We Survived

Team #4/4 is home safely, so I'm finally getting around to documenting the rest of team #3/4. All ten of us - the team of nine from Peace Lutheran Church in Lemay, MO, plus me - got through it by the grace of God. 

My first post took you through Wednesday...

Thursday morning, one of our ranks wasn't feeling up to joining the team, so she stayed back with another team member to care for her. I always feel like we're missing a limb when that happens! They missed "Mary & Martha" day at VBS and tallarines verdes at Rev. Elvis (below, right) and his wife Alba's house for dinner. We also celebrated Elvis's 30th birthday with a lúcuma cake that successfully survived a ride on the city bus and a roughly 90 min. haul across town at rush hour in our rented shuttle bus (I warned everyone in advance it'd be long!). 

Greg didn't shy away from talking theology with Rev. Jeancarlos (Pastor-elect Jeancarlos at the time!) and Rev. Elvis, both of whom speak excellent English. 

Thanks to Greg, we ended the week on a high note (ba dum tss), but Thursday's patient needed more than an encouraging Post-It to feel up to regular activity, and we lost another compatriot to gastro issues. The remaining 2/3 of the team and I headed to Castillo Fuerte for the bittersweet final day of VBS; we knew we'd see a majority of the kids again at Saturday's regular Divine Service/de facto VBS closing service.  

A special guest joined us: my home congregation is running a Flat Luther (think Flat Stanley) campaign throughout the month of October, in which members could pick up a full color cardstock image of the reformer from the Narthex or print one off at home, then take him along on all sorts of fall adventures and share photos using a special hashtag. Lima, Peru, might be the furthest from Des Peres, MO, that he ventured.

Saturday saw no improvement in our two ill friends, so before heading out on our 2nd planned cultural excursion, I worked with the local team in Peru as well as support staff in St. Louis to arrange for a house call from a GI specialist. He was a literal Godsend, even giving us his personal cell number. Then it was off to Huaca Pucllana. Turns out I'd been lying to the team all week: they're not Incan ruins, they're Lima ruins, dating back 1000 years prior to the Inca empire. 

Each of the mud bricks was made by hand, without a mold. They're stacked vertically to withstand seismic activity.

The site is smack dab in the middle of the Miraflores district, so the dichotomy between ancient and modern is striking. Almost anywhere else in the world, an archaeological site made of mud brick would have been long since destroyed by the elements, but it hasn't rained in Lima since 1971!

The tour ends with a petting zoo. Only these aren't zoo animals in Peru...

We had lunch at the museum restaurant...with a view. 

Everything, from the waiting area to the plates to the food itself, is colorful and beautiful. 

With our remaining free time before the service, we swung by the "beach." Ella wanted to dip her toe in the Pacific, and dip she did!

At my urging, I Ubered to our home away from home and relieved the team leader of caretaker duty so she could attend the closing service. While my patients dozed, I caught up on emails and Marco Polo messages, and snuck downstairs for an after picture of one of those "bonus" projects a couple team members tackled: theological library organization. More remains to be done, but I see improvement. 

Everyone was healthy enough to travel home on Sunday as planned - praise the Lord! (I checked in on the two who stayed back early the next week, and both were on the mend.) It was a 3 am kind of morning that made for a loooooong travel day. My flight to MIA was delayed, but with a 6+ hour layover, it didn't affect anything. I headed to my gate after dinner and ran into the LAC Regional Director on his way back from the Panama FORO. You know you're a missionary when... :) He was kind enough to first upgrade my ticket to Comfort Plus, then trade me for his first class ticket! We shared a cab back to our neighborhood, arriving around 11 pm. I slept until 7:30 am the next morning. Seven thirty! If you know me at all, you know this means I must have been T-I-R-E-D. Of course all day long I felt like I'd gotten nothing done, but come Wednesday, I was ready to welcome Lord of Life Lutheran Church in Chesterfield, MO. 

Until next time, blessings in Christ!