David and I have made it back to Lima after a week long research trip in the department of Huanuco. We left last Sunday and made the drive from Lima out to the city of Huanuco in a record of 8 hours. Traffic was very light and I think the police only stopped us to check our documents once. We spent the night in our destination city and hit the road for the "country" in the morning. We traveled around all week in the west section of the department. We were traveling with team member Christine Jackson- REAP North's best researcher and learning the ropes from her and leaning on her Spanish- which is better than ours:)
Basically we traveled from tiny pueblo to tiny pueblo asking people if there were evangelical churches in the town, how many people attended and how many people live in the town. We talked to pastors when we could, but many times the pastors were out in the fields working or didn't live in the towns they ministered in. It seems like a simple task but its really not. We are searching for places that have little to no evangelical presence in the area. We didn't find any Baptist churches but found a lot of Assembly of God and Alianza (a sort of pentecostal church- but pretty close to Baptist). Our days were long- and we went on some roads that really weren't roads. At one point we were driving up a stream and it was still the "road". Yikes. David has done an amazing job driving- I am so grateful for that- however, there are still times when I shriek and close my eyes. I'm working on it ok? I'm not quite Peruvian yet.
We were out in the middle of nowhere most of the week, though every night we made it to a larger town (2000 people) and stayed in hostals. We saw some amazing places- that I doubt few gringos have ever seen. We ran into a lot of road work- they are paving a section of road (gracias a Dios) and we found an alternate route to Lima. Its quite a bit longer from Huanuco - about 12 hours- but from a possible adoption site- only about 6-7 which would cut a teams travel down considerably. Plus its a nice road! David actually got to drive in 5th gear. He was excited about that.
We also moonlighted this week as a taxi! When you are out in the boonies- people flag you down for rides constantly- so we packed the backseat with all kinds of people, teachers trying to get back to the city for the weekend, a Quechua lady with a baby (who needed a diaper change) and a young teenager taking some produce into the city from his grandparents farm. Don't be alarmed- we aren't picking up strange men- we are being careful-but its a good opportunity to help someone and talk to them a little. I was able to explain what David and I are doing here to three ladies at one point. It really stretched my spanish- but was good to try the best I could. Peruvians for the most part are good about looking out for us- especially if you've helped them or bought something in their store:) But we met an especially nice man who owns a gas station in a town we spent the night in. We got some gas one morning and asked for some directions. We came back through several days later and stopped there to use the bathroom. He was kind in helping us with more directions, telling us where and why some places were not safe to go, offering some very good advice, letting us park our truck there while we went to a store and use the bathroom for free. David tried to give him a little money for helping us- but he wouldn't take it. Might not sound like much- but you don't get anything for free around here- its hard to get information, a bathroom and a parking place for nothing- not even buying anymore gas from him... We got ripped off at the hotel in that town and it really just made my day seeing the kindness of this man.
We have a signed lease for our apartment in Huanuco now! Horray! I expect we will be moving out there in about a week. We've got to get our Peruvian ID's this week and get some paperwork completed and then we are off. I'm very excited- every trip to Huanuco has resulted in a higher level of excitement about living there. Its a great city- and we are getting more and more familiar with it.
Please pray for us! We are so blessed that you go to the Father on our behalf!
Prayer Requests:
- The ever-present homesickness for me
- Language!!!!! Can't stress this enough
- A good relationship with our new landlords and neighbors
- An upcoming vision conference next month we are preparing for
- An abounding love for Peruvians
- Praise for our new home, safe travel and new friends
Love you all- please let us know if we can pray for you!!!
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