Yesterday I went with my host mother to the ladies' meeting at the church that our host family goes to. It was supposed to start at 4 I think, which is when we arrived. No one else was there. At 4:15 or so, maybe 5 more people arrived. Another 10 trickled in over time. We spent the next hour knitting of all things, which made me quickly feel at home! Around 5:15, Tim called and asked me if we were finishing up. I let him know that we hadn't started yet! Anyway, the meeting was fun, it lasted about 4 hours, the women were gracious, and I was able to communicate fairly well.

The meeting was at the church building, and there was a sign inside about a conference for leadership with young people ("jovenes," which I think includes late teens to 30 or so). I told my host mother, Miriam, that we might be interested in going if possible. It was for today (Saturday), so I wasn't sure we would be able to sign up so late. She made a million phone calls and determined that we should be able to go Saturday morning around 9 or 9:30 with Pedro, the church pastor and her cousin.

This morning we were all ready to go. We went out to buy sunblock and bug spray (per Miriam's recommendation), and while we were out, she had to leave. When we got back, she had already left for a physical therapy appointment. She called to apologize for not staying to say goodbye, which seemed a little odd to me for some reason. As we were getting off the phone, she told me to have a good weekend. Weekend? Hmmmm. I thought we were only going to be gone today. I discussed it with Tim for a minute, and we decided that maybe in Peru you can say "Have a good weekend," and only mean one day.

When Pedro showed up (at 10:30, not 9), he asked us where our sleeping bags were. Oops. As I tried to communicate to him that I hadn't know it was overnight, I had another one of those moments where I felt like I couldn't speak Spanish. We definitely are not interested in an overnight trip at this point since we are still adjusting to the altitude and the culture. It's an adventure we're not quite up for yet if we have a choice.

So we're back home now. In general, we mostly don't know what is going on around us, partly due to the language and probably more due to the cultural gap. So please pray for us to continue feeling comfortable in the dark and to have the patience for flexibility. So far so good, but I could imagine this eventually getting frustrating.

1 Comment

1. Gail Conner on November 13, 2007 at 1:07 PM

   Hannah and Tim, I am so excited about what the Lord is doing in your midst. I hope you can laugh at the mixups. We are praying for your adjustment to a new culture. We are pressing forward with trying to get to Guatemala by January. We are moving, throwing away stuff, and speaking. Take care and write us please. Gail Conner