Reflection

My trip to Arequipa, Peru was altogether amazing in more ways than one. Yes, I had a few difficult experiences, but the good overwhelms the bad in all cases. I am so thankful for my Peruvian family and what they mean to me. I am fortunate to be able to say that I have one family that loves me in this world (the family that I was born into in America); but to be able to say that I have two families in this world, one in America and the other in Peru, that love me and want the absolute best for me and my life is something rare and very beautiful. And this has only come out of my submitting my life to God's call for me to go to Peru. The way that things have turned out for me are far better than anything I could have ever planned.

My last week I was there in Arequipa, my American parents, who had come on the team from St. Peter and St. Paul, had the opportunity to have dinner with my Peruvian family. There was no shortage of laughter, conversation, or love in that time we spent together. And even though my American family only spoke a little bit of Spanish and my Peruvian family only spoke a little bit of English, we had an interpreter there that gave us fluent conversation in a common language. That interpreter was the Holy Spirit! Just an awkward 'gracias' and a huge smile communicated so much more by the Spirit than we will ever know.

And I like to think that is a good summary of my six months spent in Arequipa. Even though my time was short, even though my Spanish isn't 100% fluent, even though I am a broken man and am prone to making mistakes; God's strength is made complete in my weakness and He did more in my time with my host family, in my time in the orphanages, in my time at the Anglican school than I can ever imagine. And it was all initiated with my small and simple decision in saying, "Yes Lord, I will go." So, I give thanks to God, and praise Him for His power to use His creatures to accomplish great things in this world. Amen.

St. Peter and St. Paul team on its way!

An arch at the cathedral.

They are finally on their way. A short term missionary team from my home church in Arlington, TX is coming to Arequipa, Peru. It is really hard to believe that they managed to fundraise in 3 months enough money to come and spend a week here working construction and spending time with the kids at the two orphanages.

Throughout the week in the mornings we will be heading out to a neighborhood called Via Ecológica to construct the walls of the church. We will be working with sillar, which is a common volcanic, white rock mined here in the Andes. In the evenings we will be heading out to one of the two Casas Hogares. We'll be at the younger kids' orphanage twice and then at the older kids' twice. I know that with this team being here, my last week here is going to be a blast!

Making Chocolate Chip Cookies

Host brother Christian stirring it up.

Christian and Giancarlo

Putting a batch in the oven. Notice the form.

The beggar.

They look good.

About the only thing I know how to do in the kitchen is bake cookies, thanks to my mom. Every time I go home for Christmas or Thanksgiving we always make a double batch. And it's not only my mom that does the baking, it has also turned into a brothers' time as well.

Padre Ron brought me some brown sugar from his trip to the states (they don't have brown sugar here) and we got spend a night making some delicious chocolate chip cookies. It is so great to have a skill like this that I can share with people here in Peru. We made over 50 cookies last Sunday night and by Tuesday they were all gone!

Starting to say my goodbyes

Last day at San Lucas

It is amazing how fast these 6 months have gone by. And now I am already saying my goodbyes. The peruvian government moved forward all of the schools' vacations because of the swine flu. They are taking all the precautions necessary to try and avoid any more cases. The end of July and the first part of August are some of the main holidays for Peru. It's kind of like their winter break as well. (Yes, it's winter here.)

With the vacations being moved forward my last day came a little bit faster than I expected. My time helping teach at the school has really opened my eyes how important it is to educate our children, how important it is to have competent teachers, and how important it is to have good structure in the school and in the classroom.

I don't like being critical, especially of a country that doesn't have all the benefits that I knew growing up. But, this can be said for all societies. For me, to have a healthy society you must have smaller, healthy groups that make up that society (e.g. the work force, the police force, the school system). If these groups of people do not possess high moral values, good work ethics, and relationships built on trust; how can society as a whole bear resemblance to such qualities?

All of this boils down to the smallest unit of measurement - the family. Families must be full functioning and healthy. The family is where we come from. We grow up from children into members of society. If a boy can't trust his mother or father, his sister or his brother in his own home; how will he be able to trust his classmate at school? And when he grows up, how is he to trust his coworker?

We depend too much on each other not to be able to trust one another. So parents, my message to you is to love your children and want what's best for them!

Pool Party with San Jose

Jumping in.

Xavier

We corralled them in for one last pic in the pool.

Juan Diego at the picnic lunch.

María and Padre Juan Carlos ended up showing up with a little cookie dessert.

We took the kids from San Jose out to a pool party and picnic. We had a good time. A lot of the kids are great swimmers. Overall it was just a time for them to get all their energy out and have a lot of fun. I know I was tired when I got home.

An idea

Last night I had an idea. I'm going to see if it would be possible to set up a mentoring/discipleship time in the Casas Hogares in my last month that I am here. I have had a few conversations with the kids and it seems like this would be something that would benefit them greatly. I am thinking about making an announcement in mass next Sunday to see if anyone would be interested in participating. Then set each person up with one of the kids at the Casas. I'm thinking about having them make a month long commitment to spend one day out of the week with the kids. Then if they feel like it is necessary to continue they can do as they feel called to do. Just an idea I thought I'd share.

Diego

For all of you who pray, please pray for Diego. He is going through a difficult time. A time of confusion and disillusionment. He has recently moved from the older kids' Casa Hogar Sagrada Familia to another home today. Please pray that God's will be done in his situation and that those in authority over him would be making the best choices for his benefit. Pray also for his comfort in the new home to which he has moved.