The Bolivia-Peru crossing at Desaguadero is my 5th experience in land border crossings, but I think it was the first one in a remote area. Now that I am safely back in Peru, heres what Ive learned (obviously I havent learned how to find the apostrophe on an international keyboard yet)...

1. To start with, just dont cross at Desaguadero or anywhere else that sketchy. Your best bet. Stick to nice touristy areas.
2. Apparently youre not required to go to the Peruvian police station on your way out of the country. If you dont refuse when they ask you to step inside, you could be in for a scam. I read this after our trip of course. Luckily we didnt have US dollars on us, but its been reported that the police will search your luggage for dollars and then confiscate them for being fake (regardless of whether they are or not).
3. Take beautiful dollars with you that dont have any tears or scratches or anything. Then when they tell you theyre fake, put on a good performance holding them up to the light and assuring them that you know about counterfeit currency and this isnt it. That was my route to success at least. Confidence.
4. Leave plenty of time. We left 9 hrs between La Paz and Tims flight from Juliaca (a 5 to 6 hr trip). Good thing. The power was out at the border crossing and all the immigrations stuff was being done by hand. We stood outside in the rain (with glimpses of snow) for 2 hrs waiting to get into the office. Tims blond hair didnt even get us a break.

An adventure for sure. At 28 Im still up for it, but I was especially impressed that my mom didnt mind or start questioning why in the world I thought it would be a good idea to drag her through all this! Shes a trouper. Of course a few of you might know that this was only her 2nd sketchiest border crossing, but I wont reveal all her secrets.

Tim is on the plane to Pucallpa, and Mom and I are resting safely and warmly in a great hotel in Puno. After some fairly lousy food in Bolivia, we just finished a delicious Peruvian meal (did I really say that?!) of alpaca steak in wine sauce with mashed apples and a rocoto relleno (stuffed hot pepper). Yay Peru!

Still no luck getting my photos on here, but I´m busy taking them anyway! We´re leaving today for Peru, Tim back to Pucallpa and Mom and I to Suasi Island on Lake Titicaca for a few days before she goes home. Here´s what we did in Bolivia...

• ate quite a bit of mediocre food
• hiked around a super hilly city
• learned about Aymara religious traditions
• saw a whole lot of Evo Morales propoganda
• bought Cuban cigars
• did a bunch of shopping at fair trade stores with beautiful alpaca and wool goods
• had some trouble with breathing and altitude sickness

Our taxi is here and we´re off! More later.

Or lowlights, depending on your perspective. Let´s just call it an adventure.

1. We left Pucallpa at 9 last night, arrived in Lima and slept 4 hours before returning to the airport at 5 am the next morning.

2. We took a taxi from Juliaca, on the Peruvian side of Lake Titicaca, to Desaguadero, the nearest town on the Peru-Bolivia border.

3. Desaguadero! What an adventure! I´ve rarely seen anything that seemed so authentic. No tourists in sight and lots of tricked out bicycle rickshaws. We made it out of Peru fine, but...

4. Bolivia. Turns out you have to pay your Bolivian visas ($135) in cash, but the nearest place to get cash is 2 hrs away. Somehow we forgot to stock up and only had enough for 2 people. That didn´t leave us with many good options. PLUS the immigrations experience entering Bolivia was the sketchiest I´ve seen yet. I´m pretty sure they were trying to get a bribe from us. I resisted. They basically claimed that all of our US bills were false.

5. We decided to drive to La Paz (2 hrs), get cash, and come back for Tim (then go back to La Paz again' 6 hrs). By God´s grace, we had a strange and wonderful turn of events when we got in the taxi. The taxi driver agreed to loan us strangers $100 (1 month´s salary) until we got to La Paz. With that cash, Tim was able to buy his visa.

6. We made it! We´re in a super hotel with lots of character, drinking our mate de coca for the altitude sickness, and resting up for the next 2 days of sightseeing. Yay!

In case you´re wondering how many forms of transportation it takes to get from Pucallpa to La Paz...

• 1 ride from a friend to the airport
• 3 taxis
• 2 airport shuttles
• 2 flights
• 1 walk across a bridge

And 22 hours. It´s a trek. Be sure to bring lots of cash and your best skills for maneuvering through sketchy third world immigrations offices.

Last week we had a mini-crisis when we realized we couldn't leave the country without our Peruvian ID cards, which were stolen earlier in the month in my backpack. That's a problem since we're schedule to leave for La Paz, Bolivia tomorrow night.

