A Presidential Inauguration

Today Kelly and I were able to watch the Inuaguration. Fortunately for us, there is a tourist restuarant in town that has satelite. Sadly, it was on the Spanish channel, so I was only able to catch most of what was said. You could hear him talking in the background, but it was faint, the translator however was well heard. We had the priviledge of sitting next to some drunk guys from Minnesota. They were hilarious Bush protestors. It was a unique, first, Inuaguration experience. Change and Hope are what Obama preaches, and right now, we need both.

Soccer Season Starts

We kicked off soccer season this last Sunday with a hard-faught loss;3 to 2. Our sharp looking jersey´s are compliments of the organization -however there was a misspelling with POPPYS HAUSE. That error is not biggie, the jersey´s still look good. Our team is made up of players who live right around us. There are approximately 9 teams in Santo Tomas, and each street has there own team. Casey and I play soccer all the time down here, but we still have a long way to go. These guys play soccer all the time. As soon as they are able to breath they are kicking a ball around. I have a lot to learn, but it is fun, and the guys we play with are at least familiar. If our team does well, and wins our city league, then we could go on to play at the stadium. Granted, we should probably get a win first, but still, the possibilities...

This is a beautiful picture of my biggest fan. Good thing, everyone else just laughs at me. When a gringo makes a mistake, the WHOLE town knows and laughs about it. After the game, I was still wearing by jersey, all the way home people kept asking me, ¨why didn´t you win,¨ and, ¨why didn´t you score a goal?¨ I told them that Jesus wanted the other team to win, and I wanted to wait for my first goal...abstinence.

Here we are with our game faces on. We are the gringo assasins. But we really just get assasinated on the field alot. You can see the clouds moving in behind us. About 5 minutes after this photo, the heavens let loose. It was fun, at times, to play in the rain. The sad part was that they put away the good ball (which isn´t saying much) and brought out the solid rubber, flat one, to weather the storm -as if playing with the other ball wasn´t bad enough.

Here we are doing our pre-game stretches. Casey is old (not really, but says he is), so he needs to stretch. I was just there for morale support.

Kayla Gets Chicken Pox

We still don’t truly know who gave them to Kayla, but she has chicken pox. Fortunately for us, and most of the kids here, they have been vaccinated; however there is still a chance that someone might get it. If any of you have ever had chicken pox, they are not fun –they don’t feel or look good. Kayla has been dealing with it the best she can (trying to rest a lot), and all the while still trying to be a mother. It is sad to see her like this, but hopefully this means now that she will not get it ever again.

Our Impassable Road and Driveway

This last week, our road was physically impossible to drive on. We have been having a significant amount of rain, and with it, we were shut off from the city. Fortunately for us, the city only let this go on for two days before sending out a crew to try and open it up. They brought out 3 huge machines, a ton of dirt, and plowed our road. We were grateful to have our road opened up, but they brought in too much sand, and now it has not rained in 4 days. So, it went from being impassable from all the mud, to now being incredibly sandy –almost one extreme to the next.

They were actually able to fix our road all the way down to where the plaza is in Santo Tomas. We were grateful until we walked outside our gate and realized that our driveway was obliterated. So now, not only were our motorcycles stranded, but so was the bus that they decided to park in our land (we use this for hauling the girls to church and other functions in and around town). It was a 3 foot drop! Thanks to some help from the office guys, we were able to make-shift it for the time being, and more work will follow this week. Looks like some of the machines worked to our disadvantage as well.

Giant Man-Eating Beetle

The other night, as we were leaving the sala after talking with Casey and Lisa, this is what met us outside of our room. At first we had no idea what it was, but knew that the dogs were scared of it because it kept lunging at them. Apparently these guys can inflict a lot of pain; the fact that they are somewhat fast, can lunge, and are enormous in size makes them a force to reckon with. This dude held up against both of our cats, and all four of our dogs, but failed to last very long against Lisa and her chair. RIP scary fella…

Princesa’s New Haircut –She Deserves A Refund

Let me preface this by saying, the Armadillo look is in. One of the girls went out on a mission to relieve Princesa of all her matted hair. Sadly, at least for Princesa and the dog fashion industry, it transitioned into an experiment. Here is how is all ended.

Our apologies, but a dog was actually harmed in this activity; emotionally.

Pimp My Ride…Iquitos Style

Thanks to Tanner and Kristen’s church (the couple that was down here prior to us), POPPYS house has a motofurgon. We use this thing for everything; taking the girls to town, pathfinders, etc… We put a lot of kilometers on it. Well, it just had a complete make over; with a logo painted on the both sides, new seats in the back for people to sit on, plastic covering so passengers and driver don’t get wet, and a few other minor things. It is now completely functional. Here are some photos with our new driver, Angel… well, he wishes anyways, maybe in a few years.

Guitar Lessons

Every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon, the girls have options of taking electives. Our plan is to have swimming, voice, music, and guitar lessons, however, only the guitar one is up and running at this time. Paul, the president of the organization, has been coming out and teaching 5 to 6 girls the basics of guitar. Fortunately, some of the groups over the years have left guitars down here, so we have 3 to work with. We are just beginning with the lessons –weeding out the girls really. Some of the girls don’t want to continue sadly. The ones that we do have, shown in the picture below, are doing great. Aaron gets to assist as well, and enjoys it immensely.
Music is such an incredible gift, and we are excited to be able to share this with the girls and give them a little something extra as well. Rosany has been the one that is rising above the other students. She is pictured in the first photo with a guitar. She has been practicing and retaining the most. Because of her desire, and effort, she has been loaned a guitar by the organization. Paul has said that any girl that learns the basics of guitar, and can play along with him semi-proficiently, he will purchase a guitar for them. Rosany has been the only one to truly take on this offer. She has devoted time to practicing, and has caught on fairly rapidly. At this pace, looks like she will be the first to take a guitar from Paul.

