clouds started bellowing in from afar. The sky turned from a silvery grey to a tar black. The wind came first and then came the torrential downpour. The wind blew so forcefully that a house in front of the church actually collapsed during the storm (fortunately no one was inside).

Our church only has one wall –well technically it is only half a wall (it is not quite finished). Our little congregation stopped the service, crowded into the middle of the church, and hoped to wait it out. It was at this point in time that Kelly politely reminded me, “Hey Aaron, I think we left the back windows open.” Note: when the back windows are open during a rainstorm, water enters our room like a raging river.

I quickly located a scooter, jumped on, emptied my pockets of anything valuable, and headed for home. Scooters have absolutely no traction in mud. I skidded all over the road. I went from nice church attire to soaked and dirty in a matter of seconds. I rushed home was more like it. I pulled out the keys from my pocket, but due to my pockets now being full of water, it took a few seconds to get them out. After finally opening the gate, I ran to our room. I finally got inside, threw off my shoes, ran to the back window, and wouldn’t you know, everything was completely dry. There was hardly even a midst coming through the windows. The heavens were letting loose, but nothing entered our room. Everything that I had done was in vain.

I quickly changed; tossed my soaking clothes in the shower, put some new clothes, put on my boots grabbed my raincoat along with 5 others, and headed out the door. I decided to walk balk due to the condition of the road. By the time I got to within 5 minutes of the church, the rain had stopped, and everyone was walking back. Again, everything had been done in vain.

Here Kelly and Tatelyn pose for a shot after finding it easier to walk barefoot in the mud that in shoes.

Here is the house that collapsed.

Here are some ladies singing ¨Showers of Blessings.¨ It was rather comical.