Friday, August 18, 2023 (Carolyn Rhinier)
Cusco is up and running when I go to bed and wake up in the morning. You can hear the vehicles on the busy road, driving and honking, as well as the bus stopping right outside our window. Bryan often is looking out to see what all is going on. You can also hear the people passing by, an occasional dog barking, bird singing, or plane flying. My boys and I are sharing a room with two beds that were made by our host family (who are fine woodworkers). Much of the house is a testament to their skills. We are staying on the second floor with the Weaver family. I have enjoyed spending more time with our church family and seeing our children bond.
Every day brings something new, and today is no exception. We spent our final morning at the school Promesa. As soon as we arrived, Josh joined Joelyn and Bryan’s class who were on their way to gym. I spent more time with the 4th grade of secondary (tenth grade in the US) who I have been getting to know. They are in their second to last year at Promesa and said they are 15 and 16 years old. I learned all of their names, some interests and got to practice my Spanish while they practiced their English in our many conversations. All of the grades seemed to have a fiesta (party) today because it will be “Dia del Niño” this Sunday (a day to celebrate children, much like Mothers’/Fathers’ Day). The students in my class brought paper crafts over to the 4th grade of primary school and helped them cut them out and glue them together. Beth joined me in their English class and we were able to help with suggestions, pronunciations, and explanations.
I really enjoyed being invited to play volleyball during recess by a few of the students. They play every recess in teams of 4 and rotate after one team wins 3 points. It was a lot of fun. We came to bless the school, but we were also blessed in return. The principal Damaris gave each member of our group a small gift and treated us to lunch yesterday, where a lot of our team was adventurous and tried some food we have never had before.
We have spent a lot of time together in Pastor Roberto’s combi (van). He and his wife Valeria had us all over for lunch at their house, which happened to be the same meal we had at our fundraiser, ají de gallina. Both of our host families have been so welcoming and it has been a pleasure to get to know them. After lunch today, we went on another adventure, which was the road to the new Promesa building location. Pastor Steve and Beth say the road has improved! It was very bumpy and we almost got stuck in one spot, but we have an excellent driver.😊 There are big plans for this mountainous land and it is exciting to hear and see them in the making. Our team helped plant some ground cover with Pastor Roberto and his brother Arturo. Arturo has been working hard and putting many hours in preparing the land for the next phase of building and caring for the native plants that have been planted to help prevent erosion and landslides.
We finished the day with some hair cuts from César, a local barber who is the husband of Bethany’s friend. Bryan and Shaun can now say they have received their first professional haircut in San Jeronimo, Cusco, Peru.
Thank you for your prayers and making this trip possible. It has been a once in a lifetime experience. Everywhere you look here seems to be picture perfect, from the majestic mountains to the rich history to the colorfully dressed people. One of my many highlights has been connecting with two couples during our 2 hour train ride both ways. Even though there was a language barrier (which I had been sad about at first), it was life-giving to connect and hear about their travels and also share who we are and why our group has traveled all this long way to Peru.
Friday, August 18, 2023 (Joel Madavaram)
Today we went to Promesa. There were some differences in the school system. The school consisted of kindergarten all the way through high school. And it only went up to eleventh grade. Me and Moses spent the day with the highschoolers. There was a student in the class who spoke English so he would translate for us which I desperately needed because I wasn't following much. They were in a history class and learned about U.S history. The structure of the school system is different from my experience in high school.The students were surprised when we told them the quantity of classes that were available to us and that you could choose classes that you were interested in. A few of them were into coding and said they would teach themselves because there weren't any programming classes. I was surprised by how familiar they were with American pop culture. A lot of them listened to the same music that we listen to as well as movies, TV shows and games. It was a fascinating experience and was interesting to see how a school in another country operates and the hobbies of school-aged children.