We made some phone calls, considered the options, and decided to risk running the paperwork through the Immigrations office here in Pucallpa rather than taking a day of my mom's visit to fly to Lima. There was definitely a chance the IDs wouldn't arrive in time and we'd be left with a couple of bad options.

Yesterday we got a phone call that the IDs had arrived! It took three business days-- record time. Praise God! I'll attribute it to Him and also to the 20 ripe and delicious chico rico mangoes I gave the immigrations guy. A little gift never hurts.

The first Alpha course in Pucallpa will finish this Thursday and I've learned a lot about training others to lead Alpha through it. I hope I'm able to apply what I've learned to the Alpha Training Conference I hope to have in January.

Although the course wasn't run the I would have liked and it didn't have the outcome I was hoping for, the pastor has been encouraged greatly by it and this week is beginning an Alpha course for the youth of his church. The pastor has become a friend of mine and he told me the other day one of the biggest impacts Alpha has made on him is that he's been challenged to invest more into the adults of his church, a huge encouragement me since I feel like that's a great need here in Pucallpa.

For the past week or so I've been inviting local pastors to an informational breakfast about implementing Alpha in their churches.  Currently it looks like there's about 20 or so coming and hopefully I'll be able to get 5-10 more before the breakfast (December 5th). I hope this breakfast will create some excitement about the Training Conference in January and will help the pastors to better determine which leaders from there churches should attend the conference.

I'm really excited because about 16 of them are part of the same church organization.  If the lead pastor, who is planning to come, gets excited about Alpha, I imagine Alpha could be implemented across all of their churches. Tonight I'm meeting with the pastor, a tiny older gentleman with a mustache about 5'1" tall, in order to get to know each other prior to the meeting.

I feel like a salesman for Alpha but it's a bit odd. I'm not actually selling anything and I don't receive any benefit personally if someone decides to use Alpha.

1. Yesterday someone told me that if you give a female dog raw meat to eat (which we do), she will eat her litters. Good thing Ellie is spayed! But I wonder... how do all the babies of carnivorous animals in the wild survive? Anyway, I've heard a variety of objections to raw food diets for dogs, but this was a first.

2. I saw flavored crackers at the grocery store yesterday. Cheese is obvious, right? But what about pizza, ham, or... HAMBURGER? Yes, that's right. You can buy hamburger- flavored crackers in Pucallpa. Gross.

3. Taza went to the doggie spa for a bath today and returned with red (painted) toenails. Honest. How am I supposed to take these people seriously?

4. My mom is en route to Pucallpa and will arrive tomorrow morning at 5 am. I'm excited about her visit!

1. yummy BLTs and carrot salad
2. spending time with David
3. a successful, relaxed English conversation class this morning
4. delicious pool day
5. the smell of sunscreen
6. new Joshua Radin CD in the background
7. savoring the last of this year's chico rico mangoes
8. watching Ellie carry her new ball all around
9. sweet nap
10. looking forward to working out and then going over to the neighbor's for pizza and cards

Two new-ish doors for relationships with my neighbors have opened recently that I am super excited about.

First, a 19-year-old down the street wants help with English conversation. She says she's at an intermediate level with reading and writing (good enough to read novels) but too shy to talk. I'm inviting her and a few of her friends over this Saturday morning to chat in English for a while. A couple of other women I know might come too. We'll see where it goes, but I'm particularly interested since it's a door she opened herself.

Second, our awesome neighbors with the two precious twin 2.5-yr-olds. You may recall that the basis for our relationship is a mutual love for good cheese (not necessarily accessible here). They're a Chilean-German couple working with an NGO teaching tribal communities about sustainable ways to harvest jungle wood.

Anyway, for some reason we haven't gotten to hang out with them tons (I'll blame Ellie and the fear factor), but in the last two months we've gone out to lunch twice and Tim has played chess with M a few times. Tonight they invited us over to their house (all four steps away) for a Saturday night of dinner and cards!

I'm excited on a number of levels and realizing too that this is the kind of community I want around me wherever we live. I don't know that I've ever had close neighbors who were also friends. I hope I can make that happen again when we come back to Charlotte.

I was 500 pages into Truman when someone so rudely stole it from me on the highway. Until my mom brings a replacement copy next week, I'm working on The Brothers Karamazov and pleasantly surprised by its style. Here's a section I read by the pool today that hit home pretty hard.