Evangelistic Series

A pastor from Montana, and his family, arrived here January 2. They are a nice couple with two adolescent boys. They have been running evangelistic meetings on the far side of town in a community building this entire week. We will continue with the meetings next week as well, followed by a one week break, and then two more weeks of meetings. We have had a decent turnout, with the majority of attendance being little kids.
The girls will actually be able to assist in the sermons for the second set of meetings. These are PowerPoint sermons that require someone just to read, everything else is provided for you. The pastor will be working and practicing with the girls over the next two weeks to make sure they (so far only three want to) will be ready. This is a neat transition for the girls to become more involved with ministry, while still having a guiding hand, allowing them to come outside of their comfort zone. Our hope is for the girls to view this more than just a speech, or a few minutes of limelight, but rather as an opportunity to reach others and spread the news. These girls have come a long way from not knowing God a few years ago, to now being apart of an Evangelistic Series. God is good!

New Year's Celebration

It's always interesting to see how other people celebrate New Year's, and this year was no exception. We got to see burning bodies everywhere. That may be a little blunt, so let me clarify. The tradition down here is to create a flammable dummy out of something, like cut grass or old clothes, and stuff the innards into an old pair of pants and a shirt. Most bodies have a messege stating something that home didn't like that year (i.e. some sort of person, place, thing, event, idea, etc.). An example, "Por loco, estoy aqui" was on a body outside of the mental health institution on the road to our town...something that wouldn't, and shouldn't, ever happen in the US. A few of you understand why. Anyways, at midnight the bodies get burned, ridding of whatever problems were attached to the body, and a new year begins. Unfortunately, we drove through and took video when the bodies were nearly all burned. A friend of ours got video going down a street covered with trash from all the partying and bodies burning everywhere. It looked like a warzone...and we were a little jealous. :) Here are some pictures of our own body that we burned with the girls...at 9:30 pm instead of 12. The little ones need to sleep and have a little New Year's fun, too.

Here are the remnants of a body burned on the median of a major road in town. The smoke was thick in the air that night.

Saying Goodbye To Casey’s Parents

This last week we had to say goodbye to Casey’s parents who have been down here with us for the last few weeks. They helped us so much and became Abuelo and Abuela to the girls (“grandpa” and “grandma”). They brought down gifts from afar, thanks to the students and faculty at Great Lakes Adventist Academy, and helped create an amazing Christmas for our girls. We miss them greatly. We all went to see them off at the airport and here is a picture of them with the girls.

As a side note, while we were waiting for the flight, we saw a man carrying water into the airport.

3 New Fans in the Sala

Without any source of air in the Sala (where we eat and hang out), it is always hot. Paul was kind and let us borrow a giant fan for the time being, but it drew a significant amount of electricity (required its own personal transformer) and did not get the job done. A group that was here before Thanksgiving put in the time and money to get us three new fans. Each one oscillates and does a great job of helping cool down this building. It also helps keep the flies away… Thanks so much, we needed them.

A Day Of Fun! (La Casa Fitzcarraldo)

Last week, the week of New Years, 8 of our girls were able to go visit their families (the opportunity to do this depended on the current situation, and the court system). This left us with 8 kids. We decided to take the girls out for a nice, relaxing swim. On the far side of town, there is an old, wealthy person’s estate, which has been turned into a day resort.
This casa (house) has a nice, well kept pool, a three-story tree house, wireless internet, food and drinks. The hammocks lying about are also a nice addition. There is a 5 sol cover charge on any living being that comes through the door, but it’s worth it. Casey’s parents were also here, so it made for a fun, family, get-a-away.

The Playhouse Grows

Thanks to the last group that came, we now have railing and stairs built for the playhouse. We are continuing to work on it, and the progress, although slow, is still moving in the correct direction. This was/is Casey’s dream for the kids out here at Santo Tomas. He fundraised the money needed, and has been working on it ever since.
We have tried to make it as local as possible by using things such as their style of railing (a thin, cut up, tree), the roofing will be thatched, etc… Our goal is to have this be a safe and fun environment for the kids out here, without being too far fetched from what we live with.
We have currently run out of wood for the second floor, but will go purchase some in the coming weeks. Due to the daily schedule being so full, time allotted for this project is random, thus it has taken some time. It has been a pleasure having the groups come down and assisting with the construction. Thanks guys!

Construction Begins on Other Building

Our second wing now is much closer to being done. A group just left which helped fund, and construct, our roof. We now have two rooms, and the support for a roof. We constructed six trusses on the ground, and then transported them up onto the roof –each truss was rumored to have been upwards of 800 lbs. It was an incredible process. Guys were brought in from the street to help lift these heavy, and awkward, pieces of wood. Thank you so much to the group and all that they did. Right now there is a group of local construction workers who are finishing the project. Hopefully we will be able to complete this project here in the next few months. This new addition will provide two new rooms for the administrators and a library/study hall for the girls.

Here are some photos of the process.


Our "sturdy" ramp.