Another month has passed and we find ourselves on the brink of launching the first library. As I reported last month the ladies in Pampas de Polanco have been very supportive and enthusiastic about this project. We were quickly offered a location and two ladies offered to take responsibility for the books that the government will loan the community. We are anticipating the launch of the library Señor de Huanca in June so make sure to read next month’s newsletter for details of the launch.
What a Month!
Transitions
Around Christmas time I took time to write a reflection of how the culture was affecting me. It can be found on our family site. Culture shock is something we have been told to expect in the foreign mission field. Most of our missions teachers say that it hits around 6 months of living in the field. We have now been living in Arequipa for 9 months. Everyone’s situation is different; everyone deals with stress and transitions differently. I am going to share with you how 9 months has affected me, because I believe that I have experienced some feelings of culture shock in the past month. I hope that this piece can shed light for those of you that will be foreign missionaries one day.
A Peruvian Wedding
When Alfredo first told the team that he and his fiance, Judith, wanted us to attend their wedding, my overwhelming thought was “Wow!”. Now, I’ve been to lots of weddings in my life, but it has always been people I have known for a while and the invitation was not a surprise. However, this invitation meant more since this relationship is fairly new. Somehow in our few
months here we have come to mean enough to this couple to be invited to a very important event in their lives, and we felt honored.
ICDU Update: Kitchens, Libraries, and Nicknames
If frequency of mention in newsletters is an indication of importance, then you should be understanding how important to our work Alfredo has been and will continue to be. April has been a huge month for ICDU (www.icduperu.org) and most of the progress has been made thanks to Alfredo’s knowledge and expertise. For those who may not know, we have contracted Alfredo to help us launch our first development project. In reality he is doing much more than that. He is teaching us gringos how to enter into poor communities and communicate effectively and serve humbly.
The Latest: April 2009
An Update to Prayers
Our strategy contains a period of time devoted to felt-needs research, in order to let Arequipeños tell us what would best serve them. Based on this data, we plan to formulate an initial developmental program that attempts to meet one of those needs in a sustainable way. This means that we have to learn how to do legitimate urban research, which has its own learning curve. All in all, we have a very slow ramp up to a large-scale, labor-intensive project before we ever get to the actual first developmental project, which we will also have to learn to do as we go.
14 Peruvian Cultural Quirks
I thought it would be fun to share some “Peruvian Quirks” that I feel we have gotten used to in the past six months. If you are planning to visit, these are some things that will get on your last nerve or that you will find to be blatantly different from the U.S. I know that I have left so many things out, but here is a list I have tried to compile over the month...
Great News!
As you know from our previous newsletter, March was to be a month of house hunting. With our leases expiring at our apartments, we decided it was the perfect time to look for more permanent housing in our target area. The good news is that both families have found a place to live. I’ll give the details a little later but first you need to hear how we found these places.
A New Perspective: Diane Litton
After leaving home approximately 32 hours earlier, traveling on three planes, and staying up for 22+ hours straight, we arrived at our 4th airport expecting to be met by Kyle only to find a slightly larger welcoming committee. With Shaye on his shoulders holding a sign that said, “LITTON,” and Larissa by his side, all our travel weariness was eclipsed by pure joy as we embraced this family. This is why we came…and we’d do it all over again any chance we have.