"It's just the same story a doctor once told me," observed the elder. "He was a man getting on in years, and undoubtedly clever. He spoke as freely as you, though in sarcasm, in bitter sarcasm. 'I love humanity,' he said, 'but I wonder at myself. The more I love humanity in general, the less I love man in particular. In my dreams,' he said, 'I often make plans for the service of humanity, and perhaps I might actually face crucifixion if it were suddenly necessary. Yet I am incapable of living in the same room with anyone for two days together. I know from experience. As soon as anyone is near me, his personality disturbs me and restricts my freedom. In twenty-four hours I begin to hate the best of men; one because he's too long over his dinner, another because he has a cold and keeps on blowing his nose. I become hostile to people the moment they come close to me. But it has always happened that the more I hate men individually the more I love humanity.'"

Story of my life. Why can't I just be a nicer person? I'm so glad God's not done with me yet.

On a similar line, I did have an interesting realization last week in the audio lab. Truthfully I was surprised and happy with my ability to connect with the patients and make them feel comfortable. So why am I so awkward at parties and most other social encounters? I think it's something about finding comfort in structure. It makes me relieved to know that I'm not completely inept at relating to others, and pushes to me to consider more how I can 1) find places to use the skills I do have and 2) grow in areas of weakness.

Trust God from the bottom of your heart;

We sang this song at church this morning (in Spanish, of course) and I felt struck by the simple promise of it. One of the best parts was seeing other people singing it with deep conviction and knowing that the song echoed some experience they'd been through. No matter what, He never lets go.


Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death
Your perfect love is casting out fear
And even when I’m caught in the middle of the storms of this life
I won’t turn back
I know You are near

And I will fear no evil
For my God is with me
And if my God is with me
Whom then shall I fear?
Whom then shall I fear?

Oh no, You never let go
Through the calm and through the storm
Oh no, You never let go
In every high and every low
Oh no, You never let go
Lord, You never let go of me

And I can see a light that is coming for the heart that holds on
A glorious light beyond all compare
And there will be an end to these troubles
But until that day comes
We’ll live to know You here on the earth

Yesterday was the last day for the visiting ENT team. It's been an exhausting week but a blessed one.

One family from Trujillo (a city north of Lima on the coast) found out about the team and immediately flew to Pucallpa Thursday. That kind of money doesn't come easily around here. They got to the hospital at 4 am on Friday morning, but there were no spots left for the daughter, a 10-year-old who is nearly deaf, to be seen. The dad decided to stay and try to convince the doctors to see her.

Along came an elderly man who had an appointment to be seen. He noticed that the dad and daughter looked like they weren't from here, and they got into a conversation about her condition. Finally, the older man said, "You know, I'm already old. Let her take my place." So the older man gave up his spot until next November, and the girl got to be seen.

When she got to the audiology lab, Allen didn't think he could do anything for her. He was pretty moved by her story and discouraged that after all their traveling, they would go home empty handed. He decided to try one type of hearing aid on the girl but was very doubtful that it would do her any good.

Well it did. Not a lot, maybe, but she could hear a little more. In fact, she asked us to turn down her hearing aid! The dad was sitting next to her and called her name. As she turned her head to answer, he literally jumped out of his chair, so excited to see his daughter hear his voice. I think it was about then that the rest of us broke down into tears.

I'm so grateful that I had the chance to see these amazing stories this week and to be a part of them in a little way. I feel a little sad writing about them because I know I don't have the words to make them real for you. They're the same feel-good stories you read about in a magazine, maybe, and appreciate in a distant way. Here on the ground, it's not so distant. We've eaten in their homes and counseled them through tough situations, played with their children and run into them in the market. To see them hear for the first time is more than a feel-good story. It makes all my exhaustion and frustration nothing in comparison to the gifts I receive being here.

Looking good, don’t you think? Tim had his tympanoplasty this afternoon and is recovering quite well. It seems that he’s had this hole in his eardrum since he was 10 years old! I’m glad we found out about it just around the time that this amazing (and free) medical team came to Pucallpa. What a blessing.

As exciting as the tympanoplasty is, I think the bigger blessing for me has been getting to translate in the audiometry lab. Allen tests hearing and fits hearing aids, but I get to meet new people, hear their stories, and watch them transformed by the gift of hearing for the first time in a while. Sometimes the first time ever.

Today I translated from 8 am to 5 pm without lunch, and now I’m home taking care of Tim and baking 100 cookies for tomorrow. Where do I find the energy, you ask? I’m as surprised as anyone. I think it must be joy.

Two stories from today, both about tears.

First, Zeus. I have to tell you his name because it’s so awesome. His mom brought him in because at 6, he still isn’t talking. She wanted to see if it was related to his hearing. The kid was scared to death, and it didn’t seem like his mom could communicate with him any better than I could. We determined that he was completely deaf and would probably never be able to hear. When we told the mom, she broke down into tears. They’re already learning sign language, but she hadn’t given up hope that her son would have a more normal life than that. Her eyes were filled with anguish, and all we could do was pray together. I know Zeus can have a full life as a deaf child and adult. I hope God can give her that confidence, too, and comfort her tonight as she grieves this news.

