We got up at 6:30 for breakfast at 7: kiwi, English muffin, potato cakes, and lots of water. We left the hotel at 8 in two different groups. The small group of seven got in the Land Cruiser to go build a barn. The larger group of 18 that I was in got on the bus to travel to a church to do various things. We drove about 3.5 hours before we stopped for lunch in a billage where a large SP field office is. After lunch, we walked around a bit, went up to the plaza, and got to go into a 500 year old Catholic church…it was very eerie and cold…it made my spirit very uncomfortable to be in there.
We had about an hour drive from there to the church and then we got right to work…some people sanding the walls to prepare them for paint, some helping lay bricks in the classrooms, and eight of us were clearing dirt out of this one area beside the church. The girls in the sanctuary were singing lots of wonderful songs, so the clearing crew joined in. We had a break at about 3:30 when we all came in the church and started singing some more…mostly “In Christ Alone,” “Amazing Grace,” and “Sanctuary.” We worked for an hour more and then had a bit of food that one of the families in the village prepared for us: llama meat and three kinds of potatoes. It would have been better if it was warm…the meat was very tough and chewy, but didn’t taste terrible. That will probably be the first and last time I’ll eat llama.
We came to the other SP field office in the area, where we stayed for the night, and unloaded our stuff. Let me just note that we did not bring any changes of clothes because there was no reason to get two sets of clothes terribly dirty. I currently smell like clay, campfire smoke, and alpaca. We did a human knot with about 14 people and then played a game of mafia before dinner. Stephanie and I shared a mounded plate of spaghetti noodles with no sauce and some vegetables…and pita bread!
After dinner, we had a campfire made out of evergreen branches…it continually smelled like Christmas. The stars were so clear here…and they look like they are blinking all the time…it was beautiful…praise the Creator of all! Around the fire, we started singing once again…we also sang all the way from the church to where we stayed…it was so amazing to just praise our Savior with all of these people who are committed to the Lord. Stephanie, Olivia, and I started getting tired, so we came in and went to bed after we got warm. Being here really makes you realize how much Americans take for granted…like heat and running water.
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