sjamesho.v3

today, the Maranatha volunteers were split up in three different groups to attend various churches. my group went to attend a campmeeting taking place nearby. the weather was warm and although there was shade provided by a tarp at the front of the meeting area, we preferred to huddle under a shade provided by a skinny tree because there was a breeze. however, from time to time the breeze will happen to pick up the aromatic fragrance of fertilizer and/or open drainage which was the complete opposite of pleasantness. as the morning sun worked its way across the sky, so did our shade which we moved right along with it. baptisms were also to take place and one of the pastors conveniently volunteered all of us to shake the hands of the baptismal candidates as they leave the baptistry. apparently no one told him that we were on a schedule and had to be back at our dorm for lunch and other activities in the afternoon. so when an opportune time came, we started to trickle out of the campmeeting area and boarded the bus back. Continue reading

once again… VBS!

ok… i have been officially designated as the guitar player for Vacation Bible School for the rest of this trip by Sonia Carr, VBS leader extraordinaire. i suppose being the only one that brought a guitar may have attributed to that.

today i went to help out with Vacation Bible School for the kids in the community. we went to two different places – one in the morning and the other in the afternoon. i was equipped with my trusty guitar and sang familiar children’s songs which, of course, they didn’t catch on fully since the songs were in English. haha. however, when we did the songs which has the Spanish version, there was almost full participation. i made sure that we try to include the Spanish versions when we could. for those of you who know me, you know that i’m not really into kids. and after this experience, i’m still not into kids. however, seeing their smiles and wonderment in their eyes was and is a humbling experience. i think about what they don’t have, or the odds of greater opportunity outside their village, or whatever… stuff like that… and seeing their smiles and wonderment i would venture to guess that they are happy in a truer sense than that of an American kid being happy. granted, they may not be aware of basic health practices, hygeine, etc., their income level are just a fraction of a fraction of a US citizen, their towns have the poorest civic planning i’ve ever seen, they may not have an education, but they are learning about Jesus and that’s all the riches and richness of life anyone really needs. and that happiness is that true and pure happiness that is humbling when you are experiencing it face-to-face. Continue reading

what an interesting day today was! i followed the medical/dental group to provide service to the community surrounding the University campus. there will be about five different locations throughout our time in Peru and this particular location was very dusty… or should i say dirty in the “dirt” sense. the dirt was like fine “powder” all over the place. and when i say “powder” i mean as in snow. it was the oddest thing. after loading the supplies and equipment, i started taking pictures up to the point of not repeating my shots in context. then i helped out on the dental side sterilizing instruments. this task may not seem very exciting… and… well… it isn’t. however, if the instruments are not sterilized and ready for use when a dentist needs it then it makes his/her job more difficult. a dentist without an instrument would be a very frustrated. so by making all the instruments ready as soon as it has been used for the dentists’ effiencency was my approach to this task. Continue reading