Second, A. Remember him from yesterday? He hasn’t heard in a year. Today we fitted him with one hearing aid (we don’t have enough to give anyone two), and the doctor said he’s never seen someone react so dramatically. He was literally jumping, crying, and shouting, “Praise God!” all over the hospital. Our other patients were talking for the rest of the day. I hope I never forget his tears of joy and his gratitude for something I take for granted.

Translating for the visiting ENT medical team this morning was so fun. You know, I once wanted to be a medical missionary, so I probably should have known I would enjoy this. It makes me wonder if I would like to work in hospital translation in Charlotte. Anyone have a lead for me?

I'm energized, happy, and ready to go back tomorrow for more. Here are my three most touching moments from today.

1. A is a middle-aged guy who hasn't been able to hear for a year (since he fell on a construction job). Although he can still speak fine, he doesn't know sign language or lip-reading and only "hears" through writing. As he was leaving from his hearing test, he looked at me with the most earnest eyes and asked, "Am I going to be able to hear again?" The audiologist says he isn't sure. I wish I had been able to say yes. He wants it so badly. While he was waiting, I prayed with him and his sister, who had brought him to the hospital. A didn't hear any of it, but Jesus did.

2. C is six years old and has never been able to hear. When he heard the "beep, beep" of the hearing test machine, his entire face came alive. I wonder if he's ever heard a sound before. His eyes lit up and a smile stretched across his eager little face. His mother, a sweet woman probably in her early to mid 20s, teared up to see his reaction. She told me it was the emotion of seeing her own son hear. He's coming back tomorrow for hearing aids. I hope they can help.

3. One sad story. H is nineteen and has lived in the countryside his whole life, raising cattle with his grandmother. His aunt brought him in to see if his failure to pronounce words well had anything to do with his hearing. Pronunciation? I couldn't make out a word he said. He's never gone to school or learned to read and write but now wants to study to be a motorcycle mechanic. He'll need to hear and speak for that. During his hearing test, he kept indicating that he heard when there was no sound. We gave him the instructions again, but he kept doing it. "Is he crazy?" I asked the audiologist. "No," he told me, "he just wants to hear that badly." The test was useless; the kid probably couldn't hear a thing. We told his aunt that she should take him to learn sign language, that it was his best chance at being able to communicate and engage in the world around him. It wasn't the answer they wanted to hear.

What a day, and what a blessing. I'm so glad to be a part of this offering.

Thanks to you too for all your encouragement and prayers regarding the robbery. I don't know whether it was those or the translating that turned the tide for me, but I'm grateful for both.

It was a low month for dog photos really, but these five (out of the six I submitted) made it as honorable mentions in the dog photo contest. While I'm not feeling super honored, I do like these photos of Ellie a lot.

Last night our friend David came over, bearing condolence gifts of butterscotch blondies and ready to commiserate with us about being robbed. Incidentally, he's the only person other person I know who has been robbed while sitting in a mototaxi-- only his was just a cell phone, and running the person down, he managed to get it back! Anyway, I'm grateful to be here in Pucallpa, where even though I get robbed, I have friends.

It's been a tough 24 hours, tougher than I'd like to admit. I want to be holier than this attachment to things, but the incident is haunting me. I feel like I have an instant replay of the robbery on repeat, running over and over again in my mind. I feel way more sorry for myself than I should, and I'm secretly (well, not anymore) wondering why everyone else doesn't feel so sorry for me too. There it is.

Last week I was out of whack for several days after our Lima airport incident, and I was just getting my energy back on Friday and Saturday, finally cleaning the house well, shopping for groceries, cooking again. All that momentum is gone. I'm moping and sulking to be truthful.

Please pray for me. I know I can't keep this up. I was reminded today that God allowed this, even if He didn't send it. Am I willing to accept the circumstances He has for me? Am I willing to give Him my treasures if He asks? I want to be. I want to move on quickly.

This week there is an ENT medical team from the US working here in Pucallpa. Tim's having his ear surgery on Tuesday (another good subject for prayer!). I'm translating every morning from 8-12 and providing snacks as well. That's a busy schedule on top of all the other things I do normally. I hope it will be a blessing, keep me moving and positive, thinking about something other than myself.

So then, those who suffer according to God's will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good. 1 Peter 4:19