Tuesday, August 15, 2023 (Joelyn Blessing)
An experience that stretched me on this trip was going to Sunday School at Huacarpay church, because it was a different church, and my parents weren’t in Sunday School with me. We sang Spanish songs with motions (and danced), we played a game together, and then we split into age groups and started our Bible story. I was in the middle-aged group, and we talked about Jesus telling his twelve disciples to go out to the world without worrying about taking food, water, or extra clothes and to tell people that the kingdom of God is near. We all took turns reading from the book (that had the Bible story in it) in Spanish, and then we colored in the picture of the Bible story. After that, we memorized a short Bible verse which was: A Jehovah nuestro Dios serviremos y a su voz obedecermos Josue 24:24. (We will serve the Lord our God and obey Him. Joshua 24:24).
A story that I remember from Pastor Steve and Beth is when they baptized the first group of believers here. Some people saw the baptism and started throwing stones at them in the river and they needed to stop the baptism. On the way home from our meal after church we saw where all that happened. So that was pretty cool to see.
Today we woke up in Aguas Calientes and got on a bus to Machu Picchu! The bus went up the mountain and, on the way up, you could see a big drop to the ground. At Machu Picchu, we had a tour guide who was very good at explaining everything. Then after some talking, and learning a lot more about Machu Picchu from our tour guide, we went on a little path that led to a bridge that the Incas destroyed so others could not get into their territory. This path pretty much the whole time was very narrow and you could also see a big drop to the ground. Then once we left Machu Picchu, we got on a train to go to Ollentaytambo, and from there we got on a bus to get to Cusco (where our host homes are) and we went to bed from a very busy day! Tomorrow we will volunteer at Promesa School.
Tuesday, August 15, 2023 (Steve Weaver)
Today started in a hotel after a good night of sleep. The sleep was refreshing after a not so smooth day yesterday for our family. You may notice our family missing from many of yesterday’s pictures. Our children reached a point of frustration, and many of the circumstances that had contributed to that frustration were going to happen again today (sun, lots of walking, and young children), so my mind was not at ease. However, God was merciful, and the day went far better than expected!
At 9 am we met our tour guide, Jjoseph, outside our hotel. Jjoseph is the husband of a good friend of Bethany’s, Rosa, who was also there with their 2 children Samin and Benjamin. Rosa’s family is from the church in Huacarpay and as a child was Beth’s Sunday school student. Now she lives and works as a guide in Machu Picchu with her family. From the town, we took a bus up the mountain to Machu Picchu. Someone counted 13 switchbacks on the way up, with no guardrails. Once inside, Jjoseph took us on a 4 hour tour explaining a lot of what is known of the ruins as we went. There were many uneven rock stairs and narrow paths overlooking long drops (often without any kind of guardrail). It was good to have a guide! After much beauty, wonder, and scenery, we got on a bus to go back down. From there, being a bit behind schedule, we split up to gather our luggage from the hotel and grab some food to eat on the train we needed to catch. We did catch the train and Carolyn once again made quick friends with the Argentinian couple she was sitting across from. After the train, we took a 2 hour bus ride to Cusco, and then, the ever helpful Pastor Roberto picked us up in his van and took us to our homes. It was a long, but good day.
We saw God workmanship in the beautiful scenery, the mountains that reached the clouds, the trees, and the rushing river. We also saw God work in keeping us safe through dangerous walkways, giving the kids amazing stamina (Daniel walked the entire time!), the friendship from our tour guide and his family, who made sure we were on the right track even outside of Machu Picchu, and random encounters like a lady who sat next to me on the bus, and, after some small talk, became very interested in the differences between Mennonites and other “Evangelical” Christians (which to her basically means other Protestant churches.)
I am very appreciative of God’s mercy today, helping the kids with seemingly superhuman stamina and attitudes and the help of others in the group who also helped the kids get through and stay safe. I’m also excited about tomorrow where we’ll help out at Promesa. I’m not sure what they’ll assign us to, but it’ll be good to get to catch up with some of the kids and get to know others. God is good